From Paris on May Day: Rethinking work and solidarity in Japan |
Paris – May Day came and went last Friday in the City of Lights, prompting me to reflect on its meaning here in France and in my native Japan.
On May 1, the city slows, but not quietly. Union banners stretch across boulevards, marches move through the streets, and the scent of muguet — lily of the valley — drifts from roadside stalls. May Day here is not a footnote. It is visible, contested and shared — and, since 1947, a national holiday enshrined in law.
For a Japanese observer who has spent many years in France and is again in Paris this spring, the contrast with home is striking. In Japan, May 1 passes with little notice beyond small gatherings of union members and activists. May Day exists, but at the margins.
This difference is more than cultural. It reflects how societies organize work, representation and solidarity. And as Japan undergoes profound demographic and economic change, it is a contrast worth revisiting.
Japan’s postwar labor system rested on a distinctive foundation: large firms, long-term employment and enterprise unions. For many workers, especially during the high-growth decades, the company was more than an employer. It was a community.
Labor disputes were largely resolved within the firm. Stability was exchanged for loyalty, and confrontation rarely spilled into the streets. In such a system, nationwide mobilization — including May Day — was not central. The institutional logic of Japanese capitalism simply did not require it.
But that logic is changing.
Over the past three........