07/17/2014, 00.00
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Japan: immigrants, "key" to economic and social development

by Pino Cazzaniga
Analysts have long warned of the inherent risk in the aging population and low birth rate: two factors that could destroy the competitiveness of the nation in 50 years. The Catholic Church is called to work in this field, giving its contribution.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - An aging society and lack of "indigenous" labor force is seriously undermining Japan's economic development. These problems are no longer only now being studied by economists and sociologists, but they have become topics of everyday conversation even for ordinary people.

Although it is not new problems, its solution has become urgent: first because a large area of the north-east of the country (Tohoku) is being rebuilt; second, because Tokyo has been chosen as the venue for the 2020 Olympics. These infrastructural projects are of grave importance for the nation's image on the world stage. But it faces a major obstacle in the lack of labor force.

The economist William Barriga, in a recent study published by The JapanTimes, writes that "the rapid aging of society, together with the massive decline in the birth rate, are problems that must be dealt with decisively now. Otherwise, in fifty years the Japanese population will have decreased to such a point that the country will be unable to maintain its current global economic power".

The key to effectively tackle the problem seems to be the use of foreign labor. As you know, Japan is jealous of its identity, after all, this also one of the secrets of its economic efficiency. It is perhaps for this reason that the government has so far failed to address this need.

However, from official documentation of the last decades, it is clear that the option of recourse to foreign workers is the way that the government has chosen and pursued for decades. In 1983 he introduced the "technical intern training program" to support young foreigners in learning the Japanese language as well as in the acquisition of skilled techniques.

In 2008, thanks to the 'Economic Partnership Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines, a considerable number of nurses and social workers from the two countries have been able to reside and find employment in Japan. In 2012, the government then introduced a points-based immigration system for highly qualified foreign workers.

Thanks to these legislative measures both the public and private sectors have gained considerable experience in dealing with foreigners.

Also in the 1970s, Japan began to open its doors to refugees from Indochina in 1981 and acceded to the Refugee Convention, a document issued by the UN in 1951. Japan was the first Asian nation to join.

In 2009, it then introduced the so-called "bridging schools" to integrate children of foreign parents residents in Japan, hit by the crisis economic the years 2008-2009.

However, notes Barriga, we can not expect the government to do everything that is necessary and we need to participate in society as a whole. Immigration is much more than a mathematical equation. To achieve this, the government needs to be very active in informing and educating the public about the reality of immigration and the positive contribution of foreigners and to eradicate discrimination and xenophobia.

In this field, the Catholic Church offers another opportunity for exercising its mission in this country and one it can not ignore. I would say, rather, that it is in a position to participate effectively. The reason is simple: its missionaries have been living and working in all major cities of the Japanese archipelago for decades and are esteemed and well-liked by the Japanese whose language they speak and understand well.

 

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