Ageism saps Japan's work force; Discrimination unchallenged, even among U.S. companies.

After losing his full-time job at a shipbuilding company more than a decade ago, Hoji Fujita never got a second chance. Mr. Fujita took one part-time job after another to survive, but the older he became, the fewer opportunities he had, so he has had to live on the street for nine years.

"It can't be helped," he said with a vacant stare in the corner of an underground passage in Ikebukuro Station, where he often sleeps.

The station is a major Tokyo transfer hub where four private railroads meet.

Mr. Fujita is one of a growing number of Japanese who are victims of job-related age discrimination. Most companies in Japan, including American firms, set age limits on employment, and the practice goes unchallenged. Few political or business leaders have objected publicly to age discrimination.

The government and the press, two of the most influential institutions in society, have no qualms about age discrimination, and no laws prohibit it.

An official at one American insurance company said his firm finds it increasingly difficult to hire young people because of their decreasing numbers. At another American company, he said, only about 10 of the 1,500 employees are in their 20s. "

Japanese employees are concerned about their company's future, but Americans are not concerned at all," he said.

Many company officials acknowledge that age limits are a form of discrimination, but say they intend to continue the employment practice because laws do not forbid it.

One major American corporation explicitly said that it has no age limit, though its Web site noted one requirement for job applicants is to be younger than 30 or 35, depending on the type of work. A public relations official with the corporation said these are not age limits.

siok koon