I am interested in the issues around foreign workers in Japan. I first became interested in these topics when I saw a TV drama, MIU404 (TBS 2020). It centered around an international student from Vietnam in a Japanese language school. Her primary purpose for visiting Japan was to earn money rather than study. She has multiple part-time jobs to help her family while also paying back the debt she got to come to Japan. There are many other students like her, often described as 偽装留学生. I have heard that the Japanese government has overlooked the existence of these students to get a cheap workforce.
Many Japanese people, including me, are ignorant of foreign workers. I think that is because we assume that they are in Japan only temporarily to earn money and will return to their home once their 在留資格 expire.
From what I learned in the first cycle, the system of 戸籍 might be interesting to look at concerning 在留資格.
Here are my starting research questions. What types of foreign workers are there in Japan? Why do Japanese people not recognize the issues for foreign workers? Why does the government not want to admit the workers are essentially immigrants? How do foreign workers come to Japan（ブローカー・監理団体に関する問題など）? What are the differences and similarities between foreign workers/immigrants in other countries? (219 words)
Through Himika's research about body image, I learned for the first time that teenagers' magazines are filled with toxic body images and stereotypes. Adults are generally more concerned about the contents for much younger children and not teenagers. Teenagers can make decisions among the choices they have, but they are not necessarily aware of the toxicity of the contents they consume. Adults making the content should set the profit aside for some part and dedicate parts of the magazine to promoting body positivity.
In this week's research, I first looked at the types of foreign workers in Japan. I was surprised by the fact that almost half of the foreign workers are technical trainees and those who work outside of their 在留資格 (資格外労働), not those whose 在留資格 are for working. The extent to which Japan relies on workers who technically are not workers shows that the government is reluctant to take necessary majors to the rights of "workers."
In the next research, I would like to look at another 在留資格 of 特定技能, which was added under the new 入管法 sine 2019. The research questions, for now, would be the followings. What is 特定技能? Why does the Japanese government not admit the existence of 移民? What can the governments do to protect 外国人労働者/移民's rights? (213 words)
I was interested in Himika's research about school uniforms. I had thought providing students with multiple choices was the only way to gender diversity. Himika, however, introduced me to another approach of standardizing uniforms into one. Wearing the same uniform may help them to identify each other regardless of their looks. It is also true that their fashions and gender expressions are deeply tied to their identities, and limiting the uniform choice may discourage them from showing them. In addition, the standardized uniform is often in men's styles, which might give off the impression that women should be more like men. At the same time, removing a factor that drives gender stereotypes may be effective in education.
In this week's research, I looked at a story of a Vietnamese woman, a technical trainee, who gave birth to a twin alone because she could not dare to reveal it to her employer and got arrested for abandoning her babies. Technical trainees' rights are guaranteed under Labor Standards Act, which prohibits 婚姻・妊娠・出産等を地ようとした解雇その他の不利益取り扱い. Despite this 建前, the law is not strictly enforced for foreign workers. There seem to be some 送り出し機関 or 監理団体 that make the workers sign contracts that limit their rights, or if not contracts, pressure them not to get married or get pregnant. I would like to know how to best monitor these malicious 送り出し機関 or 監理団体.
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Reference:
Why do some foreign trainees in Japan abandon their babies?, Dec. 29, 2020, Mainichi, Yuki Kusisu, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201229/p2a/00m/0na/015000c
彼女がしたことは犯罪なのか。あるベトナム人技能実習生の妊娠と死産, 望月優太Jun. 16, 2021, 難民支援協会, https://www.refugee.or.jp/fukuzatsu/hirokimochizuki08
It was interesting to see how the situation in foster care is deeply connected to preconceptions about family. I learned from Shiori's presentation that foster care is more available in other countries than in Japan. I thought it might be because Japanese society only allows certain "ideal" types of family, consisting of two heterosexual parents. This connects to the problems of marriage as well. Interestingly, both Shiori and I became interested in our research topics because of the TV drama series. It was good to know that media can affect how people see the world and change their actions.
Toshi's presentation made me aware of the difficulty of balancing the efficiency of implementing the same rules and the protection of individuals' capabilities and necessities.
All three of us dealt with topics that require a deep understanding of the social welfare systems. As Mike pointed out, even if we look at the brief picture of the systems, it is difficult to know if they are effective. My presentation did not include much explanations about what laws and systems are available to protect the rights of foreign workers. I would like to mention them in the next presentation and explain why they are not working.
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After Himika's presentation about school uniforms and diversity, we discussed the strict school rules we had in our past. It was interesting to know that many of the rules did not make sense to us. A lot of the teachers used the logic "because it is a tradition," which is not entirely logical. I thought rules on students' looks, from hairstyle to uniforms, were one of the easiest and most obvious ways of control. It literally shows that students comply with the authorities. Without uniforms, the power of rules may not be strongly enforced.
While learning to follow the rules is essential, the extreme form might kill individualities and diversity. These kinds of issues are often common in a bureaucratic society, which prevents necessary changes and innovation from happening.
Chisaki's presentation about poverty and inequality for children made me aware of how these issues are hard to recognize depending on your community. I went to private schools from kindergarten to high school and have never really even tried to imagine what life was like for children in poverty when I was little.
Parents often tell children that they will be poor with no good clothes and home if they do not study. This disregards the fact that a significant amount of poverty is caused by factors other than the lack of effort. I think young children should know that poverty is not always caused by laziness.
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