When a government can’t raise wages, it raises ghosts. Real wages have been falling for the vast majority of the past four years and have been stagnant for most of this century, while corporate profits hit record highs for the fifth straight year. Workers are getting poorer while companies hoard cash. The government’s response? Change the conversation. Stop talking about wages and corpora[te profits. Start talking about foreigners draining the system. It’s the oldest trick: when you can’t fix the problem, manufacture a different one. Divide workers, redirect the anger, and protect the bosses who are actually stealing from us.
A Manufactured Panic
Right-wing politicians and media are working overtime to turn economic frustration into suspicion of foreigners. Sanseitō leader Sohei Kamiya claims Japan’s welfare and health systems are being “drained by non-Japanese,” repeating that “foreigners are prioritized while Japanese are struggling.” LDP hardliner Sanae Takaichi has echoed similar calls for tougher controls, and the government recently created a Minister for Foreign Residents Affairs, Kimi Onoda, tasked with “addressing the foreigner problem” and tightening oversight of residency and insurance. Onoda was infamous during the COVID epidemic for arguing that government cash handouts should not be paid to immigrants, even though they pay taxes just like other workers.
In June, the government even announced plans to deny entry or visa renewal to anyone with unpaid medical bills or insurance premiums. This was on the heels of previous LDP governments passing changes that will make it easier to remove permanent residence status. It’s a chorus of scapegoating dressed up as policy. But Health Ministry data tells a different story: immigrants make up about 4 percent of National Health Insurance members yet only 1 percent of total costs. The numbers expose the lie, but that’s never been the point. The goal is distraction.
Takaichi and Onoda know that Japan cannot do without foreign labour. A Nikkei survey of corporate CEOs in 2024 indicated 98% were in favor of bringing foreign labour into the country and 99% said their companies would hire foreign workers in the coming year. A study indicated that there is going to be a shortage of 570,000 care-workers by 2040. They will not halt the flow of foreign labour but they may take measures to ensure that this labour is supplied on the most favorable terms for employers, by tightening rules and cutting benefits. This won’t stop them from scapegoating foreign workers to hide the failures of their government either.
If politicians want to talk about fraud, let’s talk about the real kind — the kind written into company ledgers. The government itself admits there are 950,000 workers who should be enrolled in social insurance but aren’t, spread across 150,000 companies. These aren’t oversights. They’re deliberate crimes. Employers dodge their legal obligations to save on premiums, pocket the difference, and then have the nerve to join the chorus accusing immigrants and foreigners of “abuse.” Since 2016, not one company has been prosecuted. The ministry sends out “guidance letters,” and the theft continues. Every yen stolen this way is a yen stolen from hospitals, pensions, and workers’ futures. If there’s a drain on Japan’s welfare system, it’s not at the border—it’s in the boardroom.
The Working-Class Reality
Scapegoating immigrants keeps workers fighting each other instead of confronting the real culprits. Every yen missing from social insurance is a yen stolen from labor’s collective future. The answer isn’t tighter borders or xenophobic campaigns; it’s organization, and solidarity. When the right blames immigrants, they’re protecting the employers who rob us all. The union movement’s job is to make sure people see through the scam.