Writing Practice: Moocs Academic and Business Writing Week 3 Journal 3 (Draft for Draft of My Final Project)

discussion posted 18 days ago by NorikoSasaki

First I thought I was going to write a movie review, but now I would like to write about a social issue as follows.

(Discarded Idea: I am going to write a movie review. It is going to be about the same movie I wrote about in Journal 2, Fahrenheit 11/9. I'd like to make specific descriptions of the three points made in it: the causes of the surprising 2016 US Presidential election result, the situation the United States has had since Trump administration started, and what might happen in the future.)

New Idea: I would like to write about the Japanese immigration policy.

Draft of Draft: This year, the Japanese government decided to accept more foreign workers from abroad. While it may seem good for those in other countries thinking about working abroad as well, this is actually problematic. The government is trying to solve the labor shortage problem without giving foreign workers decent life and status, much less citizenship. The government should have a real immigration policy.

Over the past half a century, the Japanese government has accepted neither immigrants nor foreign workers except for political refugees and elite white collar workers. Meanwhile, the working population started shrinking about 25 years ago because of low birth rates and aging. Companies started to go bankrupt due to labor shortage. Then they started to hire foreign workers using loopholes. They have been using government-sponsored foreign trainees and foreign students, who are allowed to work for a certain amount of time. There have also been foreign workers who have overstayed and/or married Japanese.

Now, foreigners account for about 2 percent of the workforce. Very often, these people are forced to work overtime under poor conditions for low wages. Harassment exist as well. A large number of foreign workers commit suicide or disappear every year.

What the government has decided to do this year is to increase the number of the trainees. It has no intention to have a real immigration law and foreign labor law in place.

What is worse, the society has a xenophobic and nationalistic past, and present. There is a long history of discrimination against Chinese and Korean residents. Many Japanese speak as if they are speaking to a child when they have conversation with a foreigner in Japanese. Prejudice against black people is strong.

Some Individuals and communities might be more liberal and tolerant. A few public schools in Tokyo support children of foreigners in their language acquisition. A community has successfully communicated and built good relationship with foreign residents by inviting them to traditional events and community meetings. Businesses are more open than public feelings. Duty-free signs are everywhere. Halal food restaurants are on the increase. Even a rahmen shop that serves noodles without ingredients prohibited in Islam.

The global society demands that Japan accept more immigrants from the global society, while the way immigrants are treated will influence the welfare of the domestic society.

Foreign workers and immigrants are not just economic refugees but also assets. They will reproduce the country and evolve the cultures. Therefore, they should be welcomed and their rights should be protected. However, the current government policy on foreign workers will cause more violation of human rights and slavery than now.

reference: Aberrant on-the-job training system in Japan - 36,000 missing in 5 years, Tomohiko Nakamura, professor of economics at Kobe International University https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/nakamuratomohiko/20181106-00103150/