Ohara & Furukawa

Employers in Japan must provide at least 45 minutes of break time for work days that last over 6 hours and at least 1 hour of break time for a work day lasting longer than 8 hours.

Japanese labor law generally requires that employees receive at least one holiday per week. However, this is not always practical in some industries. Some jobs require employees to work continuously during a busy season to take advantage of favorable economic or consumer conditions. For example, real estate companies often find themselves busiest during the spring when people graduate, get a job and move into a new apartment. Likewise, many food related industries are busiest during harvest season and have much slower business in the winter.

The right to form a union is protected by the Constitution of Japan as well as the Labor Union Law. Employees are allowed to form unions in Japan as long as the union is formed independently, mostly by employees and its main purpose is improving the working conditions and economic status of the employees.