Regarding the Dec. 8 article, "Forced firings hitting JAL crews in prime": "Forced firings" and "forced dismissals" have no meaning in English, since firings are by definition unilateral. These expressions are likely mistranslations of seiri kaiko, which means redundancies or downsizing dismissals. They are one of three types of dismissals in Japan, the other two being disciplinary and ordinary dismissal.

Legitimizing downsizing dismissals requires meeting four conditions that are incorrectly detailed in the article. The problem is that, in recent years, courts judging dismissal disputes have lowered the bar by considering the four conditions as a whole rather than as absolute individual conditions, each of which must be met. This has clearly encouraged Japan Airlines International Co. to try to get away with such an attack on its long-serving workforce.