Issues regarding how NJ are coming over here to stay, and becoming a part of Japanese society.
mytest
Hi Blog. Had a couple of telephone interviews with the Asahi this week, and some quotes got incorporated into a tidy big article on discrimination against NJ in Japan in what should be done about it. Have a read. Good illustrations too — get the point across. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
(click on images to expand in your browser)
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s another brick in the wall, alas. The UK is also proposing the introduction of Gaijin Cards. Just when you thought you could point to other countries and say, “Look, they don’t do something like this, so let’s not do it here,” they go ahead and do it too. Sigh.
It’s not absolutely the same system at this point — not all foreigners have to get this card. Yet. But I like how the counterarguments to the scheme are similar to ones I’ve made in the past — about how guinea-pigging a segment of the population is the thin edge of the wedge to introducing the scheme for everyone. And no mention as yet in this article as to whether it’ll be a criminal offense, warranting arrest and interrogation after instant street spot checks, if you are not carrying the card on your person 24-7. Meanwhile, let’s wait and see what Japan does with its long-announced intention to Gaijin Chip all NJ with new improved RFID. In the club of developed countries, I don’t think Japan will be outdone in its policing of its foreigners.
Two more links of interest related to this topic.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/26/britain-will-make-fo.html
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6343
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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Foreign national ID card unveiled |
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The first identity cards from the government’s controversial national scheme are due to be revealed. BBC News. Page last updated at 07:14 GMT, Thursday, 25 September 2008 08:14 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7634111.stm The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders. The design – containing a picture and digitally-stored fingerprints – is a precursor to the proposed national identity card scheme. Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a “softening up” exercise to win over a sceptical general public. The card, to be unveiled by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, will also include information on holders’ immigration status.
The Border and Immigration Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules – students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa. Both types of migrants will be told they must have the new card when they ask to extend their stay in the country. The cards partly replace a paper-based system of immigration stamps – but will now include the individual’s name and picture, their nationality, immigration status and two fingerprints. Immigration officials will store the details centrally and, in time, they are expected to be merged into the proposed national identity register.
The card cannot be issued to people from most parts of Europe because they have the right to move freely in and out of the UK. Ministers say the cards will combat illegal immigration and working because officials, employers and educational establishments will be able to check a migrant’s entitlements more easily. The Conservatives say they support modern biometric cards for immigrants – but they say a national identity register remains unworkable. Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a “softening-up exercise”. “The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can,” Mr Booth told the BBC. “Once they get some people to take the card it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. “The volume of foreign nationals involved is minuscule so it won’t do anything to tackle illegal immigration. “They’ve basically picked on a group of people who have no possibility of objecting to the card – they either comply or they are out.” ENDS |
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mytest
Hi Blog. Nice little article here from Masami Ito about some worries now that Fukuda (who not only recognized the Ainu as an ethnic minority for the first time, but also had pleasant predispositions towards immigrations, see more below) has resigned, that the next probable PM, Aso, might not be quite so inclined. Speculation at this stage, but forewarned… Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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The Japan Times Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
Japan isn’t exactly known as an open country to foreigners, but there was a recent brief ray of hope in June.
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Open-door advocate: Diet lawmaker Hirohiko Nakamura of the Liberal Democratic Party is interviewed this month in Tokyo. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOT |
The hope was provided by a group of lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who drafted a bold proposal to create a new immigration policy that would raise the population of foreigners in Japan to 10 percent of the overall population in the next 50 years.
The proposal was handed to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, but his sudden resignation announcement Sept. 1 is raising concerns the proposal will be buried by the next prime minister.
“I am disappointed,” said lawmaker Hirohiko Nakamura, who helped draft the proposal. In a recent interview with The Japan Times, Nakamura said Fukuda was instrumental in getting the proposal off the ground.
“We got this far because it was Fukuda. . . . Fukuda was willing to listen to the proposal and it was about to move forward.”
Japan’s immigration policy largely depends on its leader, but when the prime minister keeps changing, consistency goes out the window.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was known for his hawkish views, but his successor Fukuda was relatively open-minded. He even wanted to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 300,000 by 2020.
The LDP will choose its new leader Monday. The front-runner is LDP Secretary General Taro Aso, who also is known for his hawkish diplomatic views. The new party president will almost certainly become the next prime minister.
“There is no way of knowing what will happen to the proposal,” Nakamura said. “Of course, we will keep pushing the proposal no matter who the next leader is. But I am concerned.”
The group’s report is titled “Proposal For a Japanese-style Immigration Policy.” It aims to address the problem of Japan’s shrinking population by raising the number of foreign residents. Nakamura was secretary general of team, which was was chaired by former LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa.
“The only effective treatment to save Japan from a population crisis is to accept people from abroad,” the proposal says. “For Japan to survive, it needs to open its doors as an international state passable to the world and shift toward establishing an ‘immigrant nation’ by accepting immigrants and revitalizing Japan.”
The group’s definition of “immigrant” is consistent with that of the United Nations: individuals who have lived outside their home countries for more than 12 months. This includes people on state or corporate training programs, exchange students and asylum seekers.
One major aspect of the proposal, Nakamura explained, is protecting the rights of foreigners in Japan so they can work safely and securely.
“Japanese people are pretending not to see the human rights situation of foreign laborers,” Nakamura said. “In a world where even animal rights are protected, how can we ignore the human rights of foreign workers?”
According to data from the Immigration Bureau, the number of registered foreigners in Japan hit a record high of about 2.08 million in 2006. Among them, permanent residents have been increasing, reaching 837,000, or 40 percent, of all registered foreigners.
The LDP proposal says having 10 million foreigners in Japan “is no longer a dream,” stating the necessity of providing more education and training opportunities.
Nakamura stressed that not only is the overall population on the decline, the number of working people will shrink dramatically in the near future.
He explained that the 10 percent figure comes from a calculation of how big a labor force Japan will need in 50 years.
“What are politicians doing to solve this problem?” Nakamura asked. “They are at the beck and call of the bureaucrats who are just trying to protect their vested interests.”
Nakamura faulted the bureaucrats for not creating a warmer society for foreigners. For example, they don’t bring up the poor labor conditions for foreign workers, but when a foreigner is suspected of a crime, the information is spread immediately, Nakamura said.
“Bureaucrats don’t want (many foreigners in Japan),” Nakamura said. “Otherwise, it would be so easy (for bureaucrats) to start an educational campaign on living symbiotically with foreigners.”
Admitting that lawmakers have also dragged their feet, Nakamura said the key to breaking the vertically structured bureaucrat-led administration is to establish an official “immigration agency” to unify the handling of foreigner-related affairs, including legal issues related to nationality and immigration control.
Those problems are currently managed by various ministers. For example, anything related to immigration goes to the Justice Ministry, labor issues to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, and livelihood in general to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
“We need to integrate all of the power, and that is why an immigration agency” is necessary, Nakamura said. “If the power is scattered around, we can’t move forward.”
If this ambitious proposal is to take shape, Japan will need a strong leader, he said.
But he expressed disappointment that none of the five candidates in the LDP presidential election fits the bill.
“The political leaders of the 21st century will be those who can destroy the bureaucrat-led government,” Nakamura said.
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Just a quick word tonight, since I have to prepare for tomorrow’s classes.
I just wanted to write that I’m having a phenomenal experience at Nagoya University at the moment teaching an intensive course on media professionality and responsibility. (This is the first time I’m teaching this course, from scratch, with lots of powerpoint slides.)
I have two Japanese, two Chinese, and a Mongolian student attending. All of them are sharp, interested, engaging, and so lively in discussion that I have trouble sometimes getting a word in to steer the lesson back to the current point! (That alone is phenomenal, given my two decades of teaching quiet classes.) Six hours flew by without pause to look at our watches.
But even more breathtaking is that two-thirds of the class, myself included, are not native speakers. And of course, we’re doing everything in Japanese, from newspaper articles to reading sections of UN treaties and government statements out loud. We’re communicating at an extremely high level in a second language that many of us (well, me, actually, back in the haughty Bubble years when I first arrived here) were once told that foreigners could never learn to speak, read, or write in any useful facility. Boy, were the naysayers wrong.
Moreover, having the perspectives of other Asians in the classroom is marvelous given the collective experiences we all bring of overseas media perspectives and attitudes. Creates a dynamic that is collegiate and international in the best sense. I think it’s one of the best classes I’ve ever taught, and it’s only been the first day.
Makes me hopeful for Japan’s future as a multicultural, multiethnic, quite possibly even multilingual society. It’s gonna happen. I feel as though I’ve got a front-row seat watching it emerge.
Arudou Debito in Nagoya
mytest
THE CASE FOR “GAIJIN” AS A RACIST WORD: THE SEQUEL
LET’S COME CLEAN ON “GAIJIN”
JUST BE CAUSE Column Seven for the Japan Times
By Arudou Debito
Published September 2, 2008 as “The ‘gaijin’ debate: Arudou responds”
Courtesy http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080902ad.html
DRAFT THIRTEEN, version as submitted to Japan Times editor
Last month’s column (JBC August 5) was on the word “gaijin”. I made the case that it is a racist word, one that reinforces an “us-and-them” rubric towards foreigners and their children in Japan.
It generated a lot of debate. Good. Thanks for your time.
Now let’s devote 700 more words to some issues raised.
Regarding the arguments about intent, i.e. “People use the word gaijin, but don’t mean it in a derogatory way”. The root issue here is, “Who decides whether a word is bad?” Is it the speaker using the word, or the person being addressed by it?
If usage and intent become the speaker’s prerogative, then speakers get too much plausible deniability. For example: Punch somebody in the arm. If he cries, “That hurts!” then say, “But I don’t mean to hurt you.”
So if you don’t give priority to the listener’s feelings, you give the speakers with genuine malice (however few) an excuse and a cloaking device. If the person you target doesn’t like being called something, just say you didn’t mean it in a bad way, and hey presto! You’re off the hook.
This logic has long been disavowed. In Japan, the debate on “ijime”, bullying in Japanese schools, favors the person being targeted. The person feels hurt, that’s enough. So stoppit.
Ditto for the word gaijin. People like me who have lived here for many years, even assimilated to the point of taking citizenship, don’t want to be called “gaijin” anymore. We can be forgiven for taking umbrage, for not wanting to be pushed back into the pigeonhole. Don’t tell us who we are–we’ll decide for ourselves who we are, especially in our own country, thanks. So stoppit.
Now for the more controversial claim: my linking “gaijin” with “n*gg*r”. Although I was not equating their histories, I was drawing attention to their common effect–stripping societies of diversity.
“N*gg*r”, for example, has deprived an entire continent of its diaspora. I love faces; I have gazed at many notable African-Americans and wondered about their origins. Is Michael Clarke Duncan a Nuban? Do Gary Coleman’s ancestors hail from the Ituri? How about the laser gaze of Samuel L. Jackson, the timeworn features of Morgan Freeman, the quizzical countenance of Whoopi Goldberg? Where did their ancestors come from? Chances are even they aren’t sure. That’s why Alex Haley had to go all the way to The Gambia to track down his Kunta Kinte roots.
The “non-n*gg*rs” are more fortunate. They got to keep closer ties to their past–even got hyphens: Italian-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. But Black people in the US just became “African-Americans”–a continent, not an ethnicity. Thanks to generations of being called “n*gg*r”.
“Gaijin” has the same effect, only more pronounced. Not only do we foreign-looking residents have no hope of hyphenation, we are relegated to a much bigger “continent” (i.e. anyone who doesn’t look Japanese–the vast majority of the world). Again, this kind of rhetoric, however unconscious or unintended, forever divides our public into “insider and outsider” with no twain.
I for one want the hyphen. I’m a Japanese. An American-Japanese, an Amerika-kei Nihonjin. After years of outsiderdom, I want my Japanese status acknowledged. But I don’t want my roots denied either. Being called essentially “foreign-Japanese” would lack something, so why not acknowledge, even celebrate, our diversity?
Words like gaijin don’t allow for that. They are relics of a simplistic time, when people argued with a straight face that Japan was monocultural and monoethnic. Untrue–there’s enough scholarly research debunking that; even our government this year formally recognized Hokkaido’s aboriginal Ainu as an indigenous people.
Moreover, as more non-Japanese reside here, marry, procreate, and bring the best of their societies into the amalgam, change is inevitable. Why force us to deny an essential part of our identity by outsidering us on a daily basis? Intentional or not, that’s what the word gaijin does.
The ace in the hole in this debate: I’m not the only one here advocating “gaijin”‘s obsolescence. Japan’s media has reached the same conclusion and officially declared it a word unfit for broadcast. Don’t agree with me? Talk to the TV.
So if you really must draw attention to somebody’s roots, and you can’t hyphenate or tell their nationality or ethnicity, it’s better to use “gaikokujin”. It’s a different rubric. At least there are ways to stop being one.
Arudou Debito is co-author of Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan.
730 words
ENDS
REFERENTIAL LINK:
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s a happy tale–about how a local approached a newcomer, broke the ice, and brought more newcomers on board in the local neighborhood association and helped everyone get along. Well done. Here’s hoping it happens more often. Arudou Debito
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BY FUYUKI YUTAKA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 2008/8/19
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200808180338.html
Courtesy Dave Spector
Yorio Kuramata, center, with Indian residents in Tokyo’s Koto Ward (SHOHEI KAMATA/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)
Three Indian nationals have been appointed to the board of the community association at the Ojima 6-chome public apartment complex in Tokyo’s Koto Ward, in a rare move among such buildings.
With Japanese companies recruiting more and more technology experts from India, the number of Indians living in the complex has steadily increased to 80.
The apartment building in Tokyo’s old residential district accommodates nearly 3,000 households.
Locals hope that the trio, who are also IT engineers, will help promote dialogue between Indian and Japanese residents for mutual understanding, and create a harmonious multicultural environment at the complex.
During an annual summer festival in late July organized by residents of the complex, three of 80 food stands sold Indian cuisine, including Indian burgers.
Among the vendors at the booths were the three new board members: Hemant Visal, 34; Naren Desai, 35; and Yogesh Punde, 35, who were appointed in spring 2008.
“Working as a board member of a residents’ association here is a fresh experience, and I do not feel bothered at all,” said Yogesh, although the three are busy working at IT companies in Tokyo.
The three joined the residents’ association after veteran board member Yorio Kuramata approached one of their compatriots in an attempt to open a dialogue with Indian residents during the same festival two years ago.
Kuramata, 74, said he had gone to say “hello” to Sankar Narasimhan, the trio’s friend, believing there was an urgent need for the residents’ association to improve understanding between Japanese and Indian residents.
At the time, Japanese residents were increasingly complaining that Indian residents were unaware of the rules of the complex.
With the building complex located close to an Indian school, the number of Indian residents has increased in the past few years. Of 2,900 households, 55 are Indian, with a total of 80 members.
Residents’ complaints included that some Indian residents talked loudly on cellphones on balconies at night, or that they hosted noisy house parties on weekends, Kuramata said.
Aside from cultural differences, there apparently were lifestyle differences between the relatively young Indian immigrants and aging Japanese residents at the complex, he added.
Sankar, for his part, had trouble finding opportunities to talk with Japanese residents.
“Because Japanese residents seemed to like living quietly, I thought they would feel bothered if I talked to them,” he said.
Once they started talking, Kuramata taught Sankar about the roles played by the local community and its residents’ association in locals’ daily lives and emergencies. For instance, he learned that Japanese communities stock water and emergency foods to help each other in case of a major disaster, Sankar recalled.
While working for the residents’ association, Sankar brought some of his countrymen, including Hemant and Naren, in to the association’s activities.
One of their primary roles was to translate community news on matters such as residents’ events and utility maintenance works into English, to notify Indian and other foreign residents of such information via e-mail.
“It has made it easier for foreign households who do not have Japanese-speaking members to join community life,” Hemant said.
Thanks to their activities, an unprecedented number of Indian participants joined activities at this year’s spring koinobori festival to hang carp-shaped pennants to pray for healthy growing children.
According to the nationwide council of residents’ associations at apartment complexes built by the former Housing and Urban Development Corp., it is quite rare for residents’ associations at public apartment complexes to appoint several foreign residents to a board.
And although residents had asked Sankar to become a board member, he moved to another complex with more spacious rooms this spring so he could invite his mother to live with him.
Despite the move, Sankar said he plans to join residents’ association activities at his new home.
He also said he will introduce himself to his new neighbors, like Kuramata did for him, to establish a dialogue and friendship.
“It is because I want to be part of the community with my neighbors,” Sankar said.(IHT/Asahi: August 19,2008)
mytest
Hi Blog. Another article of note saying what we’ve been saying here all along. Debito in San Francisco
KAWAKAMI, Japan: After a day’s work in the lettuce fields, the young Chinese men began arriving at their favorite gathering spot here, a short concrete bridge in the center of town. Soon, more than a dozen were leaning against one of the railings, one man leisurely resting his elbow on another’s shoulder, others lighting Chinese cigarettes.
Some Japanese crossed the bridge on foot, hugging the other railing, followed by a young Japanese man the Chinese recognized on sight. “Japanese?” one of the Chinese workers joked.
“Japanese, of course,” the passer-by said without slowing down. “You can tell by looking.”
The brief exchange was a subtle recognition of the conspicuous presence of 615 Chinese living temporarily in Kawakami, a farming community of about 4,400 Japanese residents about 100 miles west of Tokyo. Five years ago, unable to find enough young local residents or to draw seasonal workers, Kawakami’s aging farmers hired about 40 Chinese on seven-month contracts.
Now half of the town’s 600 farming households depend on temporary workers from China. And Kawakami expects to hire more foreign workers next year, not only from China but also, for the first time, from the Philippines.
With one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations and lowest birthrates, Japan is facing acute labor shortages not only in farming towns like Kawakami but also in fishing villages, factories, restaurants and nursing homes, and on construction sites. Closed to immigration, Japan has admitted foreign workers through various loopholes, including employing growing numbers of foreign students as part-timers and temporary workers, like the Chinese here, as so-called foreign trainees.
But that unofficial supply route has left some businesses continually scrambling for a dependable work force and the foreigners vulnerable to abuse. With Japan’s population projected to decline steeply over the next decades, the failure to secure a steady work force could harm the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness.
“It’s not only in farming but everywhere else,” said Kenichiro Takano, an official at Kawakami’s agriculture cooperative. “If we don’t at least start by allowing in unskilled laborers for a limited period and for a limited number of times, and then come up with long-term solutions, Japan won’t have a sufficient work force. The deadline is approaching.”
The labor shortage has grown serious enough that a group of influential politicians in the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party recently released a report calling for the admission of 10 million immigrants in the next 50 years.
Junichi Akashi, an immigration specialist at the University of Tsukuba who advised the group, said its members had come to realize how Japan had come to depend on foreign laborers.
“There is no doubt about that,” Akashi said. “They’ve increased sharply in the last two to three years.”
The foreign work force in Japan rose to more than one million in 2006 from fewer than 700,000 in 1996. But experts say that it will have to increase by significantly more to make up for the expected decline in the Japanese population. The government projects that Japan’s population, 127 million, will fall to between 82 million and 99 million by 2055. Moreover, because the population is graying, the share that is of working age is expected to shrink even faster.
That could pose problems for companies like Yoshinoya, a large restaurant chain. Starting in 2000, with insufficient numbers of Japanese job applicants, the chain turned to foreign students who are allowed to work part time.
Today, its 3,360 employees include 791 foreigners, 564 of them students. Without the foreign workers, “we probably wouldn’t be able to operate some stores,” said Shinichiro Kawakami, an executive in the Tokyo area.
What is more, the chain plans to triple the number of its stores nationwide to 3,000. “To reach our target, in a country where the people are getting older and the birthrate is getting lower, we’ll have to hire either older workers or foreigners,” Kawakami said. He added that the chain also needed to hire foreigners as store managers, a category of workers not allowed in under current laws.
Here in Kawakami which began growing lettuce, traditionally not part of the Japanese diet, for American soldiers during the postwar occupation farmers could depend on Japanese college students or part-time workers during the planting and harvesting seasons until five years ago. Then hardly any came, and those who did stayed only a few days, finding the work too hard.
“Some stayed the night, and in the morning I’d find them gone,” said Noriko Yui, 72, who was working in her field with two Chinese workers on a recent afternoon. “The Chinese have perseverance.”
Her two Chinese workers, Li Shude, 24, and Jiang Cheng, 25, share a small, stand-alone room behind Yui’s house, where they sleep on two single beds put together. Each had taped a photo of his child on a wall.
They, like the other Chinese workers here, are from Jilin Province in northeast China and are paid $775 per month, or $5,425 over their seven months here. But most of the Chinese interviewed here said they had paid about half of the total, or about $2,700, to the agency that had arranged their employment here.
Jiang, who grows corn and Chinese cabbage back home, said he would use part of his earnings to buy pigs and chickens.
“I like the environment here,” he said. “The air is clean, and I’m not homesick because there are many other Chinese here.”
By all accounts, the Chinese workers here, who are technically considered foreign trainees and are not counted among Japan’s foreign workers, are treated well compared with others in the same category.
The foreign trainee system was established in the mid-1990s, in theory to transfer technical expertise to young foreigners who would then apply the knowledge at home. After one year of training, the foreigners are allowed to work for two more years in their area of expertise. But the reality is that the foreign trainees now numbering about 100,000 have become a source of cheap labor. They are paid less than the local minimum wage during the first year, and little emphasis is placed on teaching them technical skills. Advocates for the foreign workers have reported abuses, unpaid wages and restrictions on their movements at many job sites. Nakamura, the Liberal Democratic politician, said the foreign trainee system was “shameful,” but added that if it were dismantled, businesses would not be able to find Japanese replacements.
Most foreign trainees in agriculture, like the Chinese here, end up leaving in less than a year because little work is available after the farming season.
The Chinese interviewed here said they came to Japan primarily to make money, but some wished they could stay longer to learn more about farming and the country.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to go back home just as we were getting settled here and learning to speak some Japanese,” said Yang Shangli, 26, one of the men relaxing on the bridge at the center of town.
The large presence of the Chinese workers has unsettled some Japanese here even as they have become increasingly dependent on them. Some vaguely mentioned the fear of crime, though they acknowledged that crime rates had not risen. No Japanese interviewed welcomed the idea of immigrants here or elsewhere in Japan.
“I feel a strange sense of oppression,” Toshimitsu Ide, 28, a lettuce farmer who had not hired any Chinese workers, said of seeing large groups of Chinese hanging around town. “They seem hard to approach.”
Perhaps because of the Japanese unease, the Chinese workers were given directives apparently aimed at curbing their movements, even before they arrived. They said they were told to go home by 8 p.m. and not to ride bicycles except for work. Some even said they had been instructed not to talk to young Japanese women.
Still, for many residents who had not seen a single foreigner in this area until a few years ago, Kawakami had changed fundamentally.
“Though I’m in Japan,” said Shimitsu Yuito, 57, who works in construction, “I feel this is not Japan anymore.”
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s something quite odd. We have the GOJ saying that the population of Japan is rising (ii n ja nai?). Then they make it clear that the figures doesn’t include foreign residents. Now why would any government worth its salt decide to exclude taxpayers thusly? Aren’t registered foreign residents people too, part of a “population”? Arudou Debito
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The nation’s population grew for the first time in three years to 127,066,178 in the year to March 31, up 12,707 from a year earlier, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Thursday.
The figure was based on resident registrations at municipal government offices and does not include foreign residents.
Over the period, there was a fall in the natural population–the number of births minus the number of deaths in the year through the end of March–of 29,119. However, the figures showed an increase of 41,826 due to social factors such as the rise in the number of repatriates and newly naturalized citizens.
The survey also showed that the population in Tokyo increased by 100,460, breaking the 100,000 mark for the first time since the government began taking such surveys in 1968 and reflecting the trend toward a concentration of the population in large cities.
The number of births increased for two consecutive years to 1,096,465, but was offset by the number of the deaths, which went up by 44,410 to 1,125,584. The natural decline was the second for the nation, following the 2006 survey.
Meanwhile, the so-called social population, which saw a decline of 12,297 in the year through March 31, 2007, rose by 41,826 for this year. The ministry believes that the social population increase can be attributed to an increased number of people returning home after their companies closed their offices overseas. Officials noted therefore that the overall trend of a declining population had not changed.
mytest
ブロクの読者、こんにちは。きょうのトピックスは：
きのうの読売によると、「人口３年ぶり増加」という。おめでとう。が、なぜ「人口」を言うのに外国人住民（つまり外国人登録者数）は入らないのでしょうか。国内に住居であり、納税して、社会の貢献者やメンバーではないかと思います。総務省はそうやって人を加算しないメリットはありますか。今後、「人口」を測るなら「人」を測りましょう。有道 出人
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
総務省は３１日、住民基本台帳に基づく今年３月末現在の人口を発表した。
全国の人口は前年同期比１万２７０７人増の１億２７０６万６１７８人で、２００６年３月末現在で減少に転じたが、３年ぶりに増えた。
出生者数から死亡者数を引いた「自然増加数」はマイナス２万９１１９人で過去最大幅のマイナスとなったが、海外への転出入や帰化などに伴う「社会増加数」がプラス４万１８２６人となったため。うち帰化は「推定１万数千人」（総務省）。東京都の人口増加数は１０万４６０人と、１９６８年の調査開始以来初めて１０万人を超え、大都市の人口集中加速が浮き彫りになった。
住民基本台帳の人口は日本に住む日本人の数で、永住外国人らは含まない。
出生者数は２年連続増の１０９万６４６５人だったが、死亡者数も４万４４１０人増えて１１２万５５８４人だった。社会増加数は０７年３月末のマイナス１万２２９７人が、プラス４万１８２６人に転じた。年度末は転入、転出が多く、数値が変動することもあるが、同省は「海外進出した企業が国内へ戻るなどして、在外邦人の転入が増えたことも一因ではないか」と見て、全体では「減少傾向は変わらない」としている。
東京、名古屋、関西の３大都市圏は全人口の５０・２０％を占める６３７８万６８３０人と過去最高。都道府県別では東京１２４６万２１９６人、神奈川８７９万８２８９人、大阪８６７万３０２人の順で多く、最少は鳥取の６０万２４１１人。
mytest
Hi Blog. We’ve had a couple of good comments recently from a couple of mailing lists I belong to, concerning the Family Registry System (koseki) in Japan (not to mention the Juuminhyou Registry Certificate, equally problematic; more on that here). It affects a lot of people adversely, not just NJ, so let’s devote a blog entry to the issue. We’re considering making the Koseki System a lobbying issue at forming NGO FRANCA, especially since South Korea, with its similar hojeok registry system, abolished it this year.
Here are some of the problems as far as NJ are concerned:
COMMENT FROM OSAKA J AT THE COMMUNITY:
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This may be common knowledge, but it wasn’t for me (admittedly due to my own failure to properly research the issues), the lesson being that you should never take anything for granted — not even something as simple as your child’s last name.
My wife and I have separate last names; she kept her maiden name when we married. Yesterday, we took the Notification of Birth form for our recently-born daughter to the city hall to file it. Naturally assuming that our daughter would take on my last name, we filled it out with my last name and her chosen name. Fifteen minutes later, we were waved over to be told that because my wife’s maiden name is still on her koseki — and as we all know, my name is just a footnote on her koseki — we cannot use my last name, and our daughter would have my wife’s last name. The only way around this is to have my wife file for a change of name at court, whereupon her name will officially be changed to mine, and thus our daughter will be able to take on my last name.
While it’s a quick fix for the time being, the horrendous legal and familial limitations put on foreigners by the koseki system finally really hit home. I’ve never felt my existence was negated quite so much as the instant where we were informed of this rule. I guess I’m just offering this anecdote as a warning to people considering marrying/having children because this is what you will face if you opt to go with different last names, and as an example of why the koseki system needs a serious overhaul, particularly with respect to foreigners.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
To see an example of this (i.e. a real koseki after an international marriage in Japan, where the NJ is not listed as a “spouse”), go to:
https://www.debito.org/juuminhyou.html
COMMENT FROM KGD AT FRANCA:
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
Isn’t it astounding that the koseki system, developed from temple registries by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early 1600s to locate and persecute Christians, should continue to exist in 21st century Japan? Many countries have central registries of marriages, births and deaths. Japan alone developed the intrinsically discriminatory koseki system, which it forced on Taiwan and Korea to maintain colonial control.
But, just like secret Christians, NJ keep coming up with ways to bend the system. If a man named Lennon marries a Japanese woman named Ono and has a child named Sean, the child can be registered in the koseki as Ono Lennon Sean. Japan will issue a passport in the name of Shoonu Rennon Ono, but there is a provision for listing a second spelling (“betsumei heiki” is the magic phrase) along the lines of Sean Lennon Ono. The Ministry of Foreign affairs has regulations on listing of a second spelling, but whether the regulations are enforced to the letter, whether you can assign your chosen name, or whether you can’t get a second spelling at all depends on the clerk assigned to you. At least in a big city, if the clerk is uncooperative, take back your paperwork, come back the next day and try again.
Most foreign nations will register the above child according to the desires of their citizen, for example as Sean Lennon, and issue a passport in that name.
A foreign parent could of course forget about Japanese nationality for their child and try to register the child under a foreign name in the foreign parent’s immigration registry, but think long and hard about that one. This might lead to a denial of family social benefits for which NJ also pay taxes, and possibly make life harder for the child. Under current law, the child can wait until his/her 22d birthday to choose between Japanese nationality and the foreign parent’s nationality, and can keep both in the meantime. But a baby needs a koseki in order to get a Japanese passport.
If you are looking for allies against the koseki system, try posting on a board for Japanese professional women. They are often angry that, because the koseki can only have one family name, they have to drop the maiden name under which they have their M.D., M.B.A., Olympic medal, etc. in order to be recognized as married. They don’t mind using their husband’s name in private society, but in professional society they may want to continue using their maiden name. No can do in Japan. The alternative, for the husband to take the wife’s name, happens when the wife’s family is rich but has no son, but is not appealing to many financially independent men.
It pays to take the long view on discrimination in Japan: another of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s 17th century creations, the government monopoly on tobacco and salt, didn’t die until 1985.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
More on the woes for NJ (and others) with the Koseki system here:
http://www.crnjapan.com/references/en/koseki.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koseki
And also how the Koseki System puts NJ at a serious disadvantage when it comes to divorce:
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
MULTINATIONAL MARRIAGES COME OFF WORST
What makes this situation especially difficult for international, and especially intercontinental, divorces is that foreign partners have extreme difficulty being granted custody of children in Japan. In a March 31, 2006 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, lawyer Jeremy D. Morely, of the International Family Law Office in New York, stated:
—————————————-
“Children are not returned from Japan, period, and it is a situation that happens a lot with children of international marriages with kids who are over in Japan. They do not get returned. Usually, the parent who has kept a child is Japanese, and under the Japanese legal system they have a family registration system whereby every Japanese family has their own registration with a local ward office. And the name of registration system is the koseki system. So every Japanese person has their koseki, and a child is listed on the appropriate koseki. Once a child is listed on the family register, the child belongs to that family. Foreigners don’t have a family register and so there is no way for them to actually have a child registered as belonging to them in Japan. There is an international treaty called the Hague Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction, and Japan is the only G7 country that is not a party to the Hague Convention.”
—————————————-
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
https://www.debito.org/?p=9
Also see HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN pp. 256-270
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. For the last day of the three-day holiday, here’s an interesting diversion on what options dual citizenship provides its citizens. As well as a quick roundup of what other countries say qualifies for dual at the very bottom.
Japan, as frequent readers of Debito.org probably know, does not allow dual citizenship. I consider that to be a big waste, as I know lots of people who would become citizens if only they could preserve both and not have to go through an identity sacrifice.
Arudou Debito, former American citizen who gave it up to become Japanese.
===================================
Palm Beach Post, Saturday, June 07, 2008
Courtesy of Matt Dioguardi
For millions of Europeans who braved the Atlantic Ocean for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and dreams of a lavish life, there was little thought of ever emigrating back.
Yet for a new generation of Americans of European descent, the Old Country is becoming a new country full of promise and opportunity.
“With an EU passport, I can live and work in 27 countries,” said Suzanne Mulvehill of Lake Worth. “With a U.S. passport, I can live and work in one.”
Americans can claim citizenship in any of the 27 European countries that are in the EU based on the nationality of their parents, or in some cases, grandparents and great-grandparents. Citizenship in one of those countries allows you to live and work in any EU nation.
Since the United States doesn’t keep statistics on dual citizens, it’s impossible to know exactly how many people have applied for citizenship in Europe. But it’s estimated that more than 40 million Americans are eligible for dual citizenship, and a growing number of Americans want to try their luck elsewhere.
“I have to say that over the past few years, calls I never would have received before have been made to the office,” said Sam Levine, an immigration attorney in Palm Beach Gardens. “It’s not like a tidal wave, but it’s certainly more substantial, and it’s remarkable.”
He’s receiving calls from people like Mulvehill, executive director of the Emotional Institute, a Lake Worth-based company that trains entrepreneurs.
Mulvehill’s mother was born in Romania, which became a member of the European Union last year.
She’s obtaining Romanian citizenship, which she estimates will have taken about three years, a ton of paperwork, $750 in fees and a trip to the Romanian consulate in Washington.
But once she receives the passport, probably early next year, she’ll be able settle anywhere in the EU.
“I recognized for the first time in my life that being American had limits,” Mulvehill said, “and that if I really wanted to become what I call a global citizen, then I needed to tap into all my resources to expand my ability to serve entrepreneurs not just in Lake Worth, which is one town, and not just in Florida or in America or North America, but on the globe.”
Globalization is a word on the mind of Lauren Berg, a recent college graduate from Michigan who is obtaining Greek citizenship based on her grandfather. She plans to move to Paris, brush up on her French and engross herself in the European business world.
“It’s definitely a really good thing to have on your résumé with business going so global,” Berg said. “I probably never would have done it if it wasn’t for the EU, but at the same time I’ve always been extremely proud of my Greek heritage.”
Dual citizenship once viewed as unpatriotic
But not everyone is so excited about this increasing trend.
“I understand the impulse: You can get a better deal over there,” said Stanley Renshon, a professor at the City University of New York and former president of the International Society of Political Psychology. “Whether it’s good for the American national community is quite a different question.”
Renshon belongs to a faction of immigration experts that believes dual citizenship diminishes the American identity.
“The devaluation of American citizenship for the sake of comparative advantage strikes me as fairly self-centered,” Renshon said.
Dual citizenship became a major issue during the War of 1812, when the British military tried recruiting, and in some cases forcing, British-born American citizens to fight on Britain’s side.
For years, being a dual citizen was seen as unpatriotic, and until 1967 it was possible for the United States to revoke American citizenship for people who voted in foreign elections.
But in the 1967 Afroyim vs. Rusk decision, Supreme Court justices ruled 5-4 that it was unconstitutional to bar dual citizenship.
“It was the high point of the 1960s and individual rights,” said Noah Pickus, the associate director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. “So the notion that you could take a citizenship away from somebody would seem to violate the basic notion of individual choice.”
Today, immigrants who become American citizens have to swear that they renounce their previous citizenship, but it’s more of a symbolic gesture, and Renshon said it’s actually difficult to renounce a citizenship.
One of the biggest advocates of dual citizenship is Temple University professor and author Peter Spiro, who believes that defining one’s identity by his citizenship is a thing of the past.
“There are really no harms caused by individuals having additional citizenship these days,” Spiro said. “It’s the wave of the future, because more and more people are going to have it. It’s going to multiply on an exponential basis going forward.”
And as the value of the euro – the currency shared by 15 EU countries – rises and America’s economy slumps, it’s an attractive alternative for Amber Alfano, a recent University of Florida graduate who is becoming an Italian citizen like her father.
“I’m doing it as an exit strategy of sorts,” Alfano said. “I like knowing that I have another place to go if things get even worse here, or if I just get tired of running on the American mouse wheel.
“My dad was actually the one who put a bug in my ear about the whole citizenship thing. He said that Europeans are more interested in the quality of life than the quantity, and that it was a good place to have and raise children because of the way their social systems work. I don’t care much about the child-rearing part, but I would gladly trade in some of my material possessions for a little flat, a scooter and more vacation.”
The grass might be greener … for now
Levine, the Palm Beach Gardens immigration attorney, was born in Canada and has received calls from people also interested in obtaining Canadian citizenship. He also understands the European appeal. He said he’s proud to be an American and proud of what the U.S. has accomplished on a global scale in the last century but that there are some advantages to living elsewhere.
“You have to look at things like how hard people work here and how little vacation time people get here,” Levine said. “A lot of people who live in Europe might not make same amount of money as Americans, but in some senses it’s a kinder, more gentle lifestyle.”
When Alfano went to fill out her paperwork at the Italian consulate in Coral Gables, she said “the waiting room was full of second- and third-generation Americans (of Italian descent) picking up passports.”
Pickus said he’s heard stories of parents getting their children European citizenship as an 18th birthday present – “We didn’t get you a car, but we got you an Italian citizenship.”
Some, like seasonal Vero Beach resident Tony Monaco, who has been trying to get Italian citizenship based on his grandfather, bought property in Italy and learned that taxes would be much lower if he was a citizen.
For those who are moving for the EU economic boom, Hudson Institute senior fellow John Fonte – one of the nation’s leading immigration experts and critics of dual citizenship – warns that it might not last.
“I think it’s a short-term phenomenon,” Fonte said. “I don’t think the European economy in the long run will do that well because it’s a heavy socialist welfare state in most of the countries.”
Mulvehill, the Lake Worth entrepreneur trainer, taught a course at Lynn University and encouraged her students to obtain dual citizenship if they were eligible.
“Expand your possibilities. If you can get citizenship, why not?” she said. “The world is a bigger place than America. Look at what technology has done, creating a global economy. That, in my opinion, is what has created this phenomenon.”
Every country has its own process for obtaining citizenship.
Ireland, Italy and Greece are among the most lenient in terms of letting an individual claim citizenship not just from a parent but from a grandparent or possibly a great-grandparent.
Even in countries that allow an individual only to claim descent based on a parent, in many cases the new citizen can pass the citizenship on to his child.
Eric Hammerle, a Vero Beach resident whose father was born in Germany, said it was easy for him and his 16-year-old son Nick to become German citizens.
They acquired the necessary documents – birth, marriage and death certificates – and took them to the German consulate in Miami.
“The whole process took about 20 minutes,” Hammerle said. “They read over the documents, came back and said, ‘Congratulations, Germany has two new citizens.’ It was a fee of $85.”
Dual citizenship criteria
Ireland: Automatically grants citizenship to the child of an Irish-born citizen. A person can also claim descent based on a grandparent or great-grandparent as long as a grandparent had also claimed descent on or before the date of the person’s birth.
Italy: For those born after 1948, citizenship is granted if their father or mother was a citizen at the time of the applicant’s birth. Citizenship is also granted under these conditions:
Father is an American and the paternal grandfather was a citizen at the time of the father’s birth.
If born after 1948, when the mother is American and the maternal grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of the mother’s birth.
Paternal or maternal grandfather was born in America and the paternal great-grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of the grandparent’s birth.
United Kingdom: Descent based on a grandparent allowable only in exceptional cases.
Greece: Native-born parent or grandparent.
Latvia: Native-born parent.
Cyprus: Father was a citizen.
Holland, Finland, Germany and Norway: Applicant must have been born in wedlock with one parent a citizen, or he can claim descent based only on the mother.
All other European Union countries: A parent was a citizen of the given country. People who can’t claim descent can apply after living in the country for a certain number of years.
The creation of the European Union and its thriving economy is very appealing for Americans in a global economy.
SIDEBAR ENDS
mytest
Author Yang Yi won the Akutagawa Prize on Tuesday to become the first Chinese to receive the prestigious literary award, the prize’s organizers said.
 |
| Best book: Chinese writer Yang Yi is all smiles in Tokyo on Tuesday following news that her novel “Tokiga nijimu asa” won the coveted Akutagawa Prize. KYODO PHOTO |
The 44-year-old Yang’s award-winning work “Tokiga nijimu asa” (literally, “A Morning When Time Blurs”), written in Japanese, is set during and after China’s democratization movement centering on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
It follows a Chinese man who lives through those times and later moves to Japan, still holding on to his ideals.
“I’m very, very happy. I feel that I have been accepted,” Yang told reporters outside her Tokyo home.
Meanwhile, the Naoki Prize, a major literature award for popular fiction, went to Areno Inoue, 47, daughter of the late novelist Mitsuharu Inoue.
Inoue’s “Kiriha e” (“To the Mine Face”) is a love story about a teacher who lives with her husband on a remote island.
A previous book by Yang was nominated for the biannual Akutagawa Prize in January but was not chosen.
“I had thought that I may not be chosen this time. I could still not be confident of my own Japanese. Now I feel that I have blended well into Japan, and I am happy that I have been able to write and to have been evaluated,” a smiling Yang said.
She said she learned of the news in a call to her cell phone while having dinner with one of her publisher’s editors.
Unpretentious, hard-working and humble, writer Yang Yi bears more than a passing similarity to the eponymous lead character in her novel “Wang-chan,” titled after the nickname of a Chinese woman who moved to Japan as the bride of a Japanese factory worker and then tried to carve out a career as a marriage broker for other Chinese women seeking to marry Japanese men living out in the sticks.
 |
| Yang Yi laughs during her recent interview with The Japan Times.YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO |
In “Wang-chan,” 43-year-old Yang’s first attempt at a Japanese-language novel, first published late last year in a literary magazine, the rural cultures and customs of China and Japan are colorfully contrasted — along with rich and bittersweet interactions between the central character and others, including her dying Japanese mother-in-law and a sex-starved Japanese man in search of a Chinese wife.
The native of Harbin in northeastern China (former Manchuria) caused a sensation in Japan when, in October last year, she won the literary magazine Bungakukai’s prestigious biannual award for new writers. She created even more ripples last month when she became one of the seven nominees for the Akutagawa Award, one of Japan’s most glittering literary accolades.
Although she actually missed out on that top honor, Yang, who teaches Chinese as a day job, was a much talked-about candidate, being the first-ever Chinese to be considered for the highly publicized award. Nonetheless, Yang remains humble about her literary feat, saying she will never become a celebrity novelist. “I am more like a craftsman,” she said when asked about her aspirations as a writer.
Last month, Yang published her first book, titled “Wang-chan,” which comprises that story and “Roshojo (Old Virgin),” another story that is a tragi-comic account of an unmarried Chinese psychology researcher who fantasizes about a romantic relationship with a handsome Japanese professor.
Yang, who is divorced from a Japanese husband and now lives with her teenage son and daughter in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, recently sat down for an interview with The Japan Times to recount some episodes in her adaptation to life in Japan and how she picked up the language at supermarkets. She also shared her impressions of the enormous changes in people’s values in China these days, along with her take on the often thorny matter of Japan-China relations.
Interview continues at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080203x1.html
mytest
Hi Blog. Good news for a change–the mechanisms for investigating and taking action against claims of discrimination seem to be working at Nihon University, at least. Well done, and thanks to 1) the investigators for doing their job and taking action, and 2) the victim and family for not just naki-neiri-ing this situation.
Additional comment from T3:
“Investigators confirmed that the refusal to allow the 3rd generation korean resident into the university debate team was based on racial discrimination. bizarrely so, because members of the team claimed that they might not be able to assimilate with a foreigner – a 3rd generation “foreigner”.”
One more piece of good news coming up today. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
===============================
University debate team suspends activities after resident Korean student claims discrimination
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 2008/7/16
Courtesy of Mak and T3
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200807160268.html
The debate club of Nihon University’s College of Law suspended activities after a third-generation Korean resident said she was refused entry because of her ethnicity, The Asahi Shimbun learned.
The 21-year-old first-year student said she could not join the club in April because several senior members had a problem with her South Korean nationality.
Along with her mother, she lodged a discrimination complaint to the Tokyo-based university in early June.
The university administration commissioned lawyers to investigate the case and determined that the student was indeed discriminated against because of her nationality and ethnicity.
But members of the club denied that discrimination had anything to do with their refusal to let the student join.
The investigative team found that concerns were raised by senior club members over “how they would get along with a foreigner” and the possibility that she might be involved in a “radical religious activity.”
The club suspended activities in late June after a request from the university’s human rights committee.
Three senior members and two professors serving as club supervisors issued an apology to the student for causing “grief and pain.”
The student has refused to accept the apology because of their denial of discrimination.
The student attended an introductory session for prospective new members in late April, but was told the following day that she could not join.
A senior student told her that her class schedule would likely conflict with the club’s activities and that the club supervisor might dislike “the light color of her hair.”
However, she said she later learned from a friend who was a member of the club that senior members had said to the effect that they would “have a problem with her cultural background as a resident Korean.”
(IHT/Asahi: July 16,2008)
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. July 29 Symposium on Japan’s immigration policy, sponsored by Japan Immigration Policy Institute. Courtesy of the sponsor. Arudou Debito
外国人政策研究所は、当初から議員連盟の議論に参加し、提言のベースになる構想を作成、提案しました。福田首相は提言を「真剣に受け止めたい」と前向きに検討する考えを示しています。
人口危機に対応するための移民政策は、新たな開国であり、新たな国づくりでもあります。福田内閣の今後どのように移民政策を扱うのか。その取り組みに内外から注目が集まるとみられます。
シンポジウムでは提案作成に中心的な役割を果たした坂中所長をはじめ議連の議論に参加した4氏が、日本型移民政策の狙いやその中身を詳しく解説するとともに、今後とり組むべき課題などについて意見を交換します。
mytest
FORWARDING:
Please forward information below to anyone interested in this issue.
**************************************************************
July 21 Symposium
“Unqualified Foreign Residents (Overstaying Foreign Residents)”:
Do we build a Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Cultural Society over the Elimination?
**************************************************************
Date: Monday July 21
Time: 14：00〜17：00 (door opens at 13:30)
Where: Korea YMCA 9th floor
(2-5-5 Sarugaku-cyo Chiyoda-ku)
Access: http://www.ymcajapan.org/ayc/jp/map1.htm
JR “Suidobashi-station” (6 min walk)/ JR”Ochanomizu-station” (9 min walk) /Tokyo
Subway “Jinboucyo-station”(7 min walk)
Admission: 1000yen
* English-Japanese simultaneous interpretation available
It has past almost 20 years since the arrival of “new comers”. The number of the unqualified foreign residents who recorded its peak in 1993 started to decline and currently there are about 170,000 living in Japan. Until now, tens of thousands of unqualified foreign residents were amnestied by receiving “special permanent residents”. On the other hand, in Japan, people started to see unqualified residents as “Illegal residents” which is considered as a nest of crime. In this circumstance, the government has strengthened its regulation. In addition, from 2008, the new system to control residents was built and the government is trying to eliminate the unqualified foreign residents completely.
Take place the background of declining birth rate; the argument on “acceptance” of immigrants is developing among various fields as using a keyword of “multi-cultural society”. However, that is the “society” over the elimination of unqualified foreign residents, and it differs from “multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society” that the NGOs and civil societies have been aiming to create.
In this symposium, from the viewpoint of the unqualified residents, we will be discussing the current situation that the “multi-cultural society” and “elimination of unqualified residents” is preceding simultaneously.
Program (tentative)
● Transformation of the surrounding circumstances of the unqualified residents in the
past 20 years.
● Panel discussion
「Amnesty Now！〜the unqualified residents -then and now-〜」
panelists：
Mr. Akira Hatate（Japan Civil Liberties Union: JCLU)/ Mr.Ippei Torii（Zentoitsu（All United）
Workers Union, Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)/ others
● Mr. Rey Ventura and the film “DEKASEGI”screen
Mr. Rey Ventura：born in Philippine Isabela. The author of books “I have always hidden-a
diary of illegal work by a Filipino student” and “Yokohama Kotobuki Filipinos”.
Comments from other foreign residents
Q&A
Contact: Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ)
Bunkyo-ku,Koishikawa 2-17-41, TCC 2-203, Tokyo, Japan
tel: 03-5802-6033, fax: 03-5802-6034, mail: fmwj@jca.apc.org
ENDS
mytest
Subject: 【IMADR-INFO N0.123】イベントのご案内
Date: July 16, 2008 3:33:57 PM JST
To: debito@debito.org
Reply-To: imadrjc@imadr.org
**********************************************************************
2008年7月16日
★IMADRインフォメーション★
【No.123】
**********************************************************************
———————————————————————————————————
◆目次◆
———————————————————————————————————
１）2008緊急シンポジウム 非正規滞在（オーバーステイ）者
２）第3回人権市民会議シンポジウム 戸籍って何？
３）イベントなどの予定
４）IMADR-INFO配信について
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
１．2008緊急シンポジウム
非正規滞在（オーバーステイ）者〜排除の上に築く共生でいいのか？〜
───────────────────────────────────
※IMADR-JCが参加する外国人人権法連絡会の共催イベントです。
■日時：2008年7月21日（月・祝日） pm. 2:00〜5:00 (開場 pm. 1:30)
■会場：韓国YMCA （東京都千代田区猿楽町2-5-5）
JR水道橋駅徒歩6分、御茶ノ水駅徒歩9分、地下鉄神保町駅徒歩7分
地図は以下URLを参照 http://www.ymcajapan.org/ayc/jp/map1.htm
■参加費：1000円 通訳：英語
「ニューカマー」の来日から20年以上が経過しました。当初、そのほとんどを
占めた非正規滞在者は1993年をピークに減少し、2008年には約17万人となって
います。しかし現在も、多くの非正規滞在者がこの社会で暮らしています。こ
の間、数万人の非正規滞在者が、在留特別許可によって合法化されてきました。
その一方で、非正規滞在者を犯罪の温床である「不法滞在者」として捉えるま
なざしが定着し、政府も2003年から取り締まりを強化してきました。加えて来
年、新たな在留管理制度を構築し、非正規滞在者をいっさい排除しようとして
います。
少子化を背景に、移民の「受け入れ」議論が「多文化共生」をキーワードに各
界で始まっています。しかしそれは、非正規滞在者を排除した上での「共生」
でしかなく、NGOや市民団体が長年訴えてきた「多民族・多文化共生」とは異
なっています。
シンポジウムでは、こうした「共生」と「排除」が同時進行する現状を、非正
規滞在者の視点から考えてみたいと思います。ぜひご参加ください。
【プログラム（予定）】
◇ 20年の総括
◇ パネルディスカッション：
今すぐ合法化を！〜非正規滞在者のこれまでとこれから
旗手明（自由人権協会）／鳥井一平（移住連事務局長）/金哲敏（弁護士）
ほか
◇ レイ・ベントゥーラさん発題と“DEKASEGI”上映
レイ・ベントゥーラさん…『ぼくはいつも隠れていた——フィリピン人
学生不法就労記』（草思社、1993年）、『横浜コトブキ・フィリピーノ』
（現代書館、2007年）著者
◇（元）当事者からの発言
◇ 質疑応答
【主催】
外国人人権法連絡会／移住連／差別ウォッチ・ネットワーク
【連絡先】
移住労働者と連帯する全国ネットワーク（移住連）
東京都文京区小石川2-17-41 T C C 2-203
tel: 03-5802-6033, fax: 03-5802-6034, email: fmwj@jca.apc.org
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
２．第3回人権市民会議シンポジウム
「戸籍」って何？ 〜戸籍をめぐる問題と国内人権救済機関の役割〜
———————————————————————————————————
※IMADR−JCが参加する人権市民会議の主催イベントです。
法律婚をしていないフィリピン人の母と日本人の父の間に生まれた婚外子の日
本国籍をめぐる最高裁の違憲判決、民法772条の「300日」規定により無戸籍と
なった母から生まれた子の戸籍の問題、性同一性障害を持つ人の性別変更につ
いて定めた性同一性障害特例法の改正、婚外子差別の撤廃を含む野党の民法改
正案など、最近、戸籍にかかわる問題が報道され、クローズアップされていま
す。
日常生活において戸籍を意識して生活している人はどれほどいるでしょうか？
戸籍は、パスポートの申請や相続登記の際などに役所へ必要書類として提出さ
れますが、手続きの必要書類として提出しなければならないという場面に遭遇
したことのない人には、もしかしたら「自分の戸籍を見たことがない」、「本
籍地を知らない」という人もいるかも知れません。
しかし一方で、無戸籍であるために基本的な社会サービスを受けられなかった
り、戸籍に記載された内容をもとに公的サービスの利用、就職、結婚などにお
いて差別的取り扱いを受けるといったことが今なお起きています。
戸籍とはそもそも何なのでしょうか？戸籍が存在するために直面する困難は？
戸籍をもとにした差別には具体的にどのようなものがあるのでしょうか？
こんなことを、戸籍にかかわる困難や人権侵害に直面しているみなさん、そし
て、戸籍と人権侵害なんて考えたことがない」というみなさんと一緒に考え、
議論したいと思います。また、日本にはまだない「国内人権救済機関」につい
て、そもそも国内人権救済機関とは何なのか、日本に国内人権救済機関ができ
たら戸籍をめぐる困難や人権侵害、その他の人権問題がどのように救済可能な
のかを考えてみたいと思います。
■日時：2008年7月26日（土）13:00〜16:00
■場所：松本治一郎記念会館 3F会議室
（東京都港区六本木3-5-11 TEL. 050-3532-5523）
■参加費：500円（資料代として）
■主催・問い合わせ・申し込み先：人権市民会議事務局
TEL.050-3532-5523 FAX.03-3585-8966 EMAIL. cc.for.hr@gmail.com
■内容：
【13:00〜13:30 全体会】
カナダ人権委員会について
……金子 匡良さん（高松短期大学講師）
【13:30〜15:00 グループワーク】
参加者のみなさんに3グループに分かれ、各グループで「戸籍」について気軽
に、そして率直に意見交換・学習していただきます。
各グループのモデレーター：黒坂 愛衣さん（ハンセン病首都圏市民の会）
佐藤 文明さん（元区役所職員、『戸籍が作る
差別』著者）
李 嘉永さん（部落解放・人権研究所）
【15:00〜15:20 休憩】
【15:20〜16:00 まとめ】
国内人権機関はなぜ必要か
……山崎 公士・人権市民会議代表（新潟大学法科大学院教授）
※資料準備のため、事前にお申し込みをいただければ幸いです（必須ではあり
ません）
※要約筆記をご用意いたします。
※ご不明な点等ありましたら、上記問い合わせ先（人権市民会議事務局）まで
ご連絡ください。
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
３．イベントなどの予定
———————————————————————————————————
◇7月◇
21（月・祝）2008緊急シンポジウム
非正規滞在（オーバーステイ）者〜排除の上に築く共生でいい
のか？〜
http://www.imadr.org/japan/event/IMADR_IMADR-JC_sub/2008_1/
26（土） 第3回人権市民会議シンポジウム
「戸籍」って何？ 〜戸籍をめぐる問題と国内人権救済機関の役割〜
http://www.imadr.org/japan/event/IMADR_IMADR-JC_sub/3/
31（木）〜8月2（土）
「部落問題の今」をめぐる若手研究者の国際ワークショップと
シンポジウム
http://www.imadr.org/japan/event/IMADR_IMADR-JC_sub/post_31/
◇9月◇
8（月） 第17回ヒューマンライツセミナー「スリランカの平和構築と人権」
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
４．IMADR-INFO配信について
———————————————————————————————————
このメールマガジンは、まぐまぐが提供するサービスにより運営しています。
配送停止を希望される方は、お手数ですが下記IMADRホームページより配送解
除を行って下さい。メールアドレスを変更される際は、現在のアドレスへの配
送解除の後、新しいアドレスをご登録ください。
なお、「ウィークリーまぐまぐ」は、http://www.mag2.com/wmag/
から解除することができます。
購読登録・解除用アドレス
http://www.imadr.org/japan/joinus/#a000200
※訂正とお詫び 本メールマガジン前号（122号、2008年7月3日発行）にタイ
トルが付いていませんでした。タイトルは「G8へのNGO共同提言書等」で
した。お詫びして訂正します。
**********************************************************************
発行元：
反差別国際運動（IMADR）
Tel: 03-3586-7447 Fax: 03-3586-7462 E-mail: imadris@imadr.org
反差別国際運動日本委員会（IMADR-JC）
Tel: 03-3568-7709 Fax: 03-3586-7448 E-mail: imadrjc@imadr.org
〒106-0032 東京都港区六本木3-5-11 Website: http://www.imadr.org
**********************************************************************
◎IMADRインフォメーション
のバックナンバー・配信停止はこちら
⇒ http://archive.mag2.com/0000169133/index.html
このメールに返信すれば、発行者さんへ感想を送れます
mytest
Hi Blog. Just heard yesterday that Charles Jenkins, long-suffering veteran of North Korea (who got a very harsh life after defecting from the US military from South Korea, before I was even born!), just got his Permanent Residency (eiuuken) in record time (a coupla weeks). And with fewer years spent here (four) than the average applicant (generally five years if married to a Japanese, ten if not married). With personal consideration from Justice Minister Hatoyama.
Congratulations Mr Jenkins. Seriously. I’m very happy you can stay here with your family as long as you like, and may you have a peaceful and happy rest of your life out on Sadogashima.
But I wish the often strict procedures given other applicants could have applied to him as well. Again, as with the case of Fujimori (who was “naturalized” in about the same amount of procedural time) and certain sports figures, politics keeps infiltrating the application process for assimilation. Inevitable, some might say, but still a shame when there are people as eminently qualified as Mr Jenkins also being refused. More on that here from the Japan Times. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
===========================
ジェンキンスさん、永住許可へ…鳩山法相が指示
7月11日12時36分配信 読売新聞
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080711-00000019-yom-pol
Courtesy of oogu
鳩山法相は１１日午前の閣議後の記者会見で、北朝鮮による拉致被害者の曽我ひとみさん（４９）の夫、チャールズ・ジェンキンスさん（６８）の永住を許可するよう、同日、入国管理局に指示したことを明らかにした。
入管は同日中にジェンキンスさんに連絡し、ジェンキンスさんが入管を訪れれば永住が認められる運びだ。
ジェンキンスさんは曽我さんの配偶者として在留資格があるが、３年ごとの資格更新が必要なため、６月２４日に東京入国管理局新潟出張所に永住許可を申請していた。通常は「許可までに数か月かかる」（法務省幹部）が、約半月の早さでの許可となった。
最終更新:7月11日12時36分
===========================
Japan Today/Kyodo News Friday 11th July, 02:08 PM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/jenkins-granted-permanent-residency-status
Courtesy of oogu
TOKYO —The Japanese government will grant U.S. citizen Charles Jenkins, the husband of a repatriated Japanese abductee to North Korea, permanent residency status, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said Friday. Jenkins, a former U.S. Army sergeant who deserted to North Korea, married Hitomi Soga there and lived in the country almost 40 years, came to Japan with the couple’s two North Korean-born daughters in July 2004 after being reunited with Soga in Jakarta.
The Justice Ministry made the decision only half a month after Jenkins applied for the status June 24. Usually, foreign nationals need about six months to obtain permanent residency status. Jenkins, 68, has been living in his wife’s hometown on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan since completing a 30-day detention for desertion at a U.S. Army base in Japan. He acquired temporary residency status as Soga’s spouse and is required to renew it every three years. With permanent residency status, Jenkins will not be required to go through further renewals.
===========================
ENDS
mytest
Hello Blog. Got this yesterday. I’ve anonymized it for now because the family fears that the employer will refuse to employ the job candidate further if this article can be traced back to him. Summary: A world-famous company in northern Japan, with branches and products overseas for generations, refuses to employ a young Japanese (despite giving him a job offer)–expressly, despite being a citizen, because he’s “half”.
This could have major repercussions in Japan if other Japanese with international roots get discriminated against similarly. Read on. More details to reporters if they want a story. I have the feeling we have a major lawsuit here. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
=====================================
Dear Debito San,
Thank you very much for your advice on the phone on Friday June 13th.
I will give you all the information that I have to date about my son’s problem.
My son, 21 years old, phoned a company in [Tohoku, Northern Japan] [Headhunters KK] to apply for a job advertised in “XXXXX” (a flyer with available jobs). The job he applied for was at the [World Famous Company] factory near [our town in Tohoku]. The job is a full time Syain job with bonus, Kousainenkin and Koyouhoken. Monday to Friday and 850 yen per hour plus 10,000 yen Koutsuhi per month. The return trip to [World Famous Company] is 13km from our home. The [World Famous Company] factory is new and nice with canteen. Saturday, Sunday and public holidays off.
He went for the interview on Tuesday June 10th at 10am. The interviewer a Mr. M of [Headhunters KK]. After the interview my son was told that he had the job at the [World Famous Company] factory and would start work on Monday June 16th.
(My son was very excited that he got the job because when he went for an interview at a different company one week earlier that interviewer told him that because he is half Japanese that he most likely wouldn’t be able to get a job locally and would probably have to go to Tokyo to work. Of course he didn’t get that job, but that interviewer asked him to go out with him for dinner or lunch. Also he has phoned him a few times to ask him to dinner. (My son has a girlfriend and is not gay) what this guy wants I don’t know but I think that it is inappropriate for any job interviewer to ask the applicant out for dinner).
At the interview on Tuesday June 10th my son was asked to get a medical check Kenkoushindan form 5 and to come back on Friday June 13th with it and bank book, mitomein, drivers license, syakensyo, jibaiseki hoken syoumeisyo, nini hoken syoumeisyo and nenkin techo. The medical check includes height, weight, blood pressure, urine check, sight and hearing check, blood check, chest xray and heart check. He passed all checks and cost 10,000 yen.
When he returned on Friday June 13th the same interviewer Mr. M took him away from the other 3 people which also passed for the jobs at [World Famous Company]. And told him that he would be working at a different factory and not at [World Famous Company]. My son knew that he was a victim of racial discrimination but couldn’t say anything for fear of not getting the other job. He was told that it has nothing to do with him being half Japanese. But it seems his katakana name is 面倒くさい、ハーフだからというわけでは無いけれども、[一流の会社]では[東北]の人しか働いていないし、あとあと面倒なことになると困るし、
But the interviewer knows from my son’s rirekisyo that my son was born in this area went to youchien, elementary school, junior high and high school here in [the town which contains this World Famous Company] so he is a Tohoku person and can speak the local dialect and has Japanese Koseki.
The interviewer was very uneasy telling my son this information and was also told that they no longer need the medical check form because that was only for the [World Famous Company] job. Also they never mentioned compensating him the 10,000 yen for that medical check which they asked for and then told him he didn’t need.
The other job which he started today Monday June 16th is only a two month contract, doesn’t include a bonus or any of the other things included in the [World Famous Company] job, the hourly rate is 50yen less than the [World Famous Company] job plus he has to work on some Saturdays with only Sunday off.
The factory is 20km return from out home as compared to 13km at the [World Famous Company] factory. There is no canteen and it is just not a full time position at [World Famous Company] that he was interviewed for and then promised.
My thinking is that Mr. M is a good man and didn’t discriminate against my son for not being 100% Japanese but [World Famous Company] did refuse my son on the grounds of racial discrimination and then Mr. M had to do as [World Famous Company] wished.
My son has been at the new job for just over a week now and doesn’t want to risk losing his job by causing any trouble to [World Famous Company] or [Headhunters KK]. Not for the moment anyway as he doesn’t know how permanent this job will be. The contract is only for two months.
My wife phoned a few government departments and was told that a verbal promise of a job is the same as a written promise, so we have good grounds to take action against [Headhunters KK] and maybe [World Famous Company].
My son’s friend who did get a job in [World Famous Company] said that he has heard my son’s name mentioned a few times in the [World Famous Company] factory and my son’s boss Mr. M also asked my son about a rumor at the [World Famous Company] factory that he was discriminated against for being half. My son said he knew nothing of that rumor.
This is all we have at the moment. I will keep you informed of any changes. If you have any other ideas then we would be very happy to hear them.
Again many thanks for your advice.
Keep up your good work.
Best regards
Anonymous Dad
mytest
Foreigners will have a much better opportunity to move to, or continue to live in, Japan under a new immigration plan drafted by Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to accept 10 million immigrants in the next 50 years.
“The plan means (some politicians) are seriously thinking about Japan’s future,” said Debito Arudou, who is originally from the United States but has lived in Japan for 20 years and became a naturalized citizen in 2000. “While it is no surprise by global standards, it is a surprisingly big step forward for Japan.”
The group of some 80 lawmakers, led by former LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa, finalized the plan on June 12 and aims to submit it to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda later this week.
The plan is “the most effective way to counter the labor shortage Japan is doomed to face amid a decreasing number of children,” Nakagawa said.
While establishing an environment to encourage women to continue to work while rearing children is important to counter the expected labor shortage, bringing in foreign workers is the best solution for immediate effect, said the plan’s mastermind, Hidenori Sakanaka, director general of the private think tank Japan Immigration Policy Institute.
“We will train immigrants and make sure they get jobs and their families have decent lives,” Sakanaka said in explaining the major difference between the new plan and current immigration policy. “We will take care of their lives, as opposed to the current policy, in which we demand only highly skilled foreigners or accept foreigners only for a few years to engage in simple labor.”
Japan had 2.08 million foreign residents in 2006, accounting for 1.6 percent of the population of 128 million. Raising the total to 10 million, or close to 10 percent of the population, may sound bold but is actually modest considering that most European countries, not to mention the U.S., have already exceeded this proportion, Sakanaka said.
Fukuda outlined in a policy speech in January his aim to raise the number of foreign students to 300,000 from the current 130,000, but without specifying a timetable.
However, the immigration plan calls for the goal to be achieved soon and for the government to aim for 1 million foreign students by 2025. It also proposes accepting an annual 1,000 asylum seekers and other people who need protection for humanitarian reasons.
Akio Nakayama, manager of the Tokyo office of the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, said the important thing about the new plan pitched by the LDP members is that it would guarantee better human rights for immigrants.
“The plan emphasizes that we will accept immigrants, not foreign workers, and let them live in Japan permanently,” Nakayama said.
“The most remarkable point is that immigrants’ family members are included,” he said. “I have never seen this in similar proposals.”
Also, he praised the plan for proposing changes to the resident registration law to allow children born in Japan to foreign parents to have Japanese citizenship. Under the current Nationality Law, one of the parents must be Japanese and the parents must be legally married for their children to have Japanese citizenship.
The plan also includes establishing an entity to be called the Immigration Agency to integrate related duties that are now shared by multiple government bodies.
Among other proposals, the plan calls for extending the maximum duration of student and working visas to five years from the current three, easing the conditions for granting permanent resident status, setting up more Japanese-language and culture centers overseas and outlawing racism.
Arudou, a foreigners’ rights activist, noted the importance of establishing a legal basis for specifically banning discrimination against non-Japanese.
“Founding a legal basis is important because people do not become open just because the government opens the door,” he said.
Also under the plan, the foreign trainee program, which supports Japanese companies and organizations that hire foreigners to work up to three years in Japan, would be abolished. Some trainees who have come to Japan under the program have sued their employers, claiming they have been abused with minimal pay and harsh working conditions.
This set of bold proposals appears positive, but Minoru Morita, a political critic at Morita Research Institute Co., doubts Nakagawa’s plan will be formally adopted by the LDP anytime soon.
“Expanding immigrants to this large of a scale may cause social instability,” he said. “Nakagawa will face difficulty gaining support from LDP colleagues and ministry officials.”
He added that Nakagawa may have come up with the plan because he could be angling to become the next prime minister and would therefore want to stand out with a bold policy proposal. “Nakagawa may have to water down the proposals,” Morita said.
Fears over the consequences of bringing in more foreigners are probably shared by many in a country where people consider themselves highly homogeneous.
“Immigrants surely bring dynamism to the Japanese economy, as well as crime,” said a researcher at a public entity studying crimes committed by foreigners. The researcher asked not to be named.
While the researcher admitted immigrants would be better treated if the new plan were adopted and thus their motivation for committing crimes would decrease, he added: “But what if they lose their jobs? What if the economy worsens? We cannot take better care of unemployed immigrants than Japanese because we should treat them equally.”
Goro Ono, author of “Bringing Foreign Workers Ruins Japan,” does not think bringing in immigrants is necessary.
Ono, an honorary professor at Saitama University, said he does not believe Japan is facing a labor shortage now or in the future.
“If industries where labor is in high demand pay adequate salaries, people will work there,” he said.
Ono said nursing is a good example. Japan is actively bringing in Indonesians and other foreigners to cover a dire shortage because nurses here are woefully underpaid, he said, while on the other hand public entities never have trouble finding garbage collectors because they get decent salaries.
Ono also brought up the lack of discussion about the cost of preparing the infrastructure to accept more immigrants.
Sakanaka is ready to face such criticism just as all revolutionaries have in the past. His proposals would shake up Japan from the inside and it would be a historical moment if they all became law, he said.
“The Meiji Restoration was the first stage in opening up the country to foreigners,” he said. “Now we are entering the second stage.”
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. On the road for a few days, here’s something for the Antipodean readers to tell us more about. Arudou Debito in Tochigi
===============================================
Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | The Australian June 05, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23812768-601,00.html
Courtesy Tony Desapien
KEVIN Rudd wants to spearhead the creation of an Asia-Pacific Union similar to the European Union by 2020 and has appointed veteran diplomat Richard Woolcott – one of his mentors – as a special envoy to lobby regional leaders over the body.
The Prime Minister said last night that the union, adding India to the 21-member APEC grouping, would encompass a regional free-trade agreement and provide a crucial venue for co-operation on issues such as terrorism and long-term energy and resource security.
And he outlined his plans for his visits to Japan and Indonesia next week, saying he would explore greater defence co-operation between Australia, Japan and the US – an approach that had been championed by John Howard.
Speaking in Sydney last night to the Asia Society Australasia Centre, the Mandarin-speaking Mr Rudd said global power and influence was shifting towards the Asia-Pacific region and that Australia must drive the creation of a new global architecture for the Asia-Pacific century.
“We need to have a vision for an Asia-Pacific community, a vision that embraces a regional institution, which spans the entire Asia-Pacific region – including the United States, Japan, China, India, Indonesia and the other states of the region,” said the Prime Minister.
The body would be “able to engage in the full spectrum of dialogue, co-operation and action in economic and political matters and future challenges related to security”.
“The purpose is to encourage the development of a genuine and comprehensive sense of community whose habitual operating principle is co-operation,” Mr Rudd said.
“The danger of not acting is that we run the risk of succumbing to the perception that future conflict within our region may somehow be inevitable.”
Government sources said last night that Mr Rudd was attempting to revive the reformist spirit of former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, who successfully pressed for the creation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group 20 years ago.
Mr Woolcott, 80, was Mr Hawke’s right-hand man in establishing APEC and was a frequent critic of the Howard government’s foreign policy.
Mr Woolcott told The Australian last night that Mr Rudd had made it clear there was great scope to co-ordinate existing regional organisations.
“This fits neatly into the concept of greater middle-power diplomacy,” Mr Woolcott said.
“If the US or China or Japan or some other big power were to suggest it, other nations might be apprehensive and back away. It’s better for a middle power like Australia to take the initiative.
“I’ve always thought that this was the part of the world where Australia lives, and if an Asia-Pacific community does develop, it’s essential that Australia be part of it.”
The proposed new pan-Asian body would come in addition to a range of existing forums through the region, including ASEAN, ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asian Summit.
But Mr Rudd said now was the appropriate time to re-examine the regional diplomatic and economic architecture because foreign policy based only on bilateral agreements had “a brittleness”.
“To remove some of that brittleness, we need strong and effective regional structures,” Mr Rudd said.
“Strong institutions will underpin an open, peaceful, stable, prosperous and sustainable region.”
Mr Rudd said the existing forums were not configured to promote co-operation across the entire region.
And he said his proposal was consistent with US President George W.Bush’s call for the development of an Asia-Pacific free trade area.
While the EU should not provide “an identikit model”, the Asia-Pacific region could learn much from the union, which in the 1950s had been seen by sceptics as unrealistic.
“Our special challenge is that we face a region with greater diversity in political systems and economic structures, levels of development, religious beliefs, languages and cultures, than did our counterparts in Europe,” Mr Rudd said. “But that should not stop us from thinking big.”
Mr Rudd said he would send Mr Woolcott to complete the “unfinished business” he had begun with Mr Hawke. “Subject to that further dialogue, we would envisage the possibility of a further high-level conference of government and non-government representatives to advance this proposal,” he said.
“I fully recognise this will not be an easy process … but the speed and the scope of changes in our region means we need to act now. Ours must be an open region – we need to link into the world, not shut ourselves off from it.
“And Australia has to be at the forefront of the challenge, helping to provide the ideas and drive to build new regional architecture.”
Mr Rudd said his Government’s foreign policy was based on three pillars: its relationship with the US; its links with the UN; and “comprehensive engagement with Asia”.
Discussing his visits to Japan and Indonesia next week, Mr Rudd said he would continue talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda toward the creation of a free-trade agreement as well as advancing talks on security co-operation between Australia, Japan and the US. In Indonesia, he would pursue talks about a free-trade agreement and anti-terrorism co-operation with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as well as seeking a template for greater co-operation on dealing with natural disasters.
ENDS
=========================
Australlian AAP June 06, 2008 01:29am
While Mr Hawke and Mr Keating supported Mr Rudd’s focus on the region, both said an EU-styled system would be unachievable in Asia, News Ltd has reported.
“God knows, it has taken the Chinese 350 years of the modern age to truly recover their sovereignty – I do not see them sharing much of it with anyone else,” Mr Keating said.
“And Japan remains one of the most insular, monocultural countries in the world, whose political leadership, at least for the last Japanese prime minister, was still reminiscing about China’s war experiences…”
Mr Hawke said much could be done to better integrate the Asia Pacific region, without the need for an overarching body.
“I don’t want to knock references to the EU but don’t let us say that’s the way it must be for Asia,” he said.
“We can do a hell of a lot without necessarily having the full degree of integration that has occurred with the European Union.”
mytest
Forwarding… Arudou Debito
Dear Professors and colleagues,
Re: Friday, June 20th, 2008 Symposium “Migration in East Asia: Cases Studies from Japan, China and Taiwan”
Greetings from Waseda University!
The Waseda University Doctoral Student Network (WUDSN), with the generous support of Waseda University’s Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration (GIARI) will hold a symposium on Friday, June 20th 2008, from 15:00 to 18:30. The symposium is entitled “Migration in East Asia: Cases Studies from Japan, China and Taiwan”.
At this meeting we our fortunate enough to have speakers with expertise on issues related to migration in East Asia and in particular, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Please see the symposium schedule below for more information about the speakers, titles of presentations, and attending discussants.
Welcome Address: Prof. Satoshi Amako
Session 1 : 15:00 to 17:00
“Dejima: Legacies of Exclusion and Control”
– Dr. David Blake Willis (Soai University)
“Sealing Japanese Identity”
– Dr. David Chapman (University of South Australia)
“The Underlying Myths, Beliefs and Calculations Reflected In the Naturalization Policy in Japan”
– Dr. Soo Im Lee (Ryukoku University)
“Examining the Role of Local Governments in Social Integration: A Comparative Examination of Social Integration Practices at the Local Government Level in Japan”
– Stephen R. Nagy Research Associate (Waseda University)
Discussant for speakers: Prof. Glenda S. Roberts
Session 2 : 17:15 to 18:30
“Creating a Transnational Community: Chinese Newcomers in Japan”
– Dr. Gracia Liu-Farrer (Sophia University)
“Hidden “In between-ness”: an Exploration of Taiwanese Transnational Identity
in Contemporary Japan”
– Peichun Han PhD Candidate (Waseda University)
Discussant for speakers: Prof. Shigeto Sonoda
Closing Remarks: Stephen R. Nagy
I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to this symposium meeting which aims to examine the issue of migration in East Asia from both sending and receiving countries’ perspectives. The event will be held at the Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Building 19, Rm 710 from 15:00 to 18:00. Please see attachments for details on presentation and the aims of the Waseda University Doctoral Student Network.
For information on how to get to Waseda University and about up coming events please refer to our homepage: http://www.waseda-giari.jp/jpn/wudsn/contact.html
Although registration is not necessary, organizers would greatly appreciate an email confirming your interest in attending. Please send email to Stephen Robert Nagy (s.nagy@aoni.waseda.jp) with name, affiliation, research area and email contact.
We hope that you will be able to join us for a stimulating afternoon of presentations and ample opportunity to exchange opinions, ideas and comments with our panelists.
Sincerely,
Stephen R. Nagy
ENDS
mytest
先生方各位
シンポジウムのご案内
2008年6月20日（金）
“Migration in East Asia: Cases Studies from Japan, China and Taiwan”
平素より大変お世話になっております。早稲田大学のStephen R. Nagyです。
さて、早稲田大学博士課程学生ネットワークでは、早稲田大学グローバルCOEプログラム「アジア地域統合のための世界的人材育成拠点（GIARI）」からの全面的支援を得て、2008年6月20日（金）15：00から18：30まで、“Migration in East Asia: Cases Studies from Japan, China and Taiwan”と題するシンポジウムを開催する運びとなりました。
今回のシンポジウムでは、東アジアとりわけ日本、中国、台湾に関する移民研究の専門家をお招きしてご発表いただきます。シンポジウムの発表者、発表タイトル、討論者に関する詳細は、下記をご参照くださいませ。
Welcome Address: Prof. Satoshi Amako
Session 1 : 15:00 to 17:00
“Dejima: Legacies of Exclusion and Control”
– Dr. David Blake Willis (Soai University)
“Sealing Japanese Identity”
– Dr. David Chapman (University of South Australia)
“The Underlying Myths, Beliefs and Calculations Reflected In the Naturalization Policy in Japan”
– Dr. Soo Im Lee (Ryukoku University)
“Examining the Role of Local Governments in Social Integration: A Comparative Examination of Social Integration Practices at the Local Government Level in Japan”
– Stephen R. Nagy Research Associate (Waseda University)
Discussant for speakers: Prof. Glenda S. Roberts
Session 2 : 17:15 to 18:30
“Creating a Transnational Community: Chinese Newcomers in Japan”
– Dr. Gracia Liu-Farrer (Sophia University)
“Hidden “In between-ness”: an Exploration of Taiwanese Transnational Identity
in Contemporary Japan”
– Peichun Han PhD Candidate (Waseda University)
Discussant for speakers: Prof. Shigeto Sonoda
Closing Remarks: Stephen R. Nagy
お忙しい中とは思いますが、是非ご参加いただけましたら幸甚です。ご参加の皆様との討論によって東アジアの移民研究に関して多様な角度から議論できればと思っております。シンポジウムは、早稲田大学アジア太平洋研究科19号館710号室にて、15：00～18：30までを予定しております。シンポジウムのプログラム、早稲田大学博士課程学生ネットワークの概要に関しましては添付ファイルの資料をご参照くださいませ。
早稲田大学までの行き方、博士課程学生ネットワークの今後のイベントに関しては、下記の博士課程学生ネットワーク・ホームページをご参考くださいませ。
http://www.waseda-giari.jp/jpn/wudsn/contact.html
シンポジウムの申し込むは不要ですが、ご出席いただけます方は、事前にお名前、ご所属、研究（関心）領域を明記してEメールにてStephen Robert Nagy (s.nagy@aoni.waseda.jp)までご連絡いただけましたら幸いです。
皆様のご参加を心よりお待ち申し上げております。皆様と発表者との討論によって、シンポジウムが実りあるものになることを期待いたしております。シンポジウムにて皆様にお会いできることを楽しみにしております。
Stephen R. Nagy
mytest
Hi Blog. This is Japan Immigration Policy Institute’s Mr Sakanaka Hidenori’s proposal for a new immigration policy for Japan (more from Mr Sakanaka on Debito.org here). Dated June 12, 2008. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
私が作成に関わった「日本型移民政策の提言」を添付します。ご覧ください。
外国人政策研究所所長 坂中英徳
*****************************
外国人政策研究所 事務局
〒１08-0014
東京都港区芝4-7-6 尾家ビル５Ｆ
ＴＥＬ ０３−３４５３−５９０１
ＦＡＸ ０３−３４５３−５９０２
*****************************
Ｅ−ｍａｉｌ info@jipi.gr.jp
URL http://www.jipi.gr.jp/
人材開国！
日本型移民政策の提言
世界の若者が
移住したいと憧れる国の構築に向けて
＝中間とりまとめ＝
Ⅰ 政策の理念
１．移民立国で日本の活性化を図る
２．日本文明の底力を活かす
Ⅱ 日本型移民政策の骨格
１．日本人口の１０％を移民が占める「移民国家」へ
２．「育成型」移民政策を推進する
３．日本型移民政策の基盤整備
４．社会統合・多民族共生のための施策
５．人道的配慮を要する移民の受け入れ
Ⅲ 直ちに取り組むべき事項
２００８．６．１２
自由民主党 外国人材交流推進議員連盟
Ⅰ 政策の理念
１．移民立国で日本の活性化を図る
○ 日本は世界のどの国も経験したことのない高齢化社会の道を歩み始めた。
加えて、 ほぼ時期を同じくして、未体験の人口減の時代に入った。人口減はテンポを速め、その重圧が社会全体を覆いつつある。
○ 50年後の日本の人口は3分の2に落ち込み、9000万人を下回るという政府推計がある。
そのとおりだとすると、国の様相は一変しているはずである。過疎が進む日本の原風景はどのような姿をさらしているのだろうか。社会の活力は枯渇していないだろうか。
○ 一国の人口推移は、人の出生、死亡、国際人口移動の3つの要因によって決まる。
人口減少問題への取り組みとして、政府は出生率を高めるため保育サービスの充実などに全力を挙げている。しかし、人口問題の専門家によると、少子化対策の効果が現れるとしても、それは遠い将来の話ということである。
したがって、日本の人口危機を救う効果的な治療法は、海外からの移民の受け入れ以外にないのである。日本の生きる道は、世界に通用する国際国家として自らを世界に開き、移民の受け入れにより日本の活性化を図る「移民立国」への転換である。
○ 新しい国づくりのためには、適正な移民受け入れを進める「移民政策」を打ち出す必要がある。
国民のコンセンサスも不可欠だ。だが、何より求められるのは、移民開国への国民の決意と覚悟がいることである。外国人を移民として迎える以上、彼らが安心して働くことができる職場を用意しなければならない。移民ニーズに対応した社会経済制度の改革が必要である。
○ 日本が未曾有の数の移民を受け入れるのであれば、日本民族と他の民族がお互いの立場を尊重し合って生きる社会、すなわち「多民族共生社会」を作るという日本人の覚悟が求められる。
そのとき日本人に求められるのは、自らの民族的アイデンティティを確認し、かつ異なる民族すべてを対等の存在と認める心構えを持つことである。日本民族の根本精神を堅持するとともに、少数民族の固有文化を尊重しなければならない。
○ 日本型移民政策を提唱する。
ここで「日本型」と言うのは、人材を「獲る」のではなく「育てる」姿勢を基本にする、日本独自の「育成型移民政策」であることを強調するためである。
意欲のある外国人材を、各産業分野を支える技能者・職人などに育成し、できるだけ早く日本国民として地域社会に根を下ろしてもらうようにするものである。
移民に対する手厚い教育を施し、日本人と良好な関係を築く「新たな国民」を生み出すのが、日本型移民政策の核心である。国民が懸念する治安の悪化を招くことのない外国人受け入れ制度である。
|
○ 日本の文化と伝統を世界に開放し、日本列島に住む様々な人間が切磋琢磨することで新しい価値を創造する「多文化社会」の構築も課題となる。
そして、高い志を持つ世界の若者がこぞって移住したいと憧れる国、人道支援・国際貢献のための移民受け入れにも力を入れて、世界から評価される国を目指す。
○ 改革に消極的だとして海外から「日本売り」が言われている今こそ、政治の責任で、人口危機にある日本がどんな国家を目指すのか、明確なビジョンを発信すべきである。
「人口危機に立ち向かうため日本は『移民国家』へ移行する」と政治が決断すれば、国際社会は国の形を「多民族国家」に変える究極の構造改革を評価し、「日本買い」に転じるだろう。
２．日本文明の底力を活かす
○ 極東に位置する島国であり、社会の均一性が相対的に高いとみなされている日本は、移民の受け入れに適さないという声がある。欧米に比べて移民の受け入れ経験が少ないことは事実である。
しかし、厳しい試練の時を迎えて、日本の未来に危機感を抱く国民が移民国家建設のため立ち上がれば、５０年間で１０００万人規模の移民受け入れを達成することも決して夢でない。幸い日本には、移民が快適に暮らすことができる制度、精神風土、環境が整っている。
第１に、長年にわたり蓄積されてきた産業技術と、卓越する世界企業の存在である。
高い生産効率を実現することで世界経済を先導してきた産業立国としての日本のネームバリューは、気概に満ちた世界の若者を惹きつけるに違いない。
高い教育水準と充実した高等教育施設も、今後、留学生の受け入れを大幅に増やすための教育資源となる。
第２に、日本社会には「人の和」や「寛容の心」を重んじる精神的基盤がある。
日本の社会は、宗教を見ても神道・仏教・キリスト教などが仲良く共存している。古来、日本は「和をもって貴しとなす（十七条憲法）」を基本とする国柄であった。多様な価値観や存在を受け入れる「寛容」の遺伝子を脈々と受け継いできた日本人は、世界のどの民族も成功していない「多様な民族との共生社会」を実現する潜在能力を持っている。
第３に、恵まれた自然環境と豊穣な文化がある。
四季折々の風景、歴史遺産の水田や森林、地方ごとに特色ある日本料理や伝統芸能は、海外からの旅行者にすでに認知されており、今では年間800万人を超す観光客が日本を訪れている。亜熱帯のさんご礁、日本情緒豊かな温泉街、良質の雪に恵まれたスキーリゾートにはリピーターも多い。この「癒しの島」には理想の移住地としての条件が備わっている。
第４に、日本社会にすでにいる「移民の背景を持つ人々」の存在がある。
何世代にもわたって多くの苦難を乗り越えて社会的地位を確立してきたオールドカマーに加えて、ニューカマーも来日からすでに20年を経て、２００万人を大きく超える外国出身者とその子孫は、市民・永住者・定住者として、日本社会に根を張って生活している。すでに日本で生きるノウハウを身につけた彼らは、新来の移民たちと地域社会をつなぐ貴重な人材である。
○ 日本は移民受け入れの後発国としての利点もある。カナダ等の伝統的な移民国家の経験に学び、日本と似通った国家形成の歴史を持つ欧州各国の最近の問題状況も参考にできる。
○ 日本型移民政策は、日本人口の10％を移民が占める未来の日本人が、「移民が日本の危機を救ってくれた」と感謝し、「世界で保護を求めている人々の救済に日本が貢献した」と誇りを持てる社会の実現を目標とする。
Ⅱ 日本型移民政策の骨格
１．日本人口の10％を移民が占める「移民国家」へ
○ 欧州の移民先進国の受け入れ数や日本社会の受け入れ能力などを勘案すると、日本は、今後50年で総人口の10％程度の移民を受け入れるのが相当である。
そこで日本政府は、１年以内に「移民国家宣言」を世界に発信する。
【日本が受け入れる移民のカテゴリー】
① 高度人材（大学卒業レベル）
② 熟練労働者（日本で職業訓練を受けた人材）
③ 留学生
④ 移民の家族（家族統合の権利保障）
⑤ 人道的配慮を要する移民（難民、日本人妻等北朝鮮帰国者、その他日本が人道上受け入れを考慮すべき人々）
⑥ 投資移民（富裕層）
などを想定する。
○ 移民受け入れに際しては、移民先進国の例を参考に、ポイント制の導入など分かりやすい公平なルールを策定する。
２．育成型移民政策を推進する
１）留学生100万人構想
○ 留学生の受け入れを育成型移民政策の要と位置づける。
○ 外国人職業訓練制度を支える農業・工業・水産学校や職業訓練学校、専修学校、各種学校等で学ぶ外国人はすべて「留学生」と位置づける。
○ 育成型移民政策が成功するか否かは、世界の青少年を日本の高等教育機関に引きつけ、高度人材に育て上げることができるかどうかにかかっている。
○ 少子化により定数に余剰が生じる短大・大学・大学院を活用し、専門知識や先端技術を修得する外国人材を育成・支援する。
○ 留学生30万人の受け入れを早期に達成したうえで、有為な外国人材をさらに多く確保するため、2025年までの長期目標として「留学生100万人構想」を立てる。（５年以内に実施）
○ 日本版“ブリティッシュカウンシル”（兼Japan LCC）を創設する。（1年以内に実施）
○ 留学生に対する奨学金制度の充実、学生寮の建設などの支援策を拡充するとともに、留学生に対する手厚い就職支援を行う。（１年以内に実施）
○ 当面、留学生の国内就職率７割を目標とする。大学・大学院を卒業して日本で就職する者に対しては、入管法上の「定住者」の在留資格を付与する。（１年以内に実施）
２）外国人職業訓練制度の新設 （３年以内に実施）
○ 大学等に進学前の世界の若者に対して、国内人材の育成・確保と知識・技術の国際移転の観点から、教育および職業訓練の機会を提供する。
○ その施設として少子化により定員割れが生じている農業・工業・水産高校や職業訓練学校等を活用し、それぞれに「外国人職業訓練課程」（３年制）を設け、そこで日本語をはじめ専門的技術などを教える。
○ 外国人職業訓練課程修了者に対しては、さらに第１次産業などの生産現場で１年間の実技職業訓練を受ける機会を与える。
○ 外国人は実際の業務に就いて技術や技能を修得する。
○ ４年間の一連のプログラムを終えた外国人が日本で働くことを希望し、職業訓練を実施した企業などが正社員で雇用することを条件に就労を認め、入管法上の「技能」または「定住者」の在留資格を付与する。
○ 一方、すべてのプログラムを終えて帰国した者は、日本で学んだ知識や技術を活かして母国の経済発展に貢献する。
○ 外国人職業訓練プログラムは官民一体型で運営するものとし、プログラムの評価機関を設け、実施状況を評価・検証する。
○ 外国人職業訓練制度の発足に伴い、外国人技能実習制度は発展的に解消する。
○ 本プログラムに基づく人材育成に要する経費にあてるため、政府と産業界が出資する「外国人材育成基金」を創設する。
○ 以上のプログラムは、今後締結する経済連携協定（ＥＰＡ）等に盛り込む。
３）外国人看護師・外国人介護福祉士育成プランの推進
○ 少子高齢化の進行に伴い人材不足が深刻化する看護・介護福祉分野の人材を確保するため、２０２５年までの長期目標として「外国人看護師・外国人介護福祉士３０万人構想」を立てる。（１年以内に実施）
○ 外国人材を育成するための施設として少子化で定員数が大幅に減り続けている看護専門学校（３年制）および介護福祉士養成学校（２年制）を活用し、それぞれに「外国人材養成課程」を設け、そこで日本語をはじめ専門知識などを教える。（３年以内に実施）
○ 外国人材養成課程修了者に対しては、さらに病院や介護施設で１年間の実技研修を受ける機会を与える。
○ 外国人は実際の業務に就いて技術や技能を修得する。
○ 一連のプログラムを終えた外国人が日本で働くことを希望し、病院・介護施設などが正規職員で雇用することを条件に就労を認め、入管法上の「医療・社会福祉」または「定住者」の在留資格を付与する。
○ 一方、すべてのプログラムを終えて帰国した者は、日本で学んだ知識や技術を活かして母国の医療・社会福祉の分野で貢献する。
○ 本プログラムに基づく人材育成に要する経費にあてるため、政府と関係団体が出資する「社会福祉外国人材育成基金」を創設する。
○ 以上のプログラムは、今後締結する経済連携協定（ＥＰＡ）等に盛り込む。
４）日本語＆日本文化センター(Japan LCC)の創設と拡充 （１年以内に実施）
○ 世界の主要都市に設置している日本語・日本文化の学習拠点である「日本語＆日本文化センター(Japan LCC)」を欧米先進国並みに拡充する。
○ 東南アジア各国の主要都市に重点整備する。
○ ブラジルなど日系人が多く住む国にもJapan LCCを設置し、日系人に対する日本語教育を行う。
○ 「外国人材育成のためのODAプログラム」を策定し、海外に派遣する日本語教員の養成、日本語教育用教材の開発などの事業を展開する。
○ JFL（Japanese as Foreign Language:外国語としての日本語）による日本語資格認定試験の確立と機会の提供を強化する。
３．日本型移民政策の基盤整備
１）入管法および国籍法の改正
○ 育成型移民政策の観点から、入管法の定める在留資格制度を改正するとともに、同制度の運用を見直す。（１年以内に実施）
【在留資格制度の改正】
① 技能実習生を受け入れるため「実習」の在留資格を新設する。
② 介護福祉士など社会福祉関係の業務に従事する外国人を受け入れるため「医療」の在留資格を「医療・社会福祉」に改める。
③ 「留学」および「就学」の在留資格を「留学」に一本化する。
④ 在留期間を最長５年とする。
⑤ 再入国許可の有効期間を最長１０年とする。
○ 国籍法を改正し、永住者の子として日本で出生した者については、出生により日本国籍を付与する（２２歳までは二重国籍）。（３年以内に実施）
○ 永住許可制度の運用緩和（入国後７年以内に永住許可）および帰化制度の運用緩和（入国
後１０年以内に国籍付与）を図る。また、永住許可制度と帰化制度の整合性を図る観点から、永住者に対して日本国籍を付与することを原則とする。 （１年以内に実施）
○ 認知した父または母が日本国民である子への国籍付与について、婚姻の有無にかかわらず認める（平成２０年６月、最高裁判決を踏まえた改正）。（１年以内に実施）
また、日本人の父親の認知を受けていない外国人の子への国籍付与および入国許可についても、人道的見地から弾力的に認める。 （１年以内に実施）
２）移民の受け入れおよび外国人の社会統合に関する基本法の整備 （３年以内に実施）
○ 移民基本法の制定
・日本型移民政策の理念、日本が受け入れる移民の類型および受け入れ枠、移民処遇の基本方針などを定めた「基本法」を制定する。
○ 外国人との共生社会を実現するため「社会統合基本法」を制定する。
３）外国人住民基本台帳制度の創設 （１年以内に実施）
○ 地方自治体が定住外国人に対し各種行政サービス（教育、医療、福祉）を漏れなく提供できる体制を敷くため、外国人住民基本台帳制度を創設する。
４）経済連携協定等に基づく移民の受け入れ
○ 国際法秩序のもとで計画的に移民を受け入れることを内外に表明する。（１年以内に実施）
○ 日本が受け入れる移民の職種と人数を盛り込んだ経済連携協定等を人材送り出し国との間で結び、秩序ある移民受け入れ制度を確立する。 （３年以内に実施）
○ 同一職務・労働同一賃金の遵守（同等報酬）を徹底する。
５）移民庁の創設 （３年以内に実施）
○ 移民基本法の制定に合わせ、「外国人」という法的地位に関する施策を一元的に実施する国家行政機関として「移民庁」を設置し、専任の国務大臣を置く。
○ それまでの間、内閣府に「外国人材戦略本部」を設置する。（１年以内に実施）
○ 移民庁は、次の３部門から構成される。
① 移民・国籍政策部門：移民の受け入れ基準および国籍付与基準を策定し、整合性のとれた移民政策および国籍政策を遂行する。
② 出入国管理部門：外国人の出入国管理および難民の認定に関する職務を遂行する。
③ 社会統合部門：在日外国人の社会への適応を進めるための施策を総合的に実施するとともに、多民族共生教育を行う。
４．社会統合・多民族共生のための施策
１）法制面の整備 （３年以内に実施）
○ 日本が加入している人種差別撤廃条約の精神を踏まえ「民族差別禁止法」を制定する。
○ 地方自治体による「多文化共生条例」の制定を推進する。
２）施策面の整備 （３年以内に実施）
○ 定住外国人に対する社会保障制度の適用については、内外人平等の観点からこれを実施する。年金受給資格の短期化についても検討する。
○ 小中学校において定住外国人の子供に対する日本語補習授業制度、学習サポーター派遣等に必要な予算を確保し、外国人教育体制を整備する。
○ 外国人が集住する都市に、母国語を理解する多様な出身国のソーシャルワーカーを養成・配置するとともに、日本語教育センター、定住外国人雇用促進センター、民族差別等相談窓口を設置する。
３）日本人の意識改革 （３年以内に実施）
○ 日本人の青少年に正しい外国人観を持たせるため、小中学校で多民族共生教育を実施する。
・多民族共生社会を作るための啓発課目を小中学校のカリキュラムのなかに入れる。
○ 成人に対しては、外国人との共生を推進するための生涯学習の場を提供する。
○ 官民を挙げて、外国人との共生をすすめる文化交流・啓発などのコミュニティ活動を展開する。
５．人道的配慮を要する移民の受け入れ （３年以内に実施）
○ 難民をはじめ人道的配慮を要する以下の定住外国人を積極的に受け入れる。
（当面、年間１０００人の受け入れを目標とする。）
① 第三国定住難民
② 日本人妻等北朝鮮帰国者およびその家族
③ 日本人の父親の認知を受けていない外国人子供およびその母親
・「新日系フィリピン人」「新日系タイ人」など
④ その他日本が人道上受け入れを考慮すべき人々
・帰国を希望しない人身取引被害者など
Ⅲ 直ちに取り組むべき事項
○ 法律改正を待たずとも、現行法のもとで運用の見直しや必要な予算措置を講じることにより、日本の外国人受け入れ態勢は目に見えて改善される。
○ 日本型移民政策を全面的に展開するための基盤整備にもなる。
○ 政府が直ちに取り組むべき事項を以下に列挙する。
第１に、深刻の度を増している定住外国人の子供の教育、特に南米からＵターンしてきた日系移民の子供に対する日本語教育の徹底である。
外国人教育の充実に必要な予算を大幅に増額する。
第２に、国が先頭に立って留学生に対する就職支援を行う。
日本の大学等を卒業し、日本企業に就職した留学生に対しては、入管法上の「定住者」の在留
資格を付与する。
第３に、インドネシアおよびフィリピンと締結した経済連携協定等のもとで実施する看護・介護分野の外国人材の受け入れについて、育成型移民政策の観点から受け入れ条件を大幅に緩和する。
また、国家試験に不合格になった者が引き続き日本で働くことができる制度を検討する。
第４に、海外において日本の魅力をアピールし、外国人に日本語教育を実施する体制を早急に整備する。
第５に、日本社会に根付いて生活している外国人の法的地位を早期に安定させることは移民政策の 要請であるから、永住許可要件を大幅に緩和する。
最後に、労働関係法規違反、人身売買の恐れなど多くの問題が指摘されている外国人技能実習制度は、外国人職業訓練制度の新設に伴い発展的に解消する。
・ 新しい制度が発足するまでの間は、技能実習生に対する労働基準法の適用等必要な改善措置を講じることを条件に、現行技能実習制度を存続させる。
・ その間の外国人技能実習制度の運用は、国内人材確保・定住促進の観点から、これまでに技能実習生として成果のあった優良なプログラムのなかから人材を受け入れる。
・ 送り出しおよび受け入れにかかわる機関・団体による不正・不当なシステムを排除する。情報開示を徹底する。
・ 通算６年間の研修・技能実習プログラムを終えて就労を希望する者に対して、一定の条件のもとで就労・定住を認める。
・ 入管法上の「技能」または「定住者」の在留資格を付与する。
・ 国際研修協力機構（JITCO）は、廃止も含め機構・業務のあり方を抜本的に見直す。
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Well, well. Common sense does eventually trickle uphill after all. The GOJ is finally considering immigration as a possibility for Japan’s future. The Reuters article below touches upon that, but does not mention some important things: The creation of a “Immigration Agency” (Imin cho–as in an agency to manage an imported population growth strategy, not the one we have now that merely polices you, taxes you with Re-Entry Permits, and tries to reset your visa clock to void your getting Permanent Residency). And reduce the 10-year requirement for PR to 7 years. Or, most importantly (I can’t see how they could have left this out!) over the next fifty years increase the NJ population to 10% of Japan’s population, meaning 10 million people (as opposed to the two million plus we have now)!
You can see more on these unturned stones in the previous Japanese blog entry, in an article from the Yomiuri.
This is a revolutionary proposal, make no mistake. And if the GOJ takes measures to warm the Japanese population up to the idea (not to mention passing laws against discrimination by race and national origin), so much the smoother the transition for everyone. Good positive steps here. Debito
==============================
Japan should welcome skilled foreign workers-panel
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKT28006320080610
Reuters, June 10, 2008. Courtesy of Colin
TOKYO, June 10 (Reuters) – Japan should open its doors to more skilled workers from abroad in order to boost economic growth, the government’s top advisory panel said on Tuesday.
The council called on the government to come up with programmes by the end of this fiscal year to create a business and living environment that would attract highly skilled workers from around the globe.
“It is impossible to achieve economic growth in the future if we do not press forward with the ‘open country’ policy,” the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy said in its annual growth plan, which was released on Tuesday.
The panel, which is chaired by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, did not set a specific target for the number of foreign workers. There were 158,000 foreigners in Japan with visas categorised as skilled workers in 2006.
The strategy also includes a plan to nearly triple the number of foreign students to 300,000 by 2020 as well as increase foreign visitors to 10 million in 2010 from 8.35 million in 2007.
The proposals, many of which have already been partly announced by government ministries and panels, will be incorporated into the government’s annual policy guidelines to be released by the end of June.
Following are key points of the growth plan:
— Extend assistance to 2.2 million people who are having difficulties finding jobs because of their age, childcare problems or their lack of experience.
— Discuss tax reforms, including corporate tax of nearly 40 percent, to boost foreign direct investment.
— Introduce reforms to induce repatriation of corporate funds held at overseas affiliates, in order to promote spending on research and job creation at home.
— Increase the number of countries with which Japan forms an economic partnership to 12 countries and areas by early next year from currently nine.
(Reporting by Yuzo Saeki)
ENDS
——————————-
UPDATE–WITH A MUCH BETTER ARTICLE
Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers made an ambitious proposal Thursday to raise the ratio of immigrants in Japan to about 10 percent over the next 50 years.
The frankness of the suggestion reflects the seriousness of Japan’s population decline, which is marked by a rapid increase in the elderly population and a falling birthrate that threatens to undermine future economic growth.
“There is no effective cure to save Japan from a population crisis,” the proposal said. “In order for Japan to survive, it must open its doors as an international state to the world and shift toward establishing an ‘immigrant nation’ by accepting immigrants and revitalizing Japan.”
Headed by ex-LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa, the group of about 80 lawmakers drafted a “Japanese-model immigration policy” that they plan to submit to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda next week.
The group said its definition of “immigrant” is the same as that used by the United Nations, and can count individuals who have lived outside their home countries for more than 12 months. This includes asylum-seekers, people on state or corporate training programs, and even exchange students.
In what might be the government’s first time using the word “immigrant” in this context, the proposal calls for enacting a law that specifies Japan’s basic principles and policies on immigrants.
It also says immigration policy should place importance on nurturing the talent of newcomers, adding that providing more education and training opportunities is indispensable.
In addition, an “immigration agency” should be set up within three years to unify the management of foreigner-related affairs, including legal issues such as nationality and immigration control.
“This (proposal) covers a wide range of issues that need to be taken care of both in the short term and the long term, but as members of the legislature, we’re determined to make the necessary changes to the law,” Nakagawa said, noting the group will ask its peers in the ruling and opposition camps for their support. “We’re going to move swiftly.”
According to Immigration Bureau data, the number of registered foreigners in Japan set a record high of about 2.08 million in 2006. Among them, permanent residents have continued to grow, reaching 837,000, or 40 percent, of all registered foreigners in 2006.
Hirohiko Nakamura, an Upper House lawmaker and secretary general of the LDP group, said increasing the recognition of refugees is also on their agenda. The group proposes accepting up to 1,000 asylum-seekers and other foreigners who need protection for humanitarian reasons.
The proposal also said a foreigner who has lived in Japan for 10 years or longer should be given nationality if the person wishes to become a Japanese citizen. The group also says citizenship should be given to all permanent residents.
mytest
移民、１０００万人受け入れ提言…自民議連案
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080608-OYT1T00264.htm
自民党の「外国人材交流推進議員連盟」（会長＝中川秀直・元幹事長）がまとめた日本の移民政策に関する提言案が７日、明らかになった。
人口減少社会において国力を伸ばすには、移民を大幅に受け入れる必要があるとし、「日本の総人口の１０％（約１０００万人）を移民が占める『多民族共生国家』を今後５０年間で目指す」と明記した。
週明けの会合で正式に取りまとめ、福田首相に提案する。
１０００万人規模の移民は、現在、永住資格を持つ一般・特別永住者（８７万人）の約１２倍にあたる。
案では、これら移民と共生する「移民国家」の理念などを定めた「移民法」の制定や「移民庁」の設置を提言。地方自治体に外国人住民基本台帳制度を導入し、在日外国人に行政サービスを提供しやすい態勢を整えることなども盛り込んだ。
入国後１０年以上としている永住許可を「７年」に緩和するよう求めたほか、年齢や素行など様々な要件を課している帰化制度も、「原則として入国後１０年」で日本国籍を取得できるように改めるべきだとした。
（2008年6月8日10時38分 読売新聞）
mytest
Hi Blog. Here are some articles about a matter of some import–at least to the long-established Postwar order of Koreans being Japan’s top-dog NJ residents (in terms of numbers; they still are the most influential in terms of organization).
As of the end of last year, the Chinese (with higher numbers of immigration, and the dwindling Zainichi Korean population) have overtaken the Koreans to become the largest NJ group in Japan, the GOJ says.
Here are some articles from Kyodo/Japan Times, Mainichi, and Yomiuri (love their respective angles–the Yomiuri just has to point out the issue that some Zainichi Koreans are pro-Pyongyang). I’ll try to have some analysis in a later post of the GOJ raw numbers being referred to. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
=====================================
Chinese became the largest group of foreign residents in Japan at the end of 2007, outnumbering Koreans, the Immigration Bureau said Tuesday.
Of the 2.15 million registered foreigners in Japan, Chinese numbered 606,889, or 28.2 percent, while Koreans totaled 593,489, or 27.6 percent, the bureau said. They were followed by Brazilians, Filipinos and Peruvians.
The number of registered foreigners is about 50 percent higher than a decade ago and constitutes 1.7 percent of Japan’s dwindling population.
Among the registered foreigners are students, spouses of Japanese and “special” permanent residents, most of whom are of Korean descent.
Among registered Koreans, 426,227 were special permanent residents — those who were forcibly brought to Japan from the Korean Peninsula when it was under Japanese colonial rule, and their offspring.
mytest
Hi Blog. I think this will be the best news we’ll hear all year:
Thanks to the vagaries (and there are lots of them) of Japan’s koseki Family Registry system, if a child is born out of wedlock to a Japanese man and a NJ woman, and the father’s parentage is not acknowledged BEFORE birth, Japanese citizenship up to now has NOT been conferred. Japanese citizenship is still NOT conferred EVEN IF the J man acknowledges parentage AFTER birth.
(If the situation was reversed i.e. J mother-NJ father, it doesn’t matter–obviously the mother and child share Japanese blood, therefore Japanese citizenship is conferred. Of course, the NJ father has no custody rights, but that’s a separate issue… More in HANDBOOK pp 270-2.)
But as NHK reported tonight, that leaves tens of thousands of J children with J blood (the main requirement for Japanese citizenship) either without Japanese citizenship, or completely *STATELESS* (yes, that means they can never leave the country–they can’t get a passport!). It’s inhumane and insane.
But the Japanese Supreme Court finally recognized that, and ruled this situation unconstitutional–conferring citizenship to ten international children plaintiffs. Congratulations!
Photo by Kyodo News
(NHK 7PM also reported last night that three Supreme Court judges wrote dissents to the ruling, some claiming that the Diet should pass a law on this, not have the judiciary legislate from the bench. Yeah, sure, wait for enough of the indifferent LDP dullards in the Diet to finally come round, sounds like a plan; not.)
Read on. I’ll add more articles to this blog entry as they come online with more detail. One more step in the right direction for Japan’s internationalizing and multiculturalizing society! Arudou Debito in Sapporo
======================================
Top court says marriage requirement for nationality unconstitutional
TOKYO, June 4, 2008 KYODO
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9133QJG2&show_article=1
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a Nationality Law article requiring parents to be married in order for their children to receive Japanese nationality, ruling in favor of 10 Japanese-Filipino children.
The top court’s grand bench made the landmark decision in two separate cases, filed in 2003 by one such child and in 2005 by a group of nine who were born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers and who obtained recognition of the paternity of their fathers after birth.
After the ruling, the children — boys and girls aged 8 to 14 years who live in areas in eastern and central Japan — and their mothers celebrated in the courtroom by exchanging hugs, with some bursting into tears.
One of the children, Jeisa Antiquiera, 11, told a press conference after the ruling, ”I want to travel to Hawaii with on Japanese passport.”
One mother, Rossana Tapiru, 43, said, ”I am so happy that we could prove that society can be changed,” while another said, ”It was truly a long and painful battle.”
Hironori Kondo, lawyer in one of the two cases, said it is the eighth top court ruling that has found a law unconstitutional in the postwar period and that ”it will have a significant bearing on the situation facing foreign nationals in Japan.”
Yasuhiro Okuda, law professor at Chuo University who has submitted an opinion on the case to the Supreme Court, said that in the past 20 years tens of thousands of children are estimated to have been born out of wedlock to foreign mothers, citing data by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
A majority of the 15 justices including Presiding Justice Niro Shimada on the grand bench ruled the Nationality Law clause goes against the Constitution.
The justices said in a statement, ”there might have been compelling reasons that the parents’ marriages signify their child’s close ties with Japan at the time of the provision’s establishment in 1984.”
”But it cannot be said that the idea necessarily matches current family lifestyles and structures, which have become diversified,” they said.
In light of the fact that obtaining nationality is essential in order for basic human rights to be guaranteed in Japan, ”the disadvantage created by such discriminatory treatment cannot easily be overlooked,” the justices stated in the document.
Without nationality, these children face the threat of forced displacement in some cases and are not granted rights to vote when they reach adulthood, according to lawyer Genichi Yamaguchi, who represented the other case.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference following the ruling, ”I believe the government needs to take the verdict seriously, and we will discuss what steps should be taken after examining the ruling carefully.”
Three justices countered the majority argument, saying it is not reasonable to take into consideration the recent trend in Western countries that have enacted laws authorizing nationality for children outside marriages, on the grounds that the countries’ social situations differ from that in Japan.
In both of the cases, the Tokyo District Court in its April 2005 and March 2006 rulings granted the children’s claims, determining that the differentiation set by the parents’ marital status is unreasonable and that the Nationality Law’s Article 3 infringes Article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for equality for all.
Overturning the decisions, however, the Tokyo High Court in February 2006 and February 2007 refused to pronounce on any constitutional decisions, saying it is the duty of the state to decide who is eligible for nationality, not the courts.
Under Japan’s Nationality Law that determines citizenship based on bloodline, a child born in wedlock to a foreign mother and Japanese father is automatically granted Japanese nationality.
A child born outside a marriage, however, can only obtain nationality if the father admits paternity while the child is in the mother’s womb. If the father recognizes the child as his only after the child’s birth, the child is unable to receive citizenship unless the parents get married.
In short, the parents’ marital status determines whether the child with after-birth paternal recognition can obtain nationality.
Children born to Japanese mothers are automatically granted Japanese nationality, irrespective of the nationality of the father and whether they are married.
==Kyodo ENDS
JAPAN TIMES EDITORIAL
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20080606a2.html
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a Nationality Law clause that denies Japanese nationality to a child born out of wedlock to a foreign woman and Japanese man even if the man recognizes his paternity following the birth.
It thus granted Japanese nationality to 10 children who were born out of wedlock to Filipino women and Japanese men. The ruling deserves praise for clearly stating that the clause violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law. The government should immediately revise the law.
The 12-3 grand bench decision concerned two lawsuits filed by the 10 children aged 8 to 14, all living in Japan. The Tokyo District Court, in two rulings, had found the clause unconstitutional, thus granting Japanese nationality to the children. But the Tokyo High Court had overturned the rulings without addressing the issue of constitutionality.
Under the Nationality Law, a child born to a foreign woman married to a Japanese man automatically becomes a Japanese national. Japanese nationality is also granted to a child of an unmarried foreign woman and Japanese man if the man recognizes his paternity before the child is born. If paternal recognition comes after a child’s birth, however, the child is not eligible for Japanese nationality unless the couple marries.
The law lays emphasis on both bloodline and marriage because they supposedly represent the “close connection” of couples and their children with Japan.
The Supreme Court, however, not only pointed out that some foreign countries are scrapping such discriminatory treatment of children born out of wedlock but also paid attention to social changes. It said that in view of changes in people’s attitude toward, and the diversification of, family life and parent-child relationships, regarding marriage as a sign of the close connection with Japan does not agree with today’s reality.
The ruling is just and reasonable because children who were born and raised in Japan but do not have Japanese nationality are very likely to face disadvantages in Japanese society.
mytest
Hi Blog. Information courtesy of Kirill Konin at the United Nations…
I just received information about a hotline which will be open from 1 to 5pm on Sunday June 1st providing free legal advice to foreigners living in Japan. This is to test the demand for such a service in relation to research by the Japan Law Foundation being made by lawyers, NGOs and researchers on the necessity of starting a specialized law office/center for foreigners/refugees. Interpretation will be provided, in many languages.
If the hotline receives many calls, this will strengthen the case for such a service, which seems to be to be sorely needed.
If you also feel this could be an important service, please pass this information on.
For further information, please contact: Ms. Masako Suzuki on 03-5269-7773, at the Executive Committee for Foreigners Legal Counseling (c/o ALT Law Firm)
Free Legal Telephone Counseling for Foreigners/Refugees
– By lawyers in different languages –
We, the Executive Committee for Foreigners Legal Counseling, have planned a one-day free legal telephone counseling for foreigners and refugees. Such a nationwide free legal telephone counseling focused on foreigners/refugees by lawyers has never been held so far. More than 10 lawyers will join this event and multilingual interpretation service will be provided. This event is held in cooperation with the Center for Multilingual Multicultural Education and Research of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, the Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan, the Catholic Tokyo International Center (CTIC), Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), and the House in Emergency of Love and Peace (HELP)
Up to now, specialized legal consultations for foreigners/refugees are available only in regions around big city areas. The purpose of this event is to make it possible for foreigners who have difficulty accessing legal consultation to consult with lawyers.
It would be highly appreciated if you can help us disseminate information regarding this significant event. Please feel free to contact us at the following contact for any questions or further information.
This event has been planned in relation to the research of the Japan Law Foundation being made by lawyers, NGOs and researchers on the necessity of starting a specialized law office/center for foreigners/refugees, to cope with the rapid increase of the non-citizen population in Japan.
Date: Sunday June 1, 2008 13:00 – 17:00
Tel: 03-3547-0300
Languages Available: Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Russian, Indonesian, Burmese, Romanian and others.
Contact: Executive Committee for Foreigners Legal Counseling (c/o ALT Law Firm)
Tel:03-5269-7773 Fax:03-5312-4543
mytest
Hi Blog. Got this message from a friend, “Shinrin Woods”, who reads Portuguese (I don’t, sorry). His translation of the points of an article (which you can find in its entirety at the bottom of the page):
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Hi Debito,
The front page of weekly Portuguese-Language newspaper “Jornal Tudo Bem (EDITION 793 This week)” points out to a quite disturbing issue facing many foreigners who want to collect retirement (Aposentadoria) benefits in Japan… The point is (below)
Shakai Hoken não garante aposentadoria
http://tudobem.uol.com.br/2008/05/24/shakai-hoken-nao-garante-aposentadoria
[Full article in Portuguese at the bottom of this blog entry.]
– If a Japanese “Citizen” pays for 25 years he gets all of it.
– If a Japanese “Citizen” pays for 24 years he gets a little bit less.
– If a Japanese “Citizen” pays for 10 years he gets less than half of it… Everything FAIR ENOUGH ! Deshou !
BUT…
If a Gaijin “Citizen” pays for 25 years he gets all of it.
If a Gaijin “Citizen” pays for 24 years he gets NOTHING…
I have talked to some Japanese about it, but nobody could tell me if it is the reality or not.
Do you know something about it ?
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The nationality doesn’t matter if you live in Japan. I.e. If you have paid for 25 + years, you will be entitled to kokumin nenkin regardless of nationality. If not, you will not be entitled, this is same for Japanese.
But there are complicated rules on how to count 25 years.
Plus there have been many changes to the laws and NJ couldn’t join the scheme in the past. I don’t know if the article is talking about this.
Also, if you are in Japan and reach 60 but haven’t paid for 25, you can keep paying the premium (nini kanyu) until you reach 70. This way you will be entitled to receive pension.
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Recentemente, muitos brasileiros estão sendo inscritos nos planos de seguro social e previdência da empresa (shakai hoken), por exigência das fábricas, e uma boa parte já contribui para o seguro nacional de saúde (kokumin kenko hoken), cuja administração é feita pelas prefeituras.
Com base nisso, é bom saber que os estrangeiros que planejam ficar definitivamente no Japão, de uma forma geral, não têm direito a receber a “aposentadoria incompleta”, benefício concedido para quem contribuiu por menos tempo que os 25 anos obrigatórios. Já os japoneses têm direito de receber essa aposentadoria.
Segundo o escritório do Shakai Hoken da região oeste, em Hamamatsu (Shizuoka), o que faz um japonês receber a aposentadoria incompleta é a validade do kara kikan (período vazio). Ou seja, o tempo que ele deixou de contribuir para a previdência social por algum motivo. No entanto, o kara kikan não se aplica ao estrangeiro no período em que ele viveu no Japão, ou que ainda vai viver, sem estar inscrito no shakai hoken ou kokumin kenko hoken.
Por exemplo, um brasileiro veio ao Japão com 20 anos e trabalhou outros 20 sem estar inscrito no seguro. Agora, aos 40, ele entra no shakai hoken e quando completar 65 anos terá contribuído por 25. Nesse caso, ele terá direito à aposentadoria, mas se nesse período de 25 anos a pessoa deixar de contribuir por algum tempo – que seja dez anos – por trabalhar em uma empresa que não oferecia o shakai hoken, perde o benefício sem ter nem mesmo direito aos 15 anos que pagou.
Leia mais na edição 793 do jornal Tudo Bem.
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mytest
 |
| Never enough?: Sayuki attended Japanese high school, graduated from Keio University, earned a Japanese teaching qualification, worked at Kyodo photo News and NHK, made TV programs and published books about Japan, lectured in Japanese studies in Singapore, and then became the first-ever white geisha. Despite having spent 15 years in Japan, her application for Permanent Residency was refused. KERRY RAFTIS PHOTO |
And reward. The Japanese government should welcome them by granting Permanent Residency (“eijuken”). But recently people eminently qualified under PR guidelines are being rejected — even Japan’s first Caucasian geisha!
First, why PR? Well, try buying a house without it; most legitimate financial institutions (those run by individuals who still have pinkies) will not grant major loans.
Also, goodbye visa-renewal hassles, and you can take any kind of employment, change jobs, get divorced, etc., all without the risk of visa violation. PR is the next best thing to citizenship, without the identity sacrifice of giving up your native passport (since Japan doesn’t allow dual nationality).
Who qualifies? According to Immigration ( www.immi-moj.go.jp/), PR is a matter of time, visa tenure, and marital status.
In principle, people of moral fiber and legal solvency qualify after 10 years’ consecutive stay — half that if you are deemed to have “contributed to Japan.” For those with Japanese spouses or descendants (“Nikkei” Brazilians, for example), three to five consecutive years are traditionally sufficient.
That’s pretty long. The world’s most famous PR, the U.S. “green card,” only requires two years with an American spouse, three years’ continuous residency without. (Source: UCSIS.gov Section (I)8/(1)(A))
Still, record numbers of non-Japanese are applying. The population of immigrants with PR has increased about 15 percent annually since 2002. That means as of 2007, “newcomer” PRs probably outnumber the “Zainichi” Special PRs (the Japan-born “foreigners” of Korean, Chinese, etc. descent) for the first time in history.
At these growth rates, by 2010 Japan will have a million PRs of any nationality — close to half the registered non-Japanese population will be permitted to stay forever.
But I wonder if Japan’s mandarins now feel PRs have reached “carrying capacity” and have started throwing up more hurdles. Let’s triangulate from three examples this past month.
Jack Dawson (a pseudonym) is the head of an English department in Fukuoka, one of only a few NJ permanently employed at Japanese elementary schools. Having worked continuously in Japan for nine years, he has been married for six with a Japanese and sired two children.
Under PR guidelines, he should be a shoo-in. But Fukuoka Immigration told Dawson he didn’t qualify. “They said I needed to be here 10 years,” he says.
Mark Butler (also a pseudonym), an unmarried Ph.D candidate at Tokyo University, has worked for a Tokyo securities firm for 8 1/2 years. He’s been on a work visa for 9 1/2 years, after spending his initial six months here on a student visa.
“I want a mortgage,” said Mark, “but despite a lucrative job, seven banks refused me outright because I didn’t have PR. Some banks even told me to naturalize, just for a loan!
“So after 10 years, I asked Immigration if I qualified for PR. They said I’d probably get rejected because I’m six months short; when I changed my visa from student to work, the timer reset to zero. But they said I could still apply — a rejection now wouldn’t affect future PR applications.
“So I applied, and was rejected. They suggested I get married, change to a spouse visa, and wait three more years. But we can’t afford to keep renting!”
Mark stresses he’s not angry, and will reapply later this year.
But the case that takes the cake is Japan’s first Caucasian geisha.
Sayuki, a 15-year non-continuous resident of Japan, thought she qualified under “contributions to Japan.” Immigration’s Web site (www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/zairyuu/contribution.html ) includes examples like awards “internationally evaluated as authoritative” (such as a Nobel Prize or an Olympic medal), domestic medals (such as the Order of Culture), or other activities helping Japan “through medical, educational and other vocational activities.” They also gave 38 examples of successful candidates ( www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/zairyuu/eizyuu.html ).
Sayuki hasn’t gotten her Nobel yet, but felt she had done plenty. Attending Japanese high school and university for 10 consecutive years (the first Caucasian woman accepted and the first to graduate as a regular student from Keio), she earned a teaching qualification in Japanese, and became a regular journalist at Kyodo News and NHK.
After making more than 10 television programs about Japan, publishing three academic books and lecturing in Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore, Sayuki topped these achievements off by becoming a geisha. Hence the name.
Nevertheless, Immigration rejected Sayuki’s application, with the stock answer of, “Your actual achievements up to now cannot be acknowledged as sufficient for granting PR.” [Original Japanese is あなたのこれまでの在留実績からみて，永住を許可するに足りる相当の理由が認められません。]
It was a slap.
|
Don’t let your ‘visa clock’ reset
“Continuous residence in Japan” is crucial for upgrading your visa status or getting Permanent Residency. Stays of five to 10 years are meaningless if they are discontinuous. If you go outside Japan for any length of time, you must get a Re-Entry Permit (“sai nyukoku kyoka”) beforehand. Without it, your “visa clock” will reset to zero. Even if you already have PR, if you leave Japan without a valid REP (or it expires while overseas), you will lose your PR and have to start all over again. More information in “Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan” (Akashi Shoten Inc. 2008). |
“The utter ridiculousness of me being rejected just because my fifteen years were nonconsecutive!” wrote an indignant Sayuki. “Whether or not I was here, I have been contributing to Japan since I was 22 years old. I was busy making television programs, lecturing and writing books on Japan overseas, and promoting Japanese culture to hundreds of students and academics worldwide.
“Then I became the first foreigner to represent Japan as a geisha, the most recognizable icon of Japaneseness. They wouldn’t take any of that into consideration.”
So maybe people shouldn’t bother learning Japan’s language and culture. Why not just put in the time, get married, and let inertia coast you through?
Because even that is no guarantee. PR requirements seem to depend on at which Immigration branch you apply, and which bureaucrat you talk to. Immigration’s English and Japanese Web sites even differ, according to respondents to the Debito.org blog (www.debito.org/?p=1664 ). Some applicants wrote that they got PR after only three years, others were told they needed to have put in the better part of a decade — yet others closer to 20 years!
“Looks like Immigration bureaus have no standard procedure,” says Dawson. “It’s poor management by the government.”
Most ironic is that naturalization requires only five years’ continuous residence regardless of marital status. It’s arguably easier to qualify for citizenship than PR!
The point is that Immigration seems overly eager to reset the “visa clock,” as opposed to judging people on their individual merits and contributions. Sorry, but too much emphasis seems to be put on continuous residence and spouse. Life is often more complicated for those of us who aren’t bureaucrats.
In some ways, the PR regime appears to be anti-assimilative, especially when you consider the lack of transparency. For one, despite the deliberation process being supposedly case-by-case, the “rejection process” is anything but: The mandarins need not reveal their reasons for turning down an application. What’s to keep officials from denying PR because, say, they had a bad “bento” boxed lunch that day, or because your revenue stamp was stuck on crooked? We’d never know.
You can appeal the ruling but, according to Akira Higuchi, administrative solicitor and Immigration consultant, precedent won’t be on your side.
“One time the High Court ordered Immigration to reverse their rejection of a PR application. But that was partly because Immigration made a mistake collecting information. If you appeal but there were no mistakes, you must show PR guidelines are wrong or too inflexible. That’s extremely difficult to accomplish,” says Higuchi.
“You can contact Immigration lawyers (“bengoshi” or “gyosei shoshi”). An hour or so consultation shouldn’t cost too much, and they may come up with a better solution after examining your explanations/documents. But I suggest people just wait and reapply later. . . . There may be major changes to the PR regime next year.”
Whether Immigration is planning to ease or standardize the qualifications is unclear, but without more transparency, the results will be largely the same: We reject you — tough nuts.
Ultimately, this degree of arbitrary rigmarole puts Japan at a competitive disadvantage for attracting qualified, educated migrants. As the New York Times reported May 17, 2008, “Japan is running out of engineers,” adding that “Japan had 157,719 foreigners working in highly skilled professions in 2006, a far cry from the 7.8 million in the United States.”
Lots of newcomers not only know Japan, but also know stuff Japan needs. Must we require they devote up to an eighth of their life-span without a break, or else get married (the worst kind of “local content” requirement, and not a legal option for many; Japan does not recognize same-sex civil unions) before deigning to allow them to stay here securely?
Many of them might (and do) think twice about coming here at all.
Wise up, Immigration, and help Japan face its future. We need more people to stay on and pay into our aging society and groaning pension system.
Remember, non-Japanese do have a choice: They can either help bail the water from our listing ship, or bail out altogether.
mytest
Hi Blog. Old friend Anthony is showing great sustainability in his work as an elected town councilor–as the article below shows. However, as commenters to Japan Today noted, the article neglects to mention one more factor in how difficult it is to be where he is today: “Gives readers the wrong impression that any old Gaijin could do this if they want to. You have to become Japanese first!” Anyway, good work, Bianchi-san. Keep it up! Debito in Sapporo
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New Yorker, now councilman in Japan, aims to inspire American high schoolers
By Kevin Kuo
Kyodo/Japan Today, Undated, downloaded May 22, 2008
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/new-yorker-now-councilman-in-japan-aims-to-inspire-american-high-schoolers
Courtesy of Dave Spector
NEW YORK —
Anthony Bianchi, a native New Yorker and current councilman in the rural Japanese city of Inuyama, recently hosted the first-ever Japan Day at his alma mater in Brooklyn, bringing with him some 30 students, local artists and craftsman from the Aichi Prefecture city as part of a cultural exchange program.
Widely known in Japan as the first North American councilman, the 49-year-old is currently serving out his fifth year in office in the central Japan city. But in his native Brooklyn he is mostly seen as an active alumnus of Xaverian High School with a penchant for promoting better Japan-U.S. relations.
‘‘The experience changed my life,’’ said Joe Giamboi, a senior who traveled to Japan last year. ‘‘It opened up the world to me.’’
The cultural exchange program, Building Bridges, aims to expose teens like Giamboi to the many aspects of contemporary and traditional Japan while also offering students an opportunity to showcase their musical talents to a foreign audience.
The program was established five years ago by Bianchi and Joe Loposky, Xaverian High’s music program director.
Since its inception, more than 100 Xaverian students have traveled to Japan to experience living with Japanese families, performing their repertoire of American tunes as well as opening up their perspectives on the world.
‘‘It’s more than just a home-stay program,’’ Loposky said. ‘‘Our boys are going over there to serve. They perform Jazz and Doowop, examples of American culture that Japanese over there may never have a chance to experience.’’
Building Bridges alternates trips annually, sending teens to Inuyama one year and then taking Inuyama residents to Xaverian the next.
This year the visitors from Inuyama City, a quaint locale of approximately 73,000 residents, showcased their talents and crafts for the program’s first-ever Japan Day festival.
The American students were offered chances to don traditional kimonos and watched a master craftsman bind the laces onto geta or traditional Japanese shoes.
They were also awestruck by Ouson Ito, who artfully combined her Japanese calligraphy with dramatic performance.
Ito, who began learning her trade at 6, drew the word ‘‘musubu’’ which means link or connection. She described how the original Chinese character consisted of two kanji, on the left a character representing string and on the right happiness.
She drew the character with the hope that Xaverian High School and Inuyama city would continue to maintain strong ties in the future.
The ties are already being established by other young students, such as Patrick Borja, a senior who thinks of Japan as another home. Though born in America, he has traveled to his parents’ native home in South America.
‘‘Japan has become my third home,’’ Borja said, explaining that ‘‘through the experience, I came back with greater confidence.’’
While Xaverian does not yet have a Japanese program, it is testing the waters with the hopes of setting up a teacher exchange between schools in Inuyama and Xaverian that would be mutually beneficial, Bianchi said.
Bianchi, whose first experience in Japan came through a home-stay program advertised in a newspaper, hopes that the program will encourage students to build international friendships.
‘‘If it weren’t for that home-stay experience in Japan, none of this would have happened,’’ Bianchi said, referring to his life in Japan. ‘‘I think it’s important for people to meet. I hope the relationships continue to develop and blossom.’’
The councilman smiled when asked about the similarities between his hometown in Brooklyn and his new home in Inuyama.
‘‘I liked Inuyama because it had a nostalgic feeling,’’ he said. ‘‘It was like an Italian household where they had three generations under one roof.’’ He said jokingly that one of the main differences between families in Inuyama and Brooklyn is that in Inuyama, ‘‘they don’t eat pasta.’’
Despite having distinct cultures, in both places he sensed a commonality in their deep respect for community.
The Building Bridges program, while not funded by Inuyama City, has benefited from Bianchi’s role as councilman. The city government has provided buses and the use of facilities which is sometimes ‘‘more helpful than money,’’ he said.
Before becoming a councilman, Bianchi worked first as an English teacher on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and then spent eight years with Inuyama City’s Department of Education.
His move to the political arena was sparked by his desire to improve the city he had grown to love.
Although he doesn’t think of himself as a politician, Bianchi has had a significant impact on the image of Japan and Japanese politics both in his hometown of Brooklyn as well as in Japan.
One parent of a student who traveled to Japan last year said of Bianchi’s role as a councilman of Inuyama city, ‘‘I think it’s fantastic. I didn’t know an American could do that in Japan.’’
He hopes that his experience will encourage others to take more active roles in their local communities and governments.
‘‘Sometimes you think that you can’t change Japan because it’s this big monolithic thing.’’ he said. ‘‘To some people it represents change…I think it gives other Japanese the encouragement to do something…If you don’t like how the government is run, you can do something about it.’’
In his thick Brooklyn accent, the gregarious Bianchi repeated, ‘‘Hey… If I can do it you can do it.’’
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I have an article coming out next Tuesday (Weds in the provinces) in the Japan Times Community Page section, on Permanent Residency and how tough and arbitrary it seems to be to get sometimes. I refer to the article below within it–since denying qualified (and trained) people PR definitely sets Japan at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis the international brain drain.
(NB: The article doesn’t talk about PR per se–just gives evidence that Japan needs people, once again. And this time not merely unskilled migrant work.)
Debito in Sapporo
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High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers
By MARTIN FACKLER
New York Times May 17, 2008
Courtesy of James Bond
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/business/worldbusiness/17engineers.html?_r=2&scp=8&sq=japan&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
TOKYO — Japan is running out of engineers.
After years of fretting over coming shortages, the country is actually facing a dwindling number of young people entering engineering and technology-related fields.
Universities call it “rikei banare,” or “flight from science.” The decline is growing so drastic that industry has begun advertising campaigns intended to make engineering look sexy and cool, and companies are slowly starting to import foreign workers, or sending jobs to where the engineers are, in Vietnam and India.
It was engineering prowess that lifted this nation from postwar defeat to economic superpower. But according to educators, executives and young Japanese themselves, the young here are behaving more like Americans: choosing better-paying fields like finance and medicine, or more purely creative careers, like the arts, rather than following their salaryman fathers into the unglamorous world of manufacturing.
The problem did not catch Japan by surprise. The first signs of declining interest among the young in science and engineering appeared almost two decades ago, after Japan reached first-world living standards, and in recent years there has been a steady decline in the number of science and engineering students. But only now are Japanese companies starting to feel the real pinch.
By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers.
Headhunters have begun poaching engineers midcareer with fat signing bonuses, a predatory practice once unheard-of in Japan’s less-cutthroat version of capitalism.
The problem is likely to worsen because Japan has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. “Japan is sitting on a demographic time bomb,” said Kazuhiro Asakawa, a professor of business at Keio University. “An explosion is going to take place. They see it coming, but no one is doing enough about it.”
The shortage is causing rising anxiety about Japan’s competitiveness. China turns out some 400,000 engineers every year, hoping to usurp Japan’s place one day as Asia’s greatest economic power.
Afraid of a hollowing-out of its vaunted technology industries, Japan has been scrambling to entice more of its younger citizens back into the sciences and engineering. But labor experts say the belated measures are limited and unlikely to fix the problem.
In the meantime, the country has slowly begun to accept more foreign engineers, but nowhere near the number that industry needs.
While ingrained xenophobia is partly to blame, companies say Japan’s language and closed corporate culture also create barriers so high that many foreign engineers simply refuse to come, even when they are recruited.
As a result, some companies are moving research jobs to India and Vietnam because they say it is easier than bringing non-Japanese employees here.
Japan’s biggest problem may be the attitudes of affluence. Some young Japanese, products of a rich society, unfamiliar with the postwar hardships many of their parents and grandparents knew, do not see the value in slaving over plans and numbers when they could make money, have more contact with other people or have more fun.
Since 1999, the number of undergraduates majoring in sciences and engineering has fallen 10 percent to 503,026, according to the education ministry. (Just 1.1 percent of those students were foreign students.) The number of students majoring in creative arts and health-related fields rose during that time, the ministry said.
Applications to the engineering program at Utsunomiya University, an hour north of Tokyo, have fallen one-third since 1999. Starting last year, the school has tried to attract students by adding practical instruction to its theory-laden curriculum. One addition was a class in making camera lenses, offered in partnership with Canon, which drew 70 students, twice the expected turnout, said Toyohiko Yatagai, head of the university’s center for optics research.
But engineering students see themselves as a vanishing breed. Masafumi Hikita, a 24-year-old electric engineering senior, said most of his former high school classmates chose college majors in economics to pursue “easier money” in finance and banking. In fact, friends and neighbors were surprised he picked a difficult field like engineering, he said, with a reputation for long hours.
Mr. Hikita and other engineering students say their dwindling numbers offer one benefit: they are a hot commodity among corporate recruiters. A labor ministry survey last year showed there were 4.5 job openings for every graduate specializing in fields like electronic machinery.
“We don’t need to find jobs,” said Kenta Yaegashi, 24, another electrical engineering senior. “They find us.” He said his father, also an engineer, was envious of the current sellers’ market, much less crowded than the packed field he faced 30 years ago. Even top manufacturers, who once had their pick of elite universities, say they now have to court talent. This means companies must adapt their recruiting pitches to appeal to changing social attitudes.
So, Nissan tells students they can advance their careers more quickly there than at more traditional Japanese companies. The carmaker emphasizes that it offers faster promotions, bigger pay raises and even “career coaches” to help young talent ascend the corporate ladder.
“Students today are more demanding and individualistic, like Westerners,” said Hitoshi Kawaguchi, senior vice president in charge of human resources at Nissan.
On the more offbeat side, an ad for the steel industry features a long-haired guitarist in spandex pants shouting, “Metal rocks!”
One source Japan has not yet fully tapped is foreign workers — unlike Silicon Valley, filled with specialists in information technology, or IT, from developing nations like India and China.
According to government statistics, Japan had 157,719 foreigners working in highly skilled professions in 2006, twice as many as a decade ago, but still a far cry from the 7.8 million in the United States. Britain has also been aggressively recruiting foreign engineers, as have Singapore and South Korea, labor experts say.
“Japan is losing out in the global market for top IT engineers,” said Anthony D’Costa, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, who has studied the migration of Indian engineers.
Companies are scrambling to change tactics now.
For instance, Kizou Tagomori, director of recruitment at Fujitsu, said the computer maker and its affiliates routinely fell about 10 percent shy of their annual hiring goal of 2,000 new employees. Fearing chronic shortages, the company has begun hiring foreigners to work in Japan.
Starting in 2003, Fujitsu began hiring about 30 foreigners a year, mostly other Asians who had graduated from Japanese universities. Initially, many managers were reluctant to accept them. Mr. Tagomori said they are now gaining acceptance.
Fujitsu’s 10 Indian employees in Japan won over some of their co-workers by organizing a cricket team, he said.
But Fujitsu remains an exception. In an economic ministry survey last year, 79 percent of Japanese companies say they either have no plans to hire foreign engineers or are undecided. The ministry said most managers still feared that foreigners would not be able to adapt to Japan’s language or corporate culture.
To combat these attitudes, the ministry began the Asian Talent Fund, a $30 million-a-year effort to offer Asian students Japanese language training and internships in order to help them find work here.
“If these students do well, they can change Japanese attitudes drastically,” said Go Takizawa, deputy director of the ministry’s human resource policy division.
Nonetheless, labor experts warn Japan may be doing too little, too late. They say the country has already gained a negative reputation as discriminating against foreign employees, with weak job guarantees and glass ceilings. Experts say Indian and other engineers will often opt for more open markets like the United States.
Indeed, a growing number of Japanese companies are having more success by building new research and development centers in countries with surpluses of engineers. Toyo Engineering, which designs chemical factories, said it and its affiliates now employ more engineers abroad — 3,000, mostly in India, Thailand and Malaysia — than in Japan, where they have 2,500 workers.
With corporate Japan still reluctant to accept foreigners, a half-dozen staffing companies have stepped into the breach by hiring Chinese and South Korean engineers to send to Japanese companies on a temporary basis. One of the biggest is Altech, which has set up training centers at two Chinese universities to recruit engineering students and train them in Japanese language and business customs. Of Altech’s roughly 2,400 engineers, 138 are Chinese, and the company plans to hire more at a rate of 200 per year.
One of the first it hired was He Xifen, a 27-year-old mechanical engineer from Qingdao University of Science and Technology who joined Altech two and a half years ago. She said her friends back home envy her because she works with advanced Japanese technology, and earns three or four times more than she would in China.
While Japanese clients appear uncertain at first about how to deal with foreigners, she said, they quickly catch on and she usually feels welcome.
“Foreign engineers are becoming accepted,” said Shigetaka Wako, a spokesman for Altech. “Japan is slowly realizing that its economy cannot continue without them.”
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I have been receiving emails recently from people saying that the essential benchmark qualifications for Permanent Residency (eijuuken, or PR)–i.e. five years’ continuous residency if married to a Japanese, ten years’ continuous if not (aside from the obvious bits about law-abidingness and stable income)–don’t seem to be sufficient anymore, even in some cases where one would think candidates would be a shoo-in. Witness:
Dear David, I have just been to the Fukuoka Immigration center at Fukuoka Airport and was planning to submit my forms for Permanent Resident Status (永住権) after taking advice from your web page on this issue.
When I explained myself to the first staff member they said there was no way I would obtain this status because I have not been in Japan 10 years.
But I replied that I have lived in Japan over nine years, employed for all that time, married for six, two children who are Japanese nationals, and I am one of only a handful of people in Japan who has a permanent full-time position in an Elementary School.
I was passed onto another member of staff who told me to fill out some more forms for this application (which is fair enough) but I am seeking advice on this issue – espeically about application and marriage time – for they seemed not to understand the rule about five years of marriage to a Japanese national allows you to apply for Permanent Resident Status.
Any information, English or Japanese, which I could take down and show them on the date of my next meeting with them would be gratefully received.
According to HANDBOOK co-author Akira, Immigration says the requirements for PR are:
Guidelines for Permission for Permanent Residence
Legal requirements
(1) The person is of good conduct.
The person observes Japanese laws and his/her daily living as a resident does not invite any social criticism.
(2) The person has sufficient assets or ability to make an independent living.
The person does not financially depend on someone in the society in his daily life, and his/her assets or ability, etc. are assumed to continue to provide him/her with a stable base of livelihood into the future.
(3) The person’s permanent residence is regarded to be in accord with the interests of Japan.In principle, the person has stayed in Japan for more than 10 years consecutively. It is also required that during his/her stay in Japan the person has had work permit or the status of residence for more than 5 years consecutively.
The person has been never sentenced to a fine or imprisonment. The person fulfills public duties such as tax payment.
The maximum period of stay allowed for the person with his/her current status of residence under Annexed Table 2 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act is to be fully utilized.
There is no possibility that the person could do harm from the viewpoint of protection of public health.※ The requirements (1) and (2) above do not apply to spouses and children of Japanese nationals, special permanent residents or permanent residents, and requirement (2) does not apply for those who have been recognized as refugees
Special requirements for 10-year residence in principle
(1) The person is a spouse of a Japanese national, special permanent resident or permanent resident, and has been in a real marital relationship for more than 3 years consecutively and has stayed in Japan more than 1 year consecutively. Or, the person is a true child of a Japanese national, special permanent resident or permanent resident, and has stayed in Japan more than 1 year consecutively.
(2) The person has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years consecutively with the status of long term resident.
(3) The person has been recognized as a refugee, and has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years consecutively after recognition.
(4) The person has been recognized to have made a contribution to Japan in diplomatic, social, economic, cultural or other fields, and has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years.
※ Please see “Guidelines for Contribution to Japan.”[which are not linked from this site, and unavailable despite a MOJ website search; see them here in Japanese]
March 31, 2006, Immigration Bureau of Japan, The Ministry of Justice
Source: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/zairyuu/guide_residence.html
Japanese original: http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan50.html
Would have thought the first case cited above would suffice. Same with this case I just heard about the other day:
Bad news on my PR application — I was turned down after half a year on a student visa and 9 1/2 years on the current work visa. They want me to get married, change to a spouse visa, and then wait three more years before trying again. I hate to wait that long — I want to get a mortgage and buy a home; we can’t afford to keep renting!
The above is from a graduate student at Japan’s top university, who got in after passing his entrance exams in Japanese!
But what really beats all is the fact that SAYUKI, Japan’s first NJ geisha (more on her here.) was also recently refused her PR! This despite:
================================
1) A total of fifteen years in Japan, ten consecutive in high school and university
2) Attending Japanese high school
3) Being the first caucasian woman ever to be accepted and graduate as a normal student from Keio University
4) Probably the first NJ caucasian woman to get the teaching degree in Japan (kyoushoku katei)
5) Being the first to work in the Japanese life insurance industry (ippanshoku to shite)
6) Being employed at Kyodo Tsushi, Reuters, NHK etc as a journalist
7) Making more than ten television programmes about Japan
8) Publishing three academic books on Japan
9) Being a Lecturer in Japanese Studies at university (National Univ of Singapore)
10) Currently the first foreign woman ever to be accepted as a geisha.
================================
She concludes that it was in fact easier to get into Keio! This despite guidelines (Article 2(4) above) saying that ten years need not be continuous if, “The person has been recognized to have made a contribution to Japan in diplomatic, social, economic, cultural or other fields (which she clearly has) and has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years” (which she has). So why refused? Unclear.
There is, however, an unusual right of appeal for PR applications (not for other visa statuses), within six months. A person in the know advised:
There are many lawyers (bengoshi or gyoseishoshi) in Tokyo who deal with immigration matters. How about consulting with them? Just one hour or so consultation shouldn’t cost much. They may come up with a better solution after thoroughly examining your explanations/documents.
There is a high court case in which the court ordered to cancel the immigration decision of “non-permission of permanent residency.” But this is (partly) because of Immigration’s fault in the factual finding phase, not because “the guideline” is prejudiced or irrational. So you (or your lawyer) will have to overturn this kind of judgement in court. Hiring a lawyer will take a lot of time and money, and most of all, it’s very difficult even for a specialist lawyer.
http://www.courts.go.jp/search/jhsp0030?action_id=dspDetail&hanreiSrchKbn=01&hanreiNo=35728&hanreiKbn=04So a practical solution would be to wait for another couple of years and re-reapply IF you still can/want to extend your current visa for three more years.
The govenment is planning to change the law next year, and there may be major changes to permanent residency system.
Yeah great. But cripes, how many hoops must one jump through these days just to upgrade to PR? A Green Card in the US, for example, certainly doesn’t take this many years, and without PR in Japan, you can’t get home/car/etc. loans from financial institutions with pinkies, qualify for many credit cards, or, say, obtain the ability to divorce without the threat of visa violation. Also having Immigration demand that people marry or else (not everyone has that affectional preference; civil unions are not legal in Japan) is one of the worst kinds of “local-content requirements” for your working environment.
This much rigmarole from Immigration only puts Japan at a competitive disadvantage for attracting qualified, educated migrants to stay in Japan permanently. After this much dedication from them, then a slap in the face, many of them might think twice about staying on after all. Wise up, Immigration. You’re supposed to be helping Japan face it’s future.
Comments from others with successful (or not) experiences getting PR are welcome. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Good news. The LDP (yes, the LDP!) is actually considering a proposal for not only an immigration policy, but even an immigration ministry, addressing problems we’ve raised here all along regarding seeing NJ as disposable labor, not immigrants.
No word yet on how to make NJ into actual legal residents, but these are still steps in the right direction. There are still politicians mouthing the same old canards at the end of the article, but one doesn’t expect everyone to see sense all at once. Let’s see how the proposals turn out when officially released. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Gov’t looks to immigrants as population shrinks
AFP/Japan Today Tuesday 06th May, 07:17 AM JST
Courtesy of Scott Walker
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/govt-looks-to-immigrants-as-population-shrinks
TOKYO –Japan’s ruling party is considering plans to encourage foreign workers to stay in the country long-term, a daily reported Monday after the birth rate fell for the 27th successive year.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed setting up an “immigration agency” to help foreign workers—including providing language lessons, the Nikkei economic daily said without naming sources.
The party also intends to reform current “training” programs for foreign workers, which have been criticized for giving employers an excuse for paying unfairly low wages, the paper said.
LDP lawmakers believe that immigration reform will help Japanese companies secure necessary workers as the declining birthrate is expected to further dent in the nation’s workforce, it said.
A group of about 80 LDP lawmakers will draw up a package of proposals by mid-May, it said. No immediate comment was available from the party on Monday.
A government report on the falling birthrate warned in April that Japan’s workforce could shrink by more than one-third to 42.28 million by 2050 if the country fails to halt the decline.
The government said Monday the number of children in Japan has fallen for the 27th straight year to hit a new low.
Children aged 14 or younger numbered 17,250,000 as of April 1, down by 130,000 from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said in an annual survey released to coincide with the May 5 Children’s Day national holiday.
The figure is the lowest since 1950 when comparable data started.
The ratio of children to the total population sank for 34 years in a row to 13.5%, also a record low, the ministry said.
Local media said it was also believed to be the world’s lowest, coming below 14.1% for both Italy and Germany.
Japan has struggled to raise its birthrate with many young people deciding that families place a burden on their lifestyles and careers.
Japan’s population has been shrinking since 2005 and the country is not producing enough children to prevent the drop.
Government leaders in Japan, which largely thinks of itself as ethnically homogeneous, have rejected the idea of allowing mass-scale immigration.
Some politicians have argued an influx of immigrants would lead to lower wages for Japanese workers and a higher crime rate.
AFP
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. On March 1, The Japan Times published a two-page report on their Feb 16 Tokyo University Symposium (commemorating their 110th year of publication) discussing the future of print journalism. Invited, along with specialists, were editors from two other English-language dailies in the region, the Korea Herald and the Taipei Times. You can see the whole report in pdf format on the Japan Times site:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/info/pdf/symposium.pdf
I was also invited to attend as a guest (thanks!), and you can see the back of my fat head in the front row (second from the left, orange shoulder).
And of course, during the Q&A Session, my hand was first up. My question made the Symposium writeup:
The answer was a bit of a non-answer, but I had a chat with Ms. Daimon afterwards. I have also offered my opinion on how the Japan Times could improve its readership in the past on this blog (the JT is uniquely poised to offer something more independently, as a newspaper not controlled as a vanity project by the other Japanese newspapers, such as the doctrinaire Yomiuri, or a union-busting, closed-circuit Asahi (just try to contact the English-language section editors by telephone, and find yourself turned away at the switchboard!)).
I’m hoping this finally sinks in: that the JT can most easily change its editorial stance, and offer information not only for English-language readers, but also the immigrants who want to make a life in Japan (who need essential information even in non-calamitous times). The JT has already done so for years now with the Community Page on Tuesdays. Let’s hope we get a further expansion of this editorial bent as soon as possible, for in this days of withering print journalism, that is its competitive advantage. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Good news from MOJ (despite Immigration’s intent to split this couple apart). The ruling elite are indeed capable of compassion after all. Kudos. Arudou Debito in Miyazaki
///////////////////////////////////////////////
Kurdish man, Filipino wife granted special residence permission after overstaying visas
Mainichi Shinbun March 25, 2008
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080325p2a00m0na009000c.html
Courtesy Jeff Korpa
KAWAGUCHI, Saitama — The Justice Ministry has decided to grant special residence permission to a Kurdish man, his Filipino wife and their 7-year-old daughter, overturning its earlier decision to deport the couple for overstaying their visas.
The ministry’s move came after the Tokyo High Court suggested a settlement in the case in which the family’s request to nullify the ministry’s order to deport them had been turned down by the Tokyo District Court.
“After the high court proposed a settlement, we determined that this would be the best way to grant them special residence permission from a humanitarian perspective,” said Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama during a press conference following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
As early as Tuesday, special residence permission will be granted to Taskin, 32, a Kurdish man with Turkish citizenship, his Filipino wife, Beltran, 41, and their daughter, Zilan, who live together in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture.
Taskin and Beltran met each other in 1998 while they were overstaying their visas in Japan. They got married after Zilan was born. However, the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau issued an order in 2004 to deport Taskin to Turkey and Beltran and Zilan to the Philippines.
The family filed a suit against the order, saying, “If we were deported, it would be difficult for us to live together because of religious and other reasons.” Taskin also maintained that he could be persecuted if he returns to Turkey because he had refused to serve in the military.
In March last year, the Tokyo District Court dismissed the family’s demand to nullify the deportation order, but the Tokyo High Court proposed in November that the case should be discussed with an eye to an interim solution.
The family is currently on provisional release status. They are poised to drop their appeal once they are actually granted special residence permission.
ENDS
mytest
強制退去訴訟：ジランちゃん一家に在留特別許可 法務省
毎日新聞 2008年3月25日
http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/news/20080325k0000e040041000c.html
埼玉県川口市に住むトルコ国籍のクルド人タスクンさん（３２）とフィリピン国籍の妻ベルトランさん（４１）、長女ジランちゃん（７）の一家３人が、強制退去処分の取り消しを求めた訴訟を巡り、法務省は一家に在留特別許可を与える方針を決めた。鳩山邦夫法相が２５日、閣議後会見で明らかにした。同日中にも１年更新の定住資格を与える見通し。
１審は一家の訴えを退けたが、控訴審で東京高裁の寺田逸郎裁判長が外国人の強制退去を巡る訴訟では異例の和解を打診し、法務省が処分見直しを含め対応を検討していた。
父母は来日して不法残留中の９８年に知り合い、ジランちゃんが生まれ結婚。東京入管は０４年、退去強制令書を発付し、父はトルコ、母子はフィリピンに強制送還されることになった。一家は「退去させられれば、宗教上の理由などから一緒に暮らすのは困難」と主張、兵役拒否したタスクンさんは帰国すれば迫害の恐れがあるとも訴えていた。
東京地裁判決（０７年３月）は「父母どちらかの母国で一緒に暮らすことに著しい困難は認められない」と請求を棄却したが、高裁の寺田裁判長は０７年１１月、「暫定的な解決を含め話し合いをしたら」と提案していた。
現在、一家は仮放免中。鳩山法相は「高裁の提案を受け、人道的配慮から、在留特別許可が最善の方法と判断した」と述べた。原告側も在留特別許可を得られれば訴えを取り下げる方針。【北村和巳、坂本高志】
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Speech on Immigration Policy at Toyo University in May. Debito
■■「移民政策学会」設立記念大会
日 時：5月17日（土）13：00〜１7：30 （懇親会18：00〜20：00）
場 所：東洋大学・白山キャンパス（東京都文京区白山5−28−20）
都営地下鉄三田線「白山」駅A3出口歩5分
http://www.toyo.ac.jp/campus/index.html
プログラム
13：00〜14：30 設立総会（白山キャンパス・６号館）
14：30〜17：30 第１回研究大会（白山キャンパス・６号館）
■基調講演「なぜ移民政策なのか−移民の概念、入管政策と多文化共生政策の課題、移
民政策学会の意義−」近藤敦（名城大学）
■記念シンポジウム「日本における移民政策の課題と展望」
司会：渡戸一郎（明星大学）
1.「外国人政策の改革と新たなアジアの経済連携の展望−入管政策と統合政策を基盤と
して−」井口泰（関西学院大学）
2.「統合政策の構築に向けて」山脇啓造（明治大学）
3.「日本における外国人教育政策の問題と課題」佐藤郡衛（東京学芸大学）
4.「難民政策の推移 −NGOから見た１０年間−」石川えり（難民支援協会）
■懇親会：18：00〜20：00（２号館16Fスカイホール）
■参加費：総会・大会1000円／懇親会4000円
■参加申込：お申し込みは、つぎのＵＲＬからお願いいたします。
http://www.iminseisaku.org/top/application.html
■移民政策学会ＨＰ http://www.iminseisaku.org/top/
すでにある日本移民学会にくらべ、immigrationに中心が置かれる日本でのはじめて
の学会になるとともに、狭い意味でのimmigration policyではなく、immigrant policy
(integration policy), ethnic studyなどに関心のある多様な学問分野の研究者（社
会学、法学、政治学、経済学、人口学、人類学、歴史学、地理学など）と多様な実践者
（NGO・NPO、政策担当者、法律家、国際機関など）からなる幅広い学会となるのではな
いかと思います。
近藤 敦
４６８−８５０２ 名古屋市天白区塩釜口１−５０１
名城大学 法学部
akondo ATMARK ccmfs.meijo-u.ac.jp
Tel 052 838 2087 Fax 052 833 7247（法学資料室 気付）
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s something to point to next time you get the boilerplate about the Japanese public being unprepared for a foreign influx. We know Keidanren has long wanted foreign labor so the nation’s factories can stay afloat with cheap workers. Now it’s clearer, according to the survey below, that the medical industry expressly wants them because they have NO workers. Now let’s stop putting up so many hurdles for Filipina nurses to become “qualified” (and for crissakes belay the pipedreams of robot caregivers!). Debito in Sapporo
==========================
80% of hospitals interested in employing foreign nurses
Yomiuri Shinbun Mar. 12, 2008
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080312TDY02301.htm
Courtesy of Jeff Korpa
More than 80 percent of medium- or large-sized hospitals have indicated an interest in accepting foreign nurses, while about 40 percent are actually considering hiring such nurses, according to a survey by a research team at the Kyushu University Asia Center.
Following bilateral economic partnership agreements signed between Japan and the Philippines and Indonesia, Japan likely will start accepting nurses and caregivers from those countries as early as this summer.
“There were more hospitals that showed interest in accepting foreign nurses than we’d expected,” said Sadachika Kawaguchi, professor at University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, who also was involved in the survey.
“The high interest among hospitals is not only because they hope to address the shortage of nurses, but rather, many apparently are hoping to revitalize themselves by having foreign nurses on staff,” he said.
“But many hospitals seem hesitant to [move to accept foreign nurses] due to a lack of information about them,” Kawaguchi added.
The survey, conducted in February, covered 1,604 hospitals nationwide with more than 300 beds, and 522 hospitals, or 32.5 percent, submitted valid responses.
More than 80 percent of respondents expressed interest in hiring foreign nurses, with 28.7 percent saying they were “very” interested and 54.2 percent “a little” interested.
Asked whether they hoped to accept Indonesian and Filipino nurses coming to Japan under the EPAs, 7.3 percent said they were eager to accept them, while 30.3 percent said they would like to if possible, meaning that 37.6 percent of the respondents, or 196 hospitals, showed positive attitudes toward accepting such skilled workers.
Among the 196 hospitals, 129 indicated they would accept two or three nurses, followed by 27 hospitals saying they wanted to accept between four and six. Three hospitals said they would like to hire 11 nurses each.
In a multiple-answer question on the reasons why they wanted to take on foreign nurses, 53.8 percent said it was due to a shortage of nurses, while 53.1 percent cited international exchange.
Meanwhile, 61.9 percent of the hospitals, or 323 hospitals, said they did not want to accept foreign nurses. Asked the reasons why, and allowed to give multiple answers, 61.3 percent expressed concern about the nurses’ communication skills with patients, followed by 55.7 percent who said they would have to spend much time or staff resources to train them, and 46.4 percent citing a lack of knowledge of the level of their nursing techniques.
Yomiuri Shinbun Mar. 12, 2008
ENDS
mytest
病院の８割超、外国人看護師に関心…４割は受け入れ検討
読売新聞 2008年3月10日22時24分
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20080310-OYT1T00657.htm
経済連携協定（ＥＰＡ）により、今夏にもフィリピン、インドネシアから看護師・介護士が来日する見通しが強まる中、中規模以上の病院の８割以上が外国人看護師の導入に関心があり、４割近くは具体的に受け入れを検討していることが、九州大アジア総合政策センター研究班の調査で明らかになった。
共同研究者の川口貞親・産業医科大教授は「想定よりも外国人受け入れへの関心が高かった。単なる人手不足の穴埋めでなく、病院活性化への期待も高いが、情報不足でちゅうちょする病院も多い」と分析している。
調査は２月、３００床以上の全国１６０４病院を対象に行い、５２２病院（３２・５％）から回答を得た。
外国人看護師の導入について「とても関心がある」は２８・７％、「少し関心がある」は５４・２％で、８割超が関心を示した。ＥＰＡで来日する外国人看護師については、「ぜひ受け入れたい」が７・３％、「出来れば受け入れたい」が３０・３％で、全体の３７・６％（１９６病院）が前向きに検討する姿勢を見せた。
この１９６病院のうち、受け入れ希望人数は「２～３人」が１２９病院で最も多く、「４～６人」が２７病院、「１１人以上」も３病院。希望する理由（複数回答）は、〈１〉看護労働力の不足（５３・８％）〈２〉国際交流（５３・１％）が目立った。
受け入れたくないと答えたのは６１・９％の３２３病院に上ったが、理由（複数回答）は〈１〉患者とのコミュニケーション能力が不安（６１・３％）〈２〉指導の人手や時間を取られる（５５・７％）〈３〉看護技術のレベルが分からない（４６・４％）などだった。
（2008年3月10日22時24分 読売新聞）
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s another article for the debate bonfire. This one stresses better administrative services for NJ. However, as commenters to Debito.org Blog have pointed out, it’s unclear how centralizing everything in the Justice Ministry is going to make applications any smoother or the lines any shorter at Immigration, if that is the agency which will be handling this matter. More criticisms follow. Debito in Sapporo
—————————————–
Report urges closer watch on foreigners
Critics deride proposal to let Justice Ministry handle all data
By JUN HONGO
The Japan Times: Thursday, March 27, 2008
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?mode=getarticle&file=nn20080327a1.html
Courtesy of Steve Silver
Foreigners living in Japan should be allowed five-year visas but kept under the eye of a new unified Justice Ministry-run nationwide identification system, a government panel on immigration control said in its report released Wednesday.
The panel, made up of university professors and private-sector executives, said a new foreigner registration system and revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law should aim at creating “a symbiotic community” by providing a “pleasant environment for foreign residents in Japan.”
While the report emphasizes that the proposed measures will enable the government to provide better services for foreign residents, critics view the new registry system as increased state control.
Key pitches in the proposal include abolishing the current alien registration cards and replacing them with IDs issued by the Justice Ministry and creating a registry system of foreign residents on a household basis — rather than an individual basis.
The report also proposes deregulation, including extending the renewal period for visas to a maximum of five years. Currently, visas must be renewed every one to three years.
Justice Ministry officials said they are in talks with the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry over the structure of a new registry system and would review the proposals by the panel and prepare relevant bills to be submitted to the regular Diet session next year.
Critics were quick to voice their concern over the proposals.
“It remains unclear how the government will respond under the proposed system to each unique case of overstayers. Unified control by the Justice Ministry could result in aggressive deportations,” said Hiroo Osako, chief secretary of the nongovernmental group 119 Network for Foreigners.
The Saitama Prefecture-based activist said improving administrative support for foreigners can be achieved without revising current regulations. The proposed tighter controls, he warned, endanger privacy and basic human rights of foreign residents in Japan.
“For the government to think that strict control over foreigners will solve their issues is wrong,” Osako said.
Information on foreigners in Japan is kept separately by the Justice Ministry, which controls immigration, and local governments, which issue alien registration cards.
The government panel said in its report that the dual control complicates “proper management of foreign residents” because of difficulties in obtaining information. The setup not only allows overstayers to remain in Japan but also leads to inefficiencies in providing administrative services to legitimate foreign residents, it said.
Under the proposal, long-term foreign residents, excluding special permanent residents such as Korean residents as well as diplomats, will be issued new identification cards at local immigration offices upon arriving in Japan or when they have their visas renewed.
Holders of such cards, as well as special permanent residents, will use their IDs to register with their local governments.
The new database, to be managed by the Justice Ministry, would keep tabs on cardholders’ employment status and personal information, including place of residence.
By unifying the database on foreign residents in Japan, it will also become easier to “crack down on illegal residents and illegal workers,” the report says.
In return, foreigners in Japan will “receive better administrative services,” including simplified procedures for renewing stay permits and a possible extension of the maximum stay period, as well as easier access to health-care and educational services.
The panel also called for a review of the current system whereby long-term residents are required to have a re-entry permit when they leave Japan.
“The proposed system may provide some convenience, but it is unclear why the Justice Ministry needs to single-handedly control all the data concerning foreigners,” said Naomi Hayazaki, representative of the nongovernmental group Rights of Immigrants Network in Kansai.
The Japan Times: Thursday, March 27, 2008
ENDS
mytest
Sorry, forgot to put this article up… similar to the recent Yomiuri article, except it makes the new NJ registration policy’s policing aims clearer. Remember, it’s there to make things more convenient for NJ, if the Yomiuri is to be believed… No, it will make it easier for the authorities. Debito
====================================
New registration card in the cards
03/28/2008 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200803270408.html
Courtesy of Matt Dioguardi
An advisory group to Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has proposed changes to the alien registration card system to crack down on people overstaying their visas.
The new registration card would make it easier for the authorities to keep track of foreign nationals staying in Japan.
Under current provisions of the Alien Registration Law, foreign residents must register with their local municipality within 90 days of their arrival in Japan. They are required to provide their name, nationality and address.
In return, they are issued with a card by the municipal government or ward office that is valid for a specified duration.
Separately, the Justice Ministry is in charge of deciding their status of residence and period of stay.
Critics of the system claim that problems arise when there is a lack of information exchange between the two entities that hold information on foreign residents.
For example, if a foreign resident changes address, notifying the municipality, the Justice Ministry may not be informed. Likewise, municipalities may not be aware of changes made by the Justice Ministry to a person’s status of residence.
The current system even allows overstayers to apply for and receive an alien registration card. Problems have arisen when companies hire foreign nationals with such cards on the assumption that they are legally residing in Japan.
Under the new system, foreign nationals would receive a registration card on their arrival in Japan that includes not only their name and photo but also records of their status of residence and period of stay.
Foreign residents will be required to carry this new card at all times and report any changes in details to the Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry.
As the validity of the card will coincide with the period of stay, it will be easier to determine if someone has overstayed their visa– based on whether or not they have a valid card.
The government plans to submit legislation in next year’s Diet session to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law as well as enact a law to replace the Alien Registration Law.
Permanent foreign residents, such as ethnic Koreans, will not be issued with the new registration card.(IHT/Asahi: March 28,2008)
————————————
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. In case you haven’t heard, the GOJ is abolishing the old Gaijin Card system. In its place, a “Zairyuu Card”, which you must carry around 24-7 (same as before), only with more centralized policing power and more tracking capability. Except if you’re a Zainichi (Special Permanent Resident) “generational foreigner”, it seems, according to the article below.
Good for them. However, this exemption doesn’t apply to the other “Regular Permanent Residents”, who emigrated here, can stay here forever like the Zainichi, and who probably outnumber the Zainichi for the first time in history as of 2007. How about concerns for their “human rights”, then? Never mind. This is a matter of politics, not logic. Read on. Arudou Debito in Sapporo
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Japan to delay decision on requiring special permanent residents to carry ID
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080310p2a00m0na013000c.html
Mainichi Shinbun March 10, 2008
Courtesy Jeff Korpa
The Justice Ministry will postpone until next fiscal year a decision on whether to require special permanent residents such as Koreans to carry identification cards after the government abolishes the alien registration system, ministry sources said.
Ministry officials have deemed that they need more time to carefully consider the matter as the human rights of permanent foreign residents are involved, according to the sources.
An advisory council to the government on immigration policies will submit its final report to the justice minister by the end of this month, recommending that the alien registration system be abolished and a system similar to the basic resident register system for Japanese nationals be introduced for permanent residents.
However, it will not incorporate in the report whether the ministry should issue identification cards to special permanent residents or if they should be required to carry such ID cards at all times.
Under the Alien Registration Law, permanent foreign residents are required to carry their alien registration cards.
A final decision on the issue may not be made until the government submits a bill on a new resident register system for foreign nationals to a regular Diet session early next year, the sources suggest.
In January, the Justice Ministry and Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry decided to replace the current foreigner registration system based on the Alien Registration Law with a system similar to the basic resident register system for Japanese nationals.
Mainichi Shinbun March 10, 2008
ENDS
mytest
特別永住者：身分証携帯義務化の結論先送り 法務省
毎日新聞 2008年3月10日
http://mainichi.jp/select/wadai/news/20080310k0000e040078000c.html
外国人登録法に基づく在留管理制度を撤廃することを決めている法務省が、今月末までにまとめる予定の新制度の骨子案に、在日韓国・朝鮮人など特別永住者に新たな身分証を発行し携帯を義務付けるかどうかについては盛り込まず、結論を来年度以降に先送りすることが分かった。特別永住者への対応は、来年の通常国会に提出予定の法案作成時までずれ込む可能性もある。
法務、総務両省は１月、現行の外国人登録制を廃止し、日本に中長期滞在する外国人について、日本人の住民基本台帳と同様の制度に改編する方針を決めた。
特別永住者については、法相の私的諮問機関「出入国管理政策懇談会」が今月中に提出する法相への最終報告で、台帳制度に加えることを盛り込む予定だが、現行の外国人登録証明書に代わる新たな身分証の発行や、身分証の携帯義務を課すかどうかは報告に明記しない方針が固まった。人権問題などが絡むため、結論を出すにはさらに慎重な論議が必要と判断したとみられる。これを受け、法務省も今月末の骨子案では結論を出さない見通しだ。
現行の外国人登録証明書は携帯が義務付けられており、反発も強い。一方で、公安当局の中には携帯義務の継続を求める声もある。新制度では特別永住者を除く中・長期滞在の外国人については、身分証の携帯義務の方針が決まっている。【桐野耕一】
外国人登録証明書の携帯義務
〓〓〓〓 外国人登録法で定められている。政府が９３年、特別永住者と一般の永住者（永住者資格を取得した外国人）に対し登録時の指紋押なつを廃止した際も、証明書の携帯義務は存続させた。在日韓国・朝鮮人から反発が出て、証明書を首相に送り付ける抗議もあった。９８年には国連規約人権委員会が携帯義務に刑事罰を科すことに是正を勧告し、００年から特別永住者については行政罰に変更された。
毎日新聞 2008年3月10日 15時00分
mytest
Hi Blog. Comment follows article.
============================
Ministry plans to strengthen visa system / Plan includes 5-year stay extension
The Yomiuri Shimbun Mar. 21, 2008
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080321TDY01305.htm
Courtesy of Jeff Korpa
The Justice Ministry intends to extend the current period of stay issued for foreigners from a maximum of three years to up to five years, based on the recommendation of a government panel on immigration control policies, sources said Thursday.
The panel, which has been discussing ways to improve the system for foreign residents, will submit to Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama within this month the proposals aiming to boost convenience for foreigners living in Japan lawfully as well as strengthening measures against foreigners who overstay their visas, according to the sources.
The ministry will present to an ordinary Diet session in 2009 related bills to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, the sources said.
The main pillars of the proposals will be:
— Issuing a new “foreign resident’s card” by the Immigration Bureau and abolishing foreign resident’s registration cards issued by ward, city, town and village governments.
— Requiring foreigners to report to the justice minister any changes in their places of work during their stay in Japan and other personal information.
— Requiring organizations that accept foreigners as students or trainees to report how they study or undergo training programs.
The measures are aimed at unifying and tightening government management on the control on foreign residents as well as enhancing the convenience for foreigners living in the nation lawfully, the sources said.
With the enactment of the revised Employment Measures Law in October, companies hiring foreigners are required to report to job-placement offices their names, visa statuses and other personal information.
With the panel’s recommendation the ministry intends to widen this mandatory reporting to other organizations, including universities, the sources said.
The duration of stay for foreign nationals is determined according to visa status. For example, one or three years are allowed as the duration of stay for a foreign national with the visa status of a spouse of a Japanese or of an intracompany transferee. At first, the duration of stay is one year. But if the person has no problems after this first year, it is common for the duration of stay to be extended to three years.
If the duration of stay is extended up to five years as the envisioned system suggests, renewal procedure burdens over the duration of stay would be lessened for long-stay foreign residents with Japanese spouses.
There were about 2.09 million foreign nationals with alien registrations in Japan as of Dec. 31. Of them, those subject to the envisioned system will include permanent residents (about 780,000 people), spouses of Japanese and intracompany transferees.
The envisioned system will exclude about 440,000 special permanent residents such as ethnic Korean residents in Japan. It also will exclude temporary visitors who are allowed to stay a maximum of 90 days, as well as diplomats and officials.
In response to an increase in the number of illegally overstaying foreigners, the panel set up in February last year a special committee to examine a new resident entry system for foreign nationals living in Japan, under which members conduct hearings with officials at the local municipalities, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
(Mar. 21, 2008)
ENDS
===================================
COMMENT: Don’t know what to make of this policy revision yet. On one hand, we have the abolition of the old Gaijin Card and Registry system, in place since shortly after WWII to police foreigners, and registry more akin (they say) to to the current Family Registry system we have for Japanese citizens (in case you don’t know, NJ are “invisible residents”, as Japan is the only country I know of that requires citizenship to register people as juumin “residents” (cf. the juuminhyou mondai)). It also will extend the legitimacy of the former “Gaijin Cards” (which all NJ must carry 24-7 or face arrest) from three years to five. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that this measure, despite claims that it will make life “more convenient” for NJ living in Japan, is mainly a further policing measure. Registration will be centralized in the police forces (not the local municipalities any more), the replacement Cards will have more biometric data and tracking capability (RFID, anyone?), and the cards, as labelled, are rhetorically old wine in new bottles. Despite the translation of “foreigner residents’ card” below, the “zairyuu kaado”, as it’s called in the original Japanese, are not “zaijuu” cards (indicating residency with juumin no juu), rather “zairyuu” (ryuugakusei no ryuu), indicating merely a stay here from overseas.
How nice. We still have to get beyond seeing NJ in Japan as “not really residents”, and all our protestations thus far clearly have not sunk yet in with policymakers at the national level. Arudou Debito
mytest
外国人在留を５年に延長、管理厳格化を機に…法務省方針
2008年3月21日03時03分 読売新聞
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080320-OYT1T00662.htm
外国人の在留管理制度の改善を検討してきた法相の諮問機関「出入国管理政策懇談会」（座長・木村孟(つとむ)大学評価・学位授与機構長）が月内に鳩山法相に提出する「新たな在留管理制度に関する提言」の全容が２０日、明らかになった。
身分証となる「在留カード」を入国管理局が発行し、不法滞在対策などを強化する一方で、「在留期間の上限の延長」を盛り込んだのが柱だ。提言を受け、法務省は、原則３年が上限の現在の外国人の在留期間を５年に延長する方針だ。来年の通常国会に出入国管理・難民認定法などを改正する関連法案を提出する。
提言は、不法滞在外国人の増加などを受けて対策を講じるもので、〈１〉市区町村が発行する外国人登録証明書を廃止し、入管が「在留カード」を発行する〈２〉外国人に、在留期間中の勤務先などの変更を入管に届け出ることを義務づける〈３〉外国人の留学、研修先などの所属機関に在籍状況などの報告を義務づける――ことなどが柱となっている。国が在留管理を一元化し、厳格化する一方で、適法に在留する外国人の利便性を向上させることを目指している。
日本国内では、昨年１０月の改正雇用対策法の施行により、外国人を雇用する事業主には、氏名、在留資格などをハローワークへ報告することが義務づけられ、在留管理が厳格化された。提言を受け、法務省は、この報告義務を、大学など他の所属機関にも拡大する。
外国人の在留期間は在留資格ごとに決まっており、「日本人の配偶者等」「企業内転勤」などの在留資格では、「１年または３年」となっている。最初は１年で、問題などが起きなければ、３年に延長されるのが一般的だ。５年に延長されれば、日本人の配偶者などの長期滞在の外国人は、在留期間更新手続きなどの負担が軽減される。
現在、外国人登録をして日本に滞在している外国人は、約２０８万５０００人（２００６年１２月３１日現在）。このうち、新たな在留管理制度の対象となるのは、「永住者」をはじめ、「日本人の配偶者等」「企業内転勤」の外国人などだ。
今回の提言は、「外交・公用」が目的で滞在する外国人や、「特別永住者」と呼ばれる在日韓国・朝鮮人（約４４万人）などは対象としていない。
出入国管理政策懇談会は不法滞在外国人の増加などを受け、昨年２月に「在留管理専門部会」を設置。新たな在留管理制度について検討してきた。
（2008年3月21日03時03分 読売新聞）
mytest
Hi Blog. Yes, you read that right. The GOJ wants to issue Japanese language tests for long-term NJ visa renewals, yet protests when Great Britain proposes the same. Moral: We Japanese can treat our gaijin any way we like. But don’t you foreign countries dare do the same thing to members of Team Japan. Bloody hypocrites. Debito in Sapporo
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Long-term residents may face language test
By KAHO SHIMIZU Staff writer
The Japan Times: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080116a1.html
The government may require long-term foreign residents to have a certain level of Japanese proficiency, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday.
The Foreign and Justice ministries will begin discussing the envisioned Japanese-language requirement, Komura said without providing further details, including when the talks will start or who would be subject to the obligation.
“Being able to speak Japanese is important to improve the lives of foreign residents in Japan, while it is also essential for Japanese society,” Komura told reporters.
“I think (the potential requirement) would be beneficial because it would not only prompt long-stay foreign residents to improve their Japanese ability but also promote awareness among people overseas who are willing to come to (and work in) Japan to study Japanese.”
A Foreign Ministry official in charge of the issue stressed that the idea is not exclusionary. “It is not about placing new restrictions by imposing a language-ability requirement,” the official said on customary condition of anonymity.
Someone with high Japanese proficiency may be given favorable treatment in return, including easing of other existing visa requirements, he said. “(High Japanese proficiency) may actually make it easier to come and work in Japan,” he said. “We want to provide incentives for foreigners to learn Japanese.”
A Justice Ministry official said the discussions are neither intended to expand nor restrict the flow of foreign workers to Japan.
He also said the requirement should not be uniformly applied.
“We don’t want to prevent talented foreign workers from immigrating,” he said.
Some media speculated that the move is intended to expand the acceptance of unskilled foreign workers, given Japan’s shrinking population and expected long-term labor shortage.
But the Foreign Ministry official said the government’s stance — which is to issue work visas for foreigners applying for specific jobs that require particular qualifications while restricting foreigners seeking manual labor — remains unchanged.
According to the Foreign Ministry official, the two ministries hope to reach a conclusion on the matter within a year.
The idea of a language requirement emerged as part of the government debate on the conditions of a large number of foreign nationals of Japanese descent in such areas as Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, which has a large population of Brazilians of Japanese descent.
Many such residents, who are often engaged in manual labor because they obtained ancestry visa permits that allow them to do so, are not covered by the social security system and their children are not enrolled in schools.
The Japan Times: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008
ENDS
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The MOFA offers more details on this in a February 12, 2008 Press Conference here:
https://www.debito.org/?p=1225
But put the shoe on the other foot and see how the MOFA reacts…
=================================
Japanese community concerned about Britain’s plans for English tests
Japan Today.com/Kyodo News Friday, March 21, 2008 at 04:43 EST
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431717
Courtesy of Mark Mino-Thompson and Paul Hackshaw
LONDON — The Japanese community in Britain is hoping the government will rethink plans for a new English language requirement for foreign nationals coming to work in the country.
The Japanese Embassy in London has expressed “serious concern” at initial government plans to ensure that all skilled workers from outside the European Union seeking work visas have an “acceptable” level of English language proficiency.
It was felt that the level suggested was too high for the many Japanese who come to Britain on “intra-corporate transfers” (ICTs) for periods of around three years.
The Japanese Embassy in London, along with other foreign governments, has been lobbying hard to ensure that ICTs are exempted from the English language requirement or that the level of English required is reduced.
An embassy spokesman told Kyodo News that the initial level of English proficiency suggested by the government would have been a “hindrance” to Japanese firms dispatching staff on regular transfers. But the spokesman said he now feels the government was listening to the concerns of the Japanese and is awaiting a statement from the government in the next few weeks.
The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Britain said it believes that, if implemented in its present form for ICTs, the plan would have a “profoundly negative impact” on Japanese firms here, and could lead to some relocating to other parts of the European Union.
However, there are indications the government may be about to water down its plan following pressure from foreign governments.
The government says no final decision has been taken on the English language requirement for ICTs but a statement will be made shortly. Informed sources have told Kyodo News that the Home Office is likely to lower the level of the English requirement for ICTs.
The English requirement is due to be introduced toward the year-end.
It is part of a general tightening up of Britain’s visa regime in an effort to make it fairer and more objective. The requirement is designed to ensure that foreign nationals can properly integrate into the country and are best equipped for working here.
Patrick Macartney, spokesman for the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the majority of Japanese expatriates are working in Britain for a limited period of between three and five years and should therefore be treated differently from immigrants who are seeking to work and stay indefinitely.
He said, “If the English proficiency requirement were to be compulsory, even for people who stay for such limited periods in this country, this would create a huge problem for the personnel rotation policy of many Japanese companies.
“This is especially true in cases where companies need to send their technical or engineering experts, for whom the priority is their skills and/or knowledge and not language.
“The impact would be most severely felt by the manufacturing industry. Japanese companies who have factories in the United Kingdom might be forced to scale down or even relocate their operations because they could not secure the necessary number of technical people from Japan whose knowledge or experience was crucial to their operations.”
Danny Sriskandarajah, from the left-leaning think tank the Institute of Public Policy Research, said, “It (the English test) is going to be an issue. I don’t actually know the level required, but if it is to be meaningful it has to be reasonably high. It will pose a challenge for people.
“A significant proportion of the work permits are intra-corporate transfers. If you assume that some of those are coming from non-English speaking countries that do jobs which might not require English, they may be affected.”
Liam Byrne, the minister in charge of visa rules, acknowledged Japanese concerns at a recent parliamentary committee when he said, “If you talk to many Japanese investors, they will say that people coming over under intra-corporate transfers from a Japanese company, skilled engineers contributing quite considerably to the strength of the U.K. manufacturing base, are quite nervous about the kinds of English requirements that we would insist on.
“You cannot look at migration policy purely in terms of the economics. I think you do have to look in terms of the wider impact that migration has on Britain and that is why the prime minister has been right to stress the ability to speak English,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Home Office said, “We will publish a statement of intent shortly setting out the detailed policy in this area. We are fully aware of the concerns expressed by Japanese businesses operating in the United Kingdom over the proposed English requirements, especially in relation to ICTs.”
In order to simplify immigration procedures, Britain has recently introduced a points-based system, similar to that in Australia. Basically, applicants are given more points the higher the level of skills they possess.
Entrepreneurs and scientists are classed as tier one and are very likely to get a visa. Skilled workers with an offer of a job in occupations such as nurses, teachers and engineers are classed as tier two and must also have met the English language requirement. This tier also includes those on intra-corporate transfers.
Under Home Office plans, tier two applicants should have reached level B2 in English according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
This would require applicants to “understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics.” And they should be able to “interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.”
ENDS
mytest
Hi Blog. I still haven’t quite gotten into the groove of blogging once per day, so please me punt for today (if I have any more energy tonight, I’ll write another entry) and just blog a link to an excerpt of our new book HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS. It came out on academic website JAPAN FOCUS about a week and a half ago.
http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/2708
If you want a peep inside the book’s covers, here’s the place to go! Arudou Debito still recovering in Sapporo
mytest
Hi Blog. Here’s something getting buried with all the debate over who’s going to be the next Bank of Japan Governor (for the LDP, when in doubt, put the same guy up again). Surprise to all those who think immigration is meaningless for Japan’s future–even the most influential economist in Japan disagrees.
Bonus: Proof positive (see Nonaka comment below) that even J immigration policy, such as it was, was based on racial paradigms of analyzing “foreigners” (bring in Nikkei to “ease social frictions”; boy were you wrong). Debito in Sapporo
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ANALYSIS: BOJ chief Fukui proposes debate on immigration
Associated Press, Mar 7 2008 09:59 PM US/Eastern
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V8V76O0&show_article=1
Courtesy of Adam Wallace
TOKYO, March 8 (AP) – (Kyodo)—Outgoing Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui believes Japan ought to hold an in-depth discussion on immigration in the face of its aging and declining population.
In a lecture late last month, Fukui, who is due to retire March 19, said the source of economic growth is an infusion of labor and the accumulation of capital but that manpower is decreasing in Japan because of the ongoing rise in the number of the elderly and fall in the number of newborns.
He said European countries and the United States face the same population problem but maintain higher economic growth than Japan, citing immigration as a primary reason for it.
“The time has come for Japan to thoroughly discuss whether it expects society to grow (by accepting immigrants) or hopes for a single-race society without much growth,” he said.
The number of Japanese aged 65 or older accounted for 21.0 percent of the population, the highest percentage in the world, according to a preliminary census in 2005. The rate of those aged 13 or younger was 13.6 percent, the lowest in the world.
The issue of the aging society with a falling birthrate has been discussed and various proposals made by business circles. Fukui’s comments appear to be a call for the issue to be taken up in the political arena.
But, in fact, the government of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi addressed the matter after it was inaugurated in July 1998. Taichi Sakaiya, a Cabinet minister and director general of the Economic Planning Agency, stressed the need for acceptance of immigrants.
The Economic Strategy Council, an advisory body to the prime minister, called for acceptance and expansion of immigrants in a report titled “Strategy for revitalization of the Japanese economy” that was submitted to Obuchi in 1999. The expert panel, working on devising a “concept of Japan in the 21st century” under the direct control of the prime minister, clearly stated the need for an immigration policy in its final report compiled in 2000. It reportedly reflected the intent of the prime minister’s office.
Hiromu Nonaka, then chief Cabinet secretary and a powerful political figure at the time, said in response to a question from Kyodo News that Japan should accept immigrants “in the future.” To begin with, he suggested that Japan start accepting descendants of Japanese immigrants abroad to help ease social frictions at home.
The Obuchi government, however, was up to its ears working out pump- priming measures for the economy and coping with a political power struggle. Obuchi died of a cerebral infarction at age 62 in May 2000 after suffering a stroke and falling into a coma.
Subsequently, Nonaka quit politics and the immigration issue never got off the ground for comprehensive discussion.
An awareness of belonging to a single race has been deeply rooted in Japan, generating a feeling of reluctance to accept immigrants. Furthermore, income disparities among people between big cities and local areas have become a big issue in the past few years, depriving society of any leeway to receive immigrants and creating circumstances that make it difficult for the immigration issue to become a topic for politicians to discuss.
The question of whether it is right or wrong to accept immigrants will inevitably become a political issue since Japan has entered the era of coping with an aging society with fewer children in the absence of any conspicuously effective measures to wrestle with a dwindling birthrate.
Hidenori Sakanaka, director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute and a former Justice Ministry bureaucrat, said acceptance of immigrants by Japan would be a “social revolution.” His institute has proposed that the nation receive 10 million immigrants over a 50-year period to bolster its aging and declining population.
As Fukui is preparing his exit as central bank chief, his comments on Japan’s immigration policy are leaving Japanese politicians battling over his successor with a lot of food for thought.
mytest
======= PRESS RELEASE =========
FORMING NGO FRANCA
(FOREIGN RESIDENTS AND NATURALIZED CITIZENS ASSOCIATION)
FIRST SENDAI AND OSAKA MEETINGS
SAT MARCH 15 AND TUES MARCH 25 RESPECTIVELY
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, ARUDOU DEBITO WILL SPEAK
BACKGROUND: FRANCA as an idea was first conceived last November, in the wake of the Japanese Government’s decision to fingerprint almost all Non-Japanese residents whenever they re-enter Japan. This caused great consternation amongst NJ residents and taxpayers, who disliked being officially associated with criminals, terrorists, and carriers of infectious diseases “There are many interest groups out there that support minority views, but none for long-term NJ residents and immigrants,” was the sentiment. So throughout December and January, FRANCA as a group was established, with the intention of formally registering as an NGO with the Japanese government by the end of 2008.
https://www.debito.org/?p=789
https://www.debito.org/?s=FRANCA
In the wake of our first FRANCA meeting in Tokyo last January, we decided to chair two more meetings around Japan, organized by local members, to spread the word. Arudou Debito will discuss the hows and whys of creating this NGO. Those dates are:
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Sat March 15 6PM-8PM
Sendai FRANCA inaugural meeting
Sendai Fukushi Plaza Meeting Room 2 (10F), by Itsutsubashi subway station)
http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wb/kenmin/sisetu/sisetu/01/01_12.htm
Tues March 25, 7PM-9PM
Osaka FRANCA inaugural meeting
Osaka Shiritsu Shimin Gakushuu Center 4F
http://www.ocat.jp/center.html
FRANCA’s information website is
http://www.francajapan.org
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Open to the public. Admission free. More about what we stand for:
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FRANCA’S MISSION STATEMENT:
The Foreign Residents’ And Naturalized Citizens Association (FRANCA) Japan commits itself to:
1. equal and nondiscriminatory treatment for all foreign residents and naturalized citizens in Japan;
2. their fair representation and inclusion in Japan’s economic and social processes;
3. the promotion of positive perceptions of non-Japanese peoples and multiple cultures in Japanese society.
FRANCA’S GOALS:
1. To eliminate negative public images and stereotypes of non-Japanese and multi-cultural Japanese.
2. To eliminate discrimination by race, nationality, ethnicity, and national origin.
3. To highlight the benefits of immigration and a multi-cultural society.
To this end, FRANCA works to achieve these goals through sustainable and effective lobbying, networking and public relations campaigns aimed at educating the public.
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Thanks for reading. Hope to see you there!
Arudou Debito in Sapporo (debito@debito.org)
Our online discussion group may be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/francajapan/
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The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can 
