＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. major shift in policy on accepting foreign workers
In a 180-degree turnaround from its previous policy of “limiting the acceptance of foreign workers” (limited to certain skilled workers), the government has announced an estimate that it will accept 350,000 people, including simple workers, in 14 industries over five years.
The policy is to allow family members to accompany the foreigner if certain conditions are met. (Foreigners who pass a simple test will be accepted for a maximum of five years, and if they pass certain additional tests, they will be allowed to stay permanently and bring their families with them.)
The Immigration Control Act has been revised and is expected to be introduced in April 2019.
What exactly is this that has happened? It is hard to understand. The government’s explanation is as follows
The “expected manpower shortage” for the first five years after the introduction of the system, which cannot be compensated by “securing domestic human resources” and “improving productivity”, will be secured by “accepting foreign workers”.
In the “nursing care industry,” where up to 60,000 people are expected to be accepted over the next five years（「5年間で最大6万人の受け入れを想定する「介護業」」）, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimates that there will be a shortage of 300,000 workers in fiscal 2023, five years from now. First, the Ministry plans to secure more than 200,000 workers by promoting the employment of elderly Japanese and female workers.
In addition, productivity will be increased by about 1%, equivalent to about 20,000 workers, through the introduction of nursing care robots and other measures. As a result, we estimate that we will need to accept 50,000 to 60,000 foreign workers by the fifth year.
2. problems with the policy of accepting large numbers of foreign workers
However, I think that this “mass acceptance of foreigners” for “simple labor” is “a hundred harms and not a single gain. And I feel that the above “estimation” is “Empty Theories on the Desk”.
(1) Language (Japanese) barrier
No matter how simple the work of “caregiving” may be, Japanese who are cared for by foreigners who do not understand Japanese well will end up having Japanese caregivers do it for them because they do not understand Japanese well enough to say “I want you to do this” or “I want you to do that”. This only increases the burden on the Japanese caregivers.
(2) Quarantine and public health issues
When large numbers of foreign workers arrive from China, Southeast Asia, and South America, where sanitary conditions are poor, “pandemics（「パンデミック」」）” of new strains of influenza, malaria, Ebola, etc., become a concern. Since there is an “incubation period,” there is a fear of spreading the disease.
(3) Public Safety Issues
Terrorists such as the Taliban and IS, as well as those with criminal records, could infiltrate.
(4) Resident status issues
Even if they are not “immigrants”, if they stay in Japan for several years and their families also come and “permanently reside” in Japan, they are “substantial immigrants”!
This is a different problem from that of foreign tourists visiting Japan temporarily.
(5) Marijuana, narcotics and other drug problems
It seems that trafficking routes have already been established in Japan, but with the arrival of large numbers of foreign “unskilled laborers”, there is a risk of further proliferation.
(6) Problems related to gangs
It would not be surprising if some of the incoming workers have close ties to gangsters. The “integrated resort facilities (IR)” are also a concern.
(7) The problem of depriving Japanese people of work opportunities
Originally, a labor shortage should be an opportunity for Japanese workers to increase their wages. However, if a large number of foreign workers are accepted, some will naturally continue to work in Japan even after the labor shortage is resolved (e.g., after the baby boomers pass away).
This would cause the same problems that are becoming more serious in Europe, especially in Germany, where immigrants are depriving their own citizens of work opportunities, and where their own citizens bear the medical, social security, and welfare costs for the immigrants.
The problem of illegal immigration from Mexico in the U.S. (which has taken away jobs from U.S. citizens and worsened public safety) is another example.
(8) Labor quality issues
Even when it comes to “simple labor” in Japan, there is the large “language barrier” mentioned at the beginning, and you cannot expect the same kind of careful and considerate work as Japanese people.
When I am in a position to receive care in the future, I do not want to receive care from “foreign caregivers.
In the past, Japanese manufacturers expanded their factories into China in large numbers because of the low wages, but problems such as “unsafe products,” “poor quality,” and “late delivery” occurred. The same problems are likely to occur again this time.
Just recently, there was a startling news story about “cleaning staff at a [five-star] hotel in China wiping both cups and toilets with used towels. A prominent Chinese internet user exposed the practice with secretly taken photos, and this practice has been going on for many years.
The [five-star hotels] accused are all ultra-luxury hotels such as Shangri-La, Sheraton, Conrad, Ritz-Carlton, and Four Seasons. You can probably guess the others.
I’m not sure if this analogy is appropriate, but when I went to investigate at the overseas branch of the company I work for, the expatriates I spoke to were complaining that “the local staff’s (local workers’) mistakes and having to follow up on backlogged work (cleaning up) are putting an even heavier burden on us, so we have to work overtime late into the night almost every day.”
Even Japanese caregivers often have problems with “abuse of elderly residents,” so it is hard to say that Japanese caregivers are safe. However, I feel that when foreign caregivers come in, even if they are “assistants to Japanese caregivers,” there will be many situations where the Japanese caregivers will eventually have to cover for them.
If that happens, won’t the same thing happen as the “cleaning up after local staff by Japanese employees at overseas branches” mentioned above? And I am afraid that in the end, the burden will increase even more because foreigners “cannot be entrusted” with the job, and we will end up having to pay foreign workers salaries even though they cannot do much of the work.
When I was still working as an office worker, I had to deal with incompetent new employees or junior employees who made so many mistakes that they were slower than I expected, and I would have to take the work away from them. I think a similar problem will arise in the future.
(9) The problem of rising wages for foreign workers (and downward shift in wages for Japanese workers)
Related to the issue of “quality of labor,” it can be predicted that they will probably be less skilled than the average Japanese worker. Naturally, wages will be set lower, but this may be perceived as “discrimination against Japanese. Won’t this lead to a “wage increase” and lower “cost performance”? If we were to set “equal wages” from the beginning, it would be out of the question.
On the other hand, if the wages of foreign workers are lower than those of Japanese workers, a “downward shift in wages” may occur regardless of the quality of labor, and Japanese workers may suffer a disadvantage.
To begin with, the government assumes that there will be a “labor shortage” of 350,000 people, but is this assuming maximum use of part-time labor by retired middle-aged and elderly people and housewives who have not been working? Also, will there be a shortage of workers even if the government raises the salaries of caregivers and otherwise improves their conditions?
I know there are many people over 60 who are not working because their pensions will be reduced if they work, but I think there are many people who can work well enough until they are 70 or so. If pensions are not reduced for those who work, there will be many elderly people who will work again. If housewives were also given preferential tax treatment, the number of people working would increase.
Since they are Japanese, there is no language barrier and the quality of their work is good. All we need to do is give them a corresponding wage increase and preferential treatment in terms of pension payments and taxation. There will also be no problems or troubles that come with accepting foreign workers.
As mentioned earlier, the “labor shortage” is the greatest opportunity for Japanese workers to obtain “wage increases. It is an opportunity for companies to accelerate competition for higher wages and to raise the “inflation rate,” but I am not convinced that this kind of policy shift is acceptable. We hope that the Diet will deliberate carefully on this issue.
This policy of promoting the acceptance of foreign workers, in my opinion, is like opening “Pandora’s Box…”
The “definition” of the word “immigrant” generally refers to “a person who moves to a different country of his/her own free will, or who has been outside the country of his/her birth or citizenship for more than 12 months.
There are already 1.28 million foreigners working in Japan in 2017, making it the fourth largest “immigration power” in the world. I believe that further increasing the number of “immigrants” is a serious threat to Japan’s national interest and the interests of the Japanese people (workers).