Nipponica

Japan is considering allowing foreigners under its revamped trainee program to change jobs after two years at their first workplace, provided they remain in the same industry, in seven of the program's 17 sectors, a government source said Monday.

Foreign workers are, in principle, not allowed to change jobs under the current training scheme, which has been criticized for labor rights violations such as long hours and low wages, leading some to desert their workplaces.

Translation is that you come to Japan as an indentured servant for two years rather than permanently. An improvement over the current system, sure. But maybe we should treat people with dignity rather than mistrust as a start and see what happens.

Japan Post will stop accepting packages bound for the United States with a declared value of more than $100 or which contain commercial items.

The pause, which begins Wednesday, follows an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 30 and effective Aug. 29, which suspends duty-free “de minimis” treatment for packages with a declared value of less than $800.

The consequences of messing with the world order are showing themselves. Sometimes the best way to deal with a malfunctioning node in a network is to cut it off.

They allege that the service gathers and utilizes news articles without permission, and are seeking an injunction to stop the alleged copyright infringement as well as 2.2 billion yen ($14.97 million) each in damages. The filing follows a similar lawsuit by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, highlighting how legal action against AI operators, first seen at overseas news outlets, is now spreading to Japan.

The fight back continues.