Workers, Neighbours, or Something Else? Local Policies and Policy Narratives of Technical Intern Training Program Participants

Local governments at the prefectural and municipal levels across Japan have begun to allocate discretionary public funds to educate employers about the recruitment process for foreign Technical Training Internship Program (TITP) workers and subsidize the paperwork fees associated with it. This article investigates this phenomenon by drawing upon data collected from correspondence with municipal officials and analysis of policy documents, as well as a broader mailed survey of municipal governments conducted in 2019–2020. This article introduces two broad types of local-level policies towards TITP employers and workers, employment-supporting and social-supporting policies. Using a policy narrative framework, the article moves on to discuss how local governments position their policies to supplement the TITP migration regime. The language used reveals competing, sometimes seemingly contradictory, narratives of who TITP workers are and what they offer to local communities across Japan. These narratives are reflected in the different approaches to local policymaking regarding the TITP, from subsidizing local employers to creating cultural spaces and resources for TITP workers.