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AVOIDING PITFALLSGetting stable academic
employment in JapanBy ARUDOU DebitoTenured
Associate Professor, Hokkaido Information
University

• Photo Otaru Onsen Osupa, Otaru, Hokkaido, Jan
  3, 2000

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You about to give up on ever finding decent
employment?

• Dont do so yet. There are jobs out there with
  stability, dignity, and Permanent Tenure (in
  the academic sense-- i.e. uncontracted lifetime
  employment).
• But these jobs are relatively rare. We still
  dont know how many non-Japanese (NJ) academics
  actually have Tenure in Japanese universities
  (the MOE will not, despite repeated requests from
  even elected politicians, disclose that
  information).

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Obstacles to job security

• Putting NJ on term-limited contract employment
  (while J usually get Tenure)
• Viewing NJ academics not as colleagues but
  disposable labor that needs periodic refreshing
  (Gallagher Case 1997-2002)

• Withering of Tenure in Japan and abroad.
• Japans demographics.
• Economics given priority over academia.
• Common practices of making misleading promises
  about job conditions.
• Weak judiciary/labor standards board enforcing
  weak labor laws.

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The Tenure Dichotomy

• Established practice for over a century of
  treating NJ as temporary faculty, part-timers,
  andvisiting adjuncts by very job title
  (gaikokujin kyoushi from Meiji until 2004,
  gaikokujin kyouin 1982-2004)
• Japanese, however, when hired full-time, usually
  got (and still get) lifetime Tenure until
  retirement. Has been eroding since 1997 when
  Sentaku Ninkisei Hou approved contract employment
  for J academics too.

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Japans Demographics

• Japans falling population means fewer children.
• There are more now university slots than students
  to fill them.
• Economic pressure on the universities to cut
  costs and fire faculty.
• The first to go have traditionally been the
  part-timers and the NJ--since with contracts they
  can be non-renewed, meaning fired.
• Now contract employment is becoming
  systematically more acceptable for all.

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The one-sided job negotiation

• Common practice of not asking too many questions
  about job conditions. Employer is to be trusted
  to treat employees well.
• Insufficient advance explanations about job
  conditions blamed on language barriers or clogged
  communication channels.
• NJ at a particular disadvantage when institution
  may have long history of Tenure dichotomy, and
  established NJ isolation from any decisionmaking
  channels.

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Systematic discrimination

• Blacklist of Japanese Universities
  (www.debito.org/blacklist.html) examples of
  institutions offering Tenure to J, term-limited
  contracts to NJ, for the same job position.
• Long history of National and Public Universities
  saying NJ cannot be hired as Public Servants
  with Tenure under the Nationality Clause (a lie
  since 1982).
• Over 100 universities on the Blacklist offering
  no Tenure or Tenure-track to NJ, and growing.

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Mutating as awareness rises

• No longer Foreigner positions, rather Native
  Speaker or Foreign Adjunct.
• Contracts for three years, often capped at 2
  renewals.
• Age caps at 35, despite October 2007 revision in
  labor laws barring age limits.
• Outright lies about govt requirements to keep NJ
  faculty temporary.

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Questions to ask an employer during your job
interview

• (Formerly) a National (kokuritsu), Public
  (kouritsu) or Private (watakushi-ritsu) Uni?
• Is this position full-time (joukin) or part-time
  (hijoukin)?
• Is this position contracted (keiyaku koyou)?
  REMEMBER Contracts are NOT stable work. Avoid
  them if possible. If you sign anything, you void
  most of your labor rights.
• If Tenure or Tenure-tracked, do I get an
  appointment letter (jirei), with no time limit
  (kikan no sadame no nai koyou)?

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Questions to ask an employer during your job
interview

• If you say this is Tenure-tracked, for how long?
  And how many other NJ have gotten Tenure through
  this track?
• How many NJ have tenure at your institution?
• How many 90-minute classes (koma) will I teach
  (you should be teaching between 5 to 7 a
  week--otherwise youre comparatively overworked).
• Am I allowed to attend and speak at faculty
  meetings?

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Questions to ask an employer during your job
interview

• Are social (i.e health and pension) insurance
  (shakai hoken) and unemployment insurance (koyou
  hoken) covered? (By law full-timers must be
  enrolled employer pays at least 50 of social
  insurance)
• Do I get a bonus (shouyo or bonasu) twice a year?
  How many months salary is it? (Should total
  about 5 months pay for a full year.)
• Will I get other benefits that J faculty are
  entitled to a) your own office, b) a research
  budget (kenkyuuhi), c) a computer budget, d)
  access to joint research funds (kyoudou
  kenkyuuhi), e) the right to sit in and vote on
  committees?

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Miscellaneous questions

• Are there time clocks to punch?
• How many other full-time NJ faculty work at your
  institution?
• How many total hours a week am I working?
  (officially up to 40 hours means overtime pay,
  between 30 and 40 hours means full-time work
  conditions--watch that its not 29 hours, or
  you miss out on social insurances, and will still
  end up working more hours).

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BARE MINIMUM CONDITIONSDO NOT TAKE JOBS WITH
THESE

• No clear receipt of Social Insurance (this is
  illegal)
• Contracts with capped renewals or age limits
  (since you will ultimately be fired)
• Classroom load of more than 8 koma per week (you
  will be overworked)
• Jobs requiring you re-apply or re-interview every
  time your contract comes up for renewal (this is
  humiliating, unnecessary, and legally
  disempowering)
• No rights to attend faculty meetings (you will be
  shut out from any decisionmaking process)

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BARE MINIMUM CONDITIONSSEEK THESE JOBS OUT

• No signed contracts. Look for Permanent Tenure
  with no term limit (kikan no sadame no nai
  koyou), or Tenure-track, with evidence that other
  NJ (more than one) have completed the track
  successfully.
• All job conditions (salary, koma, hours worked,
  bonus amount, social insurances, faculty meeting
  attendance rights) made clear from the very
  start--the job advertisement.
• Check out the universities on the Greenlist
  (www.debito.org/greenlist.html)
• Places with labor union support (www.nugw.org)

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REFERENTIAL WEBSITES

• www.debito.org/blacklist.html
• Ten plus Questions for your Next University
  Employer (JALT TLT July 1999 www.debito.org/TLTte
  nplusq.html)
• Updated information on the mutating job market at
  www.debito.org/acadapartupdateoct05.html
• General advice from PALE Journal Aug 98
  www.debito.org/PALE898.htmlgeneralmessage

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More on this and other issueswww.debito.org

• ISBN 4 7503 9018 6 English version, Japanese
  version ISBN 4 7503 9001 9

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ATTENDING THIS
PRESENTATION!
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Download this powerpoint presentation at
www.debito.org/jaltjobpitfallsnov2007.ppt
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Even More ProfoundJapan needs foreigners!

• With the record-low birthrate and record-high
  lifetime expectancies, the UN predicts Japanese
  society will soon have the highest percentage of
  elderly.
• As of 2006, the Health Ministry says Japans
  population is decreasing and will fall from 127
  to 100 million by 2050.
• (The average annual influx of around 50,000
  foreigners buoyed Japan in the black in 2005.)

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Yes, Japan needs foreigners.

• Both the UN and a PM Cabinet survey in 2000
  indicated that Japan must import 600,000 workers
  per year to maintain the current standard of
  living and tax base.
• Japan is already importing foreign workers, to
  alleviate the labor shortage and hollowing out of
  domestic industry.
• (300,000 Brazilians now comprise the third
  largest body of foreign residents).

Lacking legal protections against discrimination,
will foreigners want to stay in Japan and
contribute?
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