An Alternative View of Japan’s Migration Governance through the Lens of Foreign-Born Eldercare Workers

FAIN: FO-295540-24

Deborah J. Milly
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA 24061-2000)

Research and writing leading to a book on how non-central state actors respond to Japan's migration policy as they attempt to ensure a sufficient number of care workers for Japan's aging population. 

I will write a book that unmasks Japanese migration governance outside the national state, by asking how non-central-state actors—such as subnational governments, private businesses, vocational schools, nongovernmental organizations, and foreign governments—are using migration regulations and educational policies to ensure a care work force for Japan’s aging population. The study demonstrates that public and private actors outside the national arena in Japan advocate for national policy changes, manipulate national policies to their advantage, and establish transnational migration conduits with entities in other countries, with implications for the health systems of migrants’ origin countries. To do this, the book uses findings from comparative research on eight prefectures, case studies of recent transnational innovations by subnational public and private actors in Japan, and comparative analysis of conditions in Asian source countries.