Contexts of Inflow and Socio-spatial Characteristics of Immigrant Workers in Japan: Focusing on the Case of Hiroshima Prefecture Byung-Doo Choi* Dong-Suk Lee** 1980 Abstract Facing reconfiguration of world economic order in the process of globalization and changes in domestic economic and social conditions, Japan has experienced a rapid inflow of foreign immigrants and hence a restructuring of labor market and ethic and cultural mixture. This paper explores contexts of inflow and social and spatial characteristics of immigrant workers in Japan. Uneven regional development on the global level and shifting to flexible accumulation regime, depletion of previously underutilized labor resource, better-educated youth and shrinking and aging of Japanese populace on the national level can be pointed out as important elements of immigration contexts. This paper also explains the hierarchizaton of labor market and differentiation of spatial distribution of immigrant workers in Japan in terms of visa condition and nationality. In particular, focusing on the case of Hiroshima prefecture, this paper analyzes residential differentiation of immigrants according to their nationality. Finally, it finds out some problems which immigrant workers have confronted in Hiroshima region. : Japan, foreign immigrants, immigrant worker, labor market, Hiroshima, immigrant s problems 2007 (KRF-2007-322-B00024). (Professor, Dept. of Geography Education, Daegu University), bdchoi@daegu.ac.kr (Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University), dslee@ hiroshima-u.ac.jp 390
1960 1970 1970 1982 1989 1990 2000 (Onuki, 2004) (Jo, 2009; Choi, 2009c) (MIAC of Japan, 2006) (Jo, 2004; Yamanaka, 2008) 2000 2008 3 14 17 20 2 50 1950 391
0 71 1980 80 0 7 1980 1990 100 1 08 2005 200 1 57 (older comer, (new comer, 1980 1980 1980 1989 1990 26 1995 60 2000 71 2005 81 1990 26 0 1995 44 4 2005 40 3 2005 2006 80 8 2007 79 2 (Table 1) 1989 Table 1. Estimated number of foreign workers in Japan (excluding special and orderly permanent residents). 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Holder of the status of 67,983 95,376 105,616 87,996 98,301 107,298 118,996 125,726 residents for working Technical intern, trainees etc. 3,260 5,054 6,418 6,558 8,624 12,144 19,634 23,334 Undesignated activities 10,935 39,299 33,499 32,366 30,366 32,486 38,003 46,966 of foreign students Japanese descendants 71,803 174,904 181,480 193,748 193,748 234,126 220,844 220,458 Illegal working 106,497 296,751 288,092 284,744 284,744 276,810 271,048 251,697 Total 260,478 611,384 615,105 605,412 605,412 662,864 668,525 668,181 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Holder of the status of 154,748 168,783 179,639 185,556 192,124 180,465 171,781 193,785 residents for working Technical intern, trainees etc. 29,749 37,831 46,445 53,503 63,310 87,324 97,476 104,488 Undesignated activities 59,435 65,535 83,340 98,006 106,406 96,959 103,595 104,671 of foreign students Japanese descendants 233,187 239,744 233,897 239,744 231,393 239,259 241,325 239,409 Illegal working 232,121 224,067 220,552 207,299 193,745 207,299 193,745 149,785 Total 709,240 735,960 763,873 784,108 786,978 811,306 807,922 792,138 Source: Seol, 2005 and Iguchi, 2008, 2009. 392
1990 2000 23 24 1990 6 8 2000 15 5 2007 19 4 14 1990 3 2000 3 2007 10 1990 1 2000 6 2007 10 1990 1993 30 2007 15 1982 1989 1990 2000 2004 2009 (Jeon, 2007) 1980 1970 1960 1970 1970 1980 1985 1984 6 3 1 6 1 9 1 7 1991 16 4 5 0 3 6 3 4 10 20 (Findlay and Jones, 1998, 92; Kim, 2006, 436) 1980 1970 1980 393
(Overbeek, 2002; Choi, 2009b) 1980 (Jo and Choi, 2002, 288) 1970 1980 1970 1990 (Tsuda and Cornelius, 2004, 447-8) 1960 1970 1980 (Jo and Choi, 2002) 1980 1986 1991 4 4 1980 (Tsuda and Cornelius, 2004) 1970 (Kim, 2003) 1980 3D 3K 1990 1 3 1965 1 3 1980 (Douglass and Roberts, 2000, 19-20) 1991 2007 2008 394
30 2009 4 1500 (Iguchi, 2009) 2009 4 3 000 2 000 2009.4.23) 1990 6 384 1998 6 793 2007 6 679 2000 6 446 2007 6 412 4 7 4 0 (Iguchi, 2008) 1990 0 41 2000 1 05 2007 1 19 (Table 2) (Tsuda and Cornelius, 2004, 449-450) (Seol, 2005, 203) Table 2. Change in labour market size of foreign workers in Japan. (unit: 10 thousand person, %) 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 Total labour force (A) 6,384 6,578 6,645 6,711 6,793 6,766 6,689 6,642 6,657 6,679 Foreign labour (B) 26.0 58.0 61.5 60.5 66.9 70.9 76.4 78.7 80.8 79.2 Ratio of foreign labour (B/A*100) 0.41 0.88 0.93 0.90 0.98 1.05 1.14 1.18 1.21 1.19 Source: Kim, T.-Y., 2006 and Iguchi, 2008. 395
Table 1 5 1982 1990 2 3 1 (Table 3) (Choi, 2009a) 2 1980 (Seol, 2005, 210) 3 Table 3. Types of employment of foreign workers in Japan (2003). Number (10,000) Type of employment Research Factory of Restaurants, Construction, Factory of institute of small & services, port work, large firm large firm medium firm retail, etc. etc. High-skilled (profes- 19 - sional and technical) Japanese descendants 23 - Technical trainees 11 - - Undesignated activities 11 - - - Illegal working 21 - Notes: large, some, small Source: Nikkei Business (2009.9.11). 396
1940 120 2 1950 1960 20 4 (Zainichi gaikokujin) 1970 1980 (Jo and Choi, 2002, 288) 1980 1990 10 9 3 6 0 7 2008 65 5 21 1 4 3 29 6 9 5 1 9 2 1 2 (JITCO: Japan International Training Cooperation Organization) Figure 1. Immigration process of technical intern trainees. (Source: Okumura, 2008) 397
5 3 (Figure 1) 1899 1973 1990 1990 6 2 3 Table 4 80 (Table 5) 1990 (Shipper, 2002; Jo, 2004) (Figure 2) (Nikkeijin) Table 4. Sector of employment for foreign workers by nationality in Japan. (Unit: person, %) Total Korean Chinese Brazilian Philippine Thailand USA Total number 684,916 256,127 121,093 129,093 42,492 9,666 22,131 Agriculture, fishery, forest. 0.7 0.4 1.3 0.4 1.8 7.2 0.1 Construction 8.3 13.6 5.8 2.9 8.1 11.8 16.0 Manufacturing 36.1 15.8 34.8 80.9 29.9 38.1 6.2 Transport/ communication 3.1 5.2 3.1 1.6 1.3 0.0 1.9 Wholesale, retail & restaureants 22.6 31.2 28.3 3.3 38.6 28.7 7.7 Banking, insurance, real estate 3.0 6.0 1.6 0.1 2.3 0.0 4.4 Service 21.9 24.3 19.8 8.2 15.4 10.1 72.2 Public service 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.2 Other 0.4 3.2 5.0 2.6 4.3 6.4 2.5 Source: Iguchi, 2009. Note: according to Population Census 2000. 398
Table 5. Characteristics of foreign workers by type in Japan. Legal status Legal Illegal Type of foreigner Zainichi gaikokujin (Korean, Chinese) Nikkeijin (Brazilians, Peruvians Asian workers (Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Thai, etc) East Asians (Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Thai, etc) South Asians Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) Social trails and sources of prejudice Blood (born in Japan, different blood) Culture (same blood, born and raised abroad) Similar racial descent and culture Similar racial descent and culture Similar racial descent, but dissimilar culture and skin color Major occupation Restaurants, pachinko, parlors, self-employed Manufacturing with > 20 employees Manufacturing, entertainment Entertainment (fe male), construction, manufacturing (male) with <20 employees Construction, manufacturing with <20 employees Type of legal documentation Permanent resident Long-term resident, spouse or child of a Japanese national Trainee visa, entertainer visa Temporary visitor, entertainer visa, pre-college or college student, Temporary visitor (no visa require ment until 1989) Individual discrimination Certain employment, housing Housing (but most stay in company dorms) Housing, constant suspicion, public baths, hotels(women) Constant suspicion, Institutional support Self-help groups, local government Government agencies (MOL, JICA, local government) - JITCO, local government Christian NGO, women groups: lawers or medical NGO Workers unions, concerned citizens groups, lawyers or medical NGO Source: Shipper, 2002, 43 (excluding Iranian) (Shipper, 2002, 43) Figure 2. Differential upward mobility of workers by nationality in Japan. (Source: Jo, 2004, partly modified) 399
1955 9 1970 1 2007 1 2 777 2008 2 729 47 2008 1 258 5 868 /km 2 700 1 000 /km 2 (Figure 3) 2005 2008 2 2 2 8 37 (Figure 4, Table 6) 40 1980 42 4 2005 44 9 3 2000 1990 (Figure 5) 1990 1997 83 6 1 70 73 6 1 18 1997 2001 151 9 3 50 149 7 2 61 (Banasick and Hanham, 2008) Figure 3. Population density by prefecture of Japan. (Source: JAPAN Statistical Information Network) Figure 4. Population change by prefecture of Japan. (Source: Iguchi, 2008) Figure 5. Job loss in manufacturing in Japan. (Source: Banasick & Hanham, 2008) 400
Foreign population Total population Year Total Table 6. Registered foreigners in upper 10 prefectures of Japan. (Unit: 1000 person) Tokyo Aichi Osaka Kanagawa Saitama Chiba Shizuoka Hyogo Gifu Ibaraqi Others 2005 127,768 12,577 7,255 8,817 8,792 7,054 6,056 3,792 5,591 2,107 2,975 62,752 2008 127,692 12,838 7,403 8,806 8,917 7,113 6,122 3,800 5,586 2,100 2,964 62,043 Rate of -0.06 2.08 2.04-0.12 1.42 0.84 1.08 0.21-0.09-0.33-0.37-1.13 change 2000 1686.4 296.8 139.5 208.1 120.3 81.9 75.0 68.2 99.7 na 42.3 499.5 2005 2011.6 348.2 194.6 211.4 150.4 104.3 96.5 93.4 101.5 na 51.0 606.0 2008 2217.4 402.4 228.4 211.8 171.9 121.5 111.2 103.3 102.5 57.6 56.3 650.5 (%) (100) (18.1) (10.3) (9.6) 7.8) (5.5) (5.0) (4.7) (4.6) (2.6) (2.5) (29.3) Rate of 10.2 15.6 17.4 0.2 14.3 16.5 15,2 10.6 1.0 na 10.4 7.3 change Source: Statistics Bureau & Immigration Bureau of Japan (http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/toukei/index.html)note: Kyoto, instead of Gifu, was included in the upper 10 prefectures in 2000, 2005 10 (Table 6) 2008 2 10 Table 7. Registered foreigners by national in upper 10 prefectures of Japan. Total Tokyo Aichi Osaka Kanagawa Saitama Chiba Shizuoka Hyogo Gifu Ibaraqi Others Total pop. (A) 127.1 12.1 7.1 8.8 8.6 7.0 6.0 3.8 5.6 2.6 3.0 62.7 (million) Foreigner (B) 1778 319.0 149.6 209.7 131.0 89.0 82.3 74.4 100.9 55.7 45.2 521.5 (thousand) ratio(b/a)(%) 1.40 2.63 2.11 2.38 1.53 1.28 1.38 1.97 1.81 2.11 1.51 0.83 Natio nality (%) Korean 35.6 31.6 31.6 74.3 26.3 20.2 21.5 9.5 63.3 71.9 12.8 27.2 Chinese 21.4 32.2 12.3 14.5 23.5 26.9 26.8 8.9 17.0 14.5 18.7 21.6 Brazilian 15.0 1.5 34.5 2.5 10.4 15.9 8.1 52.9 4.3 1.4 24.3 21.9 Filipinos 8.8 8.4 8.4 2.0 9.7 12.5 16.4 10.9 2.5 3.4 12.9 11.0 Peruvian 2.8 0.6 3.7 0.5 5.6 4.7 4.1 6.9 0.9 0.4 4.2 3.5 USA 2.6 5.5 1.2 1.0 3.5 1.8 2.3 1.0 2.2 1.9 1.3 2.4 Others 13.8 20.2 8.3 5.2 21.0 18.0 20.8 9.9 9.8 6.5 25.8 12.5 Source: Immigration Bureau of Japan (http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/toukei/index.html). 401
2005 2008 2000 2008 Table 7 2001 3 (Figure 6) 1 2006 5 000 2 000 8 50 Figure 6. Distribution of foreign residents by types in Japan (2006). (Source: Iguchi, 2008) 402
Table 8. Correlation coefficients between Japanese labour force and foreigners. Ratio of younger generation Labour participation ratio of 50 years old and over Foreigners in total 0.301** 0.619*** 0.699*** 0.021 0.321** 0.040 0.000 0.000 0.887 0.028 Special permanent 0.340** 0.100 0.360** - 0.364** - 0.094 residents 0.019 0.504 0.013 0.012 0.532 Japanese Brazilians - 0.054 0.686*** 0.504*** 0.410*** 0.474*** 0.718 0.000 0.000 0.004 0.001 Technical Intern - 0.437*** 0.217-0.040 0.396*** 0.215 trainees 0.002 0.142 0.789 0.006 0.146 Source: Iguchi, 2008. Notes: ** significant at level 0.05; *** significant at level 0.01 Employment population ratio of 50 years old and over Labour participation ratio of female from 25 years old Employment population ratio of 25 years old and over 1990 (Sellek, 2001, 98; Tsuda and Cornelius, 2004 2009 4 30 50 4 5 (Iguchi, 2009) 2008 11 12 403
(Jo and Choi, 2002, 288; Jo, 2004) 2008 42 226 16 2000 4 2 2 4 1980 1990 21 067 76 1990 1993 27 023 1995 25 886 (Figure 7) 2001 3 2006 4 2000 5 2006 1 2 2005 Figure 7. Trends of registered foreigners by nationality in Hiroshima. (Source: Hirroshima prefecture, each year, Statistical Yearbook, http://db1.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/folder11/ Folder1101/Frame1101.htm) 404
2005 2 3 869 3 679 3 359 88 4 1980 43 8 16 0 12 0 8 1 1 2002 798 2006 2 264 4 2 84 24 3 20 6 6 3 68 6 (Figure 8) 42 0 15 5 10 5 (Figure 9) 4 56 Figure 8. Registered foreigner and population composition by regions of Hiroshima. (Source: Hiroshima prefecture, 2006, Statistical Yearbook.; Hiroshima Labor Bureau, 2008) 405
Figure 9. Population and GRDP by regions of Hiroshima prefecture. (Source: Hiroshima prefecture, 2006, Statistical Yearbook) Figure 10. Industrial structure by regions of Hiroshima prefecture. (Source: Hiroshima prefecture, 2006, Statistical Yearbook) Table 9. Correlations between major economic indicators and foreigner by nationality in Hiroshima prefecture. Korean Chinese Brazilian Filipinos Others Total population(2005).974 (.000).959 (.000).651 (.006).993 (.000).945 (.000) GRDP(2005).988 (.000).924 (.000).597 (.012).980 (.000).944 (.000) 1st industry workers.190 (.258).323 (.130).392 (.083).330 (.125).278 (.168) Economic 2nd industry workers.757 (.001).921 (.000).888 (.000).904 (.000).860 (.000) indicator 3rd industry workers.992 (.000).936 (.000).575 (.016).980 (.000).933 (.000) Small firms.996 (.000).917 (.000).519 (.029).967 (.000).919 (.000) Subcontract dispatches.979 (.000).908 (.000).531 (.025).954 (.000).904 (.000) Productivity per person.283 (.163).362 (.102).496 (.036).339 (.118).383 (.088) Korean 1.000 -.904 (.000).483 (.040).950 (.000).917 (.000) Chinese.904 (.000) 1.000 -.675 (.004).950 (.000).958 (.000) Nationality Brazilian.483 (.040).675 (.004) 1.000 -.704 (.002).634 (.007) Filipinos.950 (.000).950 (.000).704 (.002) 1.000 -.940 (.000) Others.917 (.000).958 (.000).634 (.007).940 (.000) 1.000 - Notes: 1. Towns( ) are not conisidered, because of no data. 2. ( ) is the level of significance. (Figure 10) 406
(LQ) Figure 11 (Table 9) 1 2 3 1 Figure 11. Location coefficients of registered foreigners by nationality in Hiroshima. (Source: Hiroshima prefecture, 2008, Statistical data (unpublished), Note: No data of towns( ) 5 (Choi, 2009c) 407
2006 1 721 232 2002 56 3 2004 55 6 2006 50 (Table 10) (Hiroshima Labor Bureau, 2008 35 0 14 8 11 5 (Okumura, 2008) 6 Table 10. Foreign worker s claim and treatment in Hiroshima prefecture. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Workplace requiring treatment of claims 32 40 27 15 24 Workplace with supervision implementation 29 33 24 15 20 Violated workplace 18 19 15 10 12 Issues of claim Overdue wage 24 27 18 11 20 Unfair dismissal 5 13 4 2 3 Others 3 8 7 2 6 Minimum wage - - - 1 1 Source: Hiroshima Labor Bureau, 2008. 408
(Okumura, 2008) (FTA) (EPA) 7) (glocalization) 1 2 2 3 8 (Okumura, 2008) 1 (Roh and Park, 2009) 9 1 2 409
2008 1 1980 410
1 (Seol, 2005, 210) 2 2006 65 6 145 160 1 130 1 3 2001 4 1945 7 4 2009 08 06 5 Yang(2009), Jo(2009), Choi(2009c) 6 (Tsuchiya, 2007) 7 (EPA: Economic Partnership Agreement) (FTA) 8 A Shipper(2002) (yakuza) 9 2005 6 144 891 SME 125 168 166 160 137 153 113 150 129 145 63 8 80 3 65 6 JITCO; Iguchi, 2008 411
Banasick, S. and Hanham, R., 2008, Regional decline of manufacturing employment in Japan during an era of prolonged stagnation, Regional Studies, 42(4), 489-503. Choi, B.-D., 2009a, Impacts of immigrant workers on regional economy in S. Korea, Journal of The Korean Association of Regional Geographers, 15(3), 369-392 (in Korean). Choi, B.-D., 2009b, Multi-cultural space and glocal ethics: From cultural space of transnational capitalism to space of recognition struggle, Journal of The Korean Association of Regional Geographers, 15(5), 635-654 (in Korean). Choi, B.-D., 2009c, Multicultural co-existence policy and communal activity for supporting foreign immigrants in Japan: (1) Implementation process and regional characteristics, focusing on the cases of Osaka and Hiroshima, The Geographical Journal of Korea, 43(4), 699-721 (in Korean). Douglass, M. and Roberts, G. S., 2000, Japan in a global age of migration, in Douglass, M. and Roberts, G. S.(eds), Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society, Routledge, London. Findlay, A. and Jones, H., 1998, Regional economic integration and the emergence of the East Asian international migration system, Geoforum, 29(1), 87-104. Hiroshima Labor Bureau, 2008, State of Affairs and Problems of Technical Intern Program for Foreign Workers (unpublished materials) (, 2008, ). Iguchi, Y., 2008, New initiatives for reforming migration policy in Japan, http://www.metropolis2008. org/pdf/20081029/workshops/w045-29_iguchiyasushi.pdf (2008.10.29. Bonn). Iguchi, Y., 2009, Impact of financial crisis on migration from the perspectives of destination for Asian migrant workers in Japan and other OECD countries, http://www.unescap.org/esid/ Meetings/Migration09/3.pdf (2009.5.27-28). Jeon, J.-H., 2007, The policy change toward foreigners according to The Globalization of Immigration in Korea: Utilizing Japan s case, Korea and International Politics, 23(3), 191-223 (in Korean). Jo, H.-M., 2004, The comparison of local policies on foreign immigrants in Japan: A case study in Kanagawa Prefecture, Journal of The Korean Association of Regional Geographers, 10(3), 539-553 (in Korean). Jo, H.-M., 2009, The problems of the social integration polity: A case study of social tolerance policy in Japan, Journal of The Korean Association of Regional Geographers, 15(4), 435-448 (in Korean). Jo., H.-M., and Choi, Y.-D., 2002, Influence of labour market policies on immigrant workers choices of residential area, Journal of the Society of Japanese Language and Literature, 19, 275-310 (in Korean). Kim, H.-J., 2003, The conditions and policies of foreign workers in Korea and Japan, Social Research, 18, 61-93 (in Korean). Kim, T.-Y., 2006, Globalization of Japan and labor market of East Asia: With the movement of labor force to Japan, Journal of the Society of Japanese Language and Literature, 32, 429-450 (in Korean). MIAC of Japan (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan), 2006, Report of Research Group on Promoting Multicultural Coexistence: Towards Promotion of Multicultural Coexistence in Local Area (, 2006, : ). Okumura, T., 2008, On labor union for solidarity of foreign workers in Hiroshima (unpublished materials)(, 2008, ~ ). 412
Onuki, H., 2004, The myth of homogeneity and the others : Foreign labor migration and globalization in the case of Japan, Paper presented at the 45th Annual Convention of International Studies Association in Montreal. Overbeek, H., 2002, Neoliberalism and the regulation of global labor mobility, The Annals of The American Academy, 581, 74-90. Roh, J.-Y. and Park, J.-H., 2009, Major issues and prospect on the revision of worker dispatching law in Japan, Information on Overseas Economy, 2009-50(2009.7.22) (in Korean). Sellek, Y., 2001, Migrant Labour in Japan, Palgrave, New York. Seol, D.-H., 2005, Comparative analysis of the foreign labor policy in Japan and Korea, The Korean Journal for Japanese Studies, 21, 201-231 (in Korean). Shipper, A. W., 2002, The political construction of foreign workers in Japan, Critical Asian Studies, 34(1), 41-68. The International Office of Hiroshima Prefecture, 2008, Building Community of Multicultural Coexistence (unpublished materials)(, 2008, ). Tsuchiya, S., 2007, State of Affairs of Foreign Workers and Roles of Labor Union (unpublished materials)(, 2007, ). Tsuda, T. and Cornelius, W. A., 2004, Japan: Government policy, immigrant reality, in Cornelius, W. A., Tsuda, T., Martin, P. L., and Hollifield, J. E.(eds), Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective, Stanford Univ. Press, California, 439-478. Yamanaka, K., 2008, Japan as a country of immigration: Two decades after an influx of immigrant workers, in Yamashita, S., Minami, M., Haines, D. W., and Eades, J. S.(eds), Transnational Migration in East Asia: Senri Ethnological Reports, 77, 187-196. Yang, K.-H., 2009, Japanese Multi-cultural governance and its implications for Korea, Studies on Multicultural Society, 2(1), 135-160 (in Korean). 712-714 15 bdchoi@daegu.ac.kr 053-850-4155 053-850-4151 Correspondence: Byung-Doo Choi, Department of Geography Education, Daegu University, 15 Naeri-ri, Jillryang-up, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongbuk, 712-714, Korea (e-mail: bdchoi@daegu.ac.kr, phone: +82-53- 850-4155, fax: +82-053-850-4151) 413