第61回 WORKSHOP報告(6月1日) / 参加者80名
(1:受付の様子です)
(2:新人の方の自己紹介です)
(3:たくさんの新人の方にお越しいただきました)
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《 今回のworkshop 》
○workshop参加人数:80名(うち新人の方:15名)
○【前半】:「コンセンサスゲーム」
○【後半】:”移民と外国人労働者”をテーマとしたディスカッション
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<英語サークル E’s club 第61回workshopのご案内>
みなさまこんにちは、E’s club幹事のKです。第61回workshopの詳細をお送りいたします。
今回は前半のマテリアルをMさんに、後半のマテリアルをNさんに作成していただきました。
前半は「コンセンサスゲーム」を行い、後半は「移民と外国人労働者」をテーマとしたディスカッションを行ないます。
[今週のマテリアル]
<FIRST HALF>
こんにちは、Mと申します。
みなさんは、日ごろから難しい選択に迫られていると思います。
買い物、仕事、予定など…
簡単なものなら自分のさじ加減で決められますが、私たちの生活に関わるものならどうでしょうか。
今回は、困難な選択ということで、会社の研修などで行われるコンセンサスゲームのようなものをしていただきたいと思います。
正解も間違いもありません。グループのメンバーと同意の上での選択を目指してください。
~Assumption~
The following items are now taken for granted –
・The internet technology
・Aircraft technology
・Medical techniques
・Legislation
・Music
We have to throw away 2 of the 5 items above. (put aside the reason for now)
What should we take and give up?
~Procedure~
1) Introduce yourselves briefly. (approx. 5 mins)
2) Place these items in order of your personal importance. (approx. 5 mins)
3) Share the orders in your group. (approx. 5 mins)
4) Decide the ones you take and give up first in the group. (1st and 5th place) Try to be logical. (approx. 15 mins)
5) Make the final decision on the two items to be preserved and the one to be thrown away. (2nd, 3rd and 4th place)
It might be tougher due to the comparison between closer items, but don’t be shy and state your thought openly. (approx. 15 mins)
6) Wrap-up! (appreciate each other!)
<LATTER HALF>
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みなさんこんにちは。Nと申します。
GWにクアラルンプールに行ってきました。
みなさんもご存じのとおり、
マレーシアはマレー系、華人系、インド系の三つの主要民族と少数民族が
並存する多民族国家です。
以前行ったボルネオよりも、クアラルンプールはさらに多民族性が感じられ、
宗教施設や民族ごとのエリアなど、とても個性的ですが、
たった4日間の旅行者である私の目からは
街全体では不思議と調和がとれている気がしました。
ただ、実際のところは、三民族が一枚岩となっているわけではなく、
独立以来の与党連合「国民戦線」に国民の4分の1を占める中華系が
背を向ける傾向は強くなり、「国民戦線」は
私が訪れていたときにちょうど行われた総選挙で
3分の2の議席を確保できなかったそうです。
話を日本に向けると、大和民族が人口の大多数を占め、
外国人登録者数は約200万人。
全人口比2%未満です。
この中には朝鮮、韓国系等の特別永住者の方々が約40万人、
各国から留学で来日されておられる方々も20万人おられますので、
現在までのところ、日本は移民に関しては
積極的だとは到底言えません。
少子高齢化が進み、
税収減少が見込まれる状況の中で、
日本は移民や外国人労働者を増加させるべきなのでしょうか。
また移民や外国人労働者の方々と、
どのように調和を図っていくべきでしょうか。
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【AGENDA:Should Japan Open its Doors Wider to Immigrants/Foreign Workforces? 】
★Questions
(1) Please do a brainstorming about immigrants/foreign workforces.
Topics could be like:
・Immigrants you saw when you were in other countries
・Foreign workers you work with now
・Foreign neighbors around you
・Impressions and images you have toward immigrants/foreign workforces
(2) What do you think of the pilot programs with Indonesia and the
Philippines(nurses and caregivers training program)? Why did the program go bad?
(3) What are the merits of accepting more immigrants/foreign workforces ?
(4) What are the demerits of accepting more immigrants/foreign workforces ?
(5) Do you think Japan should accept more immigrants/foreign workforces? And why?
(6) If your answer is “Yes” in Q(5), to what extent and under what
condition should we accept?
・Types of job
・Income
・Language level
・The number of immigrants/foreign workforces
・Length of stay
・etc…
(7) If your answer is “No” in Q(5), how can Japan survive the falling
birth rate and the aging population?
<If time permits>
(8) Suppose the Japanese government decide to accept more
immigrants/foreign workforces. What efforts does it need to make a
“harmonious society” between present Japanese citizens and
immigrants/foreign workforces?
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<Immigration reform: Could this be Abe’s new growth strategy?>
by Jeff Kingston Special To The Japan Times
May 19, 2013
The politics of immigration in Japan involve anxieties about national
identity and worries about crime. Looking at other countries with large
numbers of immigrants, the Japanese government has said “no thanks.”
There are, however, strong economic reasons for Japan to let down the
drawbridges.
Advocates point to Japan’s shrinking population, impending labor
shortages, and the need for more taxpayers to keep the national medical
and pension schemes solvent without considerably upping individuals’
contributions.
Critics fear that too many foreigners living in their midst will rip
asunder the fabric of society and endanger what they cherish about
Japan. But not all opponents are xenophobes; some argue that until Japan
can ensure foreigners’ rights and provide equal opportunity it should
not being putting out the welcome mat.
As of 2012, 24 percent of Japan’s population, numbering about 30
million, is over 65 years of age, and this will reach 40 percent by
2055. More importantly, the number of workers supporting each retiree is
shrinking, from 10 in 1950 to 3.6 in 2000 and 1.9 by 2025. And there are
fewer replacements in sight.
Who is going to pay sufficient taxes to fund retirees’ pensions and
medical care? And who will take care of all these elderly people as they
grow frail? Until now, female relatives have done most of the heavy
lifting, but a third of these caregivers report giving up their job in
order to do so, representing a significant loss of household income and
derailed careers. On top of that, many spouses are getting too old for
the job.
About one-half of family caregivers are age 60 or over, meaning that
much of elderly care is in the hands of the elderly. Currently, care
managers decide on how much national insurance-funded professional
assistance the elderly get at home, but it is supplementary. Given that
primary caregivers are usually female relatives, the declining number of
middle-aged women combined with the rapid growth in the number of
over-65s in the population suggests the limits of this model.
The major implication is a serious shortage of nurses and caregivers,
with estimates in the hundreds of thousands. The annual turnover rate
for caregivers is more than 20 percent, and some 500,000 Japanese with
licenses have given up working in the field; clearly many workers feel
it is not a desirable calling.
So who will take on these difficult, low-paid jobs? The answer might
come from overseas, but there is a tight global market as aging
societies elsewhere are also competing for the same limited pool of
caregiving professionals ― and many offer a better deal than this country.
Japan has initiated tiny pilot programs with Indonesia and the
Philippines, but the acceptance and retention criteria are set so high
that the programs are designed to fail. The difficulties of mastering
written Japanese, stringent qualification exams, and the prospect of
being sent home for failure to pass exams will hamper Japan’s efforts to
recruit and retain sufficient numbers of foreign caregivers. Hence such
programs offer little immediate relief to the existing acute shortages.
As of 2011, 63 out of the original 104 nurses who came from Indonesia in
2008 had returned home, citing language and other problems. Reportedly,
they were discouraged by restrictions preventing them from administering
some treatments, such as drips and injections, that they had been
licensed to administer in Indonesia. Instead, they are assigned tasks
that do not require professional training, such as bathing patients and
table setting.
In 2012, only 47 of 415 non-Japanese candidates passed the nursing exam.
Nursing homes estimate that its costs \30 million to train and employ a
nurse over the four-year initial visa, meaning that vast investments in
human resources are being squandered. Things have got so bad that this
year the government decided to give nurses and caregivers from both
countries an extra year to prepare for their exams. But this is an
inadequate, band-aid for a program that needs more fundamental surgery;
a microcosm of the overall policy challenges presented by immigration.
The doubling of the number of foreign residents in Japan over the past
two decades, to 2.2 million, has raised anxieties among Japanese about
the future of their country, national identity and how to manage the
influx ― even though this represents less than 2 percent of the population.
While Japan as a monoethnic, homogeneous nation persists in the
collective imagination, that perception is being confronted with some
jarring signs of transformation evident in increasing numbers of
international marriages and permanent-residency visas over the past two
decades. Ironically, recent studies suggest that in rural areas foreign
wives have played a key role in preserving traditions, taking over roles
that fewer Japanese women choose to assume.
Alas, public discourse is dominated by widespread misconceptions that
foreigners are crime-prone ― despite national crime statistics proving
they are not a menace to society.
Back in the early 1980s, Japan accepted more than 10,000 Indochinese
refugees, and they have done well and contributed to the communities
where they live. It’s an unheralded success that bears repeating. The
United Nations estimates that to stabilize Japan’s population and avoid
the consequences of a declining and aging population, immigration needs
to rise to 650,000 a year. That, though, just won’t happen.
But even if on a smaller scale, expanding immigration could boost
Japan’s capacity to innovate and create new wealth, bringing an infusion
of new ideas, language and cultural skills, global networks and
entrepreneurial spirit.
The recent influx of Chinese since the 1990s demonstrates just how
valuable immigrants can be, as these people have leveraged their
transnational networks to facilitate and contribute to burgeoning trade
and investment links. Many come as students and remain because they can
get good jobs and start profitable businesses. Since 2007, Chinese have
become Japan’s largest foreign resident population (more than 600,000),
while an additional 100,000 have become Japanese citizens.
In certain sectors facing a shortage of skilled workers, such as IT, the
government has initiated a new points system that targets foreigners
with desired skills, achievements and level of income. But this
fast-track permanent-resident visa program is small, involving only
about 2,000 people a year who are already working in Japan.
By way of comparison, the United States ― with a population more than
double Japan’s ― lets in 225,000 foreigners with special skills every
year because there is recognition that talented foreigners are
contributing to innovation, and immigrant entrepreneurs are creating
job-generating businesses.
Indeed, The Economist recently reported that immigrants or their
children founded 40 percent of Fortune 500 firms and were responsible
for 25 percent of all high-tech startups in the U.S.
A senior Cabinet office vice-minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s
government recently mentioned increasing the numbers of foreign
engineers and other skilled workers by annual increments of 100,000 by
easing criteria. In terms of growth strategies, the potential benefits
of attracting resourceful immigrants are significant, since ― just as in
the U.S. ― they could be engines of innovation and employment. Migrants
tend to have high aspirations and are willing to work hard to achieve
them; to the extent they prosper they could help rejuvenate the overall
economy.
Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Fast Retailing (Uniqlo), supports immigration as a
way to tap into the rising Asian story and make Japan more dynamic. But
nurturing and mobilizing immigration’s potential in Japan means creating
a more hospitable and appealing environment ― and that’s an agenda still
in search of a constituency.
Jeff Kingston is Director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/05/19/commentary/immigration-reform-could-this-be-abes-new-growth-strategy/
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