Temporary workers make-up one-third of the workforce

What an amazing lack of social stability we have here:

The numbers of casualised [temporary] workers grew from 10 million, or 20.9 percent of the workforce, in 1995 to 17.3 million or 33.7 percent in 2007. Among them, 41 percent were women, one of the highest ratios in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Part-time workers’ average hourly rates are 40 percent lower than for regular employees.

Japan had a workforce of 51.2 million last year, but only 66.3 percent were regular workers—compared to 83.6 percent in 1985. The leading Japanese manufacturer of cameras and printers, Canon, for instance, now employs 70 percent of its factory workers on a non-regular basis, up from 50 percent in 2000 and just 10 percent in 1995.

Woman Fatally Stabbed at Train Station in Tokyo

Woman Fatally Stabbed at Train Station in Tokyo, Kyodo Says
By Taku Kato

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- A woman was stabbed to death by a man in a train station in western Tokyo last night, Kyodo News reported, citing police.

The 22-year-old woman, an employee of a bookstore inside the Hachioji station building, was knifed in the chest last night, the news service said. Another customer at the store suffered cuts to her arm and chest, the report said.

A 33-year-old man was arrested by police about 400 meters from the train station, Kyodo said. The suspect was quoted as saying he wanted to stab someone because he was suffering from difficulties at his work.

The incident follows a stabbing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district on June 8 that left seven people dead. Japan's National Police Agency is seeking a ban on daggers and double-edged knives, according to an earlier Kyodo report.