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The demographic change, resulting from a low fertility rate and an aging society, has led policy makers and business sectors to rethink Japan's future population prospects. Although Japan has been considered an anomaly among the industrial democracies in not depending on foreign labor to pursue its economic goals, the acceptance of highly skilled migrants is being discussed as one option to cope with depopulation and maintain Japan's economic growth strategy. In line with immigration policy, migration of nurses and care workers from Southeast Asian countries started in 2008 upon the establishment of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between Japan and the Philippines, and Japan and Indonesia. The migratory framework was shaped by professional organizations in a way that protects the domestic market and working conditions, and it mandates that the migrants pass the national exam on nursing and caregiving within a certain period of time. This paper will elaborate the policy factors that either enable or hinder the movement of nurses and care workers to Japan under the EPA, especially focusing on the skill of care workers three years after its implementation. Although the EPA theoretically opens up a path for migrants to work under the same conditions as Japanese once they pass the exam, in practice the skills of care workers have often been contested. How Japan defines care work and how it incorporates migrants into the care regime will shape Japan's future immigration policy, labor policy and social welfare policy., Asien, Nr. 124 (2012): ASIEN (Juli)

Aim: To illuminate the lived experiences of Indonesian nurses who previously worked as caregivers in Japanese residential care facilities, by exploring the journey of becoming returnees. Background: The creation of bilateral agreements between Indonesia and Japan has facilitated the movement of Indonesian nurses to work as caregivers in Japan since 2008. While this decision raised concerns with regard to the degradation of nursing skills, little is known about this issue from the perspective of nurse returnees and how the experience affects their life. Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological method was employed for this study. A purposive sample of 15 Indonesian nurse returnees participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in four of Indonesia's provinces between August and October 2015. Data were analysed thematically, supported by QSR NVIVO 10 software. Findings: Four key themes emerged from the data analysis: (i) returning home; (ii) going back to zero; (iii) walking through a difficult journey; and (iv) overcoming barriers. These findings described the lived experiences of nurse returnees when they got back to the country of origin. Conclusion: Indonesian nurse returnees experienced deskilling and struggled to re-enter the nursing profession or to find other non-nursing jobs. The significant impact of this migration on individual nurses with regard to maximizing the benefits of return migration deserves further investigation. Implication for nursing and health policy: The Indonesian government, jointly with other stakeholders, should develop a brain gain strategy to align returnees’ expertise with the needs of the national labour market. The public-private partnership should be strengthened to utilize returnees in healthcare services.

Japan started accepting foreign nurses and care workers under the Economic Partnership Agreement（ EPA） in FY 2008. However, the number has been declining since FY2009 despite improved conditions. Many pointed out that the decline occurred mainly due to the constraints of supply side because the conditionality set by the EPA looked so strict for foreign workers. This paper highlights a problem of demand side ? economic cost for the hospitals and care facilities（ the employers）. A questionnaire survey was conducted and used for examining a hypothesis that high costs for the employers were a major cause of the decline. The survey revealed that employing the candidates required high economic costs including additional staff labor. Majority of employers indicated unwillingness to recruit further EPA candidates. However, statistical tests proved no significant relations between the costs and the willingness for nurses, while some positive relationships were confirmed for care workers. It suggests that non-economic factors exert strong influence on the demand for nurses. The current EPA system needs substantial modifications including easing conditionality and reducing economic costs for employers.

The widely disputed issue over foreign nurse and certified care-worker candidates under the Economic Partnership Agreements in Japan seems endless. To establish more sustainable Economic Partnership Agreements, we should discuss the issue from a holistic perspective through cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. This article addresses the socioeconomic characteristics and motivations of nurse and certified careworker candidates who enter Japan under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The correlation between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their motivations to work in Japan were examined based on a cross-sectional analysis. In addition, the transition of nurse and certified care-worker candidates is discussed using a longitudinal approach, by comparing the data of previous groups obtained by our research team. The results of this study indicate that the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents differed by country, as well as by occupation. Filipino candidates are more likely to cite economic condition as the reason they chose to go to Japan than the Indonesian candidates. While Filipino nurse and certified careworker candidates and Indonesian nurse candidates are still predominantly females, a “masculinization of migration” is being observed among Indonesian certified care-worker candidates., 東南アジア研究, 49(4), pp.594-610; 2012

This article investigates the status of the education and training of Filipino nurse candidates who have been working in Japan under the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). A survey was conducted among Filipino nurse candidates, using a practice examination based on the English version of Japan’s National Board Examination for Registered Nurses in 2009. Categorized by area, the mean correct answer rate for nursing-related questions ranged between 61% and 73%; the rate for questions concerning basic knowledge of body functions and diseases ranged between 55% and 57%. There was a large gap in terms of the results of the examination between those who had previously seen the exam questions and those who had never seen them. While 57.1% of those who had previously seen the questions satisfied the acceptance criteria, only 23.7%of those who had never viewed the test satisfied it. Based on these results, the factors which serve as obstacles that Filipino nurse candidates encounter in passing the national examination include not only difficulties in acquiring Japanese proficiency but also differences between Japan and the Philippines in respect to the nursing education curriculum and basic nursing policies., 東南アジア研究, 49(4), pp.643-651; 2012

The signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Japan and the Philippines (2006) and Japan and Indonesia (2007) introduced a new field of inquiry which was never experienced in Japan, migration and care. This paper examines the nexus of two issues to position the migration of long-term care workers from Southeast Asia to Japan under the EPA within the context of globalization of care work by examining the three areas: 1. The institutional framework; 2. Acceptance of foreign care workers at care facilities; and 3. Dilemmas resulting from this migration project. The paper first explores the nature of the migration project under EPA and the socio-economic forces that shape the project. Second, it examines the opinions of the care facilities that employed the first batch of Indonesian care workers through quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, it discusses the dilemma that the state-sponsored migration project under EPA introduces. While the migrant care workers are well integrated and have contributed positively to the quality of care, the current scheme does not appear to mitigate the labor shortage and it may not be sustainable in the long run.

Japan has opened its labor market to foreign nurses under the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement (JIEPA) since 2008 and the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) since 2009. By accepting foreign nurses under the governments’ policies, JIEPA and JPEPA paved a way to a new era of globalization in nursing, and it may influence the attitudes and consciousness of Japan’s hospitals accepting the first-batch hospitals (accepting the first batch of foreign [Indonesian] nurses), and the second-batch hospitals (accepting the first batch of foreign [Filipino] nurses). Since the JIEPA scheme and the JPEPA scheme are similar in acce3pting nurses from each country, a fair comparison between the first-batch hospital and the second-batch hospital can be made. The result of this study indicated that the first-batch hospitals were likely to need information about culture and religion of the sending countries (p

Due to its geographical proximity, the urban city of Fukuoka claims itself as a ‘gateway towards Asia' establishing institutions and organizing various events related to Asia. This paper examines the two recurring events that represent the ‘Asianism' of Fukuoka, which is inter-connected over a period of one hundred years. First, the Pan-Asian organization Genyosha, and second, the post war urban development policy and examine the continuity and discontinuity and the ways in which the concept of ‘Asia' had appeared in the local imaginary.