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Lower House panel takes up contentious immigration bill
A Lower House panel Friday began deliberating a controversial bill that would revise the immigration law by strengthening state control over foreigners and illegal entry by shifting responsibility for alien registration to the central government from municipalities and increasing penalties for violators. The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc is trying to get the bill…
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Japan’s Weird Unemployment Solution
When Japanese unemployment edged up to a three-year high of 4.4 percent in February, the government started looking for creative ways to lower it. One solution: get the unemployed out of the country by offering citizenship [sic] buyouts. The program applies only to unemployed people of Japanese descent who were born abroad but now live…
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Japan to Immigrants: Thanks, But You Can Go Home Now
When union leader Francisco Freitas has something to say, Japan’s Brazilian community listens. The 49-year old director of the Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers called up the Brazilian Embassy in Tokyo April 14, fuming over a form being passed out at employment offices in Hamamatsu City, southwest of Tokyo. Double-sided and printed on large…
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Which Side Are You On?: Hakenmura and the Working Poor as a Tipping Point in Japanese Labor Politics
Toshikoshi Hakenmura: A Japanese “Hooverville” In Japan, the week or so from the end of December through the first days of the New Year constitute the longest and most solemn holiday of the year. Mainstream newspapers and TV news programs during this week are typically filled with mundane reports of the events of the season.…
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DPJ slams strict bills on foreign residents
These cards, called “zairyu,” would replace alien registration cards if the bills now before the Diet are passed. Foreigners are currently required to carry their alien cards at all times, but unlike at present, a failure to carry the zairyu could draw a ¥200,000 fine. Also subject to the fine would be failure to promptly…
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Immigration reforms spell Big Brother, JFBA warns
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and nonprofit organizations voiced concern Wednesday that bills to revise immigration laws will violate the human rights of foreign residents. The bills were submitted to the Diet earlier this month and will be deliberated on soon. Critics of the bills also said punishments for violators of the revised laws,…
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Punishing foreigners, exonerating Japanese
Debito Arudou sees growing evidence of judicial double standards If you’re a foreigner facing Japan’s criminal justice system, you can be questioned without probable cause on the street by police, apprehended for “voluntary questioning” in a foreign language, incarcerated perpetually while in litigation, and treated differently in jurisprudence than a Japanese. Statistics bear this out.…
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Marriage rate for non-regular employees half that of regular employees
Single males in non-regular employment have a much lower marriage rate than that of regular employees, a government survey has shown. Moreover, the birth rate is lower among female non-regular workers than their regularly-employed peers, according to the survey. The results of the survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry suggest that the…
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Cabinet team formed to help foreign settlers
Permanent settler status is granted to foreigners of Japanese descent, Japanese who as children were left behind in China after the war and others with extraordinary circumstances. Permanent resident status is given to foreigners who have lived in Japan for a certain period and meet other criteria. Brazilians of Japanese origin are eligible for permanent…
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4,300 foreign workers face job losses
Reflecting the precarious working conditions experienced by many non-Japanese laborers, a recent government survey found roughly 4,300 foreign workers lost, or were expected to lose, their jobs as of December. Over 30 percent of the 486,000 foreign nationals working in Japan are employed as dispatch or contract workers, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare…