This paper analyzes the characteristic of labor management in the Japanese labor market through the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP)—one of Japan’s foreign labor policies to supply labor force from Asian neighbors into domestic sectors. Previous studies on TITP were mainly focused on institutional and industrial analyses. These studies often focus on how trainees are inserted into restructured labor market to augment labor shortage amid global economic competition. On the other hand, this paper focuses on the 1) ideological analysis of the framework of government policy and 2) its function on actual labor management in TITP. This perspective seeks to contribute to an understanding of the mechanism of migrant control by the state and labor management by the employer. As a result, this paper shows, how the state and employer manage the “silent workers” by using paternalistic labor management and the On (恩) ideology of indebtedness.
AkashiJ (2018) Immigration policy in contemporary Japan: the Dilemma between control and coexistence. In: ZuluetaH (ed.), Thinking beyond the State: Migration, Integration, and Citizenship in Japan and the Philippines. Manila: De La Salle University Publishing House, 3–31.
2.
BenedictR (1946) The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. Tokyo: Tuttle publishing.
3.
DouglassMGlendaS (2000) Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society. New York, NY: Routledge.
4.
EnokiK (2009) Kindai Nihon no Keiei Paternalism (The management paternalism in modern Japan). The journal of Ohara Institute for Social Research611–612(9): 28–42.
5.
EnokiK (2017) Kindai Nihon no paternalism to Fukurishisetsu (Paternalism and Welfare Facilities in Modern Japan). The Ohara Institute for Social Research705(7): 29–43.
6.
EraS (2018) The Vietnam-Japan trans-border recruiting system for construction workers: Japan’s changing national policy and the role of intermediate agencies. Review of Asian and Pacific Studies43: 117–135.
7.
EricssonCHorgbyBIshiharaS (2015) Faderliga Företagare i Sverige och Japan. Stockholm: Carlssons Bokförlag.
8.
FarhJ-LChengB-S (2000) A cultural analysis of paternalistic leadership in Chinese organizations. In LiJTsuiAWeldonE (eds) Management and Organizations in the Chinese Context. London: Macmillan, 84–127.
9.
HazamaH (1963) Nihonontekikeiei no keifu (Genealogy of Japanese Management). Tokyo: Bunshindo.
10.
Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JIL) (2015) Heisei 27 nen roudouryoku jukyuu no suii (Estimate of Labor for supply and demand), press release. Available (consulted March152020) at: http://www.jil.go.jp/press/documents/20151216.pdf
11.
Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO) (2015) Ginoujisshusei no yukue fumeisha hasseiboushi taisaku ni tsuite (Advice for preventing disappearance of technical trainees). Tokyo: Japan International Training Cooperation Organization.
KamibayashiC (2015) Gaikokujinroudousya Ukeire to Nihon Syakai (Accepting foreign workers in Japanese society: The Dilemma of a Temporary Immigrants Program). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
14.
LanPC (2019) Bridging ethnic differences for cultural intimacy: production of migrant care workers in Japan. Critical Sociology44(7–8): 1029–1043.
15.
MazumiY (2019) What shapes local demand for ‘guest worker’ migrants in Japan? The case of the seafood processing industry. Contemporary Japan1(31): 2–20.
MiyajimaTSuzukiE (2015) Gaikokujin roudousya ukeire o tou (Questioning accepting foreign workers). Tokyo: Iwanami books.
22.
NeubertJCarlsonSKacmarK, et al. (2009) The virtuous influence of ethical leadership behavior: evidence from the field. Journal of Business Ethics90(2): 157–170.
23.
OdakaK (1998) Nihonteki Keiei: Sono Shinwa to Genjitsu (Japanese Management: The myth and the reality). Tokyo: Chuko Shinsho.
24.
OishiN (1995) Training or employment? Japanese immigration policy in dilemma. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal4(2–3): 367–385.
Organization for Technical Intern Training (OTIT) (2020) Ginou jisshuu seido no genjou (report on technical intern training program in 2018). Available (consulted March152020) at: http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001273509.pdf
27.
ÖtkenACenkciT (2012) The impact of paternalistic leadership on ethical climate: the moderating role of trust in leader. Journal of Business Ethics108(4): 525–536.
PortesAZhouM (1993) The new second generation: segmented assimilation and its variants. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences530(11): 74–96.
30.
RatnayakePDe SilvaSKageR (2016) Workforce development with Japanese technical intern training program in Asia: an overview of performance. Saga Daigaku Keizai Ronnsyu. University of Saga49(3): 1–31.
31.
Republic of Korea, Ministry of Justice (MOJ Korea) (2019) Statistic of Illegal Migrants in Korea. Available (consulted March142020) at: http://www.moj.go.kr/moj/2415/subview.do
32.
RobertsG (2018) An immigration policy by any other name: semantics of immigration to Japan. Social Science Japan Journal21(1): 89–102.
33.
SchminkeMAmbroseMNeubaumD (2005) The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes97(2): 135–151.
34.
SmithC (2003) Living at Work: Management Control and the Dormitory Labour System in China. Asia Pacific of Management20: 333–358.
35.
SuzukiH (2010) Employment relations in Japan: recent changes under global competition and recession, Journal of Industrial Relations52(3): 390–396.
36.
TakayaS (2019) Mukidashi no sei eno shukusyo ni koushite (Resisting for the reducing of Bare Life). Gendai shiso47(5): 59–67.
37.
TannoK (2007) Ekkyou suru koyou system to gaikokujin roudousya (Transnational Employment System and Migrant Workers in Japan). Tokyo: University of Tokyo press.
38.
TannoK (2011) Global ka jidai no hatarakikata o kangaeru (Thinking working style of globalization era). Rodosaishin (4th edn.) Nishizawa, Akihiko, Tokyo: Ootsuki Shoten.
39.
TannoK (2018) Gaikokujin no jinken no Shakaigaku (Sociology of “Human Rights of Foreigners). Tokyo: Yoshida Shoten.
40.
TianY (2019) Workers by any other name: comparing co-ethnics and ‘interns’ as labour migrants to Japan. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies45(9): 1496–1514.
41.
TrevorM (2012) Japan’s Reluctant Multinationals: Japanese Management at Home and Abroad. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
42.
TsutsuiW (1997) Rethinking the paternalist paradigm in Japanese industrial management. Business and Economic History26(2): 561–572.
YamaguchiK (2018) Kanko gyokai ni okeru roudouryoku saihen (Restructuring of labor force in tourism industry). In: KomaiH (ed.), Migrants and Diasporas Studies. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 88–103.
45.
XuS (2008) Gaikokujin kensyusei/ginoujisyuusei no roudou ni taiou suru seikatsu kuukan (A life space reflecting the labor of foreign trainees and technical interns: from a research on Chinese in an apparel industry). Kobe university cultural anthropology journal (2): 70–92.
