‘We need to look after our own’: Japan’s troubled relationship with immigration faces test with guest worker programme

Many Japanese are opposed to new legislation aimed at bringing more foreign workers into the country, despite severe labour shortages

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A Japanese government advertisement about foreign workers. Source: Twitter

Published: 8:00am, 27 Dec 2018Updated: 9:17pm, 27 Dec 2018

Ken Kato has been a lifelong supporter of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but says his faith in its good judgment has been tested by a new law passed earlier this month that could open the nation’s doors to hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.

Despite the insistence of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan needs an influx of workers from overseas to make up for a severe labour shortage – which will only worsen as the nation’s birth rate contracts and its population ages – Kato is far from convinced.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Photo: Bloomberg

“The government has bent far too much to the demands of the business lobby when the economy is strong, but we all know that the economy will not always be this strong and we will find ourselves with thousands of foreign workers and not enough jobs for Japanese people,” he said.

Kato is among the 55 per cent of people in Japan who are opposed to the new law, according to a poll by the Mainichi newspaper on December 17.

The issue is so contentious that it appears to have put a dent in Abe’s approval rating, which stood at 37 per cent after the law was passed – a four percentage point decrease.