The irregular immigration of foreign migrant workers in Japan during the last 10yr caused public discussion about the status and function of those "illegal' immigrants in Japanese society and economy. They originate mainly from Asian countries with lower (South Korea) or extremely lower (Bangladesh) average income. Most of them are doing jobs marked as dirty, dangerous and laborious. Following different theoretical concepts "irregular' migration is caused by objective economic and demographic (poverty, population surplus) as well as subjective (success, prestige factors. The Japanese state imposes measures of control, but fails to prevent the influx of "irregular' immigrants. Public opinion in this sense is divided between regularisation and rejection. -from English summary

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foreign workers migration cause Japan labour migration immigration migration government policy