by:Kevin Burns
Raw Deal! Why Are Americans Treated Differently by Japanese
Immigration and the Media?
“U.S. citizens planning to work in Japan should never enter Japan
using a tourist visa or the visa waiver, even if they have been
advised to do so. Such actions are illegal and can lead to arrest,
incarceration and/or deportation.”
–from a pamphlet at the Japanese consulate in Seattle
“The Catch 22 is: if Americans don’t enter Japan on a tourist visa,
however, they often cannot work in Japan, as it takes just too long
to secure a working visa. Companies would rather hire someone who
already has the appropriate visa, someone who can get the visa
quickly, or someone who is willing to break the law, by entering
Japan on a tourist visa with the plan to work in Japan by changing
it to a working visa. Illegal? Yes. Necessary though? Definitely!
Sometimes laws don’t coincide well with reality, and sometimes laws
downright discriminate against certain peoples.”
– an English school chain owner in Japan
The citizens of the following countries can secure a working holiday visa to come to Japan:
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
Republic of Korea
France
Germany
the United Kingdom
You will notice that America, supposedly Japan’s friend and ally is
not on the list. According to the Japanese consulate in Vancouver,
you can secure a working holiday visa in as little as three days! A
treaty was negotiated between these countries and Japan that allowed
for the creation of this visa. Americans upset that they cannot get
such a visa should complain to their government. Americans are
hamstrung by this. It really is an impediment to working in Japan.
This visa allows Australians, Kiwis and Canadians, to name but
three, to work in Japan for 12 months and it can be renewed in some
cases or switched to another visa after it expires in many cases.
Often this kind of visa is secured for work as an English teacher,
or for other work such as working in a hotel or a restaurant to name
but a few.
Americans who have the yen to come to Japan to work, can only come
with a tourist visa or a working visa. Switching from a tourist visa
to a working visa happens all the time. Though you won’t catch a
Japanese Immigration authority talking about it much. It is one of
those open secrets so common to Japan. Certainly, most Americans
simply don’t tell immigration that their goal is to come to work in
Japan. They say they are sightseeing.
Getting a working visa can take up to four months. So on the one
hand, an Australian can get her visa in a matter of days, but an
American has to wait months. Why the difference? Why are Americans
given such a raw deal?
Perhaps the American government simply doesn’t want such an
agreement. To this author’s knowledge they don’t have a working
holiday agreement with any nation.
It is interesting to note that Japan first chose Australia for the
working holiday program, then New Zealand, followed by Canada. The
impression it creates was Australia was most desirable to Japanese
eyes. Is there a desire to make it more difficult for businesses in
Japan to hire Americans? Verily, that is the result. What this leads
to is fewer Americans in Japan.
Why would Japan want to create impediments for Americans hoping to
live and work here? Could it be that America does the same to
Japanese?
Perhaps it is simply more difficult for Japanese to get a visa to
work in America than it is in New Zealand for example. So to
retaliate Americans don’t get as good a a Kiwi for example.
Perhaps it is because there are already many Americans here. There
are American military bases throughout Japan and their personnel
number well over 40,000 people. Japan has to deal with all the
problems foreign soldiers cause when they mix with the civilians of
Japan. There are also many American business people, and of course
American English teachers.
In spite of the barriers against them, many Americans still manage
to come to Japan and work. However, without this bureaucratic
obstruction, there would be more Americans in Japan.
I assert that (having more Americans in Japan) has traditionally
been an idea incongruous with the feelings of many Japanese
politicians. Keep the Americans out as much as possible seems to be
their goal. But don’t make it so obvious that there is a backlash
from the American government.
“The Working Holiday Scheme is intended to promote a greater mutual
understanding between our respective countries, and to broaden the
international outlook of our young people. The Working Holiday
Scheme makes it possible for citizens of one country to enter the
other country for an extended holiday while encouraging in temporary
employment in order to supplement their travel funds.”–Japan
Association of Working Holiday Makers
Maybe the Japanese authorities simply want more diversification in
who comes to Japan. They want to encourage people from other
countries to come. This could simply be the case: restrictions on
Americans for diversification of the foreign population here. It
would give Japanese a broader exposure to many different
nationalities here in Japan, and therefore, a broader view of the
world (perhaps it is hoped).
A Japanese business manager suggested that “…because of the high
crime rate in America, as compared to other countries like New
Zealand for example, the Japanese authorities feel that Americans
are more likely to try to bring guns or drugs into Japan. Or they
don’t want any more American influence in Japan and want to limit it
as much as possible.”
The view in Japan by some Japanese, seems to be that America is
dangerous: and by association, Americans are more dangerous than
people of other nationalities. “Bowling for Columbine,” was well
attended on this side of the Pacific and its’ influence has been
felt. If this is true, it is prejudice, pure and simple!
It is interesting that some Japanese feel that Americans are
undesirable. They give their opinion that Americans are more likely
to break importation laws or be a negative influence in Japan,
because of a society, that is seen by Japanese to be violent, and
law breaking–ie) drug taking. the gun related deaths in America and
the unfortunate incidents in Okinawa of the rapes of Japanese women
by American military personnel. The latter, one that foments large
scale Anti=American protests in Japan’s sunniest prefecture.
The Japanese media too seems to be a member of this anti-American
illuminati. If an American serviceman rapes a Japanese woman, it is
national news for days or weeks. So again, American men at least,
are portrayed as a dangerous element in Japan.
Yet if a female American JET teacher is raped, sexually harassed, or
sexually assaulted, (a few incidents of which happen every, year
according to a JET official who wishes to remain anonymous), there
is not a newspaper in the land of Fuji that will touch such an
unpalatable story.
JET is an official Japanese program, and its’ image cannot be
tarnished. To publish such a story would cause a Japanese loss of
face, an international embarrassment. It is okay to embarrass the
Americans with stories of their rapes of Japanese women, (no matter
how rare they are.) But a journalist who dares to try to get an
embarrassing incident about the JET program by the editor would
probably be fired.
To read those unpalatable stores about the JET program you must go
to some of the unofficial JET websites, that talk about the problems
associated with the JET program. These sites are written by teachers
who actually work in the program and former teachers.
For whatever reason, the Japanese authorities are doing an excellent
job of discouraging businesses from hiring Americans, and opting
instead for an Aussie, Kiwi or Canuck. In these days of terrorism
and war,securing the proper working visa for an American can take up
to four months.
Head hunting companies in Tokyo are also reporting that securing
working visas is taking much longer than before, though this seems
to be across the board and for all nationalities. If you can get a
working holiday visa in three days, you greatly increase your
marketability.
Sometimes Japanese laws are unrealistic. The law may state one
thing, but the reality of the matter is another.
English schools need teachers. Often they need them quickly.
Teachers sometimes don’t give any notice and just quit. The English
school must hire someone quickly.
If the working visa for an American takes so long, schools will
naturally try to hire someone they can sponsor for the proper visa
more quickly. Indeed, English schools are encouraged by Japanese
immigration to discriminate against hiring Americans, by the
bureaucratic system they have set up.
Plus Americans themselves, being law abiding citizens on the whole,
don’t want to break Japanese laws either. If an English school
says, “Come on a tourist visa, we need you now, then we will switch
the visa over to a working visa, don’t tell Japanese immigration.”
Naturally the prospective American teacher is suspicious of the
school. The school is essentially telling them to break the law. The
school realizes though that the law is forcing them into an
untenable situation: They need teachers now! Not in four months!
One good thing about Japan is that the law often bends. The fact is
many Americans if not most, come to Japan on tourist visas then
switch to working visas. This is simply a fact of working life in
Japan, as few teachers quitting their positions in Japan give more
than one months notice. You do the math. It doesn’t give schools
enough time to secure the working visas for Americans. So they
either have to hire a citizen of the Commonwealth, or tell a US
citizen to come on a tourist visa and switch it over.
If I were American, I would complain. Why are you given such a raw
deal in Japan?
I would come on a tourist visa, and tell the Japanese authorities,
how I am so looking forward to sightseeing in Kyoto!
by Kevin Burns
For More Information on the Working Holiday Visa Program for Japan
see: http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/
Kevin Burns is a writer and owns Kevin’s English Schools, the Canadian schools in Japan: http://www.eikaiwa1.com. He loves to hire Americans incidentally! When not teaching Kevin writes for his guidebook and forums: http://www.travel-central-japan.com. He and his wife can also be found managing their general store: http://www.import-food-japan.com.
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