Atkinson's flexible firm model analyses the segmentation of the workforce utilising the concepts of core and periphery. This model offers a starting point for examining the segmentation of Japan's labour market but provides little direction in the exploration of why women are predominant in the...

The rise in nuclear family households and more married women engaging in paid work have forced governments to address the issue of aged care for the elderly to a greater degree. A good illustration is home care in Japan where the government introduced a Long Term Care Insurance scheme (LTCI)...

Increases in the number of jobs for part‐time workers has had little impact on the rate of unionisation for part‐time workers, the majority of whom are women. The argument run by union officials in Japan is that women, and thus part‐time workers, are not interested in industrial issues....