Japanese: 労働基準監督署 （ろうどうきじゅんかんとくしょ）
Tsukuba is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Tsuchiura Labor Standards Inspection Office.
Location[]
The Labor Standards Inspection Office is located off Route 125 across the street from the Tsuchiura Police Station. Turn left off Route 24 (Tsuchiura Gakuen Sen) coming from Tsukuba, head north on Route 125. You'll see landmarks such as Tsuchiura First Junior High School, the Municipal Museum, and Dai-ichi Kagu Furniture Store. Keep driving until the second traffic signal. Turn right after passing through the intersection fronting Joyo Bank and the police station. You'll see the office on your immediate left. It's a small beige colored building.
Tips[]
See the Bar Association Legal Consultation Services page. The same preparation tips regarding what to bring will serve you well here. Although you don't need an appointment, it is recommended that you go early in the day if you have a consult(soudan). It is possible that someone there will be able to read documents in English, however it is best to have an interpreter there if you can't speak Japanese.
This government agency is the lead agency dealing with issues relating to both the laborer and the employer. If you have a labor dispute, this would definitely be the first place you would go to get general and legal advice. It's best to get them involved as soon as serious problems/questions arise between you and your employer. Enforcement of labor laws, legal interpretation of statutes and case precedence, and workers compensation, are just some of the areas that the Labor Standards Inspection Office administers under its jurisdiction. They also provide formal third-party mediation services in labor and management disputes, provided a petition is made. This Japanese version of alternative dispute resolution is called "Assen."
When things go sour between you and your employer, and you do decide to visit the Labor Standards Inspection Office, it would be advisable to do things discretely. Although you're protected somewhat by law from harassment from your company, the fact your seeking legal advice from this office is not something you should mention to ANY of your coworkers. Nor should it be used as a threat.
Always keep an eye on the big picture and your standing as a non-Japanese laborer working on an employer-sponsored visa. A typical scenario would find you working under a 1- to 3-year work visa, with limited savings, living in a company-guaranteed apartment, and maybe benefiting from other company-sponsored perks. For a majority of foreign laborers, you're at a disadvantage in terms of language ability and an intimate support network. If you do have a dispute with your employer, consider your options with regard to your dispute and your overall "standing" in terms of maintaining your basic livelihood in Japan carefully.
Keep in mind that although the Labor Standards Inspection Office has enforcement powers, but much of it is said to be advisory and discretionary which means there's no guarantee they'll step in to help you in any given labor dispute, especially if much it is undocumented and hearsay. From an employer's perspective, for example, 20 employees can easily be encouraged to become 20 "witnesses" or 20 "I dunnos" versus one "troublemaker." (For the same reasons, it can be added that attorney's will be wary of taking on individual labor/management disputes because their messy, time-consuming, with little financial reward.)
Instead of starting a battle of attrition with an employer who will most likely not back down and has greater financial resources, it may be smarter to just fall back, regroup, take a hundred deep breaths and move on. Every individual labor dispute has to be judged on its own merits and such, so some of what is written here will come across as cynical. The writer qualifies the above by encouraging laborers who do have inquiries of a general nature, as well serious suspicions regarding illegal/unfair activity to go feel free to seek advice from the Labor Standards Inspection Office. Know your labor rights and exercise them!!!
Just remember that answering blow for blow, or in this case, employer directives,ambiguous/unwritten contracts, and exploitive company policies by spouting rules and regulations you received from this agency may only make a bad situation worse. Know when to stop plugging leaks in the sinking boat with your finger and know when to just jump ship.