Crossing borders, shaping careers: internationalization of labour in Japan?

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Abstract
Since the 1990s, Japan has pursued internationalization (kokusaika) as a key strategy to address economic stagnation, demographic decline, and growing labour shortages. This introduction situates the special issue within these broader transformations by conceptualising the internationalization of labour as a multi-layered and contested process. It highlights two central and interrelated policy trajectories: the internationalization of education aimed at fostering transnational human capital, and the selective expansion of labour migration. While both strategies have increased cross-border mobility and diversified Japan’s workforce, their implications for labour market structures, social integration, and inequality remain debated. Drawing on a macro–micro–macro framework, the introduction emphasises how institutional reforms shape individual opportunities and trajectories, which in turn aggregate into broader societal outcomes. It reviews existing research on international student mobility, highly skilled migration, and migrant incorporation, identifying persistent tensions between policy ambitions and institutional realities. The special issue brings together interdisciplinary contributions from sociology, economics, education, and migration studies, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Rather than offering a single narrative, it explores how internationalization unfolds across different groups and contexts, with particular attention to social, ethnic, and gender inequalities. In doing so, it advances the understanding of how global mobility intersects with Japan’s distinctive institutional setting and contributes to ongoing debates on labour internationalization beyond Western contexts.
Funding Information
  • Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

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