Despite rapid demographic decline, until recently, low-skilled migrant workers have been welcomed only through 'side-doors' such as technical interns (TITP) and students. Yet pressure for change comes from two sides: the moral critique of the 'side-door' scheme, and the growing economic pressures of a dwindling labor force. In 2018 Japan put in place a short-term bona- fide labor scheme (SSW) to meet the labor demand in fields heretofore largely inaccessible to foreign labor. In SSW, migrants are expected to be “immediate fighting power”, but how is this expectation met? We explore stakeholders’ views of the current schemes, their response to the possible demise of the TITP, and their opinions on how migrant worker immigration should proceed under SSW. Businesses are desperate for labor, but not for labor at any cost. Employers are being asked to change the ways they envision and treat migrant labor. We explore the tensions between expectations and the realities on the ground. Data for this paper come from qualitative interviewing with management organizations for farming and construction, farmers, and local officials in Kyoto, Aichi and Tokyo, from 2018-2021.
