“Japan’s foreign worker policies were the result of a power struggle between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor…The system was made complicated in order to gloss over the contradiction of giving people who came to work a status that was not that of a worker.”


New book on the history of Japan’s (lack of) an immigration policy, "Foreign Labor Policy: A 30-Year History of Confusion Caused by Power Struggle in Kasumigaseki and Japanese-Style Employment Practices" by Keiichiro Hamaguchi.

Reviews which summarize some of the main points:

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/7d9db79b3fb1ef2fd6524f29be3cc198f585cbf2

https://www.ngj.jp/press\_detail.php?article\_id=4245

by jjrs