International labor migration and the status of migrants in receiving countries:

the case of Japan

Hiroshi Komai, Ph.D.1
Prof. of sociology
University of Tsukuba, Japan
1. The Progress of Glabalization through Immigration into Japan
The progress of globalization, hich means the shrinkage of the space an! time of the orl! is accelerate! by
the !evelopment of technology. "or or!inary Japanese, cheap, short time, massive transportation by aircraft
has ma!e possible to travel to the other parts of the orl! for sight#seeing. The telecommunication technology
gives many informations of the orl! through T$s an! nespapers, an! especially by internet system
recently. %ut these e&periences an! perceptions are only in!irect because sight#seeers travel in capsules they
are enclose! in an! the informations are 'ust fragments cut up lacking the real comple&ity. The !evelopment
of technology, hoever, also ma!e it possible to carry mass flo of foreign immigrants into Japan. The result
of it is the !irect e&periences of the orl! by or!inary Japanese by every#!ay contacts ith foreigers in the
orking places, neighborhoo!s an! even in their family lives.
(s of January ), *+++, there are ),,++ thousan!s foreigers resi!ing in Japan an! they compose ).-. of
Japanese population. /esi!ent foreigers are !evi!e! into 0++ thousan!s ol!#timers ho arrive! Japan mainly
before an! !uring 1orl! 1ar 22 an! ),3++ thousan!s necomers ho starte! to arrive in the en! of )45+s an!
increase! especially in the latter half of )4,+s. 6ecomers inclu!e *0+ thousan!s illegals, an! about ),+++
thousan!s of them are orkers. The break!on of necomers by the ma'or country of origin are as follos7
8hina 33+ thousan!s, %rasil **+ thousan!s, Korea )5+ thousan!s, Philippines )0+ thousan!s, Peru 0+
thousan!s, an! U9( -+ thousan!s. 2t is clear, ith the e&ception of U9(, neighboring countries of Japan an!
:atin (merican countries are main sen!ers of immigrants. (s for :atin (merican countries, special
acceptance of Japanese !escen!ents are legally permitte! by the revise! immigration la in )44+. Here 2
oul! like to a!! that those ho ha! staye! in Japan an! returne! to their home countries or move! to
another countries alrea!y reache! several millions.
;ass arrivals of foreign immigrants has given tremen!ous impacts on Japanese society. 2n the folloing, 2
ill consi!er it from both aspects of poer an! culture.
*. The Transformation of Poer 9tructure by the (rrival of 2mmigrants
"oreign immigrants are place! at the bottom stratum of Japanese poer structure. Political rights are
important as it means participation for !ecision making. %ut the 9upreme 8ourt have !enie! the rights of
voting or stan!ing for office at the national level entirely. (s for the local level, a la to give voting rights to
settle! foreigners is un!er !iscussion at the national !iet presently. This might be the sign of !ecay of the i!ea
of monopoly of the political rights only by the native people. 9till, oppositions are so strong that the
possibility of the enactment is very lo.
Their position in the labor market is also at the bottom. Japanese labor market is characterise! by the !ual
in!ustrial structure an! migrant orkers are place! in the loer part of it. They ork at the mi!!le or small
scale enterprises mainly in manufcturing, costruction or service in!ustries, engaging in three D<!irty,
!angerous, !eman!ing= 'obs. ;ost of them are pai! hourly an! their employment is very unstable. (s they are
the safty valve for labor supply, un!er the present prolonge! economic recession, unemployment among them
is increasing together ith shifting to the service in!ustry from manufacture an! construction.
2n spite of their lo status, their e&istence itself affects Japanese poer structure. The most important
phenomenon is the say of the mono#racism. ;ono#racism means Japanese nation#state is compose! only by
Japanese race sharing common bloo! originate! from the >mperor lineage.
The history of nationalism in mo!ern an! contemporary Japan has passe! folloing five stages.
<)= national isolation before the ;ei'i /estoration.
<*= 8ompulsory assimilation of (inus an! ?kinaa people into Japanese race after the ;ei'i /estoration.
<3=The formation of a multi#racial empire after the colonization of Taian an! Korea. 2n these areas, no
political right are given to the colonize! people. The colonization in!uce! the massive inflo of Koreans into
Japan, numbere! *,0++ thousan!s in the en! of 1orl! 1ar 22.
<-= ;ono#racism after the !efeat of the 1orl! 1ar 22. Un!er it, assimilation or e&clusion policy for remaine!
0++ thousan!s Koreans ere enforce!.
<0= 9ay of mono#racism after )45+@s by the arrival of nely coming foreigners, as ell as 'oining to the
8onvention /elating to the 9tatus of /efugees.
;ono#racism is still strong, hoever, an! the boun!ary beteen Japanese an! foreign nationals still e&ists.
6otorious force! taking of fingerprints of foreigers ere finally abolishe! for ol!#timers in )44) an! for
others in )444, but the !uty to carry alays foreiners@ register! car! remaine!. There is hierarchical
!iscrimination among foreign nationals7 foreigners given resi!ent visa status an! Japanese !escen!ents ho
have no resriction on activities at the top, legal stayers other than Japanese !escen!ents ith some restrictions
on activities to the ne&t, an! illegal stayers !eprive! of any rights at the bottom.
The effects of foreign migrants in Japan upon the poer structure of their home countries are orth
mentioning here. (pprove! political refugees are compose! of )+ thousan!s 2n!ochina refugees an!
surprisingly small less than 3++ other refugees. %ut, in a!!tion to this, there are many pseu!o refugees like
%urmese ho fle! ;yanmer an! forme! several organizations in Japan against military !ictatorship of
;yanmer, or 8hinese ho participate! in the opposition movements against the 8hinese government at
Tienanmen@s inci!ence either in Japan or in 8hina, or 2ranians reache! -+ thousan!s at the peak of early @4+s,
consi!erable portion of hom felt !istance ith the fun!amentalistic 2slamic !octrine of 2ran. The movements
of these approve! or pseu!o refugees in Japan surely contribute to change the repressive polity of their home
countries, an! after return, e&perienses of the air of free!om in Japan also ill help the ay to
!emocratization.
3. Cultural Changes b the !rrival of Immigrants

Here culture means behavioral patterns in every!ay life in one ay an! higher level like religion, phylosophy
an! art in another ay. %efore !iscussing cultural changes of Japan brought in by immigrnats, it is necessary
to see changes in immigrants themselves. Parents ten! to preserve their original culture even in Japan. ;e!ias
like cable! T$ or ethnic printe! me!ias by the native tongue helps it. %ut chil!ren groing up in Japan
rapi!ly forget their original culture. Japanese language teaching ithout original language e!ucation orsens
the situation. %y the ay, APyithagoras@ group from %rasil opene! three schools for the chil!ren of %rasilians
of Japanese !escen!ents in Japan to give %rasilian style e!ucation, but high tuition fee limits the number of
entrants.
Turning to the changes of Japanese culture in the behavioral pattern of every!ay life stimulate! by
immigrants, most conspicuous one is the beginning of the collapse of Japanese groupism. Japanese groupism
is compose! of close!ness to the outer orl! an! authoritative hieralchy, as ell as the conformity un!er
group pressure. 2t suite! for the mass pro!uction of fe kin!s of in!ustrial pro!ucts, an! e have fresh
memory of so lou! a!vocacy of it in )45+s an! )4,+s. Japanese groupism is chiefly responsible for the fall of
bubble economy, namely the break!on of speculation chains for real estates as ell as the loss of
competence for international competition. Japaanese groupism pro!uce! incapble but in!ulgent top lea!ers,
obe!ient rank an! files ithout initiative, an! both of them lacke! in the morality for the outer orl!.
%ecause of the participation of the immigrants for Japanese society, they are helping transformation from the
principle of groupism to the one of netorking consi!erably. (ccor!ing to the 8omparative $alue /esearch
9urvey that 2 con!ucte! in )445#)44, for ten ethnic goups resi!ing in Japan, 8hinese have the eak ten!ency
for avoi!ance of uncertainty, Koreans an! (mericans have strong re'ection for poer !ifference, an! :atin
(mericanos have high tolerance for other people@s bahavior. Those traits are surely incompatible ith
Japanese groupism. %y the ay, Japanese reliability receive! high evaluation by immigrants, an! ill effect
their home countries after their return because they respect it.
Turning to the high level of cultere, e&pansion of religious activities are noticeable. 8athoric churchs atten!e!
by Philippinos an! :atin (mericanos starte! their services in multi#languages. (s for %rasilians, they say
three#fourths of them belive in the !octrine an! one#fourth of them go to church. Protestant churchs are
activate! by the presence of Koreans. 2n the concentrate! areas of Koreans, ne construction of churches as
the branch of the sect in Korea are procee!ing. >ven the 2slamic mosBues number! -+ all over Japan, atten!e!
by Pakistanis an! %angla!eshes mainly. 9eicho no 2e, hich is the ne sect of 9hintoism origin characterise!
by the >mperor orship also absorve %rasilians. 2n %rasil, this sect is the largest among ne sects of Japanese
origin an! 0. of Japanese !escen!ents are believers. 1e can see the sharp contrast ith the alrea!y
establishe! 9hitoism an! %u!!hism institutions hich are not so active here only native Japanese atten!.
". The Possibilit of #ocial Conflict
2t is noteorthy that conflicts beteen immigrants an! native Japanese are so fe. 9ome accusations from the
native Japanese against a part of 2ranians ho became !elinBuents to sell false telephone car!s or !rug are not
negligible. (nother rare case ere foun! in Toyota 8ity here %rasilians are many. 2n June )444, violent
inci!ence occure! beteen %rasilian youngsters an! Japanese reckress motorcycle ri!ers together ith a right
ing group. The reason as the !ifferent ay of living like the ay of aste !isposal or eeken!
amusement, but it calme! !on in the autumn. (s for chauvinist right ing agitations, fe activities ere in
early )44+s, but after it they have been virtually no#e&istent, ith the e&ception of obstructions by right ing
group members in the meeting !eman!ing special permissiom to stay for illegal overstayers in *+++ in Tokyo.
(s the result, even the 2slamic mosBues are accepte! by neighboring Japanese peacefully. 2n the folloing, 2
ill try to fin! the reason hy not so much frictions are in Japan.
"irstly, historical e&periences ith resi!ent Koreans has given precious lessons to Japanese society.
They ere forcibly !eprive! of Japanese nationality in )40*, an! put un!er severe surveillance an! control by
foreigner@s registration system, together ith e&treme !iscriminations in social security, employment,
housing, etc. (gainst their position, big protests ere raise! by resi!ent Koreans an! Japanese in )45+s an!
)4,+s, an! as the result, gra!ually their status hass been improve!. (t present, naturalizations of resi!ent
Koreans are only )+,+++ yearly, an! many of them prefer to preserve original Korean nationality. The
unhappy history taught not the !iscrimination but the co#e&istence is important.
9econ!ly, 2 ant to point out that Japanese common people are generally kin! an! ten! to accept foreigners.
The increase of international marriage is the proof of the absence of the ethnic chauvinism. 6o, ) out of 3+
ne marriages are beteen Japanese an! foreigers, an! 8hinese ives took the top position from Philippinas
hile (merican husban!s e&cee!e! 8hinese to become most. The kin!ness of Japanese common people are
shon in the !evelopment of Japanese language netork here 3++ volunteer groups teach Japanese to
foreigners. C,0++ volunteers are mainly mi!!le age! omen ith living e&periences in foreign countries, an!
they function as counsellers to foreigers an! become key#persons to connect the pupils of Japanese language
ith Japanese community. 2n a!!ition to the Japanese language netork, 6D?s establishe! ith the purpose
of relieving immigrants are active all over Japan. 8ontrary to the attitu!es of central government, consi!erable
number of local governments are eager to suply a!ministrative services inclu!ing offering chances to meet
ith native people.
Thir!ly, religeous tolerance inherent in the Japanese cultural tra!ition helps to !iminish religious tensions.
1hen Taoism an! %u!!hism arrive! at the archpelagoes, they amalgamate! ith the alrea!y e&isting
animistic pantheism of primitive 9hintoism. The tra!ition of pantheism, although the lea!ers of ;ei'i
/estoration oppresse! %u!!hism initially an! 8hristianity later by artificially a!opting 9tate 9hintoism,
continue! to survive until after the 1orl! 1ar 22 hen free!om of religion is secure!, an! presently all kin!s
of holinesses are torelate! by Japanese folloing the tra!ition. Prevailing e&istence of syncretism among ne
sects are another evi!ence of the tra!ition.
(s a 8oclusion, to sho hat is going on in contemporary Japan, 2 ill intro!uce the case of ;ogami (rea, a
typical rural area situate! in northern Japan here it snos much in inter. %ecause Japanese omen refuse!
to become bri!es of men in the area, there emerge! so many age! single men in later )4,+s. To solve the
problem, Phippinas ere invite! initially as bri!es un!er the initiative of lacal governments. :ater, Koreans,
8hinese an! others 'oine! an! they have numbere! several hun!re!s.
;ost of them have love! their bri!egrooms, an! have given births to chil!ren an! they have settle! there.
Their sole e&istence has given tremen!ous changes for every!ay social lives. 2n the family life, the
authoritative hieralchy an! the groupistic pressure has starte! to !isappear. 2n the village life, the close!ness
an! the anonymous social pressures also starte! to !isappear. (s the result, ;ogami (rea has become one of
the representative areas in Japan hich have an open atmosphere to outer orl!.
)
8onferEncia !e encerramento!o F 8ongresso 2nternacional !a (ssociaGHo :atino#(mericana !e >stu!os (fricanos e
(siIticos <(:(D((=, Universi!a!e 8an!i!o ;en!es, /io !e Janeiro, *C !e outubro !e *+++.