Date : October 30, 2024
[Report] FY2024 International FPCJ Webinar
post date : 2024.11.01
Population Decline and Immigration Policy:
How Can Japan Become a Country To Be Chosen?
Supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1. Webinar Goals and Participants
In June this year, revisions to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act were passed. The foreign technical intern trainee system, which for over 30 years was one of the ways to hire foreigners as unskilled labor, is being replaced with a new training and employment system. The system aims to both train workers and acquire them for Japan, with trainees intended to acquire Specific Skilled Worker visas after the end of their training period, welcoming foreigners to Japan as workers who might stay in the long term.
With Japan’s population decline and super-aging society, foreign workers are already vital to society and the economy, and systems are being prepared to expand the number of foreign workers brought in to make up for the decline in the productive working population. However, until now there has not been a direct, comprehensive discussion of immigration policy overall, including the future of Japanese society and how much Japan intends to become a multiethnic, multicultural nation.
This webinar invited leading foreign journalists following immigration issues to hear from them about the challenges facing Japan, including from South Korea, where the population is declining faster than Japan and foreign workers are being brought in thanks to a higher level of remuneration; Vietnam, the country from which the highest number of technical interns come to Japan; and France, one of the earliest countries in Europe to accept immigrants based on the concept of immigrant integration. Together with Japanese experts, they discussed what immigration policy Japan should implement to bring in more foreign workers.
A total of 249 people registered to watch the webinar, and 139 joined to watch it live.
Parts of the video are difficult to hear due to audio distortion. Sorry for the inconvenience.
2. Program/Links to the Chapters of the Video Clip Above
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3. Introduction of Panelists
*For details on the webinar and its panelists, see here.
[Moderator] Kazuo Kodama, FPCJ President
[Panelists]
Expert/Keynote Speaker
Toshihiro Menju, Visiting professor, Kansai University of International Studies and former Managing Director and Chief Program Officer, Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE)
Foreign Journalists
- Yeong-Hyo Jeong, Economic Desk Deputy Editor/Former Tokyo Bureau Chief, The Korea Economic Daily (South Korea)
- Tuyen Nguyen Cam, Tokyo Bureau Chief, Vietnam News Agency (Vietnam)
- Régis Arnaud, Tokyo Correspondent, Le Figaro (France)
4. Session Summaries
Session 1: Current State of and Issues with Immigration in Japan
In his keynote speech based on his years of involvement in the issue of foreign nationals in Japan, Mr. Menju noted that even though it is common sense to accept foreign nationals into Japan with the assumption they will become long-term residents, due to Japan facing a rapid population decline, the term “immigrant” is considered taboo in Japan, and so it is not possible to have an honest debate about immigration. He also noted that in the recent House of Representatives election, there was only superficial debate over the issue of population decline, but almost no politicians directly mentioned immigration policy or accepting foreign nationals in Japan. He also described the situation in which no earnest debate is undertaken regarding accepting foreign nationals, despite population decline continuing to accelerate and the labor shortage becoming more severe even with efforts being made to deal with the situation through encouraging women and seniors to work or using AI and robots, as the “immigration dilemma.”
He continued by explaining, with slides and concrete examples, the reasons why foreign workers are rapidly becoming a necessity, the government’s stance of not having an immigration policy, the risks from a rapid increase in de factor immigration, and how Japan can become a country to be chosen by immigrants. He then noted that Japan’s population decline was more severe than other countries, and that it would be difficulty to maintain the economy and society without accepting foreign nationals into Japan.
Ms. Tuyen, speaking about Vietnam’s position as the country which sends the most technical interns to Japan, noted the issues and problems with Japan’s technical intern trainee program. She mentioned that the technical interns’ wages are on average around half those of other foreign workers, and the weak yen has meant any money they send home to their families is worth even less, so Japan has become a less attractive destination compared to South Korea or Taiwan, where the wages are higher. She also pointed out that since changing jobs if the intern wanted to was in principle not permitted in the existing system, increasing the risk of the interns’ human rights being violated, and noted there were actual examples of interns suffering from abuse and violence, with insufficient notice being given to calls to improve working conditions. She also mentioned how middleman organizations charged interns introduction fees and management fees, and suggested these costs should be covered by the business hiring the interns.
Mr. Arnaud noted that while Japan remained an attractive country for immigrants, there were issues with its temporary model for immigration. Based on an OECD report, he commented that Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US, and European countries had permanent models for immigration, with consideration given to immigrants permanently settling and gaining citizenship in the future, while Japan has continued with a policy assuming only temporary residency. He explained that currently, 60% of international students and skilled workers left Japan in under five years, which makes it difficult to incorporate them into certain systems unique to Japanese companies, such as seniority-based wages.
Mr. Jeong explained that Japan passing revisions to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and replacing the technical intern trainee system with a new employment and training system, clearly indicating the country’s intent to attract workers, was having an impact on Asia as a whole. He noted that in June last year, Taiwan also made revisions to increase the amount of low-skilled foreign workers, and in order for China to maintain its economic growth in the face of a rapid decline in birthrate, the country would need to make up for the decline in population by bringing in foreign workers, leading to a competition to attract foreign workers. He also suggested that the reason countries around South Korea were becoming desperate to attract foreign workers was that South Korea had taken an early lead in the market for foreign workers, with foreign workers in South Korea having a significantly higher average wage than technical interns in Japan, thus attracting workers from around Southeast Asia.
In response to the comments by the other panelists, Mr. Menju noted that it was necessary to reconsider the technical intern system and immigration issues from an international perspective. Using government statistics, he also pointed out how the wages of foreign workers were comparatively lower than the average wage in Japan, and how foreign workers, particularly Japanese Brazilians, were frequently hired as temporary or contract workers. He then mentioned that these temporary and contract workers acted as a safety net for Japanese workers when the economy worsened.
Mr. Menju suggested that with Japan’s population decline accelerating, it was becoming increasingly necessary to accept foreign nationals into the mainstream of society, instead of just as supplementary labor, and to change the mentality that persisted for 30 years under the technical intern system that foreign workers were cheap labor, the Japanese government needed to make a clear declaration of intent. He also introduced a 2023 survey by the Nikkei newspaper in which over 60% of heads of local governments responded that they were interested in bringing in foreign workers to deal with the labor shortage, noting that the reality was that foreign workers were already vital to local communities. Mr. Menju stated that since foreign workers were already playing an important role in covering the labor shortage in regional industries and nursing care, it was necessary to make adjustments to accept foreign nationals into society as a whole, to deal with the current gap between regulations and reality.
Session 2: What Should Japan’s Immigration Policy Be To Become a Country To Be Chosen
Mr. Jeong suggested that raising wages, which are low compared to South Korea, was an important factor in making Japan a country chosen by foreign workers. He also explained that Japan’s appealing elements, in particular its safety and kind populace, as well as its soft power that is popular with youth worldwide such as anime, movies, and J-pop, were important in attracting immigrants, and noted the possibility of implementing an immigration policy based on these strengths.
Mr. Arnaud proposed that Japan needed to consider moving from its current immigration policy predicated on temporary residency, to a model based on permanent residency. Giving the shortage of 250,000 workers in Japan’s healthcare industry as an example, he asked whether it was preferable to continue with this labor shortage, or to hire nurses from the Philippines. He also noted that the number of applicants for naturalization in Japan was around 8,000 people per year, approximately 56 times less than Switzerland and 10 times less than France, and suggested Japan needed to relax its requirements for naturalization. He also mentioned that the reason the technical intern system did not generally recognize changing jobs was so those interns would remain outside Tokyo, and that policy was necessary to change the framework of regional industries in order to eliminate the gap between the intention and reality of the technical intern system.
Ms. Tuyen suggested concrete improvements to the technical intern system. In addition to noting the necessity of raising technical interns’ wages considering the impact of the weak yen, she also called for responding to issues such as unfair treatment and unpaid wages. She also proposed that when technical interns faced unfair treatment such as unfair wages or violence, they be allowed to change jobs, and that in order to lessen the burden of management fees and introduction fees from middlemen, the companies hiring the interns should share the burden of those fees with the interns. She also argued for the necessity of implementing a health and unemployment insurance system for technical interns, considering they often act as the financial pillar for their family in their home country. Finally, to promote integration into Japanese society, she suggested increasing Japanese language education after they come to Japan, and providing periodic education regarding Japanese culture and laws, as well as creating opportunities to interact with the local community.
Mr. Menju, in response to the comments from the other three panelists, stated that Japan had to fundamentally reform its technical intern system and system for accepting foreign workers. Although the issues with the technical intern trainee system that lasted for over 30 years led to the creation of the Specified Skilled Worker system and the new employment and training system, the government continually implemented stricter oversight of abusive companies and employers, but failed to introduce any fundamental solutions. He suggested that to implement stricter oversight, the 100,000 companies employing 400,000 technical interns could be asked to submit more paperwork, but it would be difficult to check it all. He also noted there was a limit to government oversight, and brought up the importance of NPOs and NGOs providing support for issues such as unpaid wages and human rights issues, which the government is aware of but not dealing with sufficiently, and suggested the government provide aid to these organizations. Regarding the new employment and training system, he mentioned the paradox between allowing trainees to change jobs in one or two years, while placing the onus on the companies for providing support for Japanese language education and improving work skills. For Japanese language education in particular, Mr. Menju stated that laws were being established and national certification implemented for teachers, there was no system in place for the government to use taxes to support foreign workers. He suggested that it was important for the government to create a system to support language education, as in European countries, and implement effective Japanese language education with the cooperation of companies, in order for foreign workers to be able to pass the Japanese language test which is a requirement to change from being in the training and employment system to being a Specified Skilled Worker.
As an addendum, Mr. Arnaud stated that it was necessary for Japan to debate the choices that exist for immigration policy and find a solution from a long-term perspective, and that with Japan currently facing a shortage of Japan Self-Defense Force members and healthcare workers, accepting immigrants would lead to building a safe society and living in harmony. He noted that from a long-term perspective, an immigration policy would solve more problems than it caused, and Japan should be flexible on immigration for the sake of its future, as refusing immigrants would lead to high costs.
Q&A Session
Questions included why the wages for technical interns were so low, how the language barrier could be overcome to work in Japan, and whether the Japanese government, administrative organizations, and schools should make an effort to teach younger generations about the importance of immigration.
Overall Summary
The moderator, Mr. Kodama, stated that the evidence-based analysis and arguments provided by Mr. Menju, as well as the diverse perspectives provided by the foreign correspondents, were important hints for furthering the discussion on immigration policy in Japanese society.
The panelists then provided summaries for the day’s discussions.
Ms. Tuyen commented that with Vietnam currently being in its golden population phase, it was the perfect timing to cooperate with Japan. She indicated her hopes that Vietnamese workers could bring the knowledge and skills they acquired overseas back home.
Mr. Arnaud suggested that Japan was one of the most culturally appealing countries in the world, and that the time had come to take advantage of that to build a new model for accepting immigrants.
Mr. Jeong stated that since both South Korea and Japan were facing labor shortages, a win-win relationship could be built through active efforts to cooperate and exchange highly skilled workers in specific areas between Japan and South Korea.
Finally, Mr. Menju noted the importance of the Japanese government implementing something like a “Basic Law for a Society Coexisting with Foreign Nationals” to indicate its intentions regarding coexisting with foreign nationals, and providing clear, specific policies for supporting them.