3rd gen Japanese Peruvian questions election policies on foreign nationals
A man who came to Japan from Peru 27 years ago considers the July 20 election a "golden opportunity" to ponder the course of this nation. "Is it aiming to become a xenophobic nation or a country that will build a future together (with foreigners)?" he asks.
Language barrier at elementary school
Masao Aizawa, 34, a third-generation Japanese Peruvian, runs an auto dealership and other businesses in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. His father has roots in Miyagi Prefecture and his mother in Okinawa Prefecture.
Aizawa arrived in Japan in 1998 from Lima, the Peruvian capital, at the age of 8, alongside his mother and grandmother. They were reunited with his father, who had already been working in Japan, and started living in Isesaki.
At elementary school, Aizawa hit a language barrier. Aside from him, there was just one other student with foreign roots -- a girl from Brazil. Being only able to speak Spanish, Aizawa learned Japanese from her.
In math tests, he could solve addition and multiplication problems, but found it difficult to tackle written problems. His teacher spared him from some questions, but this led other students to grow jealous of him.
He studied Japanese and worked diligently when it came to cleaning and other group work, chipping away at the walls between him and those around him. It took him a full year to make friends.
Unaware of social insurance system
When he was in junior high school, he started accompanying his family members and acquaintances as an interpreter when they visited the hospital and government agencies. While assisting them, he realized how little he and other foreigners around him knew about health and other social insurance systems in Japan.
While businesses are required to enroll workers in social insurance, companies at the time would refuse to do so even when requested by non-Japanese employees. Some foreign workers chose not to join insurance, fearing their take-home pay would drop.
Consequently, some foreign nationals had to see doctors without insurance or were ineligible for pension benefits. Not knowing about the system made their lives even more difficult.
After graduating from a private high school in Gunma Prefecture and gaining some work experience, Aizawa launched his auto dealership in 2015.
Currently, he hires some 25 staff members, of which around 20 are foreign nationals including Peruvians and Vietnamese. "When people with different cultures and senses of value work together it helps generate flexible ideas. Diversity enriches society as a whole," he stressed.
Japan accepting more foreigners due to labor shortage
The Japanese government has promoted the acceptance of foreign workers primarily to make up for labor shortages among companies.
Under the revised immigration control law that went into effect in 1990, second- and third-generation individuals of Japanese descent who held foreign citizenship became eligible for long-term residency with no work restrictions, spurring the arrival of many Japanese Brazilians and Peruvians.
In 2019, the government established the "specified skills" residency status, accepting laborers from broader countries including Vietnam, China and Indonesia. In June 2024, a package of legal revisions was enacted to abolish the controversial technical trainee system and establish the "employment for skill development" framework for training inexperienced foreign workers. It is estimated that foreign nationals will account for more than 10% of Japan's population in 2070 amid the declining birth rate.
In the upper house race, the minor opposition party Sanseito, which advocates "Japanese first" policies, is calling to restrict the acceptance of menial workers, while Nippon Ishin (the Japan Innovation Party) is promoting a population strategy including regulating the total number of foreigners accepted into Japan. The Democratic Party for the People's campaign promise includes legislating restrictions on land acquisition by foreign nationals.
The government has also established what is dubbed the "office for promoting a society of orderly coexistence with foreigners" to address cross-sectional policies on foreign residents. These moves illustrate that Japan's policies on foreign nationals have come to the crossroads.
Appeals on Facebook spark feedback
On July 4, Aizawa posted on Facebook; "Japan is facing a population crisis. Amid this, who is playing an indispensable role? Many foreign workers are. They provide care for elderly people, clean up the streets, and support agriculture and industries on the verge of collapse."
The post, titled "Who really is supporting the Japanese economy?" discussed how foreign nationals have made up for Japan's labor shortages and how children with foreign roots are suffering from discrimination, language barriers and a lack of support at schools. The post garnered over 1,000 "likes."
Aizawa has also promoted exchange among people in the community, including by organizing a film festival joined by some 300 people including locals and Peruvian residents. "It is important for people to mutually accept each other. I want to build a multicultural inclusive society together," he says.
(Japanese original by Shu Hatakeyama, Political News Department, and Haruna Okuyama, Maebashi Bureau)
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