WHO WILL TELL THE TANCREDISTS?:

Government economist calls for boosting foreign labor (Japan Times, 3/22/06)

A scholar involved in the government's efforts to formulate a new economic strategy based on globalization called on Japan on Monday to accept more foreign labor as its rapidly aging population continues to shrink.

Motoshige Ito, professor of economics at the University of Tokyo, said at the Foreign Press Center that the need for foreign laborers will rise in such areas as nursing, medical care and housekeeping because the number of working women is expected to climb as the labor shortage kicks in.

Expecting the demand for foreign laborers to grow, Ito said, "We have to provide adequate care to support the livelihood of foreign workers in education and other areas."

A shining bastion of closed borders falls....

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2006 10:23 PM