Chizuko Hayakawa Professor

Research overview

Research on legal protections for foreign workers, taking into account the need for international cooperation Comprehensive analysis and examination of immigration law and labor law
Japan's population is declining, the result of a decreasing birthrate and aging population. In this context, policies for accepting foreign workers are becoming increasingly important in terms of boosting its workforce. I conduct research into Japanese immigration policy and legal protections available to foreign workers, primarily from the perspective of labor law.

■Immigration policy and labor law policy
My research to date has focused primarily on initiatives related to domestic Japanese laws while incorporating comparative legal research targeting programs for accepting foreign workers in the USA, the UK, the EU and its member countries. Foreign worker policy centers primarily on policies related to immigration policy and labor law policy. Immigration law sets forth the principles that govern whether foreigners are admitted to the country, while labor law plays the role of ensuring that foreigners who are admitted to the country can be integrated into its society. Each policy influences the other, and they occasionally come into conflict. It is necessary to implement harmonized policies based on a consideration of both. In my recent research, I have been analyzing and examining the Technical Intern Training Program, established based on the Technical Internship Act, which is akin to a hybrid of the Immigration Control Act and the Labor Act, as well as the Specified Skilled Worker Program that was launched in 2019 with the 2018 amendment of the Immigration Control Act.

■Current and future research topics
Concerning immigration law, Japan administers the admission and residence of foreigners through a status of residence system, but the country lacks adequate mechanisms for admitting workers based on the consideration of conditions in the domestic labor market. Concerning labor policy, Japan’s labor regulations must in principle apply to foreigners to ensure equality between Japanese and foreign nationals, and the two groups must be treated equally under the law. Japan has put in place guidelines to protect foreigners, but in reality not all foreign workers enjoy equal treatment. In this regard, I believe that research is needed not only on domestic legal regulations, but also on the labor CSR (corporate social responsibility in labor) policies of companies.
Additionally, unemployment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious issue since 2020.

There are limits on how effectively Japan, as a country that accepts foreign workers, can resolve foreign worker problems on its own. Such issues demand international cooperation, and I believe that it will be important to establish bilateral agreements between countries dispatching and receiving workers, as well as rules on international collaboration between countries and regions, such as the United Nations, ILO, and EU. I hope to broaden the scope of my research while conducting joint research with researchers abroad, given how approaches to immigration policies vary from country to country.