Immigration Laws: October, 2003 - Number #11

Japan's labor force peaked in 1998, and is projected to decline at an accelerating rate as the population falls from 128 million to 100 million in 2050. If current trends continue unchanged, to maintain the population at current levels Japan would need to accept about 25 million immigrants over the next 50 years. At this time, only about one percent of Japan's residents were born abroad.

However, today's migrants say that they are not accepted as Japanese even if they learn the language and "act Japanese." The educational system and employers continue to discriminate against foreigners, and many Japanese experts say that Japan is incapable of absorbing more than a trickle of immigrants.

The 280,000 Japanese-Brazilians are the second-largest group of foreigners in Japan, after Japanese-Koreans, many of whom have lived in Japan for decades. Takeyuki Tsuda's six-chapter book, "Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective," reviews the experiences of Brazilians descended from Japanese migrants a century ago who began to return to Japan in the late 1980s. Tsuda concludes that, instead of becoming Japanese, the Japanese-Brazilians became transnationals, with identities in both Japan and Brazil.

Japan discourages females from becoming professionals: 40 percent of Japanese women work, but they hold only about nine percent of managerial positions, compared with about 45 percent in the United States, and women earn only 65 percent as much as men in Japan. Even when companies provide benefits for mothers, many do not take them for fear of being perceived as disloyal to the company; the work culture in Japan often requires evening work.

The Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education in July 2003 warned language schools not to advertise that Chinese students can work while they learn Japanese. Foreign students are allowed to work while studying in Japan.

Korea. Korea's first guest worker program was approved in August 2003, ending a decade of debate over whether to bring unskilled foreigners into the country as trainees who do not earn at least the minimum wage or as workers who do. Beginning on August 1, 2004, Korea will now have two programs that allow employers to hire foreign workers- the existing trainee program, and the new program, which is expected to improve conditions for foreign workers.

The 7,000 firms that currently hire foreign trainees can continue to do so, and an additional 160,000 firms will be able to hire foreign workers on one-year contracts, renewable up to three years. Foreigners are expected to leave after three years, including the 200,000 who have already been in Korea that long.

About 80 percent of the foreigners working in Korea are unauthorized; 90 percent work in firms that have fewer than 30 employees. The estimated 230,000 illegal foreigners in Korea for less than three years by March 31, 2003 must report to local Employment Service offices with proof of a Korean job in September-October 2003 to obtain two-year work permits. The 65,000 foreigners in Korea more than three years but less than four must leave Korea, but they will be allowed quick re-entry if they voluntarily report themselves by August 31, 2003.

In order to protect job opportunities for Koreans, the new guest workers will be limited to manufacturing, fisheries and farming. Newcomers will arrive under MOUs that Korea plans to sign with 10 countries, including China, Mongolia and Bangladesh. Korean employers must recruit locally for at least one month before receiving labor shortage certificates on which they can specify desired foreign worker qualifications. The Labor Ministry is then supposed to provide a list of potential foreign workers, the employer selects a migrant, and the migrant travels to Korea after he completes an orientation course in his country of origin.

Beginning in November 2003, the government promises a massive crackdown on illegal migrants and their employers; Korean employers of unauthorized foreign workers are subject to three years in prison and fines of up to 20 million won.

Advocates say that there are 300,000 North Koreans in China, and the US Senate is considering a proposal to resettle many of them in the US.

Kim Sung-mi, "Foreign workers required to report," Korea Herald, August 18, 2003. Yoo Dong-ho, "Dual Foreign Worker System May Cause Problems in Workplaces," Korea Times, August 1, 2003. Howard W. French, "Insular Japan Needs, but Resists, Immigration," New York Times, July 24, 2003. Tsuda, Takeyuki. 2003. Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland; Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective. Columbia University Press. www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/