The Three Percent Solution

[Charles]

Japan mulls limiting foreign residents to 3 percent of population

A Justice Ministry panel studying an overhaul of Japan''s immigration administration is set to propose that the proportion of foreign residents to the nation''s population should be kept at 3 pct or below, Senior Vice Justice Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday.
The proposal will be included in a draft package of immigration policy reform measures to be drawn up shortly, Kono, who heads the panel, told a press conference.
According to the ministry, foreign residents accounted for 1.2 pct of Japan''s population at the end of 2005...
...The panel now believes it necessary to toughen the criteria because the number of problems caused by such residents has been increasing. ...more...

[omae mona]

The Japan Times

A Justice Ministry panel discussing long-term policies for accepting foreigners in Japan proposed Tuesday that the government in principle require that foreign workers have a certain level of Japanese proficiency.
...
"The idea is that Japan should not try to bring in foreign workers just as cheap labor," Vice Justice Minister Taro Kono, who heads the team, told a news conference. "If they are to come and work in Japan, they should at least fulfill conditions that allow them to well fit into society."
...
While the team's basic idea is to get Japan to accept more foreign nationals, it also said the ratio of foreign residents to the total population should not exceed 3 percent. Kono said he believes a huge and sudden influx of foreigners would only result in confusion and something Japan would not be able to handle.

So the idea is that in order to bring in about 2 million new foreigners, they're going to institute a Japanese language proficiency requirement. Gosh, Japan's lucky that there are millions people all over the world who have studied Japanese in anticipation of the day that the gates are opened and they can enter into the promised land!

[kamome]

This sounds like the "solution" they use on J-baseball teams. Keep the foreign player population on each team to about 3% of the number of overall players.

[Mulboyne]

Japan Times: Foreigners to need 'skills' to live in Japan

A Justice Ministry panel discussing long-term policies for accepting overseas workers said Friday the government should seek out those with special skills and expertise to cope with the shrinking labor force in Japan. "The debate on whether to allow foreigners to enter the country and work here is over. The question now is how we should receive them," Senior Vice Justice Minister Taro Kono said at a news conference. The proposal by the panel headed by Kono also claimed that reducing the number of illegal foreign residents will help the country regain its reputation as "the safest country in the world," ultimately creating an environment where legal foreign workers can become a part of society. As suggested in the panel's interim report released in May, the panel said foreigners who want to work in Japan, including those of Japanese descent, must have a certain degree of proficiency in the Japanese language to be granted legal status.

Kono called the government's current policy of granting preferential treatment to people of Japanese descent a "mistake" and said the policy must be reconsidered. "Many children of those ethnic Japanese who do not speak (the language) are dropping out of school, which must be stopped," he said, adding that the lack of language ability is becoming a major problem for foreign workers. "The government must take responsibility for building a system to teach Japanese to them," Kono said. The panel was set up in December to discuss new regulations for accepting foreign workers into the country. Japan's foreign population is expected to grow as the country ages and fewer young people enter the workforce. The panel sparked controversy in the May interim report by saying the ratio of foreign residents to the total population should not exceed 3 percent. The final version made no reference to how many foreign workers should be allowed in, saying only that number of foreigners should not exceed a certain percentage of the total population because it would create confusion that the government could not cope with. "We decided not to mention the percentage this time, because the number itself captured so much attention last time," Kono said. Foreign nationals are currently estimated by the Justice Ministry to account for 1.2 percent of the country's population.

[Behan]

Blinky is probably all for this as a way of saving on SDF bullet costs.

[Big Booger]

Smells like shit to me.. the whole deal.

[Mulboyne]

I'm interested that they consider the policy of "granting preferential treatment to people of Japanese descent a 'mistake'". I wonder what the panel thinks the mistake was.

[AssKissinger]

I'm interested that they consider the policy of "granting preferential treatment to people of Japanese descent a 'mistake'". I wonder what the panel thinks the mistake was.

They think the mistake was letting in too many Brazilians.

[Mulboyne]

They think the mistake was letting in too many Brazilians.

Sure, but I'd like to know what they think they should have done instead. Perhaps they believe they should not have let anyone in legally or maybe they now wish they had gone for a broader mix and dropped the ethnicity qualification. They could also think that the mistake lay in not providing adequate assistance to the new arrivals but I don't think Kono has that in mind even though he mentions the problems of school dropouts and lack of language skills.

[AssKissinger]

they believe they should not have let anyone in

Yep