Immigration

Foreign temporary workers hit hard by layoffs speak out

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Among the ranks of temporary workers, foreigners, who face a language barrier, are particularly vulnerable to Japan’s worsening economy, and on Sunday some 200 of those workers took to the streets of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture in an unprecedented demonstration. The protesters called for greater job security and decried the sudden layoffs of temporary workers, which can come without warning or explanation.

One of those laborers, a 32-year-old Brazilian who works at a Kosai, Shizuoka Prefecture auto parts plant, saw 40 co-workers laid off at the beginning of December. “I still have a job,” the auto worker says, “but who knows when I’ll get laid off? I’ve joined a labor union just in case.”

Some 100 of 150 members of Scrum Union Hiroshima are foreign laborers. Fifteen foreigners, most of them temporary workers at Mazda or related companies, came to talk to the Portuguese-speaking union counselors. Those who came to the session were of varying ages, from their 20s to their 50s. They all expressed the same fears: “If I lose my job, I don’t know how I will live.”

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081222p2a00m0na0130
00c.html

Foreigners march for job security

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About 250 non-Japanese staged a protest march Sunday on the streets of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to call for employment and assistance for foreign temporary workers who have lost their jobs to the deepening recession.

They urged companies to stop firing temp workers. Manufacturers have announced plans in recent weeks to lay off large numbers of such “nonregular” employees.

“We have been treated as disposable, but we work in Japan legally and pay taxes. We want to be treated the same as Japanese workers,” said Moizeis Dias Mizuki, a 49-year-old Japanese-Brazilian from Komaki, Aichi Prefecture.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081222a3.html

Move to give foreigners same resident registration as Japanese

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A bill to allow foreign residents to have the same resident registration as Japanese will be submitted to the regular Diet session early next year at the earliest, a government panel has announced.

A meeting on the basic resident register for foreigners, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Justice Ministry, drafted an outline for the new system on Thursday.

The basic idea is to introduce a system for foreign residents that is akin to the basic resident register for Japanese residents. The new system will replace the current alien registration system.

The new system will be put into practice three years after the bill is passed into law, the meeting said.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081219p2a00m0na018000c.html

New registry rules for foreigners proposed

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A government panel Thursday recommended creating a new system by 2012 to register foreign residents on a household basis, replacing the current individual-basis system, to better oversee their living conditions.

Japanese nationals are registered on a household basis.

In a report, the panel of experts under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also recommended scrapping the current two-tier system in which the Justice Ministry handles immigration and stay permits, while local governments handle registrations of foreign residents, and called for a unified control system.

Based on the recommendation report, the internal affairs ministry will submit a bill for the envisaged foreigner registry system to an ordinary Diet session next year, ministry officials said.

The proposed steps are expected to help improve the welfare, education and other public services for foreign residents, but critics warn it could lead to increased surveillance.

The number of non-Japanese residents has topped 2 million, more than doubling in the past 20 years.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081219a4.html

Asylum claims nearly double

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Swamped, the Foreign Ministry is running out of support funds

The number of people seeking asylum in Japan is surging toward a new record, and the government is grappling to deal with the flood, a nonprofit support organization has warned.

Due to the rapid increase, to almost double the number of last year’s applicants, the government’s budget for supporting the refugees, many of whom have no means of support, is close to drying up, the Foreign Ministry admitted Wednesday.

According to the Japan Association for Refugees, 1,450 people had applied for refugee status as of the beginning of this month, after exceeding 1,000 in September.

The previous record for applications is 954, set in 2006.

[Eri] Ishikawa [secretary general of JAR] said the amount of money a refugee is entitled to is even lower than what a Japanese citizen would get from welfare.

“The support should be designed to cover two years, or the government should allow people waiting for their status to work,” she said.

“Without a job or any financial support, these people cannot live.”

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081211a1.html

Revised Nationality Law enacted

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The revised law was approved at a House of Councillors plenary session by a majority vote, although nine lawmakers from New Party Nippon and the People’s New Party, including NPN leader Yasuo Tanaka, voting against it. Haruko Arimura and Seiichi Eto, both Liberal Democratic Party members, and upper house Vice President Akiko Santo, former LDP member and now independent for the post, abstained from the vote.

Before enactment of the revised law, a Japanese man and non-Japanese woman had to be married when their child was born for the baby to be granted Japanese nationality. In cases in which a child was born out of wedlock to such a couple, the child would only be able to obtain Japanese nationality, strictly as an exception, if the father recognized paternity before the child was born.

Under the revised law, Japanese nationality will be granted to a child whose father recognizes paternity, regardless of whether the child’s parents are married or if paternal recognition comes before or after birth.

The revision to remove the marital status clause from the law followed a ruling by the Supreme Court in June that the Nationality Law was unconstitutional in denying nationality to children born out of wedlock but recognized by fathers after birth.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081206TDY01304.htm

Law revision sparks family joy

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Families seeking Japanese nationality for children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and foreign mothers were overjoyed at the passing of a revision to the Nationality Law on Friday.

The revision will enable a child born out of wedlock whose parents are unmarried to obtain Japanese nationality and take his or her father’s name if the father recognizes the child as his own.

The joy is tempered, however, by fears that false paternity claims by unrelated Japanese men will become commonplace, a matter of particular concern for the Justice Ministry.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081206TDY02308.htm

Japanese paternity gives nationality to kids born to unmarried foreign mothers

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A revised bill of the Nationality Law that allows children born to unmarried Japanese fathers and foreign mothers to acquire Japanese nationality with only the father’s acknowledgement of paternity was enacted on Friday after passing in the House of Councillors plenary session.

In article three of the current law, children of unmarried parents cannot obtain Japanese nationality. However, the Supreme Court ruled the article that requires the marriage of parents unconstitutional. The new law is slated to come into effect early next year.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081205p2a00m0na015000c.html

Revised Nationality Law passed

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The Diet on Friday passed a bill to revise the Nationality Law, which had been blasted as unconstitutional and discriminatory against children of mixed couples born out of wedlock.

However, the Diet talks did not go as smoothly as planned because of concerns over fake nationality claims and even some xenophobic messages from the public.

Citizens opposed to the bill had inundated high-ranking officials and lawmakers in both the ruling and opposition camps with faxes and e-mail messages.

One Lower House member’s office received enough faxes to create a 20-centimeter-high stack. Although most of the messages called for further revisions to stipulate DNA tests, at least one citizen, apparently concerned about the Japanese identity, said, “Japan will be overrun.”

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200812060058.html