Is Japan’s Labour Structure on Transition?
Lessons from the Brazilian Labour in the Mie Prefecture
Professor KUMARA Ananda, Vice-President of Suzuka International University, Japan
Abstract: In recent years, foreign labour in Japan has been steadily increasing, in particular
those from South America, with areas such as the Mie Prefecture being established to
promote co-existence amongst both native Japanese citizens and foreigners. The author has
recently conducted a questionnaire survey of Brazilian migrant workers in Japan, both first
generation and established over many generations. This paper will address issues relating to
the changes in the Japanese labour market and the implications on the foreign labour in
general and the Brazilian labour in particular.
Summary of the paper: In-bound migration is a recent phenomenon for Japan when
compared to other developed countries in the world. Japan had not been considered as a
country for migration. Whilst the share of foreign population varies from 6% to 20% in the
other developed countries, the foreign population in Japan is just over 2.2 million persons,
which is equivalent to 1.74% of the total population in 2008. Although the total number of
foreigners in Japan is quite small when compared to many other developed countries in the
world, it is interesting to note that this number has been increasing over the years. The
number of foreigners who have received permanent residency also has been increasing over
the years. The growth rate of permanent residents is quite high when compared to nonpermanent residents in recent years in Japan.
The population in Japan started to decrease after the peak in 2007. In addition, population
growth has been decreasing and, statistics show that a net decrease of the population began
from 2007. Whilst this year the total population in Japan is 127 million, it is estimated that
this number will decrease to 95 million by 2050, provided that the prevailing conditions
relating to population and its growth remain unchanged (OECD, 2009).
However, when observing the changes in the economic and industrial activities as well as the
circumstances affecting the educational sector, it is interesting to note that these changes can
be categorized as “pros” for inbound migration. Expansion of business activities into other
countries first boomed in the latter part of the 1980’s, partly due to the rapid rise of the yen
(Endaka) and partly due to the increasing trade friction between Japan and other countries,
including the developing Asian countries.
Japanese management became a hot topic in the 1980’s in contrast to Western teachings of
management. In addition to the uniqueness of some major concepts in the Japanese
management concepts, its popularity showed that the Japan-Factor is a new phenomenon for
the other countries in the aspect of foreign direct investment. The presence of the Japanese
Transnational Corporations, especially in the manufacturing sector, was a new experience for
most of these countries. Developing Asian countries were not an exception in this context.
What were the major changes which occurred during the last three decades? One of these
occurred in the early 90’s when Japan began to recruit labour from South American countries
(“Nikkeijin”) such as Brazil, Argentine, and Peru, along with the revisions made to the
immigration laws in 1991. The first to the third or fourth generation of the Japanese
descendants from these countries received free access to the labour market, including the
engagement in the unskilled jobs which were not open for the foreign labour until that time,
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As a result, the number as well as the share of Nikkeijin labor amongst the foreign labour
sector increased rapidly from 1991. However, the situation changed in the recent years,
especially after the so-called “Lehman Crisis”, when Japanese firms started to reduce the
labour intake and started to lay off temporary and foreign labour. In fact, many Japanese
workers also lost jobs due to the Lehman Crisis. However, when the foreigners in general and
the Nikkeijin in particular lost their jobs, many of them, including the Nikkeijin left Japan.
Accordingly, the share of the Brazilian and Peruvian labour recorded was 28.7% in 2008,
which decreased to 20.6% in 2011. Recently, increasing number of foreigners has entered
into the labour market in Japan from countries like China, The Philippines and Vietnam.
The ratio of foreign population in the Mie Prefecture is the third highest in Japan. In addition,
more than 40% of the foreigners are Brazilians in this prefecture, in spite of the fact that the
Mie Prefecture is more than 400km away from Tokyo; showing a major change in relation to
Brazilian labour in Japan.
The writer recently conducted a questionnaire and intensive interviews by focusing the
Brazilian labour in this prefecture. It was interesting to note that the Brazilians during the
early stages of migrating to Japan engaged in the unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. The first
generation of the Brazilian labour can be categorized as aged and unskilled. However,
recently, more and more Brazilians have started to engage in the semi-skilled and skilled
labor categories. They are the third or fourth generation of the Brazilian descendants who
have come to Japan in the recent years. The young Brazilians who are born in Japan in
particular or have come to Japan at an early age have started to engage in the semi-skilled or
skilled jobs. The Mie prefecture has showed several important examples in this context.
Such young Brazilians nowadays have been entering formal Japanese schools including the
universities, and after graduating from the higher educational institutes, they can find jobs in
the skilled labour categories in Japan. The first Brazilian girl who received a job as a flight
attendant in a famous international airline was from the Mie prefecture. In addition, it was
found that several Brazilians who had graduated from the local universities had been hired for
lower and middle level managerial positions in famous Japanese firms in the Mie Prefecture.
This situation is quite different when compared to the early 90’s. At that time, the Brazilian
labour was concentrated in the manual and unskilled job categories.
According to the preliminary findings of the survey conducted in the Mie Prefecture, it can be
identified that the highly favourable working and living climate in this prefecture shall be
attributable for the change of the structure of employment of the Brazilians in this area. A
strong “friction” has been identified between the foreigners and the Japanese people in many
other areas, which was the case for the Mie prefecture also in the past. Nevertheless, this
prefecture has been trying to create a society where both the Japanese and foreigners enjoy
the presence of the each other. Likewise, the Suzuka city in the Mie prefecture is famous for
its selection of a foreigner as the chief of a committee which was established for formulating
the policies relating to the creation of a “multicultural society”. Normally in Japan such
committees are run by purely Japanese people.
There are many who bear witness to the fact that in recent years the labour structure in Japan
has been in transition. The government and private sector have been trying to recruit more
and more foreigners to be trained in both the higher educational institutes and in the industrial
enterprises. As a consequence, foreigners from many countries have been receiving skilled
jobs in the Japanese companies. As indicated above, the situation of the Brazilian labour also
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has been showing a change over the time. This paper will address issues relating to the
changes in the labour market and the implications on foreign labour in general and the
Brazilian labour in particular. Mr Jackson Ng, Advisor to the Lord at Wei of Shoreditch at the
House of Lord, the Parliament, UK
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