Illegal Migrant Laborers in Japan

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of illegal migrant workers in Japan in the last seven years poses Japanese policy-makers with a dilemma: should Japan capitulate to a domestic labor shortage and outside pressure on its borders and admit foreign laborers legally, or should it maintain its policy of excluding foreign laborers in order to protect Japanese society and economy from the adverse effects of foreign migration? Strong arguments in favor of both sides make an easy choice impossible, but the swelling presence of illegal migrant workers, fostered by strong economic forces, may make an exclusionary policy unworkable and unrealistic.