In 1800, at the age of 55, Inō Tadataka began to survey Ezo, today’s Hokkaido. He went on survey after survey, up to the tenth, in 1816. The map of Japan’s coasts, Dai Nihon enkai yochi zenzu, known as the Inō map, was completed in 1821, after his death, and presented to the shogunate.
He is said to have walked about 40,000 kilometers in 17 years to survey the country.
Article 66 of Japan’s Industrial Safety and Health Act requires employers to have a doctor examine their workers. The ordinance under the act sets the rhythm. Workers employed on a continuing basis must receive a periodic health examination once within every year.
In 1954, the National Tokyo First Hospital opened ningen dokku, the human dry dock. It was a new system of health examination for the early detection of adult diseases.
In 2020, Japan paid the tokubetsu teigaku kyūfukin, a special cash payment of 100,000 yen for the whole population. The application process began on May 1. Some municipalities printed out the online applications and checked them by eye against their own data, or in pairs, with one person reading aloud.
The city of Chōfu in Tokyo began to accept online applications on May 1. On May 15, it announced that it would stop from May 20, because many applications were flawed or duplicated. A government document dated June 5 reported that 51 municipalities had stopped or suspended online applications.
In kiken yochi kunren, hazard prediction training, a small group talks through the dangers hidden in a workplace or a task, using illustrated sheets or the work itself. The Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association describes how it ends. The group confirms the danger points and key actions by pointing and calling them out, and solves the problem before work begins.
The association presents the training together with its zero-accident campaign, which began in 1973 with the support of the Ministry of Labour. The campaign’s final goal is zero accidents and zero illness.
Before its general meeting of shareholders in June, Hitachi prepares sōtei mondō , anticipated questions and answers. The company writes that their number reaches about 1,000. Preparation starts around March, and rehearsals are held repeatedly from about a month before the meeting.
The legal site Business Lawyers defines sōtei mondō as questions that shareholders could raise, with draft answers, put in writing in advance. It warns of the risks of answers that fall short. The company can be accused of breaching its duty to explain, and the resolutions themselves can be challenged.
In a 2025 survey by tldx Solutions, reported by Web Tantōsha Forum, 88.9 percent of 1,000 respondents aged 20 to 69 said that they had doubted whether they needed to attend a meeting. In a 2024 survey by the company Acall of 600 employees, the share of meetings felt to be truly necessary averaged 39.1 percent.
At Tokyo Station, a Shinkansen train is cleaned in just seven minutes. As a rule, a team of 23 workers takes charge of one train. In that time they line up the seats, collect the trash, wipe the windows and tables, and clean the cabins, the decks, the toilets and the washbasins.
The work became known as the sebun minittsu mirakuru, the seven-minute miracle.
For a handwritten rirekisho, the standard Japanese résumé form, the job site doda gives clear advice about mistakes: “Correction tape and correction fluid are absolutely not allowed. Rewrite it from the beginning.”
The career site of Mynavi agrees: “Basically, correcting a résumé is not acceptable. As a rule, rewrite it whenever possible.”
Ishibashi o tataite wataru (石橋を叩いて渡る): to tap on a stone bridge before crossing it. Even a bridge that looks solid is checked for safety first. Doing things with caution on top of caution.
Sonae areba urei nashi (備えあれば憂いなし): if prepared, no worries. A person who is always ready for an emergency need not worry when one happens.
Nen ni wa nen o ireyo (念には念を入れよ): add care to care. In important matters, take great care that no mistake happens, and then check once more.
Japanese railway workers point at a signal and call out what they see. The practice, shisa koshō, began with steam locomotive drivers of Japanese National Railways who checked signals this way.
In 1994, the Railway Technical Research Institute tested it. Without pointing or calling, the error rate was 2.38 percent. With both, it was 0.38 percent, about one sixth.