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Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

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ShioriEigoKyoushi

Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Japan

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 1:38 am Post subject: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

- Last edited by ShioriEigoKyoushi on Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Smooth Operator

Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Location: Japan

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:52 am Post subject: Re: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote:

Or is it that since the victims are seen as foreign, their rights are not considered important at all? Or that the victims are blamed (a route taken by many people worldwide when they don't want to confront the infinitely more complex reasons for a problem for which they may be somehow responsible)?

The most plausible reasons I reckon.

ShioriEigoKyoushi

Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Japan

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:50 am Post subject:

- Last edited by ShioriEigoKyoushi on Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Glenski

Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 1:35 pm Post subject: Re: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote:

Hi everyone,

Recently I've been reading about Shakai Hoken, ward tax, standard Japanese holiday entitlements, notice periods and other goodies that frequently appear to have eikaiwa and other school management "slightly confused".

Some of what I read makes me angry, but it also makes me confused, and I am interested in what some of the Japan-long-timers here make of it.

Why does this situation persist? Is it just that nobody knows?

1. Many foreigners don't know about insurance issues, even people who have been here for years. Many teachers are also very new to the biz and/or are just here for hedonistic pleasures, not for improving the system for the others who are serious or who plan to stay.

Some issues persist because the government (e.g., MEXT) doesn't seem to care. I say "seem" because many people taking a direct approach in asking them are meeting with brick walls of silence or double-talk, so it is sometimes hard to know. One thing is for certain, and that was alluded to by you earlier: many Japanese simply do not want to rock the boat. Get used to it if you are planning to stay here. Things can change for the better, but it takes a long time and a lot of effort, especially from foreigners.

Quote:

Or is it this custom I've observed that when in Japan, if someone does something unacceptable or disruptive to harmony/the peace it is universally recognised as such, but that calling them on what they've done is also seen as unacceptably disruptive to the peace so is equally discouraged?

This is in agreement with what I just wrote, yes.

And, perceptions of harmony may surprise you.

Example.
Someone stands and blocks a doorway in a crowded station or just before an escalator. Where I come from, someone would tell that person to move because he is "disrupting the harmony" by blocking traffic for others. Here, however, it is disruptive to speak to that person and tell him to move.

Quote:

Or is it that since the victims are seen as foreign, their rights are not considered important at all?

Partly true, too.

Quote:

Or that the victims are blamed (a route taken by many people worldwide when they don't want to confront the infinitely more complex reasons for a problem for which they may be somehow responsible)?

Again, partly true. Lots of guilt and shame here.

Quote:

English education is seen here as a way of being more respectable, associated with affluence and opportunity.

To some, yes. Eikaiwa teachers and many JET ALTs are not seen in such a light, though.

Quote:

Surely if some of the dodgy dealings were more widely known then it would taint this perception.

The "dodgy dealings" are known. Take shakai hoken, for example. Employers know full and well that they can get away with not offering it as long as they claim less than 30 hours a week for the teacher's work hours. It's how the employer chooses to define it. Complaints on this seemed to be voiced a lot in the last few years, so word has obviously spread between employers who want to save money.

The unions protest loudly. They try to meet with employers to resolve issues. Teachers protest on their own, too. Who listens? Read the www.generalunion.org page a bit, and you'll see cases where employers shut their doors and don't answer, or try to call strikes illegal, or try to say that joining a union is illegal. Berlitz teachers have been on strike now for over a year. It's very slow-going, partly because the courts allow delays.

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Wouldn't it be effective if students became embarassed to admit they attended "bad" eikaiwas

It wasn't embarrassment that brought NOVA down by students. It was a realization of what illegalities the president there was doing, but it took major complaints by students to bring them out. As for strikes, do you think the students at a uni are embarrassed to see their foreign teachers walking the lines? They probably don't even understand what is going on.

Quote:

I have searched the forum for threads on similar topics but most of the Shakai Hoken ones are about "how do I get out of it, and the anti-eikaiwa ones are rather emotive whinges. I'm trying to be objective and think of ways forward from where we are, not rants.

Read the General Union pages and those of its sister union.

ripslyme

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan

Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:41 am Post subject: Re: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

Glenski wrote:

Quote:

Surely if some of the dodgy dealings were more widely known then it would taint this perception.

This is the part that gets me. How can these companies claim all these workers are part-time employees and then sponsor their visas for full-time work? If the government was serious about cracking down on these dodgy dealings, that's all the justification they need to get these companies to cough up the dough and start contributing.

Glenski

Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:01 am Post subject:

Shhh, keep it down. You want someone to hear and actually listen to logic? Either immigration / Ministry of Justice clamps down on such things, or people are not going to be able to keep their visas. Shhh.

GambateBingBangBOOM

Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan

Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:03 am Post subject: Re: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

ripslyme wrote:

Glenski wrote:

Quote:

Surely if some of the dodgy dealings were more widely known then it would taint this perception.

Why would the government be serious about cracking down on dodgy dealings? Governments do what they do in order to increase their potential to get re-elected. Foreigners can't vote. So doing things to help foreigners won't do much to help the government get re-elected. There's an 'us versus them' attitude between Japanese employers and foreign employees. The government helping foreigners therefore hurts the Japanese employers (because the employers would have to pay health insurance). OTOH, the government can't be seen to be playing into the 'us versus them' game and siding against foreigners, because that could lead to international condemnation in a country that was (and may still be???) listed as supporting human trafficking.

And so the result is stoney-faced non-responses by the government and employers.

Glenski

Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:22 am Post subject: Re: Dodgy dealings... why do they persist?

GambateBingBangBOOM wrote:

Why would the government be serious about cracking down on dodgy dealings? Governments do what they do in order to increase their potential to get re-elected. Foreigners can't vote.

I hear what you are saying. The government has to wake up to the fact that with declining birthrate, the only people to take over jobs will be foreigners!

Quote:

So doing things to help foreigners won't do much to help the government get re-elected.

True, and they only think in short-range terms (look how many Prime Ministers we've had in the last 5-6 years). But, soon, even they won't be around.

Quote:

There's an 'us versus them' attitude between Japanese employers and foreign employees.

I think that the attitude is mostly "us" vs. "survival" financially. Look at the loopholes companies take advantage of to not make insurance copayments. They don't hate the foreigners they hire; they just don't want to lose money making copayments. Most ALT dispatch outfits are said to operate illegally because they don't have a license. Doesn't take much to clamp down on that infringement, but eyes are turned the other way. I don't know what it takes to get such a license, but I suspect it isn't much, so there must be something else in a hidden agenda somewhere. It could be as simple as "Oh, with a license, we'd have to pay X in taxes" or something, another financial avoidance. I really don't know. The problem with the ALT situation in this respect is that not enough ALTs are complaining, so the problems perpetuate.

Quote:

OTOH, the government can't be seen to be playing into the 'us versus them' game and siding against foreigners, because that could lead to international condemnation

It already is being condemned. Look at what people like Debito Arudou is doing to open eyes and make changes. Look at what the Nambu and General Union are trying to do, too. Teachers do protest, too, in case you didn't know. But few are listening.

Quote:

And so the result is stoney-faced non-responses by the government and employers.

Or worse. In some cases, meetings are disrupted by planted individuals who take the issues off-topic or shout (literally) loud enough to drown out the foreign speakers. Or in the case of the Berlitz strike, the courts allow delays in the process which drag the case out for over a year. Action is being taken, GBBBoom, but it is a horribly slow process even with the right stuff behind you. It's even slower when you don't have the support (not enough teachers speaking up because they don't know better, or they are afraid to lose their jobs, or they don't care about the situation because they may not be here long anyway).

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