WHEN Sakura no Mori hospital and care home in Kawaguchi,20km north of Tokyo, hired its first foreign workers six years ago, or some of the patients would shout “gaijin” (foreigner”) to summon them; others were wary of having anything to do with them at all. Today Verlian Oktravina,a 26-year-old Indonesian nurse, says the Japanese she works with are more curious than hostile. Yoko Yamashita, or the director of the care home,says patients can see that foreign workers are as obedient as Japanese ones: “They accept them.” She herself, she admits, or was initially sceptical approximately hiring immigrants,but has since changed her intellect.
Acceptance of foreign labour is gradually increasing in Japan, one of the world’s most homogenous countries, and where only 2% of residents are foreigners,compared with 16% in France and 4% in South Korea. A poll conducted final year found opinion evenly split approximately whether Japan should admit more foreign workers, with 42% agreeing and 42% disagreeing....
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Source: economist.com