The Abe government welcomes in its policy package of June an entry of new, foreign human resources, proclaiming creation of new kinds of visa status. It held ‘ministerial meetings to discuss entry norms and support schemes’ in July, and from April 2019 it will receive a bigger number of foreign workers.

AN URGENT TASK - TO SET UP SYSTEM TO ASSURE HUMAN RIGHTS

Most Numerous Foreign Workers

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced January 26 this year a report on Official Registration of Employment of Foreign Workers (as of October-end 2017). According to the descriptions, the number of foreign workers accounts 1,278,670, which is an increase by 194,901, or 18.0%, compared with the figures of the previous year. The record is the history-highest.

Let’s look at from the visa status in the numerical order. In total 459 thousand of foreign residents have the civil status (permanent residents and Japanese-origin Brazilians and Peruvians), 297 thousand are engaged in activities beyond his/her original visa status (part-time jobs of foreign students), 258 thousand are technical trainees, 238 thousand have the status of professionals and engineers and 26 thousand have the status of specific activities.

From the point of countries they are: 372 thousand of Chinese, which occupies 29.1%, 240 thousand of Vietnamese, 18.8%, 147 thousand of Filipinos, 11.5%, and 117 thousand of Brazilians, occupying 9.2% in the numerical order. Looking at increases from the previous year, the highest is 39.7% in the case of Vietnamese and 31% of Nepalese.

Labor Shortage is Main Reason

The Japanese governments have not welcomed as a rule foreign workers engaged in simple jobs, but the current administration will open doors to workers in five industries with a new visa status; agriculture, elderly care, construction, hotel accommodation and ship building.

In the elderly care, approximately 3 thousand workers from Southeast Asian countries entered in Japan during 2008 and 2017 in accordance with the EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements). These workers were certified in November last year with the new status of technical training schemes.

Due to labor shortage in this sector the official targets set for special nursery houses for the elderly have been accomplished to 70 % for the past three years. The situation is serious.

In other areas, too, labor shortage is rampant due to the social phenomenon of declination of birthrate and aging population. The situation is critical in the fields of hard, dirty and dangerous labor and workplaces of simple jobs. Thus, the government has decided to create new kinds of visa status to flow in more foreign workers.

Harsh Working Conditions

According to a report issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, called ‘Control, Guidance and Police Investigation of Companies Employing Foreign Technical Trainees in 2017’, 4,226 of 5,966 companies, which is 70.8%, were found to have violated the Labor Standard Law and other related acts.

Major violations include: for working hours, the figure occupies 26.2%, for safety norms, 19.7%, and for additional pay for overwork, the violation occupies 15.8%. The technical training schemes are regarded as international contributions that may encourage technology transfer and help training workers, locomotives of economic development of developing nations. In fact, however, employers enjoy cheap labor, while foreign workers are abused.

Protection of Human Rights

The government will propose a bill to reform the Immigration Control Law during the Extraordinary Session of the Diet in autumn. A bill aims to raise the rank of Immigration Control Bureau to the Immigration Control Agency. Though the government tells ‘not to admit immigrants’, it will allow employers to use young foreign workers for five years (up to ten years after renewal). That means businesses may exploit and throw them away freely at any time.

The vital point lies in preparing for conditions that may guarantee human rights of foreign workers.

August 28, 2018