Interview with Uchihashi Katsuto

From "Japanese Deregulation: Big Corporations are Destroying People’s Lives" at Japan Focus (09.09.2007) :

In the case of Japan, the terms “employment choice” and a “diversity of work patterns” have been used in academia since Sakaiya Taichi described an “age of employment choice” and, more recently, when Yashiro Naohiro, a member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, captured the desire of the business community for an age of the “diversification of work patterns.”

Even though a “diversity of work” can be achieved only when major corporations fully fulfill their employment responsibilities to provide regular employees with certain rights and guarantees, if employers force workers to labor without these rights, then the “age of employment choice” and the “diversification of work” patterns become unforgivable deceptions. To put it more aptly, such a system becomes nothing more than the “diversification of forced work patterns.”

I call these dominant voices—like those of Mitarai, Sakaiya, and Yashiro—authoritative opinion (kenron).  It exerts control over society and overshadows the opinions of regular people (minron), which is often at odds with authoritative opinion. Those with authority generally define all the terms and conditions of debate concerning social and political issues. As a result, people are easily tricked about labor issues. People often misunderstand the “age of employment choice” to mean freedom to choose their careers and a diversity of values. Another example of how dominant voices determine and define the discussion is the “labor big bang.” Just as the Bill to Encourage Self-Reliance of Handicapped People is actually a Bill for the Destruction of Handicapped People, the Bill for the Protection of Contract Laborers is nothing more than a Bill for the Destruction of Contract Laborers. The language they use is simply fraudulent. Many intellectuals in Japan have sided with authoritative opinion, and they contribute to the aggressive domination of debates about labor issues.