There are a few different types of employees in Japan. Most people want a '正社員', (Seishain) or full company employee position. Seishain's are notoriously diffi

There are a few different types of employees in Japan. Most people want a '正社員', (Seishain) or full company employee position. Seishain's are notoriously difficult and expensive to fire, even if they are in no way productive. To get around this, many companies have increased their reliance on contractors, or 派遣, which can be let go pretty easily. Panasonic could be slicing a large part of their japanese workforce as well by not renewing these contracts, and just not reporting on it, perhaps because of the bad press in japan such measures would generate.