Japan's Humor Ministry tightens 'Entertainer' visas

[Mulboyne]

Asahi:Plan to restrict entertainer visas draws boos

The United Organization of Overseas Artist Agencies of Japan, a group of about 800 businesses that sends foreign entertainers to clubs and bars, opposes the revision. Some Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers side with the group. "Philippine shows are a popular form of entertainment that have adapted well in Japan,'' said organization chairman Joji Imai. "We don't want them to be simply labeled as a hotbed of crime.''
At a recent meeting, LDP lawmakers aiming to boost Japan's industries slammed government officials in charge of the revision. "Providing jobs to Filipinas who have no other place to work is a form of international aid,'' said one member
...Tokyo planned the revision after sending a fact-finding team to the Philippines in September. It found approval is given even to those who merely sang a song or two to karaoke music or briefly danced. "It was inappropriate to have allowed entry totally on the basis of a foreign government's approval,'' said a Tokyo official.

[vir-jin]

The United Organization of Overseas Artist Agencies of Japan, a group of about 800 businesses that sends foreign entertainers to clubs and bars, opposes the revision. Some Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers side with the group. "Philippine shows are a popular form of entertainment that have adapted well in Japan,'' said organization chairman Joji Imai. "We don't want them to be simply labeled as a hotbed of crime.''
At a recent meeting, LDP lawmakers aiming to boost Japan's industries slammed government officials in charge of the revision. "Providing jobs to Filipinas who have no other place to work is a form of international aid,'' said one member
...Tokyo planned the revision after sending a fact-finding team to the Philippines in September. It found approval is given even to those who merely sang a song or two to karaoke music or briefly danced. "It was inappropriate to have allowed entry totally on the basis of a foreign government's approval,'' said a Tokyo official.

showbuiz, international aids, and casting. sounds like hollywood. who believes that hollywood is not criminal? Japanese love grey zones more than black and white. I was sure nobody would be considered bad at all- excepted of course all the black and white thinkers!

[gkanai]

Targeting of Japan's sex trade reverberates in Philippines[csmonitor.com]
Japan plans to cut the number of 'entertainer' visas to 8,000 from 80,000 per year.

and

Last Dance Looms for Filipino Entertainers in Japan[reuters]

[djgizmoe]

Great! Less women to be exploited legally!
Not Great! More women who will choose to stay illegally and be exploited even worse by their employers, the yakuza, etc.

[fatslug]

less phillipinos.... why would ppl in this country pay phillipinos $$$$ for hostess servicese when u could probably get the same thing for 90% off by visiting the philipines including airfare........

eeekkkk

[Captain Japan]

RP asks Japan to phase in immigration act over five years
Agence France-Presse

FOREIGN Secretary Alberto Romulo said Friday he asked Tokyo to effect a five-year "adjustment period" for new anti-trafficking legislation that threatens to keep tens of thousands of Filipino workers from going to Japan.

Romulo said he met Japan Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura in Jakarta on Thursday on the sidelines of an international conference on the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

However, the Filipino official said he failed to win a definite commitment from his Japanese counterpart.

Under the new legislation, only Filipino entertainers with two years' performance training at a foreign educational institution, or with two years' experience outside Japan, shall be issued the appropriate entry visas by the Japanese authorities, the foreign department here said.

[Taro Toporific]

Task force nets 274 illegal recruiters -- Philippine labor dept
INQ7.net / 04:20pm (Mla time) Jan 11, 2005
THE PRESIDENTIAL Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force has apprehended 274 suspected illegal recruiters, including 16 foreigners, who victimized 2,209 people, the Department of Labor and Employment said ....the 16 apprehended foreigners were suspected of recruiting workers for non-existent jobs in Japan, Europe, Papua New Guinea, Middle East, and other parts of Asia.
... seven of the foreigners were Japanese recruiting workers for non-existent jobs as nurses, caregivers, domestic workers, and factory workers in Japan.

[Naniwan Kid]

Just heard about a 'hostess' box zone in one of the sleazier areas of Osaka's Tennoji district...Any Kansai FG know the place?

I have been to a place near Tennoji that was a "traditional prostitution district" There were several dozen small houses 2 floors each. The bottom floor had an old lady attracting customers, behind her sat a young woman in a kimono or yukata or some traditional clothes. She would take you upstairs and do whatever she did. Most of the old ladies hushed up when they some me walking the streets, but there were a few offers (I didn't take the plunge). I am not sure what a "hostess box" is...

[Captain Japan]

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Sun Star: Overseas artists want deferred implementation of Japan crackdown
The country's 80,000 overseas performing artists (OPAs) want Japan to defer the implementation of its crackdown against illegal overseas workers in its territory. OPA Coalition spokesman Antonio Antonio said the Philippines is not yet ready to absorb the OPAs who would lose their job once the crackdown begins. Antonio said the crackdown has affected even those who are legitimately working in Japan. "The move is very much welcome since it protects the OPAs against illegal recruiters but the problem is than even those who are legitimately working would also be affected," he noted.
...Meanwhile the Japanese Government is sending a delegation to the Philippines to explore other options that would mitigate the effects of the implementation of new policies in hiring OPAs. Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the mission group will comprise of officials from the labor and foreign affairs ministries of Japan to work out a solution and address growing concerns on the anti-human trafficking law which Japan is set to implement soon.

[Captain Japan]

[goldenboy_ge]

[Captain Japan]

[Mulboyne]

Massage ikaga desu ja?
Manila Times: RP left out as Japan considers
accepting more Thai workers
Japan is considering accepting more Thai workers by relaxing employment conditions for cooks, masseurs and caregivers under free-trade agreement (FTA) talks, a report said Saturday...Japan currently accepts Thai cooks with at least 10 years of experience. The Justice Ministry is considering shortening this period by bringing it in line with Thai standards to a minimum of five years or so, Kyodo quoted the sources as saying. For Thai masseurs who are currently barred from working in Japan, the ministry is thinking about accepting them on a limited basis by only allowing them to work for relaxation purposes, but not for treatment, the report added.

[FG Lurker]

Massage ikaga desu ja?
Manila Times: RP left out as Japan considers
accepting more Thai workers
Japan is considering accepting more Thai workers by relaxing employment conditions for cooks, masseurs and caregivers under free-trade agreement (FTA) talks, a report said Saturday...Japan currently accepts Thai cooks with at least 10 years of experience. The Justice Ministry is considering shortening this period by bringing it in line with Thai standards to a minimum of five years or so, Kyodo quoted the sources as saying. For Thai masseurs who are currently barred from working in Japan, the ministry is thinking about accepting them on a limited basis by only allowing them to work for relaxation purposes, but not for treatment, the report added.

Doesn't Thailand have some of the highest AIDS rates in the world, especially among "entertainers"?

[FG Lurker]

Controversial Japanese visa clampdown to start March 15
INQ7.net, February 15, 2005

TOKYO-- Japan said Tuesday it would tighten requirements from March 15 for entertainment visas in new rules meant to cut down on the sex trade but criticized in the Philippines where foreign remittances provide vital income.

(Full Story)

[Captain Japan]

Japan, Easygoing Till Now, Plans Sex Traffic Crackdown
NY Times (registration required)

TOKYO, Feb. 14 - After years of denying it had a problem with trafficking in humans, Japan is now putting the finishing touches on a law that would make the practice illegal in this country and help foreigners forced into the sex industry here.

In the months to come, the new law, along with programs to assist victims testifying against traffickers, could begin to stanch the illegal flow of women into one of the world's biggest destinations for foreign prostitutes.

In Japan, the foreign women who are victims of trafficking end up working everywhere from Tokyo's sprawling red-light districts to rural areas unfamiliar to most foreigners. They stand on street corners and sit behind glass windows; they serve as sex performers or hostesses at clubs outside of which they are expected to date customers.

A 28-year-old Colombian woman, who spent four years working as a prostitute in Japan, mostly to repay $45,000 she owed criminals who sold and bought her, finally fled to her embassy here late last year. Having given testimony that could help arrest her traffickers, she now waits for authorization from immigration officials to return to Medellín, Colombia, to be reunited with her 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.

"We shouldn't be treated as criminals to be deported out of Japan, but as victims," she said in an interview at the Colombian Embassy.

Starting in March, the government is expected to severely restrict the number of entertainer visas granted, a category that has allowed the entry of, and sometimes trafficking in, women with dubious skills as entertainers. The number of such visas granted Filipinos alone, now 80,000 annually, could be slashed to 8,000....the rest...

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Japan's LDP backs RP on entertainers' visas
Members of Japan's dominant political party are supporting the Philippines' lobby against the new immigration policy setting stricter guidelines on the issuance of visas to Filipinos and other foreign entertainers as part of a clampdown on human trafficking. But Philippine Ambassador Domingo Siazon Jr. said that Japan's new immigration policy was already a done deal and would take effect on March 15 as announced by Japan's justice ministry...Koki Kobayashi, member of the powerful House of Representatives and senior leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, held a joint press conference with Commission on Filipinos Overseas chair Dante Ang on Thursday to strongly express his sentiment against the new policy.
Kobayashi denounced the policy as based on a "very biased'' report of the United States placing Japan and the Philippines in the watchlist of countries engaged in human trafficking. "It's not objective, it's biased, groundless,'' Kobayashi told reporters through an interpreter. Yesterday, Kobayashi called a party caucus of the LDP in its headquarters to come up with a party position against the policy. Two major associations of Japanese promoters-Rengokai and Zengerein, are also protesting the new guidelines. Kobayashi cited the significant contribution of the 80,000 Filipina entertainers in Japan to the Philippine economy and and to the Japanese entertainment industry. Filipinas account for 60 percent of the 130,000 foreign entertainers in Japan.

[Mulboyne]

[FG Lurker]

[Mulboyne]

I don't think it is clear cut. I think he has been arguing that there is a trade-off which Japan has to decide upon. Maintaining living standards & growth requires mass immigration. If that is the priority, then I think he feels attitudes to foreigners have to change. If that is unacceptable, then he argue sthat Japan will have to settle for less economic clout. Of course, it may be that the second course is his preferred option.
Immigration Laws (2002)

Tokyo Immigration Bureau chief Hidenori Sakanaka said: "Japan's immigration control is very lax by global standards. Although we have made some improvements, I have to admit immigration control is weak with only 2,600 immigration officials. We need to further tighten control so that troublemakers don't come in. This is essential if we want to debate whether Japan should accept more foreigners at a time when it faces a declining population."

Ageing Japan shuns immigrant workers

More recently, Japanese politicians have been making capital out of blaming the nation's woes on outsiders, particularly those from other Asian countries. "This is an appalling time in terms of the Japanese attitude to foreigners," said Immigration Bureau Chief Hidenori Sakanaka at a recent Tokyo symposium on the possibility of Japan becoming a multi-ethnic society. Sakanaka says mass immigration without a fundamental change in attitudes could lead to racial violence.

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

I really think the Asahi has been coming out with some good stuff lately, mostly writing things most papers won't comment on...
Immigration chief blames his own in trafficking
Asahi

Hidenori Sakanaka says the government has long ignored the problem.

The real problem behind Japan's dismal anti-human trafficking record are ``weak-kneed'' immigration officials who bend to the whims of politicians and businesses that hire foreign women for illicit purposes, the chief of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau said.

The government will tighten requirements this month for entertainment visas, which are often issued to women who end up forced to work in the sex industry. But Hidenori Sakanaka indicated in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun that the problem does not rest solely with visa procedures.

``The problem is that there are businesses that make profits by exploiting women and they are connected to lawmakers,'' Sakanaka said, referring to the surge in such illegal workers since the mid-1990s.

``I cannot deny that immigration officials gradually lost their zeal to investigate and in their dealings have become weak-kneed,'' Sakanaka said. ``I have myself been harassed since 1995, with one politician telling me: `You are not popular among (entertainment) business operators. You may not be able to remain in Tokyo.'''

He said lawmakers would call him after immigration officials raided bars suspected of hiring foreign women for jobs other than as professional entertainers-the only work entertainment visas permit.

It is rare for a top immigration administrator to specify problems in his own bureau-especially so candidly. But Sakanaka said he felt responsibility as a person in charge and wanted the public to know the truth....the rest...

[Mulboyne]

That's a really good article. I wonder if the Asahi sees NHK's troubles and Fuji-Sankei's distractions as an opportunity to push their causes more aggressively...
It does seem like the earlier Philippine Star commentator misrepresented Sakanaka's position and motives. His "isolationist" position ten years ago looks like it was a genuine attempt to get the debate started. I like this bit:

"If the public says the country should allow foreign women in who will pour drinks for customers and sing karaoke with them, we should debate the issue upfront," he said

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

Hard times for Japan's Filipino hostesses
Aljazeera.net

Linda knows all the tricks in the book. She tells her customers how handsome they are and what fantastic eyes they have.

She compliments their clothes and their smiles, laughing uncontrollably at their forced jokes and making sure their beer glasses are always full and their cigarettes always lit.

Her patter is honed from three previous spells in Japan as a hostess and, equally, the fact that her performance here tonight affects not only her future, but also those of her 11-year-old daughter, her parents and extended family back in the Philippines.

But no matter how good she is, Linda's quest for financial security is almost certain to come to an end in a matter of weeks, when the Japanese government imposes new restrictions on those eligible for entertainer visas.

Tens of thousands of other Filipino women face the same uncertain future....more...

[Captain Japan]

Japan cracks down on trade in sex workers
Guardian

The neon sign outside describes the club as a "show venue", but the only people taking to the stage are crooning customers and their scantily-clad escorts. The entertainment that attracts office workers, elderly businessmen and middle-ranking gangsters to Shinjuku's red-light district in Tokyo is to be found at dozens of low tables, where women light cigarettes, serve watered-down spirits and fend off wandering hands.

They are among the 80,000 Filipinas who entered Japan last year on six-month entertainment visas, ostensibly to work as singers and dancers. The reality is rather different: up to 90% are forced to work as bar hostesses, masseuses or prostitutes in Japan's sex industry.

After years of ignoring their plight, Japan is about to tackle its appaling record on human trafficking with the introduction of tough visa regulations.

Next week, foreign women will have to prove they have worked as entertainers overseas for at least two years or trained at a school for a similar period. The widely abused entertainer's licence currently used by Filipinas will no longer be acceptable.

A report last year by the US state department placed Japan on a par with Mexico and Laos for its failure to stem the trade in sex workers.

According to the state department's latest report, published this week, up to 200,000 women are smuggled in annually to work in Japan's sex trade.

I wonder how well this is going to work. How would immigration check on a claim of working or training as a dancer in the Philippines?

[Mulboyne]