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.
A webpage of the symposium now contains new information including report of the symposium and country reports presented. Video clip of the symposium is available at http://c3.unu.edu/unuvideo/?48.
Mr. Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, sent his message to the 8th 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. For whole text of the message, please click HERE.
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.
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 from 1 April 2003.
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:
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.
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As a result of the online poll, following Conventions have been selected as most preferred Conventions to be ratified first by the Japanese government.