Japans Multicultural Future Voices from the Grassroots By ARUDOU Debito Associate Professor, Hokkaid

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Japans Multicultural FutureVoices from the
GrassrootsBy ARUDOU DebitoAssociate Professor,
Hokkaido Information University
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You think Japan has no history of bringing in NJ
labor?

• During the Meiji Period, J imported specialists
  to enhance its agricultural, educational, and
  industrial prowess.
• During its prewar and WWII Imperial phase, Japan
  imported millions of citizens of empire (and
  slaves) to man factories and develop
  infrastructure.

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Postwar labor self-sufficiency

• From late 1940s, Japan repatriated 2 million
  former Korean citizens. Created policy against
  importing unskilled labor.
• During high-speed growth of 60s and 70s, tapped
  other elements of the domestic workforce
  elderly, women, and automation.
• Japans economy grew larger than all other Asian
  countries combined.

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Labor shortage of 1980s

• According to the Ministry of Labor, by 1989, 46
  of all domestic manufacturers were labor
  deficient.
• By 1990, this figure rose to 56.
• Working in 3K jobs was frowned upon by Japans
  youth.
• Increasing pressure to lower wages for
  international competitiveness.

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Demographic Pressures

• With the record-low birthrate and record-high
  lifetime expectancies, the UN predicts Japanese
  society will soon have the highest percentage of
  elderly.
• As of 2006, the Health Ministry says Japans
  population is decreasing and will fall from 127
  to 100 million by 2050.

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Choices to be made

• Japans goods were being priced out of the
  market, due in part to labor costs.
• Japans factories at all levels could either
  relocate overseas (hollowing out), or go
  bankrupt.
• Or decrease labor costs by importing cheap NJ
  labor.
• Keidanren etc. began lobbying for this.

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Choices made in 1990

• Institute backdoor NJ labor visas.
• Trainees (gijutsu kenshuusei) would work for
  one year, receive education in Japanese know-how,
  and be exempt from labor laws.
• This meant they worked for half minimum wage with
  no social security.
• If they showed promise, they could graduate up to
  Interns.

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More visa categories

• Interns (kenkyuusei) would work for one or two
  more years as regular employees, not exempt from
  labor laws.
• More costly than Trainees, in 1993 the Practical
  Trainee (ginou jisshuusei) visa was also created
  to extend the Trainee period two more years.
• Far more Trainees hired than Interns.

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More visa categories

• Entertainer visas (kougyou) brought in women
  for the water trades (and earned Japan a
  reputation as a human trafficker).
• Student visas (ryuugaku or shuugaku) also
  brought in labor from China, Thailand, The
  Philippines, Indonesia, other developing
  countries.

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The biggest loophole

• Spouse or Child of Japanese National (nihonjin
  no haiguusha tou) and Long-Term Resident
  (teijuusha) repatriated hundreds of thousands
  of Nikkei Diaspora to explore J heritage.
• Unlike other visas, Nikkei had no restrictions on
  work status or renewal, so they could be employed
  indefinitely.

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The effects of backdoor work

• The registered NJ population has doubled since
  1990 to 2 million plus.
• Official estimates of visa overstayers now around
  220,000, but experts day more than double that.
• Brazilians alone now 300,000 plus, now the third
  largest NJ nationality.

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The effects of backdoor work

• The number of Trainees who graduated up to
  Interns lept from 11,000 in 1999 to 41,000 in
  2006
• The number of Trainees themselves more than
  doubled to 68,305 between 2001 and 2006.
• Legal NJ workers in general number 770,000, 1.3
  of the workforce.

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The Dark Side

• NJ workers coming for training, being put to work
  in unskilled labor.
• NJ workers having bankbooks and passports
  confiscated by employers, also employed as
  illegals and exploited.
• Japan now a tier-two human trafficker, according
  to the US State Department.

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The Dark Side

• NJ working 22-hour days in slave conditions.
  Instances of child labor.
• Denial of basic human rights, such as in one
  factory worship, cellphone use, repatriation of
  wages, meeting with friends, even writing
  letters.
• Exploitative conditions even causing murder
  August 2006 in Chiba.

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An emerging NJ underclass

• NJ children remaining uneducated, since
  elementary education is only guaranteed to
  Japanese citizens.
• Cases of schools refusing NJ children.
• Asahi 2/12/07 Between 20 and 40 or Brazilian
  children are not in primary education. 10,000
  Brazilian children dropped out or never entered.
• Ethnic schools not recognized or funded by MOE.

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Yet Japan relies on foreigners.

• Both the UN and a PM Cabinet survey in 2000
  indicated Japan must import 600,000 workers per
  year to maintain the current standard of living,
  tax base.
• Japanese industry is now dependent on NJ labor.
  Insatiable demand at all levels.
• Thanks to NJ workers, Toyota has become worlds
  2 automaker.

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WITHOUT FOREIGNERS, THE TOYOTA SYSTEM WONT
WORK. --SHUUKAN DIAMONDO JUNE 5, 2004
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DISINCENTIVES FOR NJ TO STAY
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Japan is the only major industrialized nation
without any form of a law against Racial
Discrimination.
DISINCENTIVES FOR NJ TO STAY

• And it shows.

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Wakkanai
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Monbetsu
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Rumoi
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Otaru
Sapporo
Nemuro
Ohtaki-mura
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MISAWA, AOMORI PREF.
AKITA CITY
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ISESAKI CITY, GUNMA PREF.
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KOSHIGAYA, SAITAMA PREF. TODA CITY, SAITAMA PREF.
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OHTA CITY, GUNMA PREF.
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KOFU, YAMANASHI PREF.
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TOKYO OGIKUBO TOKYO AOYAMA DOORI TOKYO
SHINBASHI TOKYO SHINJUKU-KU TOKYO KABUKICHO
DAITOU-SHI, OSAKA PREF
.
KYOTO
.
KURASHIKI CITY, OKAYAMA PREF.
HAMAMATSU, SHIZUOKA PREF.
HIROSHIMA
NAGOYA
KITAKYUSHU CITY FUKUOKA PREF
More information and photos at www.debito.org/rog
uesgallery.html
OKINAWA URUMA CITY
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JAPANESE ONLY signs and rules have been found
at

• Bathhouses, bars, discos, stores, hotels,
  restaurants, karaoke and pachinko parlors, ramen
  shops, barbershops, a swimming pool, a billiards
  hall, a sports store, and a womans footbath
  boutique.

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More on this and other issueswww.debito.org

• ISBN 4 7503 9018 6 English version, Japanese
  version ISBN 4 7503 9001 9

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Shizuoka NPA foreign crime pamphlet 2001
www.debito.org/TheCommunity/shizuokakeisatsuhandbo
ok.html
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Off-color NPA notices warning the public against
foreign bagsnatchers and knifers (found at bank
ATMs and subways)

www.debito.org/TheCommunity/communityissues.htmlp
olice
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TOCHIGI PREFECTURE COAST GUARD PUBLIC NOTICE (MAY
2007) PROTECT OUR NATION AND HEAD THEM OFF
AT THE SHORES COOPERATE IN STOPPING ILLEGAL
OVERSTAYS AND ILLEGAL ENTRANTS
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Statements by our politicians

• A million Chinese, Koreans, etc., all thieves
  and murderers, are in Japan... making Kabukicho a
  lawless zone. (Dietman Etoh Takami Jul 12 2003)
• "Given the exceptional atmosphere of the 2002
  World Cup, we must face the possibility of
  unwanted babies fathered by foreigners who rape
  our women. (Miyagi Pref. Assemblyman Konno
  Takayoshi Jun 27 2001)

• Foreigners are all sneaky thieves. As Tokyo
  Gov. Ishihara cracked down on them, they flowed
  into Kanagawa Prefecture. K. Gov Matsuzawa Nov 2
  2003)
• Roppongi is now virtually a foreign
  neighborhood. Africans --I don't mean
  African-Americans--who don't speak English are
  there doing who knows what. This is leading to
  new forms of crime such as car theft. We should
  be letting in people who are intelligent. (Tokyo
  Gov. Ishihara, Feb 19, 2007)

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Yet still NJ keep immigrating

• Every year we have a net intake of around 50,000
  registered NJ, now 45 straight years of record
  numbers.
• Regular Permanent Residents (ippan eijuusha)
  will probably surpass Special Permanent
  Residents (the Zainichi generational
  foreigners) by 2007.
• Around 20,000 naturalizing per year.

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NEWCOMERS SUSTAIN SECTORS WHERE JAPANESE ARENT
ABLE OR WILLING TO PICK UP THE SLACK. --NEWSWEEK
SEPT 11, 2006
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Japans invisible kokusaika

• There are around 40,000 international marriages
  per year in Japan.
• International children do not show up in
  statistics on registered foreigners. Of
  course not. They are citizens.
• International children are also invisible
  statistically. The Japan Census Bureau does not
  measure for ethnicity.

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WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

• (Amy (left) and Anna Sugawara Aldwinckle 1996)
• Born and raised in Japan. Native speakers of
  Japanese. Japanese citizens.

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Whats being done to help?

• Local govts (Hamamatsu Sengen 2001) are demanding
  the national govt help guarantee easier NJ access
  to education, social security, and immigration.
• Local govts are getting grants (albeit temporary)
  to help NJ settle.
• NGOs and other parts of Japans emergent civil
  society are making abuses public.
• Japanese mass media paying attention.
• LDP former MOJ Vice Minister Kouno Taro The
  visa situation is a swindle (ikasama).

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Whats being done to help?

• MOJ project team book Basic Ideas for Accepting
  Non-Japanese (Nov 2006) Make it easier for
  residents to become Permanent.
• Keidanren (2004 and 2006) Guarantee human
  rights, prevent discrimination, quality control,
  bilateral labor agreements in targeted job
  sectors
• Ministries currently debating to fix visa
  system by 2009.

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The current ministerial debate

• MHLW Tweak Give Trainees labor rights
  protections, language tests, renewal contingent
  on acculturation.
• METI Paint job Keep present system, monitor
  to prevent abuses.
• MOJ Slice Abolish complicated system, create
  clear revolving-door labor visa fixed at three
  years nonrenewable.
• (MOJ is the most powerful in this arena)

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Underlying Assumptions

• NJ workers are temporary, and are not a solution
  for J decreasing population.
• Despite arduous tests to qualify to stay, NJ
  workers will not be assimilated as residents or
  citizens.
• NJ will want to come to Japan and work even only
  as dead-end factory workers.
• J industry will have incentives to care about
  training NJ workers if theyre only here for
  three years tops? Not.

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The future Big vs. Small Japan

• Former Tokyo Immigration Bureau Director Sakanaka
  Hidenoris two scenarios
• www.debito.org/
• sakanakaonimmigration.htm

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Small Japan in 2050

• Population 100 million, of that NJ 3 mil.
• Japan no longer Asias leader, but enjoys a
  degree of influence as rich country.
• Elderly, frugal population paying high taxes and
  leading simple lives in uncrowded country
• Economy no longer dynamic, politics quiet and
  conservative.

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Big Japan in 2050

• Population 120 million, of that NJ 20 mil.
• Japan vibrant, diverse, crowded multicultural
  society, ethnicities mostly Chinese, Indians, and
  other Asians.
• Younger, dynamic society still pursues wealth,
  has ethnic strife, employment sectors divided
  into ethnic specialties.
• Immigration Agency improves ties with neighbors,
  degree of Balkanization of society.

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My prognostications

• The Small Japan scenario will not come to pass.
• Japan is still hooked on the profit motive, and
  the belief that industrial prowess and
  self-sufficiency has made this society rich.
• The demographics on both sides of the nationality
  fence are unoverrideable, given international
  marriage and the unstoppably decreasing J
  population.
• NJ workers and immigrants will continue to be
  wanted, and will continue to come.

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Download full version of this powerpoint
presentation at
www.debito.org/japansmulticulturalfuture.ppt
My paper substantiating all this
at www.debito.org/ASCJPaper2007.doc
THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THIS PRESENTATION.