JAPAN - MIGRATION IN 1998

The crisis did not have much impact on labor migration trends in Japan. Following immigration reforms implemented in 1991, Japan has since intensified crackdowns against irregular migrants. Their numbers have been on the decline since 1993. The crackdowns continued in 1998. Aside from irregular migrant workers, the crackdowns also targeted labor brokers and underground groups that smuggle foreigners into Japan as well as underground banks that provide services to irregular migrants. As many as 300,000 foreigners (official estimates put the figure at 276,000 as of 1 January 1998) are believed to have overstayed their visas. Despite their small numbers (compared to the number of irregular migrants elsewhere), Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto conveyed Japan’s anxiety over the illegal trafficking of human beings at the G8 meeting. The G8 committed itself to step up the fight against crimes, including trafficking.

The much-criticized Alien Registration Law — which requires foreign permanent residents to carry their alien registration cards at all times —stays. The practice is discriminatory as per recommendation (albeit nonbinding) of the UN Human Rights Committee. Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura maintains it is a "minimum necessity" to enable the government to distinguish between foreigners and Japanese. On the other hand, thirteen foreigners had a "small" victory in a fingerprinting case filed in 1989. Until 1992, the Japanese government used to require foreign residents to be fingerprinted for identification. The practice was strongly opposed by Korean and Chinese residents born in Japan, some of whom were descendants of those brought over for forced labor. The court victory pertained to a suit filed by 13 people from China, Korea and the U.S. against the national government and the local governments of Osaka, Kanagawa and Hiroshima. The Osaka District Court ruled on 9 April that the arrests of the foreigners (for refusing to be fingerprinted) were illegal and ordered local governments to pay 570,000 yen to six of the 13.

Concerned groups called for more transparency in Japan’s refugee policy. Japan signed the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1981, which took effect in 1982. More than 10,000 Indochinese refugees have been admitted to Japan since 1979. Observers, however, wonder whether Japan’s policy is too restrictive or limited. Japan has admitted one or two refugees annually from 1994 to 1997 nor does Japan provide other support services for refugees. Lawyers also pointed out that the 60-day rule (which require that applications for asylum must be made 60 days after landing in Japan, or within 60 days from the time circumstances arise that would qualify them as refugees) work against refugees.

The second batch of 12 Japanese wives of Korean men visited their families in Japan in 1998 (the first batch came in November 1997), through the auspices of the Japanese and North Korean Red Cross organization. The women were among the 1,800 who went to North Korea with their husbands in the 1960s and 1970s. They had not returned to Japan because North Korea did not allow them to. The normalization of bilateral relations between the two countries paved the way for the visit.

Japanese-Filipinos left behind in the Philippines after World War II petitioned the government to speed its efforts to recognize them as Japanese citizens. A petition bearing 6,300 signatures of people claiming to be war-displaced Japanese-Filipinos has been forwarded to relevant government agencies.