ILO Office in Japan news archives

News archives - 2005

Commemoration of 50th Anniversary of Reopening of the ILO Office in Japan - Symposium on "Changing world of work and the ILO today" (Tokyo, 27 September 2005) & Photo Exhibition (Tokyo, 5-30 September 2005)
Posted on 16 December 2005 - The ILO Office in Japan (formerly known as the ILO Tokyo Branch Office) was established in 1923, but was closed subsequent to Japan's withdrawal from the ILO in 1940. It was reopened in 1955 after Japan rejoined the ILO in 1951 following the World War II. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of reopening of the office, the ILO Office in Japan has organized a symposium and an ILO historic photo exhibition in September in the UN House. A webpage containing speeches of the symposium speakers and a message from Mr. Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, to the exhibition has been created.

Symposium on Globalization and the Future of Youth in Asia (Tokyo, 2-3 December 2004)
Updated on 27 May 2005 - A webpage of the symposium now contains new information including report of the symposium and country reports presented.

• Video clip of the symposium

News archives - 2003

ILO Director-General sends message to the 8^th RENGO Biennial Convention
Mr. Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, sent his message to the 8^th Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO) Biennial Convention (Tokyo, 2-3 October 2003) thanking RENGO's contribution to the ILO technical cooperation activities and expressing the hope that RENGO and Japan would be a model for reconciling differences and finding solutions through democratic means and social dialogue.

Japanese Youth Workers' Symbol
ILO Office in Japan was presented a flag of Japanese Youth Workers' Symbol from Mr. Tsunesuke Aoi (photo: second from right), Representative of Support Association of Japanese Youth Workers' Symbol, who visited our office on 25 September 2003. The mark designed by Mr. Yukio Yagi of Toyokawa City, Japan, was selected by the Japanese government in 1972 as Japanese official symbol for youth workers as a result of an open contest with 6,517 entries. This blue mark symbolizes capital letter "W" which stands for "work", "word" and "world". The three circles in the top signify three people to symbolize solidarity; and the two white areas in the middle signify drops of sweat from hard work. The Support Association, which objective is to disseminate the mark through the world, was established by Mr. Aoi, teacher of Mr. Yagi when he attended junior high school, who believes that "the mark, which concept is universally understandable, would contribute to bring peace to the world". The Association has decided to present the flag to the ILO hoping that the mark would help to create an environment for dialogue led by the United Nations.

Change of office name

Due to the reorganization of ILO field structure, the name of our office changed from ILO Tokyo Branch Office to ILO Office in Japan effective on 1 April 2003.

News archives - 2002

ILO at Inpaku
The ILO Tokyo Branch Office pavilion at internet exposition "Inpaku," organized by the government of Japan, closed successfully on 31 December 2001. Following are some of its results:

• Decent work calendar design contest
  

  Calendar design by Ms. Motoyo Yamashita, which won the top prize

  We have received 127 entries for the contest, which was held with the theme "Work in the 21st century - towards decent work." The work below by Ms. Motoyo Yamashita, New York, has won the top prize. We will produce a notepad with 2002 calendar using Ms. Yamashita's design. The notepad/calendar will be distributed free on request.
• Top ten Conventions Japanese people wish the government to ratify first
  As a result of the online poll, following Conventions have been selected as top ten Conventions, that Japanese people wish the government to ratify first.