OSAKA -- Although immigrant labor can play a key role in creating economic growth and vitality in Japan, serious debate on the issue has been stymied by traditional reluctance to welcome foreigners, sensationalized media coverage of the rise in crimes by foreigners and xenophobic comments by rightwing politicians.
This was the conclusion reached at an Osaka symposium on foreign workers in Japan this week involving some 100 scholars, government officials and local businesspeople.
U.N. reports have indicated Japan will face a severe labor shortage in the coming decades as the society rapidly ages and have urged the nation to admit a large number of foreign workers to fill the gap.