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Japan's Future as an International, Multicultural Society: From Migrants to Immigrants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Arudou Debito
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Summary

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Despite an express policy against importing unskilled foreign labor, the Government of Japan (GOJ) since 1990 has been following an unacknowledged backdoor “guest worker” program to alleviate a labor shortage that threatens to become chronic. Through its “Student”, “Entertainer”, “Nikkei repatriation”, “Researcher”, “Trainee”, and “Intern” Visa programs, the GOJ has imported hundreds of thousands of cost-effective Non-Japanese (NJ) laborers to stem the “hollowing out” (i.e. outsourcing, relocation, or bankruptcy) of Japan's domestic industry at all levels.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 10 , October 2007 , e24
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2007

References

Notes

[1] The introduction to this paper is substantiated by Takeyuki Tsuda's, “Reluctant Hosts: The Future of Japan as a Country of Immigration”.

[2] This background was part of the focus of my Masters' of Pacific International Affairs degree in International Relations Japan, awarded 1991 by the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California San Diego. Further reading on the dynamics involved may be found in contemporary sources such as Robert Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton University Press 1987) and his updates.

[3] See the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)'s writeup on their Technical Trainee Program.

[4] Tsuda paragraph 20.

[5] Article available in its entirety in Japanese here.

[6] See a list of papers on international migration, some dealing with Japan, from the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego here, and also works by authors such as Keiko Yamanaka of University of California, Berkeley.

[7] Please see here.

[8] Please see here.

[9] Even Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro, a public decrier of unfettered immigration, has called for a clear policy towards immigration. See Arudou, “Taking the ‘Gai’ out of ‘Gaijin‘”, Japan Times January 24, 2006, or Ishihara's news conference of December 22, 2005.

[10] For more information on the Hamamatsu Sengen, please see here.

[11] Please see here and page down

[12] Please see here.

[13] Please see here.

[14] Please see here.

[15] Tsuda paragraph 22

[16] Please see here.

[17] Please see here.

[18] “Nagase enters foreign-worker feud” The Asahi Shinbun May 17, 2007. Please see here.

[19] “Crack in the Door: An aging Japan warms to foreign workers”, The Wall Street Journal May 25, 2007. Please see here.

[20] Please see here.