This contribution reviews the changing economic conditions and labour market developments in Japan in the second half of the 1990s. It also provides an examination of the recent trends in the migration of foreign workers to Japan. The focus here is on the changing inflows of foreigners with the legal right to remain and work in Japan, the growing illegal migration of foreign workers and the increase in the number of workers who overstay their legal right to remain and who subsequently work illegally, and the employment of foreigners with or without legal status who have been affected by the severe recession and the recent Asian financial crisis. Recent trends in labour migration policy as well as policy debates on labour migration are also discussed.

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labor migration Japan immigration policy labor policy migrant worker