Immigration Laws: October, 2000 - Number #15

Japan's population, 127 million in 2000, is expected to shrink after 2009. Taichi Sakaiya, head of the Economic Planning Agency, says that: "In the face of an aging society, Japan must accept foreign human resources. Not only skilled workers, but a wide range of workers." Susumu Takahashi, chief economist at Japan Research Institute, says "Unless we accept a substantial number of foreign workers, it would be impossible to make up for a labor shortage in the future."

Atsushi Seike, professor of labor economics at Keio University in Tokyo, says that "We should encourage talented people like lawyers and academics, but if Japanese firms want to increase foreigners just to do manual or dirty work at low pay, that's a problem." The Japan Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, the nation's biggest labor organization, in 2000 recast its policy on foreign labor to support skilled immigration.

Earlier in 2000, the Japanese government proposed making it easier for foreigners with college degrees to enter Japan; the Justice Ministry, which controls immigration law in Japan, is developing regulations to implement the proposal.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan began an internal debate on whether to give permanent foreign residents-- many of whom are Korean nationals who were brought to Japan in the years before and during the World War-- the right to vote in local elections. There are almost 650,000 Koreans living in Japan.

The proposed legislation is expected to fuel the sensitive issue of foreign workers and illegal immigrants in Japan. With Japan's shrinking population, it has been proposed that the large number of practical nursing jobs be filled by foreign workers, such as caring for the elderly. Until recently, it was the duty of children to take care of their elderly parents. With changing values and the falling birth rate, this is no longer the case and the government faces the prospect of a soaring bill for nursing care.

Ken Hijino, "Tokyo debates voting rights for foreigners," Financial Times, September 29, 2000.
Tatsuo Ito, "Japan wrestles with immigration, recruiters scan Asia," Bloomberg, September 28, 2000.
Michiyo Nakamoto, "A county growing old," Financial Times, September 19, 2000.
"The door opens, a crack," The Economist, September 2-8, 2000.