2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Social inclusion and integration of diversity: Employers, newcomer migrant workers, and community response in Japan
| Project/Area Number |
19K02142
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
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| Research Institution | Waseda University |
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Principal Investigator |
Roberts Glenda S. 早稲田大学, 国際学術院(アジア太平洋研究科), 教授 (40308242)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
藤田 典子 早稲田大学, 国際学術院(アジア太平洋研究センター), その他(招聘研究員) (30898341)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Migration / Foreign workers / Agriculture / Japan / Social inclusion |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We have been interested in how foreign workers in agriculture are viewed by their employers, their handlers, and the communities where they reside. We wanted to know how stakeholders were utilizing the new Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) system being put in place from 2019, and how they were coordinating the new system with the existing system of TITP. Ultimately, we hoped to better understand the place of foreign workers in Japan’s agriculture, which is facing a severe demographic decline that threatens Japan’s food security. Over 3 years we visited poultry, dairy, vegetable, fruit, and cut flower farms multiple times, in Aichi and Kyoto prefectures, as well as the construction business owners. From these employers, we learned that foreign labor power is necessary to all phases of production. While they are willing to mechanize to an extent, many jobs need human hands to accomplish. The farmers in our study saw foreign workers as extremely valuable.
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| Free Research Field |
社会学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
日本の農業の未来は、危機的状況にある。就農人口の高齢化と国全体の人口構造変化の影響を受け、深刻な労働力不足に陥っている。本研究が明らかにしたのは、農家は外国人の労働力に頼らざるを得ないにもかかわらず、誰をどのように、どのくらいの期間雇用する（できる）のか不確かな状況を強いられたり、また昨今の法改正により外国人が長期間滞在する可能性が高まったにもかかわらず、彼らの長期的な能力開発や地域への包摂という重要な課題についても現場に丸投げされていることだ。本研究は移民研究や移民政策をはじめとし、日本社会の労働、社会変化、地方活性化等の領域にも貢献すると考える。
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