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30% of Tokyo nursing homes use foreigners
More than 30 percent of nursing homes in Tokyo are hiring foreign caregivers, according to a survey by a social welfare body. The Tokyo Council of Social Welfare found that 196 foreign workers are employed at 101 of the capital’s elder care facilities. The survey covered 389 facilities and drew responses from 316. Japan recently…
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Immigration policy to favor wealthy, skilled
To prepare for the expected population decline, the Justice Ministry plans to welcome highly educated professional foreign workers, but it will make entry tougher for descendants of Japanese. The planned new immigration policy, based on a point system, is intended to maintain Japan’s future economic growth by taking in more skilled foreigners, such as researchers,…
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Ueda against letting foreigners vote
Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda said Tuesday he is against a bill that would give permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections. “I have long been opposed to such a bill. I don’t think it is a matter to be decided by a majority of votes (in the Diet),” Ueda said. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100120a8.html
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Born in Japan, but ordered out
Fida Khan, a gangly 14-year-old, told the court that immigration authorities should not deport him and his family merely because his foreign-born parents lacked proper visas when they came to Japan more than 20 years ago. During the past two decades, his Pakistani father and Filipino mother have held steady jobs, raised children, paid taxes…
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Foreign suffrage bill bound for Diet
The Hatoyama government on Monday decided to submit to the ordinary Diet session that opens Jan. 18 a bill that would allow permanent foreign residents to vote in local elections. If the divisive bill is submitted, New Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party, two opposition parties that have called for such voting rights, are expected…
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Assemblies say ‘no’ to foreign suffrage
Fourteen prefectural assemblies have adopted statements opposing legislation that would give permanent foreign residents in Japan the right to vote in local elections, The Asahi Shimbun has learned. The statements were adopted from October to December after the Democratic Party of Japan, which favors foreign suffrage, took power from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. Of…
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New real estate guarantor service set up for foreign residents
A Tokyo non-profit organization has set up a new real estate guarantor service for foreign residents negotiating Japan’s notoriously discriminative housing system. The service, the first of its kind, is set up by the Information Center for Foreigners in Japan and will start offering guarantor services in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures in South Korean and…
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Human rights in Japan: a top 10 for ’09
They say that human rights advances come in threes: two steps forward and one back. 2009, however, had good news and bad on balance. For me, the top 10 human rights events of the year that affected non-Japanese (NJ) were, in ascending order: 7) ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ (tied) Accused murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi and convicted embezzler…
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Population drops for 3rd year
Japan’s population fell by 75,000 in 2009, decreasing for the third straight year and dropping at the fastest rate since the end of World War II. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s annual population estimate, the pace of decrease accelerated in 2009 as the 1,144,000 deaths–an increase of 2,000 from 2008–outpaced the 1,069,000…
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Population probably shrank even more in 2009, ministry estimates
Japan’s population probably shrank further in 2009 as births fell by roughly 22,000 to about 1,069,000, the health ministry said in estimates released Thursday. “The trend of increasing population decline is expected to continue in the future as the number of deaths rises due to the aging of the population, while the number of women…