Japan to start encouraging foreign workers to stay longer?
The AFP reports that due to the 27th consecutive decrease in the national birthrate, Japan, notorious for making it difficult for foreigners to enter and stay for any period of time, is going to look at encouraging foreign workers to stay to shore up the Japanese work force.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed a few ideas to help the foreign workers, including an “immigration agency” to help with language lessons, and a reform of training programs. They may have come to think that now, with the world’s lowest ratio of children to the general population at 13.5% (Italy and Germany are next with 14.1%), the workforce in the near future will be in short supply.
Training and language programs are a good start, but is there anything else that the government could try? Anything that would encourage expats to stay in Japan longer? How could more foreign workers be enticed to come and work in this country?
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Good news!
My advice for Japan would be to limit immigration to young workers who come alone and hopefully marry Japanese people and have “haafu” kids to avoid the integration issues you see in Western Europe.
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Sure, but in my opinion it’s every country’s moral obligation to accept refugees, even those coming as families.
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Let’s see … you could try not fingerprinting them all like criminals as they enter the country.
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Al-Qaida, lately reported that Japan could be one of the next countries for a terror attack, now if fingerprints can help prevent that…. wouldn’t it be okay then?
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Big IF. Massive IF. Al Q wouldn’t be so daft as to send people with criminal records.
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they could make it I L L E G A L and E N F O R C E laws pertaining to landlords who WON’T RENT to foreigners!
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There are laws that makes it illegal for a landlord to refuse to rent the room for a foreigner just because he/she is a foreigner; You can sue the landlord and will win the case based on the law.(the constitution #14 civil code #90)
Don’t let an unreliable site on Japan deprive you of your right to sue the landlord.
Kawasaki city has a local law which makes it clear that you have right to rent and in case your right to rent a room is violated because you are a foreigner, the local officials will look into the allegation and intervene.
http://www.city.kawasaki.jp/16/16housei/home/reiki/reiki_honbun/ac40010651.html
(the article 14)
I hope other cities will follow the suit.
Don’t let a misleading site on Japan deprive NJ in Kawasaki of their right to get help from the local government.
It seems there are Japanese landlords who refuse a foreigner without mentioning the reasons to refuse just as some members of foreigner’s association in Japan ban the access to his community without stating the reason , telling half-truth and lies, with no intention to correct them.
Neither case is entirely illegal but both are unfair.
All the landlords need to do is just get guarantors and detailed contracts so that his/her house be used properly. Their fear is ungrounded.
What the narrow-minded J and NJ need is to just to be open to dialogue.
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Oh. Let’s face it.
It is OK in the US to discriminate foreigners and refuse to rent houses to them. Read Fair Housing Law.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/library/sept11.cfm
“In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, landlords and property managers have inquired about the legality of screening housing applicants on the basis of their citizenship status. The Act does not prohibit discrimination based solely on a person’s citizenship status. Accordingly, asking housing applicants to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status during the screening process would not violate the Fair Housing Act. In fact, such measures have been in place for a number of years in screening applicants for federally-assisted housing.”
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Check your bullshit at the door and start comparing apples to apples, please.
At the agent in Japan, after providing my ID and proving I have a legitimate visa, 3 of the 6 apartments I expressed interest in were “difficult” because the landlords were “strict about [dirty stinking] foreigners”
This is racist discrimination, not denying someone a lease because their immigration status is questionable. In the USA, I could sue the agent and the landlord for being so stupid as to admit that race was the basis of their blanket denial.
Not so in Japan, where there is no law against racism.
Now if I waltz in there with NO legal immigration status, I would expect not to be granted a lease, as there would be no way to track me down, and a high likelihood that any day, I would be deported, or just choose to skip out, leaving the landlord stuck with my smelly foreign possessions and no rent.
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Just out of interest, did you actually check into the legal situation, or did you assume that the landlord would not be doing this if there was a law, and so there must be no law? Based on what ponta said, I suspect that although there may be laws against it, of varying clarity, a lot of the time landlords will take advantage of the fact that foreigners don’t know the law, don’t know their rights, and so won’t make a huge fuss.
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Would you read the comment by g?
We are talking about discrimination against foreigners here, which is different from racism. Racism in the US is most common in discriminating against its own citizens of different color.
And as I mentioned, there is no federal law in the US that prohibits discrimination against foreigners.
It is you that should compare apples to apples.
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stereo, instead of addressing the question of there being a problem with Japanese landlords not renting to foreigners, or even even ‘foreign looking’ citizens, why do you drag the laws of the USA into the discussion? You seem to have a classic “if the USA does it, it’s ok for Japan to do it too!” mindset.
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First of i agree with g’s comment, renting to foreigners shouldn’t be a problem to the landlords. I have read about Danny Choos expieriences on his website with that kind of landlord and i would hate to encounter those as it is time consuming and just frustrating.
Secondly, i would do a lot to get to Japan and work there… right now i am facing to change my job specialization JUST to get a job in Japan and move there.
As for what the government could do to make it easier for me, i really don’t know.
I think that will come up once i move there and encounter the problems.
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I think that making laws for fair treatment would be one hell of a start. No one wants to live in a country when they know they’ll be treated as “lesser” just because they themselves aren’t whatever the locals happen to be.
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People, relax. Japan is relatively new to the large-scale immigration experience. Yes, it is a modern, democratic society, but you can’t blame people who are not used to accepting foreigners for being somewhat cautious. Canada, Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. (not forgetting about New Zealand; I’m just sure they have always been more accepting) don’t have the best track records when dealing with Asian immigrants, so don’t expect Japan to welcome you all unconditionally just because you think you’re entitled.
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NZ isn’t perfect either. They used to have a poll tax on Chinese (many decades ago) but now I gather they are increasingly the latest province of China.
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Thanks for the info, overthinker. I just didn’t want to include NZ because I have no clue about their immigration policies, past or present.
Does your saying “the latest province of China” mean that you think their are too many Chinese people in NZ or other immigrant-rich countries? I’m curious.
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Not too many Chinese people per se (though the largest city is I believe about 20% Chinese now, certainly in many areas: it’s been several years since I was there, but there are a lot of Chinese signs) but the heavy reliance on Chinese money (most of these people are language students; most of the rest businessmen buying houses) and the political pressure of their numbers, coupled with the recent FTA deal (the first for China) and the huge potential (and actual) market in China means that the NZ Govt is more inclined than otherwise to toe the CCP line.
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Let me become a citizen without having to jump through all the hoops with bells and whistles.
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おねがいします！
The Japanese government had been talking about the fact that it will be easier for foreigners who speak Japanese to stay in Japan! I think it’s a great idea. Finally, foreigners who make the effort to learn and fully experience the Japanese culture will be rewarded for their hard work!
I also agree with G when he says that the Japense government should make it illegal for Japanese landlords to refuse to rent to foreigners… It is a big issue, and some friends of mine have had to get a massive loan in order to actually buy property in Japan, because it was a nightmoare to try and find a place to rent. They have been lucky enough to have good positions in their work life in order to have the freedom to buy a place, but not everybody is as lucky as my friends, I guess!
Anyway, there are a lot of things that Japan could do in order to make it easier for foreigners to come in. For example, they could make less of a pain to get VISAs to come and viit Japan. I’m sorry, but some friends of mine from Thailand had a lot of issus trying to go to Tokyo, just because she was Thai.
Anyway,
じゃあまた。。。
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why would someone want to learn japanese?
When I try to talk to people they try, excuse me, TRY to speak english instead of japanese. Most natives get nervous when they realize that someone learned their language in 7 years when it took them 26 years to get to the same level. Far more gets done when a foreigner plays dumb.
If you want to come to japan just go down to the local japanese consulate and BUY a visa, the same if you want to leave and come back. WTF, pay to get back in? grrr
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So you are totally native-level fluent, like any 26 year old Japanese? Yeah, that explains why they try to talk English with you….
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Far more gets done when a foreigner plays dumb.
That seemed to be working out real well last time I was down organising things at citibank. It’s an American-owned bank, so you would expect it to have good English facilities, but I got 4 things sorted out speaking Japanese in the time it took another foreign guy to work just one thing out speaking English.
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I actually have some good advice for this kind of situation. If you speak Japanese to someone and they respond to you in English, you should respond, in turn, with “Sou, sou!” (そう、そう！）It makes the person you are talking to feel good that a foreigner understands their English, but it also allows you to easily transition back into Japanese without creating an awkward situation.
The key to doing this though is to create a “wall of Japanese” immediately following your Sou, sou – i.e. don’t give them the opportunity to continue speaking English. Ask your questions in Japanese and continue full force (politely, of course).
I find this works really well, and usually only fails with really stubborn individuals. In those cases, you can politely retreat from the situation and find someone else.
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I have really never had that problem. Maybe as I don’t live in Tokyo, maybe not. But in general they seem to be relieved, if anything (the default language they use is always Japanese, not English, as well).
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I’d like to think my Japanese is pretty good (got through a tricky conversation about taxes today at the city hall), but man, do I get this all the time.
Just the other day I asked for directions at the koban (very politely, I might add), and the middle-aged officer on duty launched into one of the most horrendous English explanations I’ve ever heard. I apologized, said I didn’t understand, and had him do it again in Japanese. I felt bad making him look stupid in front of his two kohai, but he eventually started into what seemed to be pissed off Japanese. (Unfortunately, my “そう、そう” solution doesn’t work in situations like this)
I think people who are interested in you personally or who genuinely want to help you will use Japanese, while those who are out to practice a foreign language will stick with English. To be honest, I admire both groups of people, but I definitely feel more comfortable when I find someone who only wants to use Japanese.
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Out of interest, do you live in Tokyo or one of the major cities? I think that might have something to do with it. I live in a medium-sized city (about the perfect size really: half a million in the city proper, plus a bit of sprawl) and basically the only time I get people trying to talk to me in English is in Tokyo etc, though I have never found them all that stubborn. Like when I checked into a (cheap, of course) hotel in Senju: greeted in English (quite a few foreigners stay there as it’s cheap: about 2,500 or 3,000 a night), but the guy switched right to Japanese as soon as he knew I could speak it.
What I do find funny is how some people like to throw in the odd English word that they know as if it makes it more clear to you. Of course these English words are very simple, so are almost always the single easiest part of what they are saying. I think they’re just either showing off a bit, or just happy to be able to use their Englsh words.
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That incident with the police officer was in Ginza.
I live in Chiba, and people there are really friendly and rarely speak English (which is fine with me). In general, my experiences in Chiba have been really wonderful. I work in Tokyo though, so I’m exposed to quite a variety of language encounters during the day – sometimes good, sometimes bad. Shop clerks usually fear the English encounters so they stick with Japanese, my coworkers need to get work done so they use Japanese, and random people on the street are a mixed bag.
Like I said previously- just the other day I went to my local city hall, and I don’t even think anyone tried to speak English to me. I got all my paperwork done in about 10 min. and was out of there before the crowds started to fill the waiting room. If I went to the Shinjuku city hall though, I’m not sure it would be quite the same experience.
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Much as I expected, although I would have thought Chiba was a bit like Tokyo than not. Ginza of course is one of the most touristy parts of Tokyo and I’ll bet officers who are assigned there are expected to be able to speak English to a decent extent.
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I absolutely HATE that about Japan. It’s the goddamn 欧米コンプレックス and it seems 95% of Japanese people are suffering from it.
I find it especially annoying because English is not my native language and I won’t be at all happy or honoured if you speak it to me and I am in no position to teach it to anyone. Japanese people need to realise that not all white people are americans.
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Needs highly skilled foreign workers.
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Japan should start allowing multiple citizenships.
I would return to Japan and would consider working and living there permanently. However, ever since I turned 20, they enforce a single citizenship rule.
This means I need to lose my EU Passport to renew my Japanese one. I am not willing to do this.
Japanese politicians need to wake up, and realise that there are many nisei (2nd gen Japanese) and hafu (half Japanese) kids all over the world with the same problem.
Many of us a native or fluent in Japanese, and foreign educated and thus would be extremely beneficial to the Japanese workforce.
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If it weren’t for North Korea just across the sea and about a million North Korean special permanent residents living in Japan, Japanese government would think of dual citizenship.
If dual citizenship were allowed right now, there would be a lot of “Japanese citizens” who would be happy to work against the national interest of Japan.
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Most highly skilled gaijin are on a tour of duty ala their head office. By the end of three years we want to get out of here because
1) It is ridiculously hard to get anything (new) done with speed
2) The business cards are stacked against you (tieups between major companies, ridiculous regulations, government ownership or blockage due to “maintaining the public order”).
But this is pervasive in the Japanese society, so other than free up some regulations and be more open to foreign investment, there is not much the government can do.
Identifying “foreign” things is ingrained into the japanese langauge… think about it, if my name appears in Katakana, you know I’m foreign. Or if a product is written that way…
Not sure there is a solution that can be implemented with any efficiency and speed in this country. But dual citizenship would be a huge start…
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