ABSTRACT
In the coming decade Japan will face numerous challenges to its traditional identity as it seeks ways to address its new reponsibilities as an economic superpower. Among these will be the treatment of foreign workers, refugees and foreign students. Indeed, Japan’s willingness to confront such issues will be viewed by many as a litmus test of its ability to assume the social and political roles of a major participant in world affairs. Over the past decade, the LDP government has attempted to deflect international pressure by, on the one hand, increasing its budget for overseas development assistance and expanding the number of places available at Japanese universities for foreign students, while, on the other hand, resisting demands to relax constraints on the entry of refugees and unskilled foreign workers. The issue of foreign workers, in particular, has been widely debated in the media. Proponents have argued that the employment of foreign labour would provide an opportunity to internationalize the domestic labour market at the same time as meeting labour shortages in particular industries. Others argue that migration to Japan is the inevitable result of the widening economic gap that exists between Japan and the developing nations of Asia; an outcome which cannot be ‘legislated’ away, and which could constitute part of Japan’s economic assistance to these countries. Opponents, however, contend that the admission of migrant workers would have an adverse affect on general working conditions; would lead to the creation of an exploited underclass of poorly paid foreigners whose assimilation into a racially homogeneous society would prove impossible; and would give rise to a host of new social problems.
