Academic literature on the topic 'Japanese Foreign workers'

This research contributes to an understanding of Japanese Foreign Investment (JFDI) in Poland, by using a Variety of Capitalism approach and drawing on literature from employment relations. It examines firstly, the extent to which Japanese production and managerial institutions and practices can be transplanted to different economic and cultural environments; and secondly, the character of workers' response towards these practices, in the context of JFDI in Poland. It draws on primary data drawn from interviews conducted with the managers and workers in five firms in a Japanese electronics manufacturing cluster in Toruń, Northern Poland, as well as the policy makers, researchers and journalists on a regional level. First, the transfer of Japanese management 'style' is considered in terms of recruitment, training practices, issues of monitoring and discipline and quality assurance policies. This study reveals that the transfer of Japanese typical practices is of minor importance to Japanese corporations based in Poland, and the character of these practices in the Polish workplace is peripheral. However, the subordination of labour is brought by the precarisation of employment, rather than the implementation of Japanese quality policies. Second, the focus of the research is on the response of workers and finds that they did not remain passive actors in this process and resisted the adapted form of Japanisation in Poland. Although the role of formal trade unions was limited, the data pointed to other forms of resistance, both conventional and novel, from sabotage, absenteeism, humour to insubordination and the use of blogging sites. In the context of the researched labour process, the empirical findings point to markers of collectivism in all forms of worker resistance and hence identified that the collective worker not only has not disappeared from both the labour process debate and the workplace itself, but, even if not evidently, is present through the resistance to management practices and control.

Culture shock and reverse culture shock are profoundly personal experiences affecting individuals in a multitude of diverse ways. They happen inside each person who encounters unfamiliar events and unexpected situations. For people who work abroad (sojourners), cultural adjustment is a significant time in their lives. Following the examination of cultural adjustment, a review of literature is explored, highlighting sojourners' acculturation and coping strategies. A case study of the JET (Japanese Exchange Teaching) Programme is presented through an analysis of public documents and interviews with JET staff and former sojourners. Findings report that JET sojourners experience adjustment difficulties with reverse culture shock and that there exists an unavailability of resources providing support. Limitations of the study are highlighted; areas of weakness were found in the lack of literature addressing the needs and experiences of sojourners, particularly JETs. Recommendations and suggestions for future research in the field of social work are made.

The Pentecostal Movement was brought to Japan by the group of missionaries led by Martin L. Ryan in 1907. Although their own ministry in Japan was short-lived, they shared the Pentecostal message to William and Mary Taylor, who worked as Pentecostal missionaries in Japan from 1913. Estella Bemauer also worked as a Pentecostal missionary in Japan from 1910. Moreover, the Taylors and Beranuer worked with Makoto Niki and Ichitaro Takigawa, who had become Japanese Pentecostal ministers. However, all of these missionaries and ministers as well as many others have been forgotten and omitted from the official history of the Japan Assemblies of God (JAG), which emphasizes the work of the Carl F. Juergensen family and the Japanese minister who worked closely with them, Kiyoma Yumiyama. An accurate history needs to include all workers and to give an account of their various ministries. In the beginning, the Pentecostal missionaries worked independently and had a loose fellowship, but the forming of the Japan District of the American AG in 1920 resulted in a Japanese Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination, the Japan Pentecostal Church, which is the early forerunner of the Japan Assemblies of God. The Japan Pentecostal Church evolved and became the Japan Bible Church in 1929. Before it needed to dissolve because of new government regulations around the time of World War IT, the Japan Bible Church experienced a series of transformations: the split of the Takinogawa Mission as the Takinogwa Holy 1 r Spirit Church in 1938, the removal of missionaries from Japan in 1940, and the split of the Spirit of Jesus Church in 1941. I Before the war, missionaries and Japanese ministers worked together and formed a "mission," which became the place where they continued to do ministry. The relationship of missionaries and ministers differed with each mission. But ... gradually Japanese ministers gained a higher status, and with the break of WWII, the missionaries had to depart from Japan, leaving the Japanese ministers in charge. After the war, the JAG started as a Japanese led organization under the strong authority and leadership of its superintendent Kiyoma Yumiyama, while nevertheless resting upon the unique cooperation and a certain balance of power between the missionaries and Japanese ministers. The JAG had a lack of funds and was financially dependent on the missionaries, who often took the initiative to start local churches, for which there was a great need. But with the growth of the Japanese economy and development of the JAG, the missionaries gradually came to have a more subordinate role in the JAG. With the retirement of Yumiyama as superintendent in 1973, followed by the transfer of both the ownership of the property of JAG headquarters as well as the authority for Central Bible College from American AG to the JAG in 1975, the post war era of the JAG's history had come to an end. The JAG had become a more autonomous and independent denomination.

By removing restrictions on entry and residence for foreign-born people of Japanese descent, the amendment of the Japanese Immigration Act in 1990 facilitated economically-motivated migration from South America, particularly from Brazil, which is home to the largest overseas ethnic-Japanese (Nikkei) population. This study is designed to explore interactions of the following two salient consequences of this ethnic-priority immigration policy. Despite the principle that "non-skilled foreign workers are not admitted for employment purposes" being retained under the country's immigration policy, the ethnic-priority feature of the amended Immigration Act has been utilised as a "side door" through which an increasing number of Japanese Brazilian migrants have been absorbed into the low-skilled end of the Japanese labour market. While their intensive concentration in unstable labouring jobs is raising concerns over their labour market incorporation and economic advancement, a considerable proportion of these Japanese Brazilian migrants are now prolonging their stay, or settling, especially with the growth of the "second generation" immigrant population. To achieve the aim to explore aspects of employment and settlement and their interactions, this study employs a comprehensive framework linking economic causes to social and demographic consequences of migration of Japanese Brazilians to Japan. In addition to a range of secondary data analysis, this study presents both quantitative and qualitative analysis of primary data drawn from an original survey specifically designed for the purpose of this study. The results of the demand-side analysis that contains examination of the factors associated with utilisation of foreign workers in the manufacturing sector - by far the largest employer of Japanese Brazilian migrant workers- depicts the vulnerable status of their employment which is firmly embedded in the restructuring process that has generated the burgeoning demand for a low-skilled and flexible workforce. In contrast to their intensive concentration in unstable labouring jobs in the peripheral segment of the Japanese labour market, Japanese Brazilian migrants are from diverse background in terms of education and occupational status in Brazil. The contrast between the homogeneity in employment status in Japan and the heterogeneity in socioeconomic and human capital background in Brazil is reflected in differentiated levels of satisfaction with labour market outcomes in Japan. The results of analysis of earnings determinants indicate that Japanese Brazilian workers are not rewarded on the basis of their individual human capital. Rather, it is social capital that determinants labour market incorporation and wage outcomes for this economically disadvantaged and institutionally vulnerable immigrant group. Japanese Brazilian migrants' insensitivity to engagement in these unstable and low-skilled jobs - that provide little opportunity for skill attainment and occupational mobility - can be explained by their initial economically-focused "temporary" migration strategy, with which they are committed to the main purpose of migration such as hard work, saving, and remittances. Their initial migration strategy is to work hard, save much as they can, and remit savings to Brazil. The intention to be a "temporary'' migrant worker, however, is not a fixed propensity but a variable one that changes over the course of a migration career generating a set of irreversible changes. Although various factors contribute to this process such as the development of social connectedness and the reinforcement of economic attachment in the destination, the most salient aspect associated with the prolongation of stay- or the transition from a "sojourner" with a "target-earning" migration strategy to a "settler"- is family reunification and new family formation in Japan. This new phase in the settlement process raises concerns over children's education and future opportunities, and thereby complicates the migrants' struggle with the gap between the evolution of family circumstances and the continuity of engagement in unstable and vulnerable jobs. This further confuses the development of the family's future settlement strategy with ambiguity and uncertainty that characterises the concept of "settlement" among Japanese Brazilian migrants in Japan.