Gabriele Vogt

Arbeitsmigration nach Japan: Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen, politischer Diskurs

In 2000 the United Nations published a study named „Replacement Migration – Is it a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?“ which highlights the effects replacement migration may have on the workforce of eight industrial countries and two world regions. For Japan to keep up its workforce, this study finds a replacement migration of up to ten million people per year necessary. This paper examines the legal framework of labor migration to Japan, and shows that labour migration to Japan is very limited by a strict system of visa regulations. This especially holds true for the so-called unskilled labourers. The paper also draws a picture of the current political discourse on the issue of opening Japan’s doors to an international labour force. The positions and arguments of two ministries, the ministry of justice and of foreign affairs respectively, as well as of the Japan Business Federation and the United Nations – prominent actors in this discourse – are being introduced. It will be argued that labour migration as replacement migration seems an unrealistic approach for Japan to tackle its demographic challenge. Too hesitant is the political discourse, too faint-hearted the public opinion, for a new legal framework, which would pave the way for the internationalization of Japan’s workforce, to be created.

Care-Giver Migration to Greying Japan

Japan is among the fastest aging and – as of 2005 – shrinking nations of the world. The life expectancy of Japanese men and women is among the highest, the total fertility rate among the lowest of all industrialized societies. Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR), a think-tank under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, predicts that by 2050 Japan will have lost twelve per cent of its population of 127.7 million. The population decline will be particularly pronounced among the working age population (15-64 years of age). This is what troubles politicians and business leaders most, since a decline in working age population, triggers labor shortages. When accompanied by an increase in elderly population, as it is predicted for Japan, it furthermore puts serious strains on the nation’s social security systems.

Talking Politics: Demographic Variables and Policy Measures in Japan

The three core variables of demographic change: a population’s fertility behaviour, structures of migration and people’s life expectancy, translate into policy fields as family, replacement and old-age policies. The study at hand shows how Japan (one of the most rapidly ageing and shrinking nations) is addressing this demographic change through various policy measures. It will be argued that Japan is putting much effort into old-age policy, thereby addressing the present needs of a growing elderly population. Japan, however, only hesitantly takes upon issues of family and replacement policy. Historical and ideological taboos prove to be too persistent to allow for radical policy changes. These, however, are necessary in order to comprehensively deal with the future challenges of demographic change.

Multiculturalism and trust in Japan: educational policies and schooling practices

Abstract Japans foreign population is growing, and policy-makers need to address the manifold challenges of an emerging multicultural society. Most importantly, this concerns the task to prevent societal frictions from occurring. This article puts Japans preparedness to face the challenge of trust-building between members of different ethnic groups to test. The realm of educational policies and schooling practices will stand at the center of interest. It will be argued that the Japanese approach of an integration policy, with its strong focus on the concept of multiculturalism on a national level of policy-making, falls short of creating opportunities for trust-learning among the members of the societal majority and various minority groups. On a subnational level, however, e.g. in Kanagawa Prefecture, some best-practice examples of trust-learning across ethnic boundaries can nevertheless be identified, and may serve as starting points for future policy reforms.

Social capital in Japan's aging society

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International Migration to Japan: Political and Societal Responses to the Challenge of Integration

This chapter focuses on Japan as a receiving country of international migrants. Despite their small numbers, international migrants play an important role for the Japanese economy, all the while posing the challenge of integration into a society and into governing institutions, which so far have not dealt with issues of a potential ethnic diversification of the nation. This chapter puts Japan’s preparedness to face these multiple challenges to a test by applying a threefold perspective that includes the concepts of regionalism from below, trust-learning, and local citizenship. The degree of openness and accessibility of a path toward citizenship—understood as an avenue of participation in a multicultural society—is explored within one core area of the social rights connected to citizenship, i.e., within the realm of labor market participation. It is argued that Japan, mostly due to a lack of coherent integration policies, which is closely intertwined with a lack of institutionalized support structures, falls short of fostering trust-learning among its diverse societal groups. Yet, examples for successful trust-based multicultural community building can be identified in some subnational entities, where manifold municipal initiatives, based on a regionalism from below, trigger the evolvement of local citizenship.

Population Aging and International Health-Caregiver Migration to Japan

This book introduces Japan’s current policy initiatives directed at eldercare and international labor migration, and, wherever appropriate, it adds a comparative perspective from Germany. The book shows how eldercare is currently being organized and discusses integration policies for foreigners. It studies the policy-making process behind the system, and contextualizes the migration avenue within the strong roots of Japan’s eldercare in local communities and the non-preparedness of the nation to grant local citizenship to international newcomers. Through applying an approach of multi-level policy making, putting a strong focus on the local level and introducing new approaches, this book is of interest to policy makers and scholars in aging, migration, health care, and contemporary Japan.

Outlook: International Health-Caregiver Migration to Japan

The chapters in this book have highlighted the intersection between health-caregiving to the elderly in Japan, and international labor migration to Japan. This concluding chapter serves two purposes: First, it presents the lessons learned from the case study for both these topics, and, moreover, presents what general knowledge could be acquired regarding the process of policy-making in Japan. Second, this chapter presents and discusses three new initiatives that have emerged from within the administration of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe over the past months, and are designed to pose alternative avenues for health-caregiver migration to Japan. They include recruiting foreign workers who have been trained in domestic institutions; expanding the much-criticized program of recruiting international trainees to Japan to encompass the health care sector; and establishing special economic zones with to some degree liberalized hiring policies for foreign workers.

Introduction: Population Aging, Health-Caregiving to the Elderly, and International Labor Migration to Japan

Population aging and population decline have triggered a rapid demographic change in Japan. The strains on the economy in general, and the labor market in particular, are manifold, and prominently present in the health care sector. While the number of elderly who are potentially in need of health-caregiving is on the rise, the number of those willing to enter this profession is on the decline. In light of similar developments, many nations have entered the race for the best-educated health-caregiving professionals on a global labor market. Japan, however, only belatedly and only reluctantly has joined this international competition—and to this day seems ill prepared to be a powerful contestant in this arena. This chapter introduces the research perspective of the book, which is situated at the intersection of population aging, health-caregiving to the elderly and international labor migration to Japan. The book applies a multidisciplinary and multimethod approach in order to study the reasons for the formulation and implementation of an obviously faulty immigration scheme.

International Health-Caregiver Migration to Japan and Germany: Policies Designed to Fail

Japan only recently jumped onto the bandwagon of the global care-chain. Via bilateral treaties, so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), Japan has implemented an avenue of health-caregiver migration. The agreements are designed in a sector-specific and nation-specific manner, and Japan’s current partner countries include Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Each partner country may send up to 1000 health-caregivers per year to work in Japan. This quota, however, has not once been met, giving proof of the system’s low degree of attractiveness to many stakeholders involved. This chapter introduces the system of international health-caregiver migration to Japan, as it was implemented in the late 2000s, as well as numerous revisions that have taken place so far. Specific attention is given to the shortcomings of the system. Drawing on governmental documents as well as expert interviews, this chapter provides insights into the output and outcome of Japan’s EPA-administered migration scheme. By introducing Germany’s rather similar Triple Win Program, a comparative perspective will be added. At the core of this chapter stands the question of why Japan and Germany shy away from implementing coherent migration paths and rather opt for window-dressing schemes without any significant economic impact.