22/08/2026
RESIDENCE SECURITY IS A WORKERS’ ISSUE.
Our Issue 8 research showed that foreign care workers already work side by side under different residence statuses. Among 249 surveyed Tokyo eldercare facilities employing foreign workers, facilities reported hiring SSW workers, permanent or long-term residents, spouses, and technical interns (TCSW, 2025).
Their legal security is not equal. TITP and SSW workers face greater restrictions than permanent residents. But when migrants are portrayed as threats or reduced to labels such as “legal” and “illegal,” fear can spread across the entire migrant community.
Japan is strengthening its “Zero Illegal Immigrants Plan,” while proposed guidelines address new grounds for revoking permanent residence. Amnesty International Japan has warned that exclusionary immigration policies may deepen discrimination and place people needing protection at risk.
Those with the least secure status may be targeted first. But when workers fear reporting abuse, changing employers, joining organizations, or defending their rights, working conditions can deteriorate for everyone—including permanent residents and local workers.
Different visas. Shared workplaces. Shared struggle for dignity.
The ILO affirms that migrant workers must receive equal treatment and enjoy freedom of association and collective bargaining. Solidarity protects wages, rights, and working conditions better than competition and division.
Join the discussion:
August 29, 2026 | 14:00–17:00
Shinbashi Kumin-kan, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Main speaker: Eni Lestari, Chairperson, International Migrants Alliance
Free and open to all
No human is illegal. Migrant and local workers must stand together.
Sources:
- Tokyo Council of Social Welfare. (2025). Survey on facilities employing foreign care workers.
- Immigration Services Agency of Japan. (2026). Zero Illegal Immigrants Plan.
- Immigration Services Agency of Japan. (2026). Proposed permanent-residence guidelines.
- Amnesty International Japan. (2025). Opposition to the Zero Plan and call for rights-based reform.
- International Labour Organization. (2023). Migrant workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Ang hirap ng kalagayan nating mga OFW dito sa Japan, 'no? Dahil sa visa o status, language barrier, racism, at dahil naka-depende rin sa employer pati na rin tirahan, marami tayong mga nararanasang hindi kanais-nais.
Dagdag pa diyan ang racism o xenophobia. Pinapalabas nito na ang mga gaikokujin daw ay mga kriminal, threat, o pabigat sa lipunan.
Ang ending? Nagkakawatak-watak ang mga Japanese at mga gaikokujin habang ang tunay na problema gaya ng
mababang sahod, bullying, at unfair working conditions ay binabalewala na lang.
Kaya pag-usapan natin kung saan ba nagmumula ang napakaraming usapin at issue tungkol sa atin, mga foreigner, dito sa Japan—mula sa pabago-bagong immigration policies at toxic work conditions, hanggang sa karanasan ng mga migrant communities at mga organisasyon—
lahat ’yan pag-uusapan,
kaya kita-kita tayo sa August 29 (Sabado) sa Shinbashi Kumin-kan!
Date: 8/29 Saturday
Time: 14:30 - 17:00 (Registration open from 13:30)
Location: Shinbabashi Kumin-kan
Mag-message lang kung may tanong!
