We all need enough time to take care of ourselves

My health problem

I have been suffering from nasal inflammation for more than two decades that was mainly caused by being allergic to something. Recently I find that the symptoms are not as severe as before. I wonder why.

The answer to the question is simple: because I have more time to take care of myself now than when I was working as an elementary school teacher. Then, most of the time, I couldn’t even take a short break after lunch. Sometimes I didn’t have enough time to rinse my mouth. What happens in your mouth without cleaning it after eating? A lot of bad germs increase and cause inflammation not only in your gums but also your throat and sinus.

Now I drink tea or water, rinse my mouth and brush my teeth after a meal. That is absolutely good for my oral hygiene and also my nasal problem.

The Japanese working culture has left workers behind in an unfair situation

Japan, like other developed countries, has had the three major labor laws to protect employed workers: the Labor Standards Law, the Labor Union Law, and the Labor Relations Adjustment Law. The rights to organize a union, to bargain collectively, and to engage in a dispute are guaranteed.

However, some exceptions and limitations are also set: public school teachers haven’t been allowed to exercise the latter two of the three rights because of the public nature of their work. (Though the International Labor Organization,or ILO, has recommended the Japanese government to abolish the limitations to teachers more than ten times in these two decades, the government never listens to it.)

It is sometimes said that Japanese people in general tend to compare a company, a workplace or even a school to a family. The image of a family is mostly a patriarchal one that has a vertical power structure and protection-requital relationship. Thus boundaries between private and public, and employers and employees are ambiguous. I would say that the imbalance of power and the ambiguity consequently leads employers to dismiss the labor laws, and employees not to claim rightful acts.

Sexism makes a situation worse

I mentioned the patriarchal power structure of the Japanese family and its effects on people's mindsets of labor. That always marginalizes women and relatively raises men in value or ability. Sometimes women accept it as it is.

Such stereotypes of gender roles constrain women’s claims. And the issues of working environments, legislations of labor and gender parity still have been at a lower level.

The statistics of the Gender Gap Index 2023 Japan shows the gender inequalities in various views. It says that ‘In 2023, the overall gender gap index score in Japan reached 0.65 points, which shows an average gender gap of approximately 35 percent. Japan ranked 125th out of 146 countries covered by the global gender gap index, placing the country far behind other G7 nations.’

A crucial key may be improvement of human rights

There are so many issues in Japan: weak yen, violently rising prices for living, declining disposable income, decreasing birth rate, and growing elderly population…etc.. To solve those problems, Japanese people should be more aware of the importance of human rights.

Someone may say that human rights will not make a profit. However, you can see the fact that companies that ignore human rights undermine their trust and consequently lose profits.

I would like to support politicians who appreciate human rights. I hope they will listen to my opinion that we all need enough time to take care of ourselves.