Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home

[NoWayOut]

Japan-Pays-Foreign-Workers-to-Go-Home: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

What are your opinions on this?

I think it's just wrong. What are they going to replace those workers with? Robots?

I love Japan and the culture but talk about discrimination there...

[ultramanandrew]

there's a lot of crappy foreigner workers there, so i can understand to a certain extent. i know this from first hand of watching such chimps waste time and money of japanese folk. i'd witness in meetings the foreigners talking down on the japanese and etc. then in the work place just pulling bs. however, this was in an actual company, not a factory. i noticed the real slackers were from the western countries, not the latin or whatever else countries. i think those folks should get the boot, not the hard working crappy paid laborers. oh well.

[Newtype]

If there's one thing I really hate in this world, it's Japanese politics. There's nothing dumber than Japanese politics on this planet. And now they've done it again. They're blaming foreigners for their failing economy and paying them to go home. Add in a racist comment and voilà! Hell, there's no such thing as Japanese politics 'cause the whole country is controlled by the yakuza from top to bottom. It's a disgrace.

[boddah87]

Although I think the man who made the quote is an ignorant fool and should be punished for such comments just giving that quote in this post without more details on the argument is VERY misleading to people who read this thread. Many people won't take the time to read the whole article and will just see that quote and be offended.

Sure in a wider context it might not be the best policy. However this is not a wide sweeping "Get rid of the dirty foreigners" campaign. If you research the issue properly it is open to Foreign residents with Japanese heritage (mainly brazilians) who came to Japan with NO qualifications to seek a better life. With the economic downturn many of these people have been made redundant and are struggling to survive, many are even beccoming homeless. The government is merely giving these people an opportunity to return home where they might be able to get back on track easier with the skills they learned in Japan, as appose to being stranded with no money. This is a CHOICE NOT COMPULSORY!

Blaming this on the whole nation being racist is ridiculous, there is no mention of the thousands of skilled workers who come to Japan through other VISA's and I don't think any Japanese would dispute their necessity in society. Plus like I said before, if the other workers don't want to leave they don't have to...

You should really edit your post to more accurately reflect the situation rather than trying to blanket Japan as a racist nation...

(EDIT: I apologise for implying that all Nikkeijin don't have qualifications, obviously this isn't the case. I guess that proves my point though, the post should have more unbiased information to give people knowledge about the situation rather than one sensationalist quote from a racist)

[m0986]

If you research the issue properly it is open to Foreign residents with Japanese heritage (mainly brazilians) who came to Japan with NO qualifications to seek a better life. .....The government is merely giving these people an opportunity to return home where they might be able to get back on track easier with the skills they learned in Japan, as appose to being stranded with no money.

Just wanted to add some corrections to your above statement. South Americans of Japanese descent are known as Nikkeijin. Many of their ancestors left Japan for South America for the same reasons as why many people immigrate to the States: for better job opportunities, better pay, etc. Many of the Nikkeijin have been highly successful in South America, earning degrees in universities and holding office jobs. However, many of those same people have chosen to go to back Japan, leaving behind their office jobs and school degrees, in order to work unskilled labor jobs in factories and the like because IT PAID BETTER than their old office jobs. So these Nikkeijin DO have qualifications and skills, just not the type that can be applied in a country where they do not speak the language because they are too busy working long hours to send money back home and don't have the time to take classes to learn the language so they can get out of the unskilled labor job categories.

[EDIT: So given the choice, I don't think these people will go back to South America to work in lower paying, although safer, jobs. The came to Japan to earn more money in the first place despite facing racism and discrimination.]

Also as a bit of a side note: even getting into the country legally using a temporary residence visa that allows you to work is hard to do because you have to prove your Japanese ancestry by providing your family lineage.

[junto]

hmmmm......this is a really tough one. But the situation could be different to what is written in the article. The media usually does twist information to make the story more interesting for the readers so even if it is true it may be different to that article.

[Userdie]

This is messed up on so many levels. And most of these people don't really have a choice once they lose their only source of income and have little to survive on. It's either starve to death, get out or look for another job that you have very little chance of getting.

I love japan and all but it's politics are pretty f*cked up if you asked me. Their treating these people like if they were nothing but tools. The real kick in the balls is that they can never seek employment in japan. In short, banning them from living their again. When it comes down to it their persecuting this small group and using the economic slump to hide behind. If they truly wanted to help these poor people it would have been done in a proper and humane way. Not these crap. Then again most politics around the world are screwed up..

[NoWayOut]

Although I think the man who made the quote is an ignorant fool and should be punished for such comments just giving that quote in this post without more details on the argument is VERY misleading to people who read this thread. Many people won't take the time to read the whole article and will just see that quote and be offended.

Sure in a wider context it might not be the best policy. However this is not a wide sweeping "Get rid of the dirty foreigners" campaign. If you research the issue properly it is open to Foreign residents with Japanese heritage (mainly brazilians) who came to Japan with NO qualifications to seek a better life. With the economic downturn many of these people have been made redundant and are struggling to survive, many are even beccoming homeless. The government is merely giving these people an opportunity to return home where they might be able to get back on track easier with the skills they learned in Japan, as appose to being stranded with no money. This is a CHOICE NOT COMPULSORY!

Blaming this on the whole nation being racist is ridiculous, there is no mention of the thousands of skilled workers who come to Japan through other VISA's and I don't think any Japanese would dispute their necessity in society. Plus like I said before, if the other workers don't want to leave they don't have to...

You should really edit your post to more accurately reflect the situation rather than trying to blanket Japan as a racist nation...

(EDIT: I apologise for implying that all Nikkeijin don't have qualifications, obviously this isn't the case. I guess that proves my point though, the post should have more unbiased information to give people knowledge about the situation rather than one sensationalist quote from a racist)

I just took something that stuck out to me from the whole article I didn't mean for people to think Japan is racist or whatever but it just seemed wrong. Of course, I haven't researched it I just stumbled upon it while browsing through yahoo...

So I'll fix it if it bothers you that much.

This is messed up on so many levels. And most of these people don't really have a choice once they lose their only source of income and have little to survive on. It's either starve to death, get out or look for another job that you have very little chance of getting.

I love japan and all but it's politics are pretty f*cked up if you asked me. Their treating these people like if they were nothing but tools. The real kick in the balls is that they can never seek employment in japan. In short, banning them from living their again. When it comes down to it their persecuting this small group and using the economic slump to hide behind. If they truly wanted to help these poor people it would have been done in a proper and humane way. Not these crap. Then again most politics around the world are screwed up..

I agree with you.

Japan doesn't really like foreigners in their country, do they? I've heard from some people who've been there as tourists that said that they got the feeling that they weren't wanted there...

[Yaomang]

mang if the workers suck just fire their asses, no need to give out incentives to go away...

[edmcel]

It's a well known fact that Japan is a xenophobic and genetically homogeneous society. This new program to rid the country of Brazilian workers doesn't surprise me in the very least. It's almost nearly impossible as a foreigner to gain citizenship as it is!

[m0986]

It's a well known fact that Japan is a xenophobic and genetically homogeneous society.

I wouldn't say that Japan is actually genetically homogeneous, it's just the image that it wants to project. The country actually has a number of ethnic minorities that were there ever since before Japan even unified itself. Okinawa and Hokkaido were once sovereign nations that were taken and incorporated, so you have the native Ainu in Hokkaido, the Ryukyuan of Okinawa, the Burakumin caste in general (yes caste, even today there's still a stigma against them/anyone who works in a death-related job. see the "Departures" aka "Okuribito" movie that won an Oscar), and others that I'm sure I've left out since this is just a list immediately off the top of my head.

[ultramanandrew]

I agree with you.

Japan doesn't really like foreigners in their country, do they? I've heard from some people who've been there as tourists that said that they got the feeling that they weren't wanted there...

it really depends on which foreigners are in the country. i think they think different of the people working in suits more than others. they also tend to fancy white skinned folk. koreans are pretty well liked there too, but for chinese, that's a different story, haha. from my experiences, japanese aren't any more racist than any other country who is mainly one race (ie any not so mixed nation). people just don't know/notice i guess.

[NoWayOut]

it really depends on which foreigners are in the country. i think they think different of the people working in suits more than others. they also tend to fancy white skinned folk. koreans are pretty well liked there too, but for chinese, that's a different story, haha. from my experiences, japanese aren't any more racist than any other country who is mainly one race (ie any not so mixed nation). people just don't know/notice i guess.

Oh, okay I see. Yeah, I heard about that once. About Chinese not well liked in Japan.

Yeah, I thought before that Mexico wasn't as racist but then I come to find out that sometimes blacks aren't very welcome there. Also, stating from what I've heard, there are some people in Mexico who oppose to the indigenous peoples there. All I say is, why if they're most probably mixed with European and indigenous decent themselves...

That was off-topic but anyway...

You're right, one race countries are probably just as racist as any other country.

Mainly, I was just shocked at what I read from that article I didn't think they were like that at all. lol