The House of Councillors has started deliberations on a bill to accept more foreign workers, but there are concerns that such workers will concentrate in major cities and steer clear of areas where wages are lower and labor shortages are severe.
The government estimates up to about 340,000 foreign workers will come to Japan in five years under new resident statuses for those with specific skills. However, there is unease and skepticism in rural regions about the planned revision to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
Ishigaki fishing port in Okinawa Prefecture is the departure point for longline fishing boats chasing tuna. Commercial fishing businesses that are members of the local Yaeyama fishery cooperative currently employ 31 technical interns from Indonesia. Twenty-seven of them are involved in longline fishing operations. At times, the hunt for tuna results in ships not returning to port for one to two weeks.
"Many Japanese want jobs where they can take regular holidays," a senior official of the cooperative said. "Without these interns, we wouldn't be able to operate."
The minimum hourly wage for workers in Okinawa Prefecture is 762 yen. This is the second-lowest in the nation, behind Kagoshima Prefecture's 761, yen and well below the 985 yen minimum wage in Tokyo. "Once the new system starts, it's possible talented human resources will shift toward jobs and workplaces offering good conditions, so the constant struggle to attract new workers won't change," the senior official said.
Oita Prefecture's minimum hourly wage also is 762 yen. A dairy farmer in the prefecture who employs five technical interns was worried that the new system would not help her much.
"Foreign workers come here to put away money. Even if interns come, it will probably be hard to employ foreign laborers [who come to Japan under the new resident status]," she said.
Many sparsely populated areas are facing severe labor shortages, but even here there are negative views about accepting foreign workers.
Akita Prefecture's proportion of residents 65 or older is 36.4 percent -- the nation's highest. In the past 18 months or so, the prefecture's population has fallen by about 20,000 people.
"We're scraping by with the number of staff we've got. We want more workers," said a senior official of Shinshukai, a social welfare corporation involved in operating special nursing homes for the elderly and other facilities in Akita.
Even so, Shinshukai does not intend to hire foreign workers. "We have concerns about the communication aspect. And anyway, we really doubt foreigners who want to earn high wages will come to Akita," he said.
A supplementary provision in the bill to revise the immigration control law that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday contained a stipulation that the government "will make efforts to take necessary steps" to prevent the concentration of foreign workers in big cities where higher wages are available. However, no concrete measures for achieving this have been decided. A senior official at the Justice Ministry would only say, "We'll exchange opinions with local governments and other authorities and consider what steps to take before the new system is introduced."
Urban firms proactive
Companies in urban areas are confident they can take in foreign workers.
Nagoya-based Taisei Co., a firm that manages and cleans buildings, has accepted 93 Vietnamese interns since November 2016, paying them a monthly salary slightly higher than Tokyo's minimum wage.
Doan Thi Viet Kiew, a 20-year-old Vietnamese who came to Japan in October 2017 and works at Taisei's Tokyo Office, said she chose the company because she can send money to her family in Vietnam while working there.
Under the new system, technical interns can change their status to foreign nationals with category one-designated skills after working three years in Japan. She says she aims to keep working with Taisei.
In April 2017, Taisei began offering consultation services to industry peers planning to accept technical interns. It has already provided 15 companies with expertise ranging from interviewing methods and payroll systems to support for everyday living.
"Many companies involved in building management suffer from a lack of manpower and have begun preparing for the new system. When competition for the best talent begins, companies in major cities will beat out those in rural areas because they can pay more and offer a better benefit package," said Norihiro Kato, Taisei's senior managing director.
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