Job Discussion Forums

[sammael]

To add some more to PaulH posts, a friend of mine visits a detention facility in Kansai every so often! The women usually want phone cards and cigarettes but for those who overstay there visa, make a few errors with the law, a look at few of the stories posted on this lengthy site, may give you reason to to avoid entanglements with the law in ANY KIND OF FASHION!

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA220091997

[PAULH]

I have already posted about this at length on other boards, but also if you are a foreigner here,married with kids and you get a divorce from a Japanese spouse, you have absolutely no rights with regard to custody of children,or visitation rights.

If your wife takes off with the kids, even the police do not have to tell you where they are, and if your wife refuses access to the kids, well , tough bikkies.

Japanese courts will usually give access to the mother, in 95% of the cases. The courts can not and will not enforce the rights of the foreign father. As long as you have PR, you can not be deported, but its possible for you to be shipped back home if you lose your spouse visa, which means you probably never see your kids again.

Its even worse when you take the kids back home and the wife comes after them. By law in the US if your wife presses charges for abduction the police can hand over the children to the wife to take them back to japan.

No such law exists in Japan. If your wife takes the kids back to Japan, no law in the land can make your wife hand them over to you once they are back in Japan. Several such abduction cases have already occurred, with foreign parents getting the short end of the stick, with Japanese ex-spouses.

[PAULH]

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, adopted by 74 countries, is an important tool for those seeking the return of children abducted across international borders, or to exercise their rights of access to see them.

Japan is the only G-7 industrialized country that is not a party to The Hague abduction convention.

It does not have a formal two-parent signature requirement for obtaining passports for minors. It has no bilateral child support enforcement agreement with another country, and has no plans to participate in the new multilateral child support convention.

Japanese law enforcement and social service agencies unfortunately seem unable to enforce custody and support orders-even those laid down by their own courts, let alone from another country's courts.

Obviously, each country has its own legal system, which reflects that country's deeply held values. International legal cooperation in family matters cannot and does not require that all countries' legal systems be exactly the same. But just as countries have to be willing to adjust their own laws in order to compete in a global economy and participate in the fight against international terrorism, they also have to ensure that their family laws provide an effective remedy in international abduction and child support cases.

[Gordon]

This isn't about our lack of rights, but it's an interesting article about what the Japanese think of us.

Xenophobia soars as 70% hate idea of foreign workers in Japan


Over 70 percent of Japanese don't want foreign workers to come into the country to fill what is forecast to be a massive labor shortage in coming years, a Cabinet Office survey has showed.

Rising 21.5 points on the previous survey results from four years ago, 70.7 percent of the 3,000 Japanese canvassed said the idea of importing foreign labor to fill job spaces was "not good."

Reasons given for the dislike of foreigners included fears of rising crime.

Anti-foreigner sentiment was also evident in respondents' answers to how they would deal with workers overstaying their visas, with 61.8 percent saying all those without valid permits "should be deported immediately."

Those who did not like the idea of foreign workers, but prepared to accept them for the future of the country plummeted by 16 points to just 24.5 percent.

Most respondents said they would rather put women and the elderly to better use in the workforce than use foreigners.

(Mainichi Shimbun, July 25, 2004)

[Brooks]

brother, that is not good.

I guess that foreign English teachers are just a necessary evil in Japan, but what about the people who do the dirty and dangerous jobs that Japanese don`t want to do? Like the Iranians, Koreans, and Chinese? Will Japanese do that work?

I can see that some people don`t like having foreign prostitutes in Japan,
but thanks to the yakuza they come.

Crime by foreigners gets more press than that by Japanese, but it isn`t going up. Basically Japanese on Japanese crime is going up.

Too many people listen to what Ishihara and his kind have to say.

[Glenski]

I read that article, too. Personally, I found it coming up short of good reporting. It tends to start on one point, then drift off to another, and leave out lots of necessary details.

Trying to read between the (gaping holes in the) lines, here is my take on it.

Japanese don't like illegal foreign workers here. Gee, who would? I don't, either. But, I don't generalize by saying I hate "foreign workers", which implies all foreign workers (until you wade through the article, that is, and by then the damage is done) It's like telling a jury to disregard what they have heard when a judge throws out a statement. They can't; it's already been impressed on their minds.

Japanese would rather see more women and elderly used in the work force. Yes, that's true, but they have set their own ceilings and barriers on women in the work place. You can't really blame the presence or availability of foreigners. As for elderly, well, with the declining birth rate, the population of the elderly is rising, so they are also out there, more available than ever before. However, just what would you have them do? My father-in-law retired last year from a successful insurance career. In order to keep some money coming in, and to keep busy, he works part-time as a security guard in a couple of locations. But, he is still relatively young (64). Just how old are the "elderly" who Japanese want to employ, and what do they expect such people to do?

That brings me to another point. Many foreigners are here doing the dirty, dangerous, and unwanted jobs that Japanese don't want to do. Some are working illegally, sure, but some are not. Do the Japanese really want women and elderly doing those jobs, or is this reported opinion just a generalized off the cuff remark expressing disdain for something other than employed foreigners?

As to the fear of rising crime, it has been pointed out many times that the crime rate of foreigners is less than that of Japanese, but bigwig loudmouths like Governor Ishihara are too busy blinking and squinting in their speeches to see that and accept it. He and the prior Prime Minister Mori often have often used antiquated words that put a slur on foreigners in general, as well as towards specific nationalities. Nice role models, guys.

[chi-chi-]

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, who has been fighting deportation to the United States, has formally asked Tokyo for asylum, an adviser said Monday.

The American chess player, wanted by U.S. authorities for playing a 1992 match in the former Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions, was granted a three-day extension Friday to appeal Japan's decision last week to deport him for traveling with a revoked U.S. passport. He has been in Japanese custody for two weeks.

Fischer's lawyer filed the appeal, addressed to Japan's justice minister, at Narita International Airport just hours before the midnight deadline, said John Bosnitch, a Tokyo-based communications consultant advising Fischer.

It was the second time Fischer has appealed the deportation order; the first was rejected last week.

Fischer appeared to be trying to buy more time to avoid possible U.S. prosecution. In the United States he would face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, officials say.

Justice Ministry official Shoichi Okabe declined to comment on the filing, citing privacy laws. He said there was no time set for a decision.


taken from:

http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/article.aspx?news=165818

[Iwantmyrightsnow]

Has Japan made a deal - Fischer for Jenkins?

[Vince]

I was thinking along same lines as Glenski. That report overlooks a lot of variables and seems to sensationalize Japanese discrimination against foreigners.

Who exactly do Japanese envision when they think of undesiderable foreigners? I suspect it's the groups with high numbers of overstayers and convicted criminals. I understand that the police are known to railroad people based on discriminatory notions, but think that accounts for a small minority of convictions. Still, I agree that there's an unsettling trend for the establishment to lean in the direction of tribalism rather than humanistic justice.

I remember a point in my Japanese studies after which my wife discouraged further progress. She did the typical Japanese thing of dropping a hint with as little responsibility for it as possible, than providing no further information. I of course disregarded her and pushed onward. I've always wondered if she was trying to protect me from something. I appreciate that (if it's the case), but the difference between her and me is that I'm willing to improve my Japanese in the face of any backlash and do what I can to influence things; she takes the typical Japanese position--seiza with one's face on the ground. I love her, but facts are facts.

On the other hand, I remember a couple of instances in which people approached like I was just another face in the crowd. Once while standing outside between classes, an older woman came up and asked me in everyday Japanese how to get to the station. Another time, a guy rolled up to me on his scooter and asked in everyday Japanese if I knew where a certain street was. But I saw the opposite too. There was the time that a supposedly tough guy pulled up to me in his car to ask for directions. When I stepped out of the shadow and he saw my non-Japanese face, his eyes shot open as he stomped on the gas and sped around corner. I prefer to put my emotional stock in the first two encounters, but I know the reality of the other one.

If an earthquake devastated Japan while I was there, I think the Japanese authorities would have extended the same assistance to me as to my wife. There might be individuals who would prefer to leave me on my own, but I doubt that would represent the feelings of the emergency assistance establishment. I agree that it would be nice to see that confirmed in the laws.

[Sherri]

I just saw this thread. The relief I feel from leaving Japan after living there since 1991 is enormous! I am not a foreigner anymore! No one stares at me! No one stares at my kids! We don't get any special attention. People assume my Japanese husband is Amerian (until they hear his accent). I love looking around and seeing people of all different colors around me.

I know that a lot of non Japanese choose to make Japan their home for one reason or another, but I for one am glad that I made the decision to leave. Japan was good in the short term for me. I found the last 4 or 5 years of living there were the hardest. Long term in Japan for me and my family--just not worth it!
Sherri

[Erikku]

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

[King Kong Bundy]

[quote="denise"]Migo--

I agree. Although I am enjoying myself now, I know that I could never stay here for more than just a couple of years, because I know how I would be treated and (not) welcomed as a long-term resident.

That is not true Denise. I am a long term resident and sure I have been discriminated against. Read my thread: "Working in Japan without a contract? Don't let this happen to you!"

When I went to Saitama labour Board, I was treated worst than a gaijin. I had proof of the lies and wrong doing Sugita did to me yet they did nothing. I finally found a lawyer who is in the process of suing him.
However there are prejudice people everywhere in and in every country.

Over all I was treated a lot worse in Korea. I was there when a military truck ran over two girls. I will never go back to Korea.

I like Japan but of course would like to see the government provide a little more protection to gaijins. Call me a gaijin just make sure a company has to pay me for the work I provided.

Anyway over all I have meant a lot of really kind and honorable people. Most Japan mean well and treat me better than I ever have been treated in the country I was born in. Maybe I will never leave Japan.

[Erikku]