Japan's "guest workers"

About this book

Attracted by Japan's prosperity and chronic labor shortages, foreign workers have been migrating to Japan in increasing numbers since the mid-1980s. While their presence has been a boon for many firms in construction and other industries, the fact that many lack proper documentation makes them vulnerable to exploitation and shuts them off from systems of health care and other forms of social support. In this volume a labor economist looks at the foreign worker influx and examines its ramifications for Japan economically, socially, and politically. The book begins with an overview of the foreign worker population and the legal system that regulates their presence in Japan. The author, a leading authority on employment patterns and worker training, describes the circumstances under which large numbers of workers from other Asian countries reside and work illegally in a society that is ambivalent about their presence. He argues that the government must work with private industry, labor unions, and other segments of society to prevent the emergence of a two-tiered employment structure. The book advocates a "work-and-learn" program that will integrate foreign workers into Japan's economy and help them to develop skills that will be useful not only to their host employers but also to the workers themselves when they return to their own countries. It stresses the need for Japan as a society to welcome and assimilate people from other cultures, and suggests ways in which that goal can be reached. Japan's "Guest Workers" will be of interest to students of Japan's economy and society and readers interested in exploring the nation's response to the issues posed by international labor migration and Japan's increasing multiculturalism.