Japanese government offers to pay travel expenses of unemployed foreigners who want to leave Japan
The Asahi reports (in Japanese) that the government has decided to provide travel expenses to unemployed foreigners of Japanese descent who want to leave Japan:
厚生労働省は３１日、失業した日系人に、母国への帰国旅費として１人３０万円（扶養家族には２０万円）を支給すると発表した。雇用情勢の悪化で仕事を失い、日本語が話せないために再就職が難しい日系人が急増しているため。４月１日から全国のハローワークなどで申請を受け付ける。
失業手当の受給期間が３０日以上残っている人には１０万円（６０日以上なら２０万円）を上積みする。ただし、旅費を受け取って帰国した場合、日系人の身分に基づく在留資格での再入国はできない。
The offer will apparently only apply to foreigners living in the country on Nikkei visas who already live in Japan and became unemployed before April 1st. 300,000 yen will be paid to the head of the household (200,000 for each dependents) to cover the cost of purchasing plane tickets back to their home country. Those who are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits will be given lump sum payments before they leave. Those who accept the payments sacrifice their right to use their Japanese heritage as a means of obtaining visas when entering Japan in the future. It will be, in effect, a ban on re-entering Japan for those who lack the qualifications for other types of visas.
Jiji Press is reporting that unemployed foreigners who want to stay in Japan will be offered job training and Japanese language courses.
Further details are available on the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare website: 1, 2.
[hat tip to Darin]
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Diaper-headed Man Robs Convenience Store
Dolphin Blooper Video
Baby Monkey Rides Wild Boar
Is That Castle Burning?
Wild Boar Attacks Buddhist Temple
Golgo 13 Monkey Dies
China Favors Knock-off Arita-yaki Porcelain Over Authentic Arita-yaki
Japanese Man Rollerblades Across America
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to Feature Takashi Murakami Balloons
Weird English Conversation
Online Coupon Sharing For Tech-savvy Japanese
Girls Generation in Japan
No one’s being forced to leave, but those who do want to leave but can’t are being given a helping hand. Good idea!
The clause about them not being able to come back in on a Japanese Heritage visa is also pretty good I think. They had a chance to return to Japan to live, they failed, and if they want another chance they have to work for it (ie. getting a work visa etc).
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is quite ironic how history is repeating itself … many of the ancestors of these Japanese-Brazilians were “encouraged” to leave Japan for South America as they were deemed “undesirable” (eg. they were burakumin, unemployed coal miners possibly sympathetic to communist or labor movements, or socialists)
Rate this comment:
0 
0
That’s cruel somehow.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
How in the world is it cruel???
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Wouldn’t it be more cruel to keep them in japan without money if they don’t want to?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
How come they don’t find a job in Japan seriously? Is there discrimination? Are they saying that they are lazy and don’t want to work or too dumb to work? Or is Japan is out of work?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Out of work. Totally.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By the way this is for 日系 (nikkei) only. Sorry whiteys.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
FYI
Most Europeans, Americans want jobless immigrants to leave: Poll
Kate Kelland , Reuters
Published: Monday, March 16, 2009
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/regina/story.html?id=1394810
House: Non-EU Workers Must Leave Netherlands when Contract Ends
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/181208_1.htm
Layoffs mean more than lost wages for H-1B visa holders
By Pete Carey
Mercury News
Posted: 02/01/2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11593500
As part of a stimulus package passed last month for reviving the economy, President Barack Obama signed a new law, named “Employ American Workers Act”, which makes it difficult for the companies having received government bailout funds to hire H-1B foreign workers.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Mar232009/national20090323125801.asp
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Not quite the same thing, is it?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
not quite the same things but related to the topic.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Perhaps, but missing the main point of the topic, which is not the GOJ trying to get rid of foreign workers per se, but trying to get of the nikkei workers it tried to get over in the first place.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Even if these links were relevant, doesnt it make sense to actually wait until some hapless non-japanese actually comments “only in japan” (or something similar) before you attempt the relativity defence of Japan policy?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Doesn’t it make sense to post it to put it perspective before hapless non-Japanese actually writes “unique nihon/nihonjin -ron?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
No, it doesnt. Rather, it might make one wonder if you have some sort of nativist axe to grind.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Why do you think it doesn’t? You’ve seen some hapless non-Japanese actually commenting “only in japan”. No? Isn’t that why you mentioned them? Have you never seen such non-Japanese?
Who is this “one”? Clueless people who think Japanese uyoku is speaking out for freedom and democracy against dictatorship?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Oh and what is this “the relativity defence of Japan policy”?
Is that a new defence useless aqua-man is using ?
Doesn’t it make sense to actually wait until someone use “the relativity defence of Japan policy”
Rate this comment:
0 
0
ポンタさん、もういい加減にしろよ。出人が大嫌いのは分かるけど（僕もそうだし）、こんな大人げなしな”オメエらもやっているやろが！”の繰り返し反論はつまらない。やめてくれよ。アホくさっなストーカーみたいやねん。
Rate this comment:
0 
0
LBさん。
まず、議論として、「お前らやっているやろうが」そのことを前提に議論を進めていただきたい、といっているだけであって、それを前提に両者を批判する、というのは全くかまいません。だから、共闘しましょう、ということでも構わない。これはこれで一理ある。
そのように日本を母国と同様に批判してほしい、と従前からことあるごとに述べさせていただいてきた。
にもかかわらず、母国の社会事情にも日本の社会事情にもうとく、かつ、日本を蔑視する発言が多すぎた。
また、他国の事情あるいは背景について言及することはある一国の事情を評価するさいの重要な資料である。
仮に該当する国の関連事情を指摘されてなぜ不快になるのかわからない。逆に、出身国の不都合を指摘されると、日本の不都合を指摘できない、というもおかしい。仮にそのような傾向があるなら、そうした日本に対する批判は、日本叩きのためだけの、日本バッシングの具にしているにすぎないことを証明しているのではないでしょうか？
例えば、上記に
なるコメントがある。こうしたコメントは投稿者の母国の事情などを指摘すれば、多分こうした”単純な”悪意あるコメントはでてきにくいでしょう。こうした日本に対して an ax to grindを隠し持っているモンスター外国人らが、なぜか、動揺するほどに、この手の資料は効果がある。
有道氏のブログに関して、例えば、ハリー氏などから、むしろ無視すべきだ、という意見もある。私も当初はまともな人なら本気に受け取らないだろう、と思ってきた。しかし、事実は違う。少なからぬ若者が有道氏の欺瞞に満ちた投稿を真に受け、それに刺激をうけて、奇妙な正義感を燃やすものさえもいる。無知な外人ーーー日本人にもそうした人はいるのですがーーーと言ってしまえば、それまでですが、しかし、両者に無知であるだけならば、欧米優越主義的・日本蔑視的な発言はでないはずなのに、そうしたコメントが絶えない。
そして、検閲しながらも、そうした投稿・コメントに満ちているのが有道氏のブログである、といっても過言ではないでしょう。
私は、在日外国人と日本人が仲良くやってもらいたいことを願っている。例えば、ハーフの人に対する差別もあるかもしれない。あるいは、在日外国人に対する賃貸差別もあるかもしれない。他にも問題はあるでしょう。
こうした問題は日本人と在日外国人がともに取り組んで行かなくてはならない問題である。
そして、みんなが溌剌と生活できる社会になってもらいたい、と思っている。
そこで、私は、日本人と在日外国人が在日外国人が抱える問題の有無、性質、その解決法などを議論できるような代替手段も提案してきました。ところが、Harry氏にせよ、leitmotiv氏にせよ、そういう話には乗らない。そして有道氏のブログの卑劣な手法を関連する場所で、批判することがあたかも悪いことのようにいう。これでもはあの類の手法を擁護している、と思わざるえない。
有道氏のブログのような欺瞞に満ちた日本人排他的な活動がハリー氏らは、日本人から認知されず、反感を受けないと思っている。それはそれでいいでしょう。しかし、we have to agree to disagree. と言わざるえない。
日本語が秘密の暗号でないのと同様に英語も秘密の暗号ではない。私は、バックラッシュがある、と思う。日本を差別国家だ、ゼノフォビア国家だと、叫んでいる人々が、こうした偏向した活動に対して、日本人から、バックラッシュがない、と思っていることが不思議でなりません。まして、この不況の中、世界中で、反移民の傾向が強まっているというのに。
例えば、私は、LBさんやovetthinkerさんのように親日的あるいは公平なコメントがなければ、在日外国人とはこんなものか、と従前の在日欧米人のいいイメージを変えていたでしょう。他の日本人の多くも同様だと思います。他国の関連事情を紹介することは、そうした「こんなものか」と思われるようなコメントを抑止する働きもある。
ちょっとLBさんのおっしゃりたいこととずれていたかもしれませんね。
leitmotivさんにせよ、LBさんにせよ、どなたでも、忌憚なきご意見を頂戴したい。
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Hawaii has been seriously considering something similar:
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20090205_Bill_to_repatriate_homeless_advances.html
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is racial discrimination against non-ethnic-Japanese foreigners in Japan. I demand equal treatment for all.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
No, a white japanese citizen’s descendant is eligible as well.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is visa discrimination.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Did the Japanese government offer a similar deal to the thousands of former NOVA teachers who found themselves without work or pay, and almost no hope of finding a job in a suddenly bad market for eikaiwa teachers?
I know some NOVA teachers eventually got a portion of their months of unpaid salary from the government, and a few got unemployment pay, but did any of them get a fat 300,000 yen to buy plane tickets home?
Sure, it’s nice that some people can get this offer, after all they were paying taxes, right? Any time we can get our own tax money back is a good thing, since gaijin are inelligible for plenty of government handouts, services and especially legal protections of basic human rights that only Japanese can enjoy.
But is the J government just once again setting up a different standard for people who are (partially) of the Japanese race?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This isn’t racism, where in the article does it specifically restrict it to racially Japanese people? If Debito’s children were to go to Brazil, marry, and have kids, those children would be eligible as well. Whether they were racially Japanese or not.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Partially. But it was partially the GOJ that got them into this with the special Nikkei visa. There was no special NOVA visa.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
NOVA teachers who are of “Japanese decent” would not be eligible as well.
In fact any person of “Japanese decent” that did not come to Japan under the specific visa mentioned in the article are not qualified.
But hey. Just as I predicted, it didn’t take long for Debito’s children to play the “foreigners are always getting the short end of the stick in Japan, crybaby wah wah” card.
How long before Debito posts the same article with his own twisted view (much along the same lines as Stereo and Level3)?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Please read my balanced opinion in full before rushing to judgment, and please don’t lump me in with debito.
I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice debito, in his latest post, failed to mention the offers of job and language training. Doesn’t fit the “get the fuck out” angle, so it is conveniently not mentioned. I think you’d agree with me on the predictability of that, nigelboy.
But please explain how foreign laborers being recruited from abroad (whatever justification or label you give to the visa) and then employed as part-timers when needed, and then be the first to get laid off when the economy hits a rough patch, is not “getting the short end of the stick”
I think this program is not the worst option. The J government COULD have just told them their visas were no longer valid and to get the fuck out on their own dime. Or the program COULD have been mandatory. Such progrtams would be deserving of major protest.
Still, why should one group of unemployed taxpaying visa holders get plane fare home, while another group of taxpaying visa holders should not, especially when the NOVA fiasco was more directly the responsibility of the J government’s failures – too numerous to list here, than just a general global economic downturn?
A paranoid person would suspect that the conversation in the smoke-filled room of Japanese octogenarians probably involved the term “gaijin hanzai” and fears of exploding crime rates from the Brazilian/Peruvian community, “300,000 each is cheaper than putting them in jail” probably got said. May not be true, but who wouldn’t suspect such a sentiment was a factor for at least some of those responsible for deciding this policy?
The whole situation is neither an excellent gesture of total compassion, nor a sinister plot evolved from some sort of schizoid xenophobia. It’s a gray area. As long as people (both the gaijin-victim-club and the “there is no racism in Japan”-club) are honest and open to looking at ALL the facts and issues, it makes for an interesting debate.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Does it enter in your mind that the group that represented the Nikkei’s propositioned the government to take such action which includes funding for the trip back to their home country? I remember distinctly watching some program on TV that one of the dilemma facing them were that even though they wanted to go back home, they couldn’t afford to. So the government basically did what was asked (not all of them but it’s still better than nothing) and likes of you come up with this NOVA rejects.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. You’ll complain when there is an action like this case and you’ll complain when there is no action (Calderon case). That’s one thing that always remain constant among Debito and his followers. So yeah. I’m going to continuosly lump you into the same category.
Personally speaking, I don’t want any tax money going into Nikkei’s and NOVA rejects. But the difference between the two is that perhaps the former has better activists behind them? I don’t know. For instance, like not blaming everything on Japanese government, Japan Inc., and Japan this and that but represent them in a way that normal Japanese would have some sort of sympathy for them. And that really is the motivating factor in beuracrats taking action. But unfortunately, Nova rejects and alike (Debito followers) just don’t get it.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Actually Nigelboy, I suppose that the difference between them would be that the Nikkei were specifically invited/encouraged by the Japanese government to come “back” to Japan. So the Japanese government does have a special “responsibility” to them that it does not to “Nova teachers”. And one could well say that the Japanese government is fulfilling its responsibility to the Nikkei by offering them a ticket home or vocational and language training.
One could say that, that is, if one were not a paranoid space loon seeking to find some way to blame Japan for everything.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Well this particular type of visa is issued to those of Japanese decent, correct? Can someone not genetically/legally related to a Japanese citizen get this visa? The answer is no, correct? It is safe to say that this visa type was aimed at those of genetic Japanese ancestry whose ancestors most likely were ethnically Japanese. To assist only these people in going home is exclusive and since the criteria to be eligible for this exclusivity is based on racial genetic makeup, it is in fact racist. Just because Debito’s kids would be elegible doesn’t make it not. The intent of the system is clear. Technicalities should not just erase the injustice. What about the African or the German who is now jobless and in the same situation as those foreign Japanese? Are they just SOL? Even though the great Koizumi system screwed them too out of jobs and benefits, they can’t take the option because they’re not the right race, or the right mix? Just too bad, huh?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
They don’t have to be genetically related to Japanese ancestry.
For instance, the wives of Japanese descendants are such cases.
http://www.office-takahashi.com/nikkei/visa.html
And they don’t have to be legally related to Japanese citizens alive now.
It might be an interesting question whether it violates the equal protection .
http://www.answers.com/topic/equal-protection-clause
My guess is that it doesn’t.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Well, It should only include those that aren’t making an effort to be employed or to get the training needed to be and stay employed on whatever level. I think the problem is that most want to keep the job and that status that comes with it… as opposed to training for an alternative means of employment. Then there’s the time issue. Either by age, length of time in country, and or time given to train for that job.
However, it was a bit rash, but for those that are willing to go trough the training assigned then it may be worth it. It all depends on rather you want to be productive or counter productive in Japan. I think that is that standard at some level in all countries. Though some like the US for example, have more of a problem with illegals sponging off of the govt.
It’s not about issues of prejudice. It is about business and as we know the Japanese are all about business. Almost to the point of being scary. <– This is just a something to think about before you pull the prejudice or race card.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
BBC News has a report on this subject under business section:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7978233.stm
Rate this comment:
0 
0