WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Aging Japan gets serious about immigration
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-07 10:05

"I think this is very good timing to start thinking about this," he said. "The decline is already in sight."

The Indonesian nurses, who have been recruited to work in short-staffed hospitals and old peoples' homes, are the latest wave of controlled immigration. Government officials hope they will face fewer problems than their predecessors.

FAILURE TO FIT IN

More than 300,000 immigrant Brazilians of Japanese descent, have been a boon for Japan's automotive and electronics factories, where many of them work. They have also boosted the Brazilian economy, remitting $2.2 billion dollars home in 2005 alone, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.

But in many ways, the Brazilians have failed to fit in even though they are the descendants of Japanese who left rural areas to start afresh in Latin America, mostly in the early 20th century.

Believing their heritage would give them an advantage in blending in, the Japanese government loosened conditions for working visas for them in 1990. The move was not entirely successful.

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The Brazilians complain of discrimination and lack of schooling for their children, many of whom speak only Portuguese, while their Japanese neighbors are often shocked by their late-night parties and failure to conform to rules such as trash recycling.

"They were just brought in and nothing was done to help them in terms of welfare afterwards," said ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Hirohiko Nakamura, a member of the committee that produced the new immigration report.

"Then people blame the foreigners for the problems, even though it's Japan that invited them here and didn't do anything for them," he added.

That system has kept some small regional businesses ticking over, but reports of abuses such as extremely low pay, sexual harassment and confiscated passports abound.

HIGH HURDLES

Many say that despite the desperate need for workers, Japan is setting hurdles too high for the latest batch of immigrants.

The Indonesian nurses and care workers will have only six months of Japanese study before starting full-time work. They must pass the relevant national examinations within three or four years while working as assistants, or be forced to return home.

Lawmaker Nakamura is optimistic about their chances, citing the example of some of the country's highest profile immigrants.