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Volume 49, Issue 4
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
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Special Issue
International Migration of Southeast Asian Nurses and Care Workers to Japan under Economic Partnership Agreements
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An Overview of Indonesian and Filipino Workers in Japan and AbroadShun Ohno2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 541-569
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSOne year after Japan became a “super-aging society” in 2007, she began to receive Indonesian and Filipino nurses and caregiving workers into its labor market. This new government-to-government (G-G) program commenced in accordance with Japan’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the Philippines and Indonesia having large young populations. Between 2008 and 2011, a total of 1,360 Indonesian and Filipino nurse and certified care-worker “candidates” have entered Japan, and have been under training and employment across the Japanese archipelago. Expectedly or unexpectedly, they have encountered a number of problems at the hospital or the elderly-care facility that was not opened to foreign workers until recently.
This paper addresses the past implementation of the EPA provision “Movement of Natural Persons” and reactions among the nursing associations in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia to controversial EPA programs. It also explores the current situation of Filipino and Indonesian nurses/care workers in their countries as well as abroad to deepen understanding of different views and stances of the governments and nursing/care workers in the field of “emotional labor.” Its discussions entail the possibilities and limitations of border-crossing care managed by the state in the country of linguistic homogeneity.View full abstractDownload PDF (868K) -
Reiko Ogawa2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 570-593
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Japan and the Philippines (2006) and Japan and Indonesia (2007)1) introduced a new field of inquiry which was never experienced in Japan, migration and care. This paper examines the nexus of two issues to position the migration of long-term care workers from Southeast Asia to Japan under the EPA within the context of globalization of care work by examining the three areas: 1. The institutional framework; 2. Acceptance of foreign care workers at care facilities; and 3. Dilemmas resulting from this migration project.
The paper first explores the nature of the migration project under EPA and the socio-economic forces that shape the project. Second, it examines the opinions of the care facilities that employed the first batch of Indonesian care workers through quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, it discusses the dilemma that the state-sponsored migration project under EPA introduces. While the migrant care workers are well integrated and have contributed positively to the quality of care, the current scheme does not appear to mitigate the labor shortage and it may not be sustainable in the long run.View full abstractDownload PDF (1223K) -
An Analysis of the Results of Questionnaire Surveys on the Socioeconomic Attribution of the Respondents and Their Motivation to Work in JapanO. Yuko Hirano, Reiko Ogawa, Shun Ohno2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 594-610
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe widely disputed issue over foreign nurse and certified care-worker candidates under the Economic Partnership Agreements in Japan seems endless. To establish more sustainable Economic Partnership Agreements, we should discuss the issue from a holistic perspective through cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches.
This article addresses the socioeconomic characteristics and motivations of nurse and certified care-worker candidates who enter Japan under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The correlation between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their motivations to work in Japan were examined based on a cross-sectional analysis. In addition, the transition of nurse and certified care-worker candidates is discussed using a longitudinal approach, by comparing the data of previous groups obtained by our research team.
The results of this study indicate that the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents differed by country, as well as by occupation. Filipino candidates are more likely to cite economic condition as the reason they chose to go to Japan than the Indonesian candidates. While Filipino nurse and certified care-worker candidates and Indonesian nurse candidates are still predominantly females, a “masculinization of migration” is being observed among Indonesian certified care-worker candidates.View full abstractDownload PDF (1227K) -
Diverse and Conflicting Interactions between Indonesian Nurses' Socio-Cultural Backgrounds and Their Work EnvironmentBachtiar Alam, Sri Ayu Wulansari2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 611-628
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSSeeking to provide an integrative account of Indonesian nurses’ encounters with a culturally and socially distinctive work environment in Japan, this article provides a number of case studies, especially important among which are the diverse and conflicting interactions between these nurses’ individual socio-cultural backgrounds as represented in their age, marital status, ethnicity, family values and relationship, work experience, self-motivation and expectation on the one hand, and the work culture as well as the institutional underpinnings of their work environment on the other. Probably the most enlightening finding of this study is that such encounters across differences can bring about “friction” — to use Anna Tsing’s felicitous term [2005] — which has turned out to be both enabling and constraining in terms of Indonesian nurses’ adjustment to unfamiliar cultural settings, and this in turn has proved to be sign cant in shaping their decision as to whether they should continue working in Japan or return to their home country.View full abstractDownload PDF (179K) -
Suggestions for SolutionsSetyowati, Shun Ohno, O. Yuko Hirano, Krisna Yetti2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 629-642
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSBetween 2008 and 2011, nearly 800 Indonesian nurses and care workers have entered Japan as candidates for registered nurse (kangoshi) or certified care worker (kaigo fukushishi) under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA). The most serious problem in their everyday life is the difficulty in mastering the Japanese language, which presents a high hurdle for passing the national board examination for registered nurse. Until 2011, only 17 Indonesian nurse examinees have been able to pass the examination, and become registered nurses in Japan. To contribute the developing of a more sustainable IJEPA program, this research aims to explore Indonesian nurse candidates’ learning strategies for passing the national examination in Japan, and identify other factors that hinder their success. Although the number of Indonesian and Japanese interviewees was limited, the analysis of the research demonstrates that strong material and moral support by the management and staff of the receiving hospital is essential in motivating Indonesian candidates to do their best to pass the examination. It also suggests that such support is critical especially in the early stage of training at the workplace even for improving the efficiency of educational investment that makes nurse candidates pass the national exam and become registered nurses in Japan.View full abstractDownload PDF (204K) -
Based on the Results of a Practice National Board Examination of Japan Given in EnglishYoshichika Kawaguchi, O. Yuko Hirano, Reiko Ogawa, Shun Ohno2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 643-651
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThis article investigates the status of the education and training of Filipino nurse candidates who have been working in Japan under the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). A survey was conducted among Filipino nurse candidates, using a practice examination based on the English version of Japan's National Board Examination for Registered Nurses in 2009.
Categorized by area, the mean correct answer rate for nursing-related questions ranged between 61% and 73%; the rate for questions concerning basic knowledge of body functions and diseases ranged between 55% and 57%. There was a large gap in terms of the results of the examination between those who had previously seen the exam questions and those who had never seen them. While 57.1% of those who had previously seen the questions satisfied the acceptance criteria, only 23.7% of those who had never viewed the test satisfied it. Based on these results, the factors which serve as obstacles that Filipino nurse candidates encounter in passing the national examination include not only difficulties in acquiring Japanese proficiency but also differences between Japan and the Philippines in respect to the nursing education curriculum and basic nursing policies.View full abstractDownload PDF (315K) -
Wako Asato2012 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 652-669
Published: March 31, 2012
Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThis article examines concerns regarding the formation of a dual labor market in Japan-Indonesia/ Philippines projects under the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by comparing legal framework, rules, guidelines and actual conditions. These potential problems were identified before the agreements went into effect. An institutional framework has also noted different alternatives that might mitigate these difficulties.
Ensuring equal remuneration for Japanese and migrant workers and providing sustainable Japanese language skills and adequate exam preparation might prevent the worsening of wage and working conditions in the labor market.
Through an analysis of three surveys, this article argues that the accepting organizations have introduced an increasing bipolarization of training hours. Furthermore, the numbers of accepting organizations are decreasing due to this imposed burden. The first cause of this is the weakness of the educational infrastructure in overcoming examination difficulties in Japanese. This is partly due to the fact that the EPAs began before their terms and conditions were clearly defined. The early formative years show that the Japanese government took a noninterventionist stance and continuous learning has been difficult for some candidates because the accepting organizations, hospitals and care facilities, are not educational institutions.
Even though the Japanese government has spent 1.5 billion yen over the last two years to improve the training infrastructure, bipolarization continues to be a major issue. Even with the higher satisfaction ratio of patients under EPA, the number of accepting organizations is declining, and concurrently, the number of licensed nurses entering Japan through non-EPA channels is increasing. The examination pass-ratio of these non-EPA nurses greatly outnumbers that of the EPA candidates, which seriously calls into question the significance and sustainability of EPA in its current form.View full abstractDownload PDF (314K)
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