Japan Needs Foreign Workers. It’s Just Not Sure It Wants Them to Stay.MOTOKO RICH, KIUKO NOTOYA
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来自印度尼西亚的工人温达·扎赫拉和一位老人在日本中部群马县首府前桥的一家养老院。 Noriko Hayashi for The New York TimesNgu Thazin wanted to leave her war-torn country for a better future. She set her sights on Japan.于·达欣想离开饱受战争蹂躏的祖国，寻找更好的未来。她把目光投向了日本。In Myanmar, she studied Japanese and graduated with a chemistry degree from one of her country’s most prestigious universities. Yet she gladly took a job in Japan changing diapers and bathing residents at a nursing home in a midsize city.在缅甸，她学习了日语，并在缅甸一所极负盛名的大学获得化学学位。然而，她却欣然接受了在日本一家中型城市的养老院给老人换尿布和洗澡的工作。“To be honest, I want to live in Japan because it is safe,” said Ms. Thazin, who hopes eventually to pass an exam that will allow her to work as a licensed caregiver. “And I want to send my family money.”“说实话，我想在日本生活，是因为这里很安全，”达欣说。她希望最终能通过考试，成为一名持证护工。“我还想给家人寄钱。”Japan desperately needs people like Ms. Thazin to fill jobs left open by a declining and aging population. The number of foreign workers has quadrupled since 2007, to more than two million, in a country of 125 million people. Many of these workers escaped low wages, political repression or armed conflict in their home countries.日本迫切需要像达欣这样的人来填补人口减少和老龄化留下的职位空缺。自2007年以来，在这个拥有1.25亿人口的国家，外国劳工的数量翻了两番，达到200多万人。这些工人中的许多人是为了逃离本国的低工资、政治压迫或武装冲突。But even as foreign employees become much more visible in Japan, working as convenience store cashiers, hotel clerks and restaurant servers, they are treated with ambivalence. Politicians remain reluctant to create pathways for foreign workers, especially those in low-skill jobs, to stay indefinitely. That may eventually cost Japan in its competition with neighbors like South Korea and Taiwan, or even places farther afield like Australia and Europe, that are also scrambling to find labor.但是，即使在日本能看越来越多地看到外国劳工，如便利店收银员、酒店职员和餐馆服务员，对待外劳的方式仍然是模棱两可的。政客们仍然不愿意为外劳创造无限期居留的途径，尤其是那些从事低技能工作的工人。这可能最终会让日本在与韩国和台湾等邻近地区的竞争中付出代价，甚至在与澳大利亚和欧洲等更远地区的竞争中也是如此，这些地方也在争相寻找劳动力。![]()
于·达欣和其他外国工人住在前桥的合租房子里。 Noriko Hayashi for The New York TimesThe political resistance to immigration in long-insular Japan, as well as a public that is sometimes wary of integrating newcomers, has led to a nebulous legal and support system that makes it difficult for foreigners to put down roots. Foreign-born workers are paid on average about 30 percent less than their Japanese counterparts, according to government data. Fearful of losing their right to stay in Japan, workers often have precarious relationships with their employers, and career advancement can be elusive.在长期封闭的日本，政治上对移民的抵制，以及公众有时对正在融入的新移民的警惕，导致了一个模糊的法律和支持体系，使外国人难以扎根。根据政府数据，外国出生的工人的工资平均比日本同行低30%左右。由于担心失去留在日本的权利，工人与雇主的关系往往不稳定，职业前景不明。Japan’s policies are designed for “people to work in Japan for preferably a short period of time,” said Yang Liu, a fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo. “If the system continues as it is, the probability that foreign workers will stop coming has become very high.”日本的政策是为“最好在日本只是短期工作的人”设计的，东京经济、贸易和工业研究所研究员杨柳（音）说。“如果这种制度继续下去，外劳很可能会不再来这里。”In 2018, the government passed a law authorizing a sharp increase in the number of low-skilled “guest laborers” allowed into the country. Earlier this year, the government committed to more than doubling the number of such workers over the next five years, to 820,000. It also revised a technical internship program that employers had used as a source of cheap labor and that workers and labor activists had criticized as fostering abuses.2018年，政府通过了一项法律，授权大幅增加允许进入该国的低技能“客籍劳工”数量。今年早些时候，政府承诺在未来五年内将这类工人的数量增加一倍以上，达到82万人。政府还修改了一项技术实习计划，该计划曾被雇主用来获取廉价劳动力，也曾被工人和劳工活动人士批评是在助长虐待行为。Still, politicians are far from flinging open the country’s borders. Japan has yet to experience the kind of significant migration that has convulsed Europe or the United States. The total number of foreign-born residents in Japan — including nonworking spouses and children — is 3.4 million, less than 3 percent of the population. The percentage in Germany and the United States, for instance, is close to five times that.尽管如此，政客们还远未放开边境。日本还没有经历过震撼欧洲或美国的那种大规模移民潮。日本的外国出生居民总数（包括不工作的配偶和子女）为340万，不到总人口的3%。在德国和美国，这一比例将近五倍于此。![]()
来自尼泊尔的古隆·尼桑（右）在日本传统温泉旅馆里铺布团。 Noriko Hayashi for The New York TimesJapan has tightened some rules even as it has loosened others. This spring, the governing Liberal Democratic Party pushed through a revision to Japan’s immigration law that would allow permanent residency to be revoked if a person fails to pay taxes. Critics warned that the policy could make it easier to withdraw residency status for more minor infractions, such as failing to show a police officer an identification card upon request.日本在放松其他规定的同时也收紧了一些规定。今年春天，执政的自民党推动通过了对日本移民法的修订，如果一个人不纳税，将被取消永久居留权。批评人士警告，这项政策可能会使人更容易因更轻微的违规行为（如未应警察要求出示身份证）而被取消居留身份。Such a threat “robs permanent residents of their sense of security” and “will undoubtedly encourage discrimination and prejudice,” Michihiro Ishibashi, a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said during a parliamentary discussion.日本反对党立宪民主党成员石桥道弘在一次议会讨论中表示，这样的威胁“剥夺了永久居民的安全感”，“无疑会助长歧视和偏见。”In a separate parliamentary committee, Ryuji Koizumi, the justice minister, said the revision was intended to “realize a society where we can coexist with foreigners,” by making sure they “abide by the minimum rules necessary for living in Japan.”在另一个议会委员会上，法务大臣小泉龙司表示，修订的目的是通过确保外国人“遵守在日本生活所需的最低规则”，“实现一个我们可以同外国人共存的社会。”Long before foreigners can obtain permanent residency, they must navigate labyrinthine visa requirements, including language and skills tests. Unlike in Germany, where the government offers new foreign residents up to 400 hours of language courses at a subsidized rate of just over $2 per lesson, Japan has no organized language training for foreign workers.外国人在获得永久居留权之前必须通过复杂的签证要求，包括语言和技能测试。在德国，政府为新的外国居民提供400小时的语言课程，每节课补贴后的价格略高于两美元。与德国不同，日本没有没有为外劳提供有组织的语言培训。![]()
淡岛吟松亭的总经理银内帕（右）与来自缅甸和尼泊尔的服务人员交谈。 Noriko Hayashi for The New York TimesWhile politicians say the country should do a better job of teaching Japanese, “they are not yet ready to go as far as pouring money into this from taxes,” said Toshinori Kawaguchi, director of the foreign workers affairs division at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.尽管政界人士表示，日本应该在日语教学方面做得更好，但“他们还没有准备好从税收中拿出大笔资金投入到这里”，厚生劳动省外籍劳工事务部门负责人川口俊德说。That leaves individual municipalities and employers to decide whether and how often to provide language training. The nursing home operator that employs Ms. Thazin in Maebashi, the capital of Gunma Prefecture in central Japan, offers some of its caregivers one day of group Japanese lessons, as well as one more 45-minute lesson, each month. Workers who prepare meals receive just one 45-minute lesson a month.这就需要各个城市当局和雇主决定是否提供语言培训，以及多久培训一次。在日本中部群马县的首府前桥市，雇用达欣的养老院运营商每月为一些护工提供一天的集体日语课，以及另外一次45分钟的课程。做饭的工人每月只接受一次45分钟的课程。Akira Higuchi, the president of the company, Hotaka Kai, said he gives workers an incentive to study Japanese on their own. Those who pass the second-highest level of a government Japanese language proficiency test, he said, “will be treated the same as Japanese people, with the same salary and bonuses.”这家名为武尊会的公司的董事长樋口明表示，他鼓励员工自学日语。他说，那些通过政府日语能力测试第二级水平的人，“将得到和日本人一样的待遇，同样的工资和奖金。”Particularly outside the largest cities, foreigners who don’t speak Japanese can struggle to communicate with local governments or schools. In health emergencies, few hospital workers will speak languages other than Japanese.特别是在大城市之外，不会说日语的外国人很难与当地政府或学校沟通。遇到医疗紧急情况时，很少有医院工作人员会说日语以外的语言。Hotaka Kai has taken other measures to support its staff, including housing newcomers in subsidized corporate apartments and offering skills training.武尊会还采取了其他措施来支持员工，包括将新员工安置在有补贴的企业公寓里，并提供技能培训。A dormitory kitchen shared by 33 women ranging in age from 18 to 31 offers a glimpse of the heritages that mingle together. Peeking out from plastic bins labeled with the residents’ names were sachets of Ladaku merica bubuk (an Indonesian white pepper powder) and packets of thit kho seasoning for making Vietnamese braised pork with eggs.在一个由33名年龄从18岁到31岁的女性共用的宿舍厨房，我们可以窥见不同文化的交融。贴着居民名字的塑料箱里，堆满一袋袋Ladaku merica bubuk（一种印度尼西亚白胡椒粉）和一袋袋用来制作越南红烧肉的thit kho调味料。![]()
银内帕是淡岛吟松亭的总经理，她毕业于缅甸的一所大学，获得地理学位。 Noriko Hayashi for The New York TimesAcross Gunma Prefecture, the reliance on foreign workers is unmistakable. In Oigami Onsen, a rundown mountainside village where many restaurants, shops and hotels are shuttered, half of the 20 full-time workers at Ginshotei Awashima, a traditional Japanese hot springs inn, are originally from Myanmar, Nepal or Vietnam.在群马县，对外劳的依赖是显而易见的。在破败的山腰村庄大神温泉，许多餐馆、商店和酒店都关门了。在日本传统温泉旅馆淡岛吟松亭，20名全职员工中有一半来自缅甸、尼泊尔或越南。With the inn’s deeply rural location, “there are no more Japanese people who want to work here,” said Wataru Tsutani, the owner.由于客栈地处乡村，“已经找不到愿意在这里工作的日本人，”店主津谷度（音）说。Several of its foreign workers have educational backgrounds that would seem to qualify them for more than menial work. A 32-year-old with a degree in physics from a university in Myanmar serves food in the inn’s dining rooms. A 27-year-old who studied Japanese culture at a university in Vietnam is stationed at the reception desk. A 27-year-old Nepali who was studying agricultural history at a university in Ukraine before the Russian invasion now washes dishes and lays out futon, Japanese-style bedding, in guest rooms.旅店几名外籍员工的教育背景似乎使他们有资格从事比体力劳动更重要的工作。一名拥有缅甸一所大学物理学学位的32岁男子在酒店的餐厅上菜。一个27岁、在越南某大学学习日本文化的人在前台工作。一名27岁的尼泊尔人在俄罗斯入侵前曾在乌克兰的一所大学学习农业历史，现在他在洗盘子，给客房铺上布团。Most of the customers at Ginshotei Awashima are Japanese. Sakae Yoshizawa, 58, who had come for an overnight stay with her husband and was enjoying a cup of tea in the lobby before checking out, said she was impressed by the service. “Their Japanese is very good, and I have a good feeling about them,” she said. Ms. Yoshizawa said she works with foreign-born colleagues at a newspaper delivery service.淡岛吟松亭的大多数顾客都是日本人。58岁的吉泽荣（音）和丈夫来这里过夜，结账前正在大堂喝着茶。她说，这里的服务给她留下了深刻印象。“他们的日语非常好，我对他们感觉很好，”她说。吉泽说，她在一家送报公司与外国出生的同事一起工作。Ngun Nei Par, the inn’s general manager, graduated from a university in Myanmar with a degree in geography. She hopes that the Japanese government will smooth a path toward citizenship that would allow her to bring the rest of her family to Japan someday.这家酒店的总经理银内帕毕业于缅甸一所大学，拥有地理学位。她希望日本政府能排除外籍人士获得公民身份的障碍，让她有一天能把其他家人带到日本。Mr. Tsutani, the owner, said that a public that had not caught up with reality might object if too many foreigners obtained citizenship.店主津谷说，如果太多外国人获得公民身份，还没跟上现实的公众可能会反对。“I hear a lot that Japan is a ‘unique country,’” Mr. Tsutani said. Ultimately, “there is no need to make it that difficult” for foreigners to stay in Japan, he said. “We want workers.”“我听到很多人说，日本是一个‘独特的国家’，”津谷说。最终，“没有必要让”外国人留在日本“变得那么困难”，他说。“我们需要工人。”
Motoko Rich是驻东京记者，领导时报对日本新闻的报道。
Kiuko Notoya是一名常驻东京的记者/研究员，报道日本新闻。
翻译：晋其角
