ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one of the sought-after professions in the era of global aging: (migrant) eldercare workers – a profession that is often considered “blue-collar”. Through an analysis of a language-in-migration policy in Japan – one of the world’s most rapidly aging countries, I examine the policy discourse in which migrant caregiver’s language proficiency in Japanese tested on standardized examinations is constructed as the only valid measure of one’s expertise, skills and knowledge in the realm of eldercare work, while undermining other important aspects that constitute eldercare profession and healthcare communication. By comparing the policy discourse with the local accounts of a Japanese eldercare workplace in which one’s language proficiency “on-paper” takes little prominence, I problematize the language policy design that rests not only on the persisting monolingual ideology of Japan but also on the ill-informed beliefs about healthcare communication.
