Tokyo
(AsiaNews) - An aging society and lack
of "indigenous" labor force is
seriously undermining Japan's economic development. These
problems are no longer only
now being studied by economists and sociologists,
but they have become topics of everyday conversation even for ordinary people.
Although it is not new problems, its solution has become urgent: first because a
large area of the north-east of the country (Tohoku) is being rebuilt; second,
because Tokyo has been chosen
as the venue for the 2020 Olympics.
These infrastructural projects are of grave importance for the
nation's image on the world stage. But it faces a major obstacle in the lack of labor force.
The
economist William Barriga, in a
recent study published by The JapanTimes,
writes that "the rapid aging of society,
together with the massive decline
in the birth rate, are problems that
must be dealt with decisively now. Otherwise, in fifty
years the Japanese population will
have decreased to such a point
that the country will
be unable to maintain its current
global economic power".
The key to effectively tackle the
problem seems to be the use
of foreign labor. As you know, Japan is jealous of its identity, after all, this also one of the secrets of its economic efficiency. It is perhaps for this reason that the government has so far
failed to address this need.
However, from official
documentation of the last decades, it is clear that the option of recourse to foreign workers is the
way that the government has
chosen and pursued for decades.
In 1983 he introduced the "technical intern training
program" to support young foreigners in learning the
Japanese language as well as in
the acquisition of skilled techniques.
In 2008, thanks to the 'Economic
Partnership Agreements with Indonesia and
the Philippines, a considerable number of nurses and social workers from the two countries have been able to reside and find employment in Japan. In 2012, the government
then introduced a points-based
immigration system for highly qualified foreign workers.
Thanks to these legislative measures
both the public and private sectors have gained considerable experience in dealing with foreigners.
Also in the 1970s, Japan began to open its doors to refugees
from Indochina in 1981 and acceded to the Refugee
Convention, a document issued by the UN in 1951. Japan was the first Asian nation to join.
In 2009, it then introduced the so-called "bridging schools" to integrate children
of foreign parents residents in Japan,
hit by the crisis economic the years 2008-2009.
However, notes Barriga, we can not expect the
government to do everything that
is necessary and we need to participate
in society as a whole. Immigration
is much more than a mathematical
equation. To achieve this, the
government needs to be very active in informing and educating the public about the reality
of immigration and the positive contribution of foreigners and to eradicate discrimination and xenophobia.
In this field, the Catholic Church offers another opportunity for exercising its mission in this country and one it can not ignore. I would say,
rather, that it
is in a position to participate effectively. The reason is simple: its missionaries have been living and working in all major cities of the Japanese archipelago
for decades and are esteemed and well-liked by the Japanese whose language
they speak and understand well.