{"id":5356,"date":"2009-04-23T16:42:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-23T16:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=5356"},"modified":"2009-04-23T16:44:05","modified_gmt":"2009-04-23T16:44:05","slug":"nytimes-japan-offers-to-pay-foreign-workers-to-go-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/23\/nytimes-japan-offers-to-pay-foreign-workers-to-go-home\/","title":{"rendered":"NYTimes: Japan offers to pay foreign workers to go home"},"content":{"rendered":"

One step back for Japan, according to this NY Times article titled “Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Are there any JETs out there who have run into this process or have friends who have been affected?\u00a0 Feel free to post a comment.<\/p>\n

In my case, I lived in Kariya-shi on JET in the early 90s, right next to Toyota-shi.\u00a0 My area was the heart of the auto manufacturing industry in Japan–I was told my town had the largest Brazilian population in Japan (though I’ve since heard other people say the same thing about their towns).\u00a0 So this article definitely hits close to (JET) home.<\/p>\n

That said, Jiro Kawasaki, a senior LDP lawmaker and former health minister, comes across as a bit of a reactionary nut job who may simply be representing a minority opinion.\u00a0 He unfortunately is in a position to make something happen.\u00a0\u00a0 Although, they’re not forcing anyone to leave.\u00a0 It’s simply an option.\u00a0 Of course, it’s an insulting and short-sighted option that’s garnering a lot of publicity.\u00a0 And perhaps that was Kawasaki’s real goal–a publicity stunt that lets his supporters know that he’s Momotaro the Peach Boy doing his job to “protect” the good Japanese people and send the foreign devils home.<\/p>\n

Several other Japanese experts are quoted in the article pointing out how offensive and short-sighted the idea is, further supporting the notion that this kind of xenophobia is not a majority viewpoint. \u00a0 And I have to say it’s refreshing to read an article in a U.S. paper including such strongly opinionated quotes from Japanese people.\u00a0 Additionally, the Japanese government has actually been making efforts in recent years to help provide support and training to foreign workers that have been losing their jobs, so Kawasaki’s plan may be more of a renegade effort that is occasionally part of modern democracies.<\/p>\n

And on top of everything else, I can’t imagine the Japan National Tourist Organization<\/a> is too happy about all of this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One step back for Japan, according to this NY Times article titled “Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home.” Are there any JETs out there who have run into this process or have friends who have been affected?\u00a0 Feel free to post a comment. In my case, I lived in Kariya-shi on JET in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan-trends"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t