Like Italy Japan sets the (gold) standard for cultural, national common sense.
When union leader Francisco Freitas has something to say, Japan’sBrazilian community listens. The 49-year old director of the JapanMetal and Information Machinery Workers called up the Brazilian Embassyin Tokyo April 14, fuming over a form being passed out at employmentoffices in Hamamatsu City, southwest of Tokyo. Double-sided and printedon large sheets of paper, the form enables unemployed workers ofJapanese descent — and their family members — to secure governmentmoney for tickets home. It sounded like a good deal to the Braziliansfor whom it was intended. The fine print in Portuguese, however,revealed a catch that soured the deal: it’s a one-way ticket with anagreement not to return.
Japan’s offer to minority communities in need has spawned the ireof those whom it intends to help. It is one thing to be laid off in aneconomic crisis. It is quite another to be unemployed and to feelunwanted by the country where you’ve settled. That’s how Freitas andother Brazilians feel since the Japanese government started the programto pay $3,000 to each jobless foreigner of Japanese descent (calledNikkei) and $2,000 to each family member to return to their country oforigin. The money isn’t the problem, the Brazilians say; it’s the factthat they will not be allowed to return until economic and employmentconditions improve — whenever that may be. “When Nikkei go back andcan’t return, for us that’s discrimination,” says Freitas, who haslived in Japan with his family for 12 years. (See pictures of Japan and the world.)
With Japan’s unemployment rate on the rise — it reached athree-year high of 4.4% in February — the government is frantic to findsolutions to stanch the flow of job losses and to help the unemployed.The virtual collapse of Japan’s export-driven economy, in which exportshave nearly halved compared to the first two months of last year, hasforced manufacturers to cut production. Temporary and contract workersat automotive and electronics companies have been hit especially hard.Hamamatsu has 18,000 Brazilian residents, about 5% of the total inJapan, and is home to the nation’s largest Brazilian community. Afterimmigration laws relaxed in 1990, making it easier for foreigners tolive and work in Japan, Brazilians have grown to be the country’s thirdlargest minority, after Koreans and Chinese. But as jobs grow scarceand money runs out, some Nikkei ironically now face the same toughdecision their Japanese relatives did 100 years ago, when they migratedto Brazil.
Japan can scarcely afford to lose part of its labor force, or closeitself off further to foreigners. Japan, with its aging population thatis projected to shrink by one-third over the next 50 years, needs allthe workers it can get. The U.N. has projected that the nation willneed 17 million immigrants by 2050 to maintain a productive economy.But immigration laws remain strict, and foreign-born workers make uponly 1.7% of the total population. Brazilians feel particularly harddone by. “The reaction from the Brazilian community is very hot,” saysa Brazilian Embassy official. The embassy has asked Japan’s Ministry ofHealth, Labor and Welfare to “ease the conditions” of reentry forBrazilians who accept the money. (Paradoxically, the Japanesegovernment had recently stepped up efforts to help Brazilian residents,with programs such as Japanese-language training and job-counseling.)This particular solution to unemployment, however, is perceived as amisguided gift. “Maybe there were good intentions, but the offer waspresented in the worst way possible,” says the Brazilian official. Theprogram applies to Brazilians who have long-term Nikkei visas, butrestricts their right — and that of their family members — to reentryuntil jobs are available in Japan. The terms are vague and willprobably stay that way. Tatsushi Nagasawa, a Japanese health ministryofficial says it’s not possible to know when those who accept the moneywill be allowed back into Japan, though the conditions for reentry forhighly skilled positions might be relaxed.
The Brazilian community plainly needs some help. The Brazilian embassynormally pays for between 10 and 15 repatriations each year, but in thelast few months it has already paid for about 40. Since last September,Carlos Zaha has seen many in his Hamamatsu community lose their jobs.In December, he helped start Brasil Fureai, or “Contact Brazil,” anassociation to help unemployed Brazilian residents find jobs. He’sthankful to the Japanese government for the offer of assistedrepatriation, but says the decision will be a rough one for workers. “Idon’t think [the government] thought this through well,” Zaha says. “Ifsomeone is over 50 years old and is already thinking of returning toBrazil then it might work. But there are many people in their 20s and30s, and after two or three years they’re going to want to come back toJapan — and they won’t be able to.” (Read more about Japan’s new stimulus package.)
Lenine Freitas, 23, the son of the union leader, lost his job atAsmo, a small motor manufacturer, one month ago, but says he plans tostay in Japan and work. Freitas says that there would be no problem ifthe Japanese government set a term of, say, three years, after whichBrazilians who took the money could return. But after nine yearsworking at Suzuki Motor Corp., he thinks that the government shouldcontinue to take responsibility for foreigners in Japan. “They have tohelp people to continue working in Japan,” he says. “If Brazilians gohome, what will they do there?”
And if Nikkei Brazilians, Peruvians and others who have lost their jobsgo home, what will Japan do? Last week, Prime Minister Taro Asounveiled a long-term growth strategy to create millions of jobs and add$1.2 trillion to GDP by 2020. But the discussion of immigration reformis notoriously absent in Japan, and reaching a sensible policy forforeign workers has hardly got under way. Encouraging those foreignerswho would actually like to stay in Japan to leave seems a funny placeto start.