The “Problem” of Foreign Workers in Contemporary Japan

The rapid mobility of labor and capital across national boundaries is a critical feature of the contemporary capitalist world-economy. ¹ Japan is no exception, and the influx of foreign workers (gaikokujin rodosha) became perhaps the most discussed social problem in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While the Japanese mass media was rife with sensationalist coverage, a heated public debate raged on whether Japan should be “open” or “closed” to foreign workers. ²