Abstract
Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) workers form one of three backdoors, or unofficial pathways, for Japan to recruit unskilled and semi-skilled labor. However, compared to the other two categories of co-ethnic return migrants and part-time student workers, TITP workers are more numerous and much faster growing as a category. Moreover, local governments have adapted by treating the TITP and its participants distinctively from other categories of migrants. Until now, researchers have only had access to sporadic examples and anecdotal reports of local government policies directed towards TITP workers. In order to create a more comprehensive view of the phenomenon, I implement and discuss the results of a nationwide survey of municipal governments regarding their current and future plans for involvement with TITP workers, as well as perceptions regarding the main challenges facing local communities. The varying strategies for doing so, ranging from treating them solely as an economic input for local businesses to purposely trying to increase their interactions with local community members, signal different, competing understandings of what foreign migrant workers represent and offer to Japan.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
I borrow this term from Oguma Eiji. For a full discussion, see Oguma, E. (2002). A genealogy of “Japanese” self-images (D. Askew, Trans.). Trans Pacific.
References
Aiden, H. S. (2011). Creating the “multicultural coexistence” society: Central and local government policies towards foreign residents in Japan. Social Science Japan Journal, 14(2), 213–231.
Bartram, D. (2016). Labor migration policy and the governance of the construction industry in Israel and Japan. Politics & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329204263068
Binford, L. (2013). Tomorrow We’re all going to the harvest: Temporary foreign worker programs and neoliberal political economy. University of Texas Press.
Chung, E. A. (2010). Immigration and citizenship in Japan. Cambridge University Press.
Chung, E. A. (2020). Immigrant incorporation in east Asian democracies (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107337077
Chung, E. A. (2021). The side doors of immigration: Multi-tier migration regimes in Japan and South Korea. Third World Quarterly, 0(0), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1956893
Fowler, F. J. (2009). Survey research methods (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Hashimoto, Y. (2011a). Gaikokujin kenshūsei ginōjisshūsei ukeire kigyō no chingin to seisansei ni kansuru kōsa. Keizai Bunseki, 185, 67–91.
Hashimoto Y. (2011b). Gaikokujin kenshūsei ukeire tokku no seisaku hyōka evaluation of the foreign trainee special zones (No. 11-J-048; RIETI Discussion Paper Series). Research Institute of Economy, Trade, Industry, IAA. https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/11j048.pdf
Herbert, W. (1992). Conjuring up a crime wave: The ‘rapid growth in the crime rate among foreign migrant workers in Japan’ critically examined. Japan Forum, 4(1), 109–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/09555809208721448
Herbert, W. (1996). Foreign workers and law enforcement in Japan. Kegan Paul International.
Hirayama, A. (2021, May 19). “Exploitation was common practice” bribes to Japan, with interns paying the price ‘sakushu ga jōshiki datta’ nihongawa ni wairo, tsuke wa jisshūsei ni. Asahi Shimbun Digital. https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP5C4CFBP5BUZOB01C.html?iref=ogimage_rek
Iimure, K. (2019). Akitaken niokeru gaikokujin ginōjisshūsei ukeire e no kadai to teigen challenges and recommendations for accepting technical intern trainees in Akita prefecture: ~based on interviews in Akita prefecture and Vietnam~. Journal of the Institute for Asian Studies and Regional Collaboration, Akita International University., 9, 41–64. https://doi.org/10.24687/iasrc.9.0_41
JITCO. (2021, March 16). Ginōjisshuseido no shokushu sagyō nitsuite About TITP Occupational and Work Categories. https://www.jitco.or.jp/ja/regulation/occupation.html
Kameda, N. (2008). Gaikokujin rōdōsha mondai no shosō—Nikkei burajiru jin no koyō mondai to kenshū ginōjisshū seido wo chūshin ni. Reference, 4, 19–39.
Kashiwazaki, C. (2013). Incorporating immigrants as foreigners: Multicultural politics in Japan. Citizenship Studies, 17(1), 31–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2013.764216
Kemp, A. (2010). Reforming policies on foreign workers in Israel. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/5kmjnr8pbp6f-en
Li, Y., Westlund, H., & Liu, Y. (2019). Why some rural areas decline while some others not: An overview of rural evolution in the world. Journal of Rural Studies, 68, 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.03.003
Matanle, P., & Rausch, A. S. (2011). Japan’s shrinking regions in the 21st century: Contemporary responses to depopulation and socioeconomic decline (SSRN scholarly paper ID 1971833). Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1971833.
Mehrotra, V., Morck, R., Shim, J., & Wiwattanakantang, Y. (2013). Adoptive expectations: Rising sons in Japanese family firms. Journal of Financial Economics, 108(3), 840–854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.01.011
Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. (2021). Public report of 2020 cases of supervision guidance and prosecutorial referrals regarding employers of foreign technical intern trainees gaikokujin ginōjisshūsei no jisshū jisshi mono nitaisuru reiwa ninen no kantoku shidō, sōken nado no jōkyō wo kōhyō shimasu. Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_20618.html
Ministry of Justice. (2014). Ginōjisshū seido ni kansuru kiso shiryō. Ministry of Justice. http://www.moj.go.jp/content/001128653.pdf
Nagayoshi, K. (2011). Support of multiculturalism, but for whom? Effects of ethno-National Identity on the endorsement of multiculturalism in Japan. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(4), 561–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.545272
Nakamatsu, T. (2014). Under the multicultural flag: Japan’s ambiguous multicultural framework and its local evaluations and practices. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(1), 137–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.830498
Oishi, N. (2021). Skilled or unskilled?: The reconfiguration of migration policies in Japan. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(10), 2252–2269. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1731984
Onoda, Y. (2014, December 19). “Nenshū nisen gohyakuman-en no mura” nagano kawakamimura osotta fūbun nichi ben ren ga kankoku, mura gawa wa hampatsu “250000 yen income village” rumors of Nagano’s Kawakami Village, Nichibenren gives counsel, village reacts. Sankei News. https://www.iza.ne.jp/article/20141219-UXJ7YUMY3ZMO7O7BEKJZR5JGWI/
Reiwa ninendo gyōmu tōkei Operational Statistics for Reiwa Year 2. (2021, March). Organization for Technical Intern Training. https://www.otit.go.jp/gyoumutoukei_r2/
Sharpe, M. O. (2010). When ethnic returnees are de facto guestworkers: What does the introduction of Latin American Japanese Nikkeijin (Japanese descendants) (LAN) suggest for Japan’s definition of nationality, citizenship, and immigration policy? Policy and Society, 29(4), 357–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2010.09.009
Shipper, A. W. (2008). Fighting for foreigners: Immigration and its impact on Japanese democracy. Cornell University Press.
Strausz, M. (2019). Help (not) wanted: Immigration politics in Japan. State University of New York Press.
Tarumoto, H. (2018). The limits of local citizenship policies in Japan. In T. Lacroix & A. Desille (Eds.), International migrations and local governance (pp. 191–213). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65996-1_11
Taylor, J. E., & Martin, P. L. (1997). The immigrant subsidy in US agriculture: Farm employment, poverty, and welfare. Population and Development Review, 23(4), 855–874. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137387
Tegtmeyer Pak, K. (2006). Cities and local citizenship in Japan. In T. Tsuda (Ed.), Local citizenship in recent countries of immigration (pp. 65–96). Lexington Books.
Tian, Y. (2018). Workers by any other name: Comparing co-ethnics and ‘interns’ as labour migrants to Japan. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1–19, 1496–1514. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1466696
Tian, Y. (2022). Workers, Neighbours, or something Else? Local policies and policy narratives of technical intern training program participants. Social Science Japan Journal, jyac023, 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyac023
Tsuda, T. (2003). Strangers in the ethnic homeland: Japanese Brazilian return migration in transnational perspective. Columbia University Press.
Tsuda, T. (Ed.). (2006). Local citizenship in recent countries of immigration: Japan in comparative perspective. Lexington Books.
Vogt, G. (2013). When the leading goose gets lost: Japan’s demographic change and the non-reform of its migration policy. ASIAN STUDIES: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, 49(2), 14–44.
Yamamoto, R. (2005). Alien Attack? Japanstudien, 16(1), 27–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/09386491.2005.11826911
Yammarino, F. J., Skinner, S. J., & Childers, T. L. (1991). Understanding mail survey response behavior a meta-analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 55(4), 613–639. https://doi.org/10.1086/269284
Yasuda, K. (2018, January 27). jūmin no yonin ni hitori ga gaikokujin ginōjisshūsei naganoken kawakamimura no hansei reflections on Nagano’s Kawakami Village—Where 1 in 4 residents is a TITP worker. Toyo Keizai Weekly Plus.. https://premium.toyokeizai.net/articles/-/17394
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a Japan Foundation Dissertation Research Fellowship, grant number 10121648.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tian, Y. (2023). Will Guestworkers Save Japan? Findings from a Nationwide Municipal Survey. In: Tanaka, K., Selin, H. (eds) Sustainability, Diversity, and Equality: Key Challenges for Japan. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36331-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36331-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-36330-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-36331-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)