12-09-2018, 11:55 PM
*** 10-Dec-18 World View -- Japan invites hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in Japan
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Japan invites hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in Japan
****
![[Image: g181209b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g181209b.jpg)
Workers from Thailand work at Green Leaf farm, in Showa Village, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, June 6, 2018. (Reuters)
In the predawn hours on Saturday, Japan enacted controversial new
legislation that will permit 345,000 low-skilled foreign workers to
receive labor shortages, especially in such areas as farming, nursing
care and construction.
From April 1, a new residency permit category will allow foreigners
who have completed some skills training and passed a Japanese-language
test to work in Japan for up to five years in 14 industries.
The passage of the new law is almost an act of desperation, as Japan
has a low birth rate and an aging population, and needs workers who
can build build buildings, and support the elderly and the factories.
However, there is a great deal of opposition to the measure for
several reasons.
Foreign workers in Japan have been forced to work at almost slave
wages in jobs where they can be abused and exploited.
Labor leaders object to a program that brings in low-wage workers that
will take the jobs of Japanese workers.
But most of the objections refer to the Japanese culture. Throughout
its history, Japan has been an island shut off from the rest of the
world, with its unique shared customs and shared culture, and foreign
workers would not fit into that. Furthermore, Japan has a history
that a small number of Japanese treat any foreigners as subhuman.
For that reason, the new legislation is including a package of
measures to provide skills training, language training, and to ensure
decent working conditions. Japan Today and Nikkei and Washington Post and Japan Times
****
**** Analyzing the generational history of an insular Japan
****
The insular, isolated culture of Japan has presented unique problems
in trying to understand its history from the point of view of
Generational Dynamics theory.
For the past few centuries, we can divide Japanese history into four
distinct periods:
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics theory, the problem
occurs in the analyzing the 250 year Tokugawa era. Going 250 years
without a major war is not possible. Populations grow exponentially
and use up land and water resources, and after a few decades there
isn't enough food for everyone, so there has to be a war to restore
the balance. So if there were generational crisis wars during that
250 year period, then how come we aren't seeing them?
To put it another way, let's assume that Japan had crisis wars in the
1600-1868 period like every other country. How would those wars be
different from crisis wars in other countries?
Xenophobia and nationalism are often defined in terms of things like
race, skin color, appearance, language, geography and religion, things
that are set at birth and cannot be easily changed. What makes Japan
unique is because of its insularity and homogeneity, there is little
difference among groups of Japanese in terms of of race, skin color,
appearance, language, geography and religion. The only thing that
separates one group of Japanese from another would be political
beliefs, things that can be easily fudged or even changed.
When historians write about wars during a period, how do they describe
the wars? Usually it's "North vs South" or "dark-skinned vs
light-skinned" or "Protestants vs Catholics" or "English-speaking vs
French-speaking," or something like that. How would a historian
describe a war in Japan? In the "Warring Period," it was one warlord
versus another.
But in the Tokugawa period, there's apparently no obvious way. There
must have been wars, because the population growth would have exceeded
the demand for food, land, water and other resources, but how these
wars manifested themselves is little understood in the West. This is
an area that requires additional research. Japan Times and Columbia University and History.com
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Japan, Warring States Period,
Tokugawa Era, Commodore Matthew Perry, Meiji Era,
Imperial Era, Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Japan invites hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in Japan
- Analyzing the generational history of an insular Japan
****
**** Japan invites hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in Japan
****
Workers from Thailand work at Green Leaf farm, in Showa Village, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, June 6, 2018. (Reuters)
In the predawn hours on Saturday, Japan enacted controversial new
legislation that will permit 345,000 low-skilled foreign workers to
receive labor shortages, especially in such areas as farming, nursing
care and construction.
From April 1, a new residency permit category will allow foreigners
who have completed some skills training and passed a Japanese-language
test to work in Japan for up to five years in 14 industries.
The passage of the new law is almost an act of desperation, as Japan
has a low birth rate and an aging population, and needs workers who
can build build buildings, and support the elderly and the factories.
However, there is a great deal of opposition to the measure for
several reasons.
Foreign workers in Japan have been forced to work at almost slave
wages in jobs where they can be abused and exploited.
Labor leaders object to a program that brings in low-wage workers that
will take the jobs of Japanese workers.
But most of the objections refer to the Japanese culture. Throughout
its history, Japan has been an island shut off from the rest of the
world, with its unique shared customs and shared culture, and foreign
workers would not fit into that. Furthermore, Japan has a history
that a small number of Japanese treat any foreigners as subhuman.
For that reason, the new legislation is including a package of
measures to provide skills training, language training, and to ensure
decent working conditions. Japan Today and Nikkei and Washington Post and Japan Times
****
**** Analyzing the generational history of an insular Japan
****
The insular, isolated culture of Japan has presented unique problems
in trying to understand its history from the point of view of
Generational Dynamics theory.
For the past few centuries, we can divide Japanese history into four
distinct periods:
- The "Warring States" period (1467-1573), a lawless era of
civil war, in which the feudal lords of Japan fought one another in
endless plays for land and power. Japan was unified by a generational
crisis war climaxing in the Battle of Sekigahara in October 1600.
- The Tokugawa Peace era (1603-1868). This is described by the
Japanese as a 250-year period of peace -- an enforced "Period of
Seclusion" with almost no wars. The seclusion ended in 1853, when the
American Commodore Matthew Perry and his four "black ships" appeared
in Edo Bay, and demanded that Japan open up its markets to the West.
The sudden influx of foreign people, ideas, and money severely
disrupted Japan's secluded lifestyle and economy in the 1850s and
1860s, resulting in a crisis war climaxing in 1858 with Meiji
Restoration, which restored government by an emperor after the
Tokugawa government was removed.
- The Meiji Era (1868-1911) and the Imperial Era (1911-1945). Japan
fought and won a series of wars (Sino-Japanese war, Russo-Japanese
war), eventually leading to the World War II disaster.
- The Post-War Era (1945-present). Deeply horrified by their own
actions during the Imperial Era, the Japanese tried to recapture their
peaceful society of the Tokugawa era, including a self-forced return
to insularity by adopting a constitution that permits military action
only for self-defense.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics theory, the problem
occurs in the analyzing the 250 year Tokugawa era. Going 250 years
without a major war is not possible. Populations grow exponentially
and use up land and water resources, and after a few decades there
isn't enough food for everyone, so there has to be a war to restore
the balance. So if there were generational crisis wars during that
250 year period, then how come we aren't seeing them?
To put it another way, let's assume that Japan had crisis wars in the
1600-1868 period like every other country. How would those wars be
different from crisis wars in other countries?
Xenophobia and nationalism are often defined in terms of things like
race, skin color, appearance, language, geography and religion, things
that are set at birth and cannot be easily changed. What makes Japan
unique is because of its insularity and homogeneity, there is little
difference among groups of Japanese in terms of of race, skin color,
appearance, language, geography and religion. The only thing that
separates one group of Japanese from another would be political
beliefs, things that can be easily fudged or even changed.
When historians write about wars during a period, how do they describe
the wars? Usually it's "North vs South" or "dark-skinned vs
light-skinned" or "Protestants vs Catholics" or "English-speaking vs
French-speaking," or something like that. How would a historian
describe a war in Japan? In the "Warring Period," it was one warlord
versus another.
But in the Tokugawa period, there's apparently no obvious way. There
must have been wars, because the population growth would have exceeded
the demand for food, land, water and other resources, but how these
wars manifested themselves is little understood in the West. This is
an area that requires additional research. Japan Times and Columbia University and History.com
Related Articles
- Japan finds 'semi-infinite supply' of rare earth minerals in its territorial waters (13-Apr-2018)
- Japan's PM visits Yasukuni shrine, infuriating Chinese and Koreans (27-Dec-2013)
- Japan's Shinzo Abe blames WW II on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act (15-Aug-2015)
- China makes four demands of Japan to improve relations (01-May-2016)
- China and Japan continue to prepare for war over Senkaku/Diaoyu islands (29-Oct-2012)
- The bubble that broke the world (09-Oct-2007)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Japan, Warring States Period,
Tokugawa Era, Commodore Matthew Perry, Meiji Era,
Imperial Era, Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
