Japan Limited Immigration; Now It’s Short of Workers

GIFU, Japan — Liu Hongmei was fed up with her job at a Shanghai clothing factory, where she worked long hours for little pay.

So three years ago, she quit to take a job in Japan. A garment factory there promised Ms. Liu three times her $430-per-month Chinese wage, and she hoped to save thousands of dollars for her family, which was growing with the recent birth of a son.

“It seemed like a big opportunity,” she recalled.

Call it an opportunity, maybe, but don’t call it work. Legally, the time Ms. Liu spent ironing and packing women’s wear in Japan is considered “training.” She had entered the murky and at times abusive world of Japan’s technical trainees — essentially second-class laborers brought in from abroad to fill jobs that Japanese citizens aren’t taking.

Just like the United States and other developed countries, Japan has a hard time finding people to pick vegetables, collect nursing-home bedpans and wash restaurant dishes. In America, many of these low-skilled, low-paying jobs are filled by illegal immigrants, an arrangement attacked by President Trump during his campaign.

Japan, on the other hand, long ago achieved what Mr. Trump has promised: It has very little illegal immigration and is officially closed to people seeking blue-collar work.

Now, though, its tough stance on immigration — legal and illegal — is causing problems. Many Japanese industries are suffering from severe labor shortages, which has helped put a brake on economic growth.