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Which Side Are You On?: Hakenmura and the Working Poor as a Tipping Point in Japanese Labor Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Toru Shinoda
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This article analyzes one of Japan's most widely reported labor stories in recent years. The unusual degree of national attention given to this incident is evidence that the labor question has become a central issue in Japanese politics. It also offers insight into critical shifts in the landscape of both labor politics and labor policy, which have implications for Japanese politics more generally.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 14 , April 2009 , e3
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2009

References

Notes

[1] On recent Japanese labor politics, see Toru Shinoda, “Introduction: The return of Japanese labor? The mainstreaming of the labor question in Japanese politics,” Labor History, Vol. 49, No. 2, May 2008.

[2] “Steep Export Slide Pummels Japan: Annualized 4th-quarter GDP plunged 12.7%; further declines predicted,” The Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2009.

[3] Akira Takai and Momoyo Kamo, Dōsuru Haken Giri 2009 Nen Mondai (How do we cope with the cancellation in the middle of the term of dispatch contracts? The problem of the year of 2009), Tokyo: Junpōsha, 2009.

[4] Mari Miura, “The New Politics of Labor: Shifting veto points and representing the unorganized,” F-93, Institute of Social Science (University of Tokyo), Domestic Politics Project No. 3, July 2001.

[5] Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998, pp.8-9.

[6] For more detail on the community unions and their background, see Akira Suzuki, “Community Unions in Japan: Similarities and differences of region-based labour movements between Japan and other industrialized countries, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 492-520, November 2008.

[7] “Nihon Ban Wākingu Pūa: Hataraitemo Mazushii Hitotachi (Japanese Working Poor: People Work Hard But Are Still Poor),” Weekly Tōyō Keizai, 16 September 16 2006.

[8] Media Sōgō Kenkyuujo (Media Research Institute), ed. Hinkon Hōdō: Shin Jiyuu Shugi no Jitsuzō wo Abaku: Media Sōken Bukkuretto No. 12 (Journalism of Poverty: exposing the reality of neo-liberalism, Media Research Institute Booklet No. 12), Tokyo: Kadensha, 2008.

[9] Norma Field, “Commercial Appetite and Human Need: The accidental and fated revival of Kobayashi Takiji's Cannery Ship,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 8-8-09, February 22, 2009.

[10] Toru Shinoda, “Rengo and Policy Participation: Japanese-style neo-corporatism?” in Sako and Sato eds. Japanese Labour and Management in Transition, p.189.

[11] Toru Shinoda, “‘Kigyō Betsu Kumiai wo Chūshin to shita Minshū Kumiai’ toha - Shakai Undō teki Rōdō Kumiai to shiteno Takano SŌHYŌ (Jō)(Ge)”[in Japanese](What is a ‘Company-based Popular Union‘?: Takano Sōhyō as a social movement unionism, 1, 2), Ōhara Shaki Mondai Kenkyūjo Zasshi (The Journal of Ohara Institute for Social Research), No. 564, 565, November, December 2005.

[12] Beverly J. Silver, Forces of Labor: Workers' Movement and Globalization since 1870, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.42.

[13] Kazuo Sugeno, “Judicial Reform and the Reform of the Labor Dispute Resolution System,” in Japan Labor Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, Winter 2006, p.7.

[14] http://homepage1.nifty.com/rouben/ downloaded June 26, 2006.

[15] Frege, Heery, and Turner argue that trade union movements often try to “recreate themselves as social movements” when they seek to revitalize. Their “prescription of ‘social movement unionism’ lists the following: 1) Broadening movement goals to ”encompass social progress beyond the immediate employment relationship“; 2) Forming ”coalitions with other social progressive forces,“ including new social movements on ”social identity, the environment, and globalization“; and 3) Rediscovering unions' ”capacity to mobilize workers in campaigns for workplace and wider social justice.“ Carola Frege, Edmund Heery, and Lowell Turner, ”The New Solidarity? Trade Union Coalition-Building in Five Countries,“ in Carola Frege and John Kelly eds. Varieties of Unionism: Strategies for Union Revitalization in a Globalizing Economy, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.137.

[16] The Asahi, January 7, 12, 19, February 7, and 8, 2007.

[17] Hidenao Nakagawa, Ageshio no Jidai: GDP 1000 Chō En Keikaku [in Japanese] (The Age of the rising tide: GDP 1000 billion yen plan), Kōdan Sha, December 2006.

[18] “‘Keieisha no Ronri’ ni Igi wo Tonaeru Jimin Rōdō Seisaku no Nejire Genshō (The twisted LDP labor policy against ‘the logic of management‘), Weekly Ekonomisuto, January 20, 2007, pp.25-26.

[19] Jin Igarashi, Rōdō Saikisei: Hanten no Kōzu wo Yomitoku [in Japanese](Labor Reregulation: How the reversal happened), Chukuma Shinsho, 2008.