Drop in ‘Japayuki’ deployment hurting Japanese businesses

Tighter policies on the recruitment of Filipina entertainers in Japan, popularly called "Japayukis," has brought untold suffering to many of the country’s nightclubs, bars and entertainment venues which have now run out of business due to the scarcity of the so-called Japayukis.

Lorenzo Langomez, president of the Philippine Association of Recruitment Agencies Deploying Artists (Parada), said the new regulation that restricts the entry of Filipino entertainers to Japan has forced at least 60 percent of entertainment establishments there to close shop.

"About 60 percent of entertainment venues in Japan have already shut down since the government there imposed stricter regulations in hiring of foreign entertainers," Langomez disclosed.

Owners of nightclubs and bars, he said, have resorted to hiring Filipino entertainers who are married to Japanese citizens. And in this time of economic hardship, data indicate that Filipinos somehow find a way to enter Japan as tourists in order to work there illegally and earn a robust yen.

While other countries are also sending entertainers to Japan, Langomez noted that Filipino overseas performing artists (OPAs) dominate the Japanese entertainment industry.

"We deploy 5,000 to 6,000 OPAS monthly or around 88,000 annually at the peak of the deployment of OPAs before the Japanese government regulated the industry," he explained.

Japan has adopted stricter measures to limit the entry of foreign entertainers in March 2005 in an effort to curb widespread human trafficking and prostitution.

Under the new policy, only foreign entertainers who have attended a two-year entertainment-related course and have two years experience working in entertainment venues can enter Japan.

With the imposition of this new regulation, the deployment of Filipino entertainers to Japan dropped significantly, Langomez said.

"Based on data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), we have only deployed about 5,000 OPAs from January to August because many of our entertainers failed to comply with the requirements," he said.

Langomez then lamented that while the Japanese government has regulated the hiring of foreign entertainers, it has liberalized the entry of foreign tourists. This, he said, only encouraged illegal recruitment as many Filipino workers are now entering Japan on tourist visas.

"Would you believe that at this time of economic difficulty, about 1,000 Filipino tourists are going to Japan every month? This data suggest that Filipinos are going there illegally so they could work," he said.

To address the problem, recruitment industry leader Alfredo Palmiery said they are now helping the Philippine government negotiate with Japan the possibility of easing up the new regulation.

"We are asking the Japanese government to consider an entertainer’s work experience in Japan because at this time it is not allowed," Palmiery said.