The Constitutions of Japan guarantee the “right to live”. Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution explicitly describes the fundamental principle that "all citizens have the right to a minimum standard of healthy and cultured life." Article 27 expresses labor rights and obligations as well as standards relating to working conditions. In the same article, the right to work imposes two obligations on the government: to promote opportunities for workers to exercise their skills and abilities, and to provide livelihoods to workers who have no opportunity to work.41 The article 28 provides for three fundamental rights of workers: the right of workers to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike. It further provides for legislative provisions to regulate standards of wages, working hours, breaks and other working conditions. Japanese labor law includes a number of laws aimed at regulating employment practices. In order to enforce labor laws, the government has certain enforcement mechanisms, such as the judicial system, administrative agencies, the Labor Bureau, and the Labor Relations Commission. Various labor-related laws protect labor rights in Japan. Labor legislation includes general labor laws and special labor laws. There are many other labor laws that fall into these categories. These labor laws can be grouped as follows: laws that cover workers' rights in relation to unions; laws to protect workers, covering individual employment of workers and protection of workers before and after the application of employment policy; and employment laws, which regulate the external market.42 (see also the summary of labor law presented in Figure 2.2 below). In order to regulate employment security to protect labor rights, laws...... middle of paper... ...empowered to prevent and resolve labor disputes through mediation, conciliation or arbitration. In addition, two laws regulate non-regular employment: the Worker Dispatching Enterprises Act and the Part-Time Workers Act. As the number of non-regular employees has increased in recent years, these laws constitute “guidelines” to protect their rights at the company level. In order to ensure work free from exploitation and hazards and to maintain standards, there are laws, such as the Minimum Wage Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Labor Standards Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. The figure above shows the inter-relationships and characteristics of laws governing industrial relations practices in Japanese companies. With the constantly changing socio-economic situation of the country, the government makes periodic changes to laws and regulations..