Japan’s freelance tech market is booming, but that growth comes with risk. The Freelance Act now guarantees written contracts, 60-day payment deadlines, harassment protections, and other basic rights—but only if you’re actually a freelancer. Many tech workers are misclassified as contractors when they’re really employees, missing out on both freelancer protections and employee benefits. The law gives you tools to push back: complaint portals, government agencies that can investigate and issue orders, and even public naming of violators. But enforcement is inconsistent, and individual complaints have limits. Collective action through unions or worker networks gets results that going it alone often doesn’t. The law puts rights on paper—whether they mean anything depends on whether you use them. 

Read the full article: Freedom, Risk, and Protection: What Japan’s Freelance Act Really Means for Tech Workers at tokyodev.com 

Also see our article Can Freelancers Join a Union? Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No.