Foreign workers and remittances in Japan after the global financial crisis

The global financial crisis and resultant recession after 2008 affected foreign workers in Japan, especially Brazilians of Japanese descent.The magnitude of the impact on this group of the population has raised issues about whether Japanese policies and programs for foreign workers are working appropriately.This study re-examines the status of foreign residents and workers in Japan, focusing especially on the trend characterized by the accumulation of workers such as Brazilians of Japanese descent.By using primary data, we examine their remittances to Brazil to explore how the economic recession has affected foreign workers from an international perspective.We suggest that foreign residents have become polarized into two groups: one group has been forced to return to their home countries because of unemployment, while the other has continued to obtain full-time jobs because of their skills and ability to adjust to Japanese society.