1 in 7 Brazilians, Indonesians and Vietnamese share a working environment at the chive farm. — Photo: TS Farm via BBC Brazilians, Indonesians and Vietnamese share a working environment at Chive Farm. — Photo: TS Farm via BBC
Brazilians have lost ground to other nationalities among expats in Japan, a country historically reluctant to immigrate but has welcomed increasing numbers of immigrants in recent years.
For nearly two decades, Brazilians remained the thirdlargest expatriate community in the “Land of the Rising Sun,” behind Chinese and South Koreans.
But everything changed in the last ten years. First they were overtaken by the Filipinos. Then by the Vietnamese.
During that time, the population of Brazilians in Japan has remained practically the same there are around 200,000 in the country, down from the peak of 300,000 before the Great Depression of 2008.
The number of Vietnamese has grown and now numbers 500,000 or 16% of the total 2.6 million foreigners living in the country.
They are the second largest group behind the Chinese (744,000 or 25.1% of the total), according to the Japanese Ministry of Justice.
According to Eiji Shimada, an executive at a company that specializes in recruiting foreign workers, Brazilians have become less competitive in the Japanese job market for two reasons: they’ve gotten older and many haven’t bothered to work in the Japanese labor market to learn language.
“And the Asians who come in come with level 4 skills (increasing from 1 to 5). That’s a relief for employers,” he says.
The boom in Brazilian immigration to Japan occurred with the revision of the Immigration Control Law in June 1990.
Thrilled by the opportunity to work and live in the countryside for a relatively long time, thousands of Japanese descendants and their spouses through the third generation ended up working as factory workers. The work was hard but financially rewarding.
Between the 1990s and 2000s, the number of Brazilians quintupled, reaching 250,000 people.
For the Vietnamese, the jump was greater over the same period: this community grew from 70,000 to almost 500,000 in ten years.
2 of 7 For Eiji Shimada, Brazilians lose their competitiveness in the labor market because of their age and because they don’t speak Japanese. — Photo: Eiji Shimada/Staff Archive via BBC For Eiji Shimada, Brazilians lose their competitiveness in the job market because of their age and lack of command of Japanese. — Photo: Eiji Shimada/Staff Archives via BBC
differences
But Professor Angelo Ishi from the Department of Media and Sociology at Musashi University in Tokyo points out important differences between the two groups.
“The biggest is that the Brazilian community is overwhelmingly Nikkei (Japanese descendants). And this peculiarity gives them the benefit of a visa with few restrictions on activities, which has helped a lot in adapting to the country and navigating the Japanese labor market (ease of use). to change jobs and sectors).
In the case of Vietnamese, most have Guinoo Jisshusei visas (internship visas) and another significant proportion are students (Ryugakusei) in both cases they are subject to more restrictions than Nikkei visas.
Shimada, a human resources specialist, says that the advantage for the employer of having an Asian technical intern is to retain that workforce, since this type of visa does not allow the foreigner to change employers while they are in Japan is.
3 of 7 TS Farm, owned by Brazilian Walter Toshio Saito, increased recruitment from Vietnamese and Indonesians. — Photo: TS Farm via BBC TS Farm, owned by Brazilian Walter Toshio Saito, increased recruitment from Vietnamese and Indonesians. — Photo: TS Farm via BBC
In the 1990s, Japan introduced the internship program with the stated goal of providing workers in developing countries with training, technical skills and technology experience.
However, due to numerous complaints from interns about the lack of wages and poor working conditions, the system has been compared to a modern form of slavery.
Critics say the program actually aims to fill the economy’s shortage of lowskilled workers.
In April 2019, the technical intern program was expanded to accommodate 345,000 workers. They would have the right to stay in Japan for a maximum of five years and to work in sectors such as agriculture, construction and nursing where labor shortages are severe.
After completing the training, it is possible to change the visa status to another, that of specific skills, and thus extend your stay in the country by a maximum of ten years.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, about 1.8 million people (twothirds of the foreign population) are considered workers with various visas, with more than 327,000 registered as technical interns.
This total has increased since statistical calculations began in 2007.
By nationality, the Vietnamese top the list of workers in general, with 462,000 people (25.4% of the total).
reaction to change
Brazilians feel this change in the working environment and have different reactions to it. Many see Filipinos and Vietnamese as a threat.
Others, like Selma da Silva from Rio de Janeiro, prefer to get to know a new culture with their colleagues.
In 2014 she decided to return to Brazil after three decades in Japan. Around 22,000 Brazilians and 18,000 Vietnamese lived in Aichi province that year.
However, when Selma packed her bags for Japan two years ago, she found a different scene in Aichi.
“There were a lot of them (Vietnamese) where I work a furnace parts factory and almost all of them are young. I don’t understand the language, but we try to communicate with gestures and Japanese that can break the branch,” he says.
4 of 7 Selma Silva has lived in Japan for over 30 years. — Photo: Personal archive via BBC Selma Silva has lived in Japan for over 30 years. — Photo: Personal archive via BBC
small business
There are currently 298,790 companies recruiting foreign workers in Japan, with more than 60% being small companies (less than 30 employees).
An example is TS Farm by Brazilian Walter Toshio Saito. Known as the “King of Chives” due to the volume of production, he decided to increase the hiring of Asians (Vietnamese and Indonesian) to work in the fields.
“For the employer, interns cost less than other temporary workers. Also, they are hardworking and support the conditions of sending money home,” he says.
According to Edson Urano, associate professor of the graduate program in international public policy at Tsukuba University, because of the competition in the market, the focus is on optimizing work.
“Ultimately, the Technical Internship Program is of interest to employers who are trying to reduce labor costs. However, it means additional pressure for Brazilians as companies combine different types of contracts and precarious workers in the production system to cut costs, which puts downward pressure on wages.”
He recalls that Brazilians came to Japan at a time when the country was emerging from the economic bubble, when there was a shortage of workers and wages were high.
“On the other hand, the economy in Brazil was bad, so there was a very big win for those who wanted to come here. But after the 2008 financial crisis, the scenario changed,” he adds.
According to him, Brazilian workers need to change their focus.
“If the Brazilian decides to submit to the peripheral labor market, he will remain in a fragile situation. For those who make a living from work, the greatest asset is body and health, and with age, the body may no longer be able to do so be able to.” have been working on the assembly line for more than ten years,” says Urano.
5 of 7 The population of Brazilians in Japan has changed little in the last ten years. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC The population of Brazilians in Japan has changed little over the past decade. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC
“Lack of perspective”
A lack of prospects is not a feeling only shared by foreigners. Currently, there is an institutionalized despondency affecting the Japanese population at large.
Uranus notes that in contrast to the 1980s, when the country expressed optimism, even exaggerated for some, about the future, Japanese society now lacks vitality after four “lost” decades Japan grew between 1980 and 1980 2022 by only 0.43%.
“Japan appears to have resigned itself to a less than bright future, knowing that its population will shrink and grow strongly, and so will its economy,” he says.
Although there has been no improvement on the income side, Shimada points out that there have been generally positive changes for the worker, particularly in terms of their wellbeing.
Japan passed the Gender Equality in the Workplace Act to guarantee equal pay for men and women and implemented labor reform under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that promised a “revolution in the way people work” to boost productivity to increase country.
Companies should be encouraged to invest more in technology and introduce flexible working hours.
However, experts say foreign workers are becoming increasingly necessary to deal with the labor shortages the country is experiencing.
6 out of 7 foreigners remain only a tiny part of the Japanese population. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC Foreigners still make up only a small part of Japan’s population. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC
Even so, foreigners remain only a tiny fraction of Japan’s population.
In 2020, they were 2.2%, while they are 13.3% in the United States, 19% in Germany and 21% in Canada.
According to experts, there is fierce competition for workers from Asian countries, which are responsible for sending more than 40% of workers to the global market, and Japan needs to make new concessions, improve the working environment and pay if it wants to remain attractive . . .
“The country has relaxed some of its rules on welcoming foreigners while its people learn to live with them. But it needs to make more effort to take advantage of global human resources,” Urano said.
Japan is one of the top destinations for young people in Vietnam looking for the dream of improving their lives.
Both Brazilians and Vietnamese seem happy with the country, according to a survey on the situation of foreigners conducted by Japan’s Justice Ministry’s Immigration Service since 2020.
“We already found in the first survey in 2020 that the level of satisfaction with life in Japan is relatively high. The trend was confirmed in this second edition. Practically nine out of ten residents (87.8%) are satisfied or relatively satisfied.”
Filipinos (68%) and Americans (62%) are the most satisfied with life in Japan, with Taiwanese (35.8%) and Chinese (36.1%) at the other extreme. On average, Brazilians and Vietnamese are good: 53% and 52% are satisfied, and 31.2% and 35.6% are relatively satisfied.
Pandemic and loss of income
7 out of 7 Loss of income was widespread among foreigners in Japan during the pandemic. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC Loss of income was widespread among foreigners in Japan during the pandemic. — Photo: Getty Images via BBC
According to the same survey, Vietnamese were also more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic than Brazilians, notes Ishi, who has participated in all editions of the survey as an academic advisor.
While 29.5% of Brazilians responded that “their income has decreased or they have lost their job”, the Vietnamese’s rate was 51.6%, the highest among all foreigners.
Loss of income was widespread among foreigners. When asked “What is your biggest problem at work”, 35.6% of all respondents answered that “the salary is too low”.
“In terms of income, it’s worrying that 18% of respondents live on less than 2 million yen a year (monthly average of 166,000 yen or the equivalent of 6,600 BRL) given rampant inflation in Japan,” says Ishi.
However, to achieve the “Japanese Dream” the cost to Asians was high.
According to a 2022 survey by the Japan Immigration Agency, the Vietnamese take on large debts to pay around 688,000 yen (nearly R$28,000) charged by agencies and intermediary groups.
Although Japan has signed agreements with 14 countries participating in the technical trainee training program, there are local differences.
While the Philippine government prohibits charging shipping fees, according to the agency, Vietnam allows it.
According to the same survey, 79% of the interns surveyed said they received what they expected or even more than their expected salary, but 21% found the figure was below expectations.
The Immigration Service believes that frustration with low wages and working conditions can explain most of the 7,167 registered internal flight cases (60% of them from Vietnam).
Anyone who has completed the specialist internship program cannot change, even if they are dissatisfied. Many therefore choose to give up, but stay in Japan irregularly to pay off their debts and pursue their dreams.