Public workers’ wages to be cut by 7.8%

The House of Councilors enacted bills to cut national government workers’ wages at its plenary session on February 29. An average 0.23% cut will take effect retroactively from April of last year, and another 7.8% on average will be cut from this fiscal year.

Residents push local gov’t to monitor food radiation levels

In Chigasaki City, actions taken by parents to protect their children from internal radiation exposure have pushed a local government to respond to the public demand for food inspections that emerged after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Deregulation to causal factor in loss of pension funds by investment firm

AIJ Investment Advisory Co. had caused most of about 200 billion yen in smaller companies’ pension assets to disappear due to high risk speculation. The money invested was intended to bolster pension payments after retirement.