Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training

The authors examined relationships between single parenthood and mothers' time with children in Japan. Using data from the 2011 National Survey of Households with Children (N = 1,926), they first demonstrate that time spent with children and the frequency of shared dinners are significantly lower for single mothers than for their married counterparts. For single mothers living alone, less time with children reflects long work hours and work-related stress. Single mothers coresiding with parents spend less time with children and eat dinner together less frequently than either married mothers or their unmarried counterparts not living with parents, net of (grand)parental support, work hours, income, and stress. The findings suggest that rising divorce rates and associated growth in single-mother families may have a detrimental impact on parents' time with children in Japan and that the relatively high prevalence of intergenerational coresidence among single mothers may do little to temper this impact.

We construct an input–output table to analyze a next-generation energy system. Based on this table, we estimate the effect of using renewable energy on Japan’s economic structure as well as the feed-in tariff’s contribution to the cost structure. The results clearly show that, induced by demand, existing power generation options and the production of existing passenger vehicles would be reduced and replaced by electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs), and the renewable energy sector. Furthermore, the demand for production in the supply chain of these sectors would change. While the feed-in tariff seems to benefit the overall Japanese economy, the benefits are not divided equally among the sectors because the positive effect of the feed-in tariff system is greater than the negative effect in energy and energy-intensive industries, while the negative effect is greater in the service sectors, on which the cost of the feed-in tariff system is levied. However, renewable-energy-induced service activities, such as research and business services, are becoming more pervasive. Therefore, this inequality may be resolved in the long term and could be assisted by policies that accelerate this change.

Journal Article Compliance with International Standards: The EDIFACT and ISO 9000 Standards in Japan Get access Cornelia STORZ Cornelia STORZ Cornelia STORZ is currently Professor of Japanese Economy in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. Her research focus is on innovation systems, the comparison of economic systems and on regulatory enforcement and compliance. She has been invited by several Japanese organisations to conduct research (Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo; Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training; Kansai University and The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry). Since 2005, she has served as Treasurer of the European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS). Recent publications include Small Firms and Innovation Policy in Japan (Routledge 2006); Competitiveness of New Industries (Routledge 2007), co-edited with Andreas Moerke and Institutional and Technical Change in Japan's Economy (Routledge 2006), co-edited with Janet Hunter. She can be reached by e-mail at storz@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 10, Issue 2, October 2007, Pages 217–241, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jym048 Published: 26 October 2007

This study evaluates the acceptability of home energy management systems (HEMS) in New York and Tokyo using a questionnaire survey. We investigated three basic functions of HEMS: money saving, automatic control, and environmental impact, and then quantified people’s propensity to accept each of these three functions by measuring their willingness to pay. Using the willingness to pay results, we estimated the demand probability under a given usage price for each of the three functions of home energy management systems and analyzed how socio-economic and demographic factors influence the demand probability. The demand probability related to a home energy management system function decreases as the usage price of the function increases. However, depending on people’s socio-economic characteristics, the rate of decrease in demand probability relative to the rate of increase in usage price varies. Among the three functions of home energy management systems, we found that the automatic control function showed the highest demand probability in New York and Tokyo, emphasizing the significance of an automatic control function. In New York, when the home energy management system has an automatic control function, its demand probability increases, which is further enhanced if people trust their utility company. In Tokyo, when a home energy management system has an environmental impact function, its demand probability increases at a given price. People in Tokyo have anxieties related to new technologies such as home energy management systems. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance their comprehension of a home energy management systems to address this anxiety.

This article examines the two differing types of union strategy to organize part-time workers in Japan. One is a homogeneous strategy; the other, a heterogeneous strategy. Based on in-depth interviews with five enterprise labour unions, it was found that if both management and the union support part-time workers’ up-skilling, active involvement and a sense of unity with regular workers for enhancing labour productivity, they tend to strategically choose the homogeneous strategy, which provides equal treatment to part-time workers in relation to human resource management practices and union participation. Under the homogeneous strategy, the company introduces a wage system that encourages part-time workers to work longer in order to obtain higher wages or to be promoted to a higher grade. Where management seeks to obtain a cost advantage from the use of part-time workers and the union puts priority on the protection of regular workers, they tend to choose the heterogeneous strategy, which discriminates against part-time workers in relation to both human resource management policy and union representation. The unionization of part-time workers, based on a homogeneous strategy, has positive effects, such as strengthening loyalty to the company and the union, part-time workers’ up-skilling, and active involvement in workplace innovations. The unionization of non-regular workers can contribute to the revitalization of labour movements and the resolution of segmented labour market problems, as well as assisting in the recovery of corporate business and the national economy.

Previous studies point to Japanese labor unions’ lack of bargaining power that results from their organization at an enterprise level. However, a detailed examination of the institutional setting backed by the Labor Standard Law and Trade Union Law reveals that unions have strong bargaining power against deteriorating work conditions. This paper examines the effect of unions on wages using the Japanese General Social Surveys 2000–2003, which cover a period of economic stagnation. We find a robust union wage premium for both males and females. A Cotton–Neumark decomposition reveals that about one‐fifth of union workers’ higher wage is explained by the difference in the union and nonunion wage structures. We also can confirm the union wage compression effect using the DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996 ) method. Union workers are likely to think that they will not find jobs with similar compensation packages if they leave their current jobs. In summary, unions in Japan contribute to an increase in the average wage and compress the wage distribution among their workers. This result is reconciled with previous findings by considering the uniqueness of the macroeconomic conditions of the sample period.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the evaluation of convenience food has changed. It came to be considered not to have a negative effect on health and is now positioned as a tool to support dietary habits of elderly and other people. In advanced countries where the population is aging, convenience foods are expected to improve the eating habits of the elderly. METHODS: We defined the indicators of cooking effort and usage intensity of convenience food and presented a model wherein a "meal" is home-produced. In the model, a home cook decides the optimal cooking effort to apply for a given usage intensity of convenience food. Using an empirical form of the proposed model, we performed a multiple regression analysis and calculated "the elasticity of cooking effort with respect to the usage intensity of convenience food" for home cooks, with each attribute defined by a combination of different personality and demographic factors, using the estimated coefficients. RESULTS: Regression analysis results revealed a negative correlation between cooking effort and the usage intensity of convenience food, which is consistent with our theoretical model of home meal production. The results showed that home cooks who have special food preferences may not be satisfied with accepting convenience foods purchased from the market as they are and that these home cooks will require a higher cooking effort to obtain higher satisfaction. The elasticity of elderly home cooks was low, implying that they are not flexible enough to accept convenience food. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that existing convenience foods do not have the same impact on home cooks with attributes. This problem can be solved with smart food systems that utilize information and communication technology, which allow home cooks to explore information on convenience foods that match their preferences and enable food providers to offer food that matches the specific tastes of home cooks. The regression results suggest this possibility.

In Japan's Long-term Energy Supply and Demand Outlook, promotion of energy-efficient homes (EEHs) is essential. For most people, however, energy efficiency is not a primary motivating factor when selecting a home. People cannot be satisfied with their own homes just as the home is energy efficient. For EEH promotion policies, it is important to identify factors that affect people's choice of homes and factors that affect their satisfaction with living in their homes. In addition to searching for such factors, constructing a model that explains the process through which people choose homes and are satisfied with living in their homes contributes to the implementation of EEH promotion policies. In this study, we conducted a web questionnaire survey to investigate which factors affect people's choice of EEHs and which factors affect their satisfaction with their residences. Based on observed facts and with reference to a behavioral model in the social psychological field, we constructed a theoretical model that explains the process through which people choose homes and are satisfied with their residences. As a result, in order to promote EEHs, first it is necessary to make people choose EEHs by appealing to their health consciousness and community considerations. Second, it is necessary to have people realize the satisfaction of living in EEHs by following up on how to use EEHs' technology and by raising awareness of the environment. Based on the observed facts, revealing people's decision-making and physiological process in choosing a home and their satisfaction with their residence is useful for planning EEH promotion policies.

This article addresses the current status of long working hours in Japan and suggests topics for further research. First, an international comparison establishes Japan's position relative to other countries. While the number of people working long hours is high in Japan compared to other developed countries, it is high even when compared to underdeveloped countries. The article confirms that overtime hours are longer and the number of annual paid vacation days is low. It also indicates some topics for research on ways to alleviate excessively long working hours in Japan. The article touches upon overtime hours and the function of premium overtime pay, problems in measuring labor productivity, the impact of long working hours on the health of individuals, the effects of a performance-based system, a managerial/supervisorial issue, and consumer demand, indicating that problems in these areas need to be addressed in order to solve the problem of long working hours.

This paper describes a nonsurvey method for estimating multiregional trades without eliminating cross-hauling, when a national biregional input–output table is available. Domestic outflows are assigned by interpolating the biregional trades on the basis of the gravity ratio between the origin and the destinations, with parameters estimated from an earlier survey on interregional transactions. The method is then applied to evaluate multiregional industrial waste disposal and landfill attributed to consumption in the city of Nagoya. Three-regional input–output tables with and without cross-hauling are estimated by partitioning the biregional table between Aichi prefecture and the rest of Japan.

本研究では，再生可能エネルギー技術の導入とその普及政策がもたらす環境・社会経済影響を，客観的かつ定量的に評価することを目的に，2013年版の再生可能エネルギー部門拡張産業連関表（REFIO）を開発した。REFIOは，最新の産業連関表を基に，既存部門を分割し，再生可能エネルギー技術に関する部門を新設することで作成される。対象とした技術は，太陽光発電４種，風力発電，地熱発電２種，小水力発電，木質バイオマス専焼発電，メタン発酵ガス化発電３種の計12 種である。発電施設の建設・運用に関する新設41部門の推計には，政府統計や報告書等の公表データ，および，事業者や協会，NPO法人等，再生可能エネルギー関係機関から提供を受けた非公表データを用いている。REFIOの有用性を検証するため，新設部門の経済波及効果を推計し，比較検討を行った。計測された生産誘発係数は，建設部門は2.51から3.13，運用部門は1.05から2.62の間に分布し，発電技術による差異が見られた。計測結果から得られるより重要な示唆は，発電技術によって，大きな間接波及効果の創出が期待される産業が様々に異なるという点である。

Sector specific multifactor CES elasticity of substitution and the corresponding productivity growths are jointly measured by regressing the growths of factor-wise cost shares against the growths of factor prices. We use linked input-output tables for Japan and the Republic of Korea as the data source for factor price and cost shares in two temporally distant states. We then construct a multi-sectoral general equilibrium model using the system of estimated CES unit cost functions, and evaluate the economy-wide propagation of an exogenous productivity stimuli, in terms of welfare. Further, we examine the differences between models based on a priori elasticity such as Leontief and Cobb-Douglas.

We calculate the amount of output, employment, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions induced by constructing and operating a power plant fueled by unused woody biomass. To do this, we use an input-output table developed to analyze the effects of introducing renewable energy sources. The results show that the power plant can increase the output of and employment in the forestry industry and can reduce economy-wide CO 2 emissions. Because the income of the forestry industry would increase, operating such a power plant may result in preservation of nearby forests. We also estimate the amount of public benefit obtained from preserving that area.

There is growing concern regarding the problem of children waiting for licensed daycare services in Japan's metropolitan areas. In addition to the large number of children on the publicly announced waiting lists, there is an even larger group of underlying demanders, who would otherwise choose to apply for licensed childcare services if the waiting lists were not so long. The present paper attempts to use the contingent valuation method to estimate the underlying demand for licensed childcare services in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. As a result, we find that the underlying waiting rate for licensed childcare services is much higher than the publicly announced waiting rate; that the shortage of service supply for children aged below 1 year old is especially prominent; and, that the total number of children (age ≤ 3) in the status of underlying demand even exceed the present enrolment considerably.

This article concerns new policy challenges relevant to companies in supporting working carers of older people to retain their jobs in Japan. Although long-term leave and flexible working measures have been reformed to address long-term in-home care, the results of new data analysis imply that the effectiveness of support measures differs according to the length of the period of care provided at home. Long-term leave and reducing working hours are effective if the period in which care is provided is relatively short, but when care at home lasts longer, flexibility in the working schedule is crucial. The results also signal the importance of addressing the health of working carers as a new challenge that arises regardless of the length of care at home.

Abstract We clarify how individuals actively interact with socio-cultural contexts to attain regular employment in Japan. Based on a large sample ( N = 3,512) of part-time employed and unemployed college graduates (23–39 years old), we found that: Career decision making self-efficacy predicted job search; a lack of both hope and fulfillment motivated job search, while having hope promoted it; wishing for perfect vocation and being free from both inclination towards personal interests and passivity motivated job search. Clients’ desire for “a perfect vocation,” should not necessarily be considered as a career barrier but, perhaps, rather as an asset for motivating job search. Counselors should seek to better understand the influence of clients’ socio-cultural contexts on their career attitudes.

The Japanese government decided to promote “smart society” in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) in smart society by input-output analysis using the food industry and agriculture as examples. We define food production and agricultural activities utilizing ICT as a smart food-agri system, and try to analyze the effect of such a system on the economy as a whole. As a result, we confirmed that such a system has a large economic ripple effect on information sectors. At the same time, through these analyses, (1) we redefine information goods and service sectors, (2) we describe the new management sectors that are using these goods and services, but are not currently independent businesses, and (3) we clarify new industrial structure that exists in “smart society” using ICT.

The purpose of the present study was to examine and compare Japanese (580 men and 494 women) and Korean (577 men and 436 women) college students' awareness and views related to occupation. Surveys regarding vocational motives, college performance and experiences, and perspective on timing of life events were conducted on 1,074 Japanese and 1,013 Korean college students. Analysis shows that, although Japanese and Korean students have similar occupational views, there are also several cross-cultural differences, which can be explained mainly by the conscription system in Korea.

Assessment of Peripheral, Central and Autonomic Nervous System Functions in Two Lead Smelters with High Blood Lead Concentrations: A Follow‐Up Study: Yasushi F ujimura , et al. Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Tokyo —To examine the effects of lead on peripheral, central and autonomic nervous system functions, the median and radial motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities (MCV and SCV), distribution of median nerve conduction velocities (DCV), short‐latency somatosensory, brainstem auditory and visual evoked potentials (SSEP, BAEP and VEP, respectively), event‐related potential (P300), and electrocardiographic R‐R interval variability (CV RR ) were measured once a month for 12 and 25 months in two male lead smelters with the first blood lead (BPb) concentrations of 105.6 μg/d l (Lead smelter 1) and 76.5 μg/d l (Lead smelter 2), respectively. The measurements were conducted a day before the workers underwent BPb measurement and lead mobilization test with 1 ‐hr calcium disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate infusion. The following results were obtained: (1) The delayed values for V 20‐V90 velocities of the DCV, MCVs in the median and radial nerves, SCV in the median nerve, N13‐N 20 interpeak latency of the SSEP, V latency of the BAEP, and P300 latency in Lead smelter 1 were significantly more frequent than the expected values in control subjects. (2) Also, the delayed values for V 60‐V90 velocities of the DCV, MCV and SCV in the median nerve, and N9 latency of the SSEP in Lead smelter 2 were significantly more frequent than the expected values in control subjects. (3) The delayed values for MCVs in the median and radial nerves and N13‐N20 interpeak (SSEP), V (BAEP) and P300 latencies in Lead smelter 1 were significantly more frequent than those in Lead smelter 2. (4) In the two lead smelters, the delayed values for V80 and V 90 velocities of the DCV were significantly more frequent than those for V10 and V20 velocities. These data suggest that faster nerve fibres of the peripheral nerve are more sensitive to chronic lead exposure than slower nerve fibres are, and peripheral nerve function is more sensitive to chronic lead exposure than central and autonomic nervous system functions.

Abstract This article aims to grasp the influence of the pandemic on standard and non‐standard employees in Japan and clarify its disparity between them. In 2020, there was an imbalance between the slight increase in standard employees and the massive loss of non‐standard employees in the labour market. Non‐standard employees' working hours were greatly reduced, often without allowances for absence, and hence their monthly income considerably diminished. As a result, their well‐being also declined. Thus, the pandemic has affected employment, and its impact has been felt most strongly by non‐standard employees. This does not mean that there is no discriminatory treatment of non‐standard employees in firms. However, a closer look at the real picture reveals a variety of factors. In addition to the discriminatory treatment that is related to the Japanese employment system, a combination of managerial factors such as the shortage of standard employees, practical factors such as differences in wage systems, and the lack of sufficient information about the expansion of the coverage of the Employment Adjustment Subsidy, have placed non‐standard employees at a huge disadvantage.