TOKYO BRIEFING January 2005

News this month

Plan B

With the prospect looming of the imperial line dying out in a generation, Japan's government may legalise female succession. Naruhito, the 44-year-old crown prince, and his wife Masako, who is 41, have one three-year-old daughter, and no males have been born into the imperial family since 1965. (Many have speculated that Princess Masako's widely reported bouts of depression are brought on by the stress of not having borne a male heir.) The government plans to put the reform to a vote in 2006.

The issues to be ironed out are whether sex should trump birth order in succession, and whether females in the imperial family retain their royalty after marriage (which would cause the family and its budget to swell). Popular support for a change is strong: a poll in 2003 found that 70% of Japanese believe the 1947 Imperial House Law (which mandated male emperors) should be amended.

Quicker for most

The Justice Ministry plans to introduce identification cards with passport information and fingerprints stored in an embedded computer chip. The new cards will be voluntary, but they come with a benefit: owners will be able to move straight through a scanning turnstile and skip lengthy immigration checks when entering the country. The system is meant to ease travel for residents, thereby freeing up immigration officers to concentrate more on suspicious foreigners. The ministry plans to make the passports available to Japan's foreign residents in future.
Trials of the system begin in April, and a national roll-out is set for 2006. One crucial issue has yet to be settled: whether the data will also be used for other purposes, such as criminal investigations.

Asking for more

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the nation's largest labour organisation, with 6.8m members, is putting the needs of part-time and temporaryworkers at the top of its agenda. A government survey conducted in 2003 showed that about 15m jobs—35% of the workforce—were non-permanent. The same study said that women working part-time earn less that 70% of the wages of full-time colleagues. Rengo plans to push for a system of “equal pay for equal work” for part-time and temporary workers.

The union will be lobbying for a review of wages, promotions and fringe benefits for non-permanent hires during its annual negotiations with employers. Some firms, including Aeon, a supermarket chain where part-time workers are 80% of the workforce, have already adopted policies for pay and promotion that smooth disparities. But many firms, including Aeon, insist that some inequality is fair, to reflect the different expectations placed on permanent and non-permanent workers. Meanwhile, some analysts argue that firms are cultivating low-morale and poor knowledge-retention by not developing the skills of their non-permanent workers. They advocate better job training, and say the lack of such investment keeps workers unstable and suppresses their wages.

Back in the news

In 1970, nine Red Army members hijacked a Japan Air Lines plane (called “Yodo”) and commandeered it to Pyongyang. Of them, three died in North Korea, two returned to Japan and were imprisoned, and four have yet to return. Angst over these hijackers resurfaced recently when the last six family members of the Red Army fugitives declared their plan to return to Japan. To date, 23 family members of the hijackers have returned.

Of these six people, two women—Sakiko Wakabayashi and Yoriko Mori—are suspected of participating in the 1980 abduction of two Japanese tourists in Spain. Ms Wakabayashi is the wife of one of the four hijackers that remain in North Korea; Ms Mori is the wife of a deceased senior Red Army member. Three of the hijackers' children and a brother-in-law are also planning on returning to Japan. The hijackers have reportedly insisted that charges against them be dropped before they set foot in Japan, even though they said in 2002 that they would return even if it meant getting arrested. Also in 2002, North Korean officials admitted to abducting Japanese nationals—including those taken in the 1980 Spanish kidnapping—for use in training spies and as propaganda tools.

Domo arigato, Mr Roboto

Citing a pending labour shortage caused by Japan's greying population, Toyota announced plans to install new two-armed robots in all 12 of its Japanese factories. The robots are to be used in finishing work, such as installing seats and interior details, which had previously been too complex for machines.

Cheap labour is thin on the ground, because Japan has refused to open its borders to immigrants from China and elsewhere. (The official stance is that immigration would strain Japanese society.) Met with a rising demand for robots, Japanese firms are now in stiff competition: Sony has made the first robot that can run; Honda has made one that responds to touch; and Toyota is touting one that bows and plays the trumpet.

Catch if you can

February 2005

Marcel Duchamp

Until March 21st 2005

Twentieth-century art was turned upside down in 1917 when Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), a French-American artist, exhibited his infamous urinal in New York, signing the masterpiece with the name “R. Mutt”. Love him or loath him, Duchamp was profoundly influential. At least that is the thesis of this comprehensive show of 75 works, exhibited alongside nearly 80 pieces by disciples. Among the latter are a number of Japanese artists, including Shuzo Takiguchi, Ushio Shinahara, Tetsu Kudo and Shusaku Arakawa. This may be the biggest-ever exhibit in Asia dedicated to Duchamp. Allow 40 minutes to reach Yokohama from central Tokyo.

Yokohama Museum of Art, 3-4-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-Ku, Yokohama. Tel: +81 (045) 221-0300. Open: Sat-Wed 10am-6pm, Fri l0am-8pm. Train: take the Tokyu Toyoko Line to Sakuragicho station; or the JR Keihin Tohoku to that same station. See also the museum's website.