ABSTRACT

From 1987, facing a growing shortage of labor, Japanese financial circles such as the Keizaidōyūkai (Japan Committee for Economic Development), the Keizaidantai Rengōkai (Keidanren) and the Nihon Shokokaigisho (Japan Chamber of Commerce) requested the Japanese government to accept foreigners as trainees. The response was two-fold and oblique: first, to accept foreigners as trainees, and second, to accept foreigners with Japanese ancestry. As a result, in 1996, approximately 284,500 illegal foreign workers were residing in Japan.