Professor Nobuyuki Kaji argues that Japan already possesses an abundant pool of potential manual laborers and service workers, but the current education system forces many into unsuitable academic tracks, resulting in unemployment, dismissal, and social withdrawal. He proposes creating one-year technical schools for junior high graduates, allowing them to acquire practical skills and eliminating the need for foreign workers. As an immediate measure, he suggests imposing a national defense tax on foreign residents, similar to Switzerland’s system, to fund monitoring and national security. Kaji calls for a “hundred-year plan” of educational reform based on inherent human ability rather than formal academic credentials.

There are, in fact, countless potential manual laborers and service workers in Japan today.
They are right around us, yet people fail to see them.
June 20, 2024.

Originally, for junior high school graduates who do not need to advance to high school or university, the Ministry of Education should create a new one-year technical school (it could be attached to a high school) where various practical skills can be learned.
If they acquire manual labor skills and enter the workforce, there would be no need to bring foreign workers into Japan.

This chapter was first published on January 3, 2019.
The following continues the previous chapter, and because all those involved in creating the film Akunin—the author of the original work, the director, the actors, and the entire production team—live in the world of art, they should immediately understand that the evil they depict is connected to the same source as the recent “Harajuku stabbing man.”
You who belong to the world of art should, by nature, want to set society and Japan right.
If you think such matters have nothing to do with you, and you care only for fame, publicity, or making money, then the proposals in this essay will be nothing more than “a sutra to a horse.”

The following is from the essay written by Professor Nobuyuki Kaji, published in last month’s issue of the monthly magazine WiLL.
Professor Kaji graduated from Kyoto University and is now Professor Emeritus at Osaka University—an esteemed senior.
This essay is truly one of the finest written in recent years.
Emphasis in the text is mine.

I, an old man, am a superfluous being in this world, a useless person.
In these remaining years of life, I trouble everyone around me like a wandering rogue.
Precisely for that reason, if I bow and ask forgiveness like a yakuza giving a formal greeting, perhaps I will be allowed a righteous rampage.

I am, of course, a conservative traditionalist.
I support the Liberal Democratic Party government.
However, what is not good must be called not good.
One of the most regrettable recent developments is the legalization of expanded acceptance of foreign workers in Japan.

According to media reports, this move was made in response to strong demands from business leaders.
However, their claim of a “labor shortage” is fundamentally mistaken.
I would like to explain why.

What are these “expanded-scope workers”?
At their core are manual laborers and service workers.
From this alone, one can already see the general outline.

There are, in fact, countless potential manual laborers and service workers in Japan today.
They are everywhere, yet people fail to notice them.
Let me state it boldly.
Most people who could live happy lives by entering manual labor or service industries are instead going on to high school or university and becoming unhappy.

Look at the actual academic levels of high schools and universities.
For example, in Osaka Prefecture’s high school entrance exams, top schools such as Kitano High School and Tennoji High School require scores of 97–98 out of 100 to pass.
On the other hand, there are high schools that accept students scoring only 7 or 8 points out of 100 on the exact same exam.

In other words, many people who should naturally complete compulsory education and then enter practical work—manual labor or other jobs—and acquire solid skills to sustain them for life, end up going to high school instead.
And tragedy awaits them.

They do not understand Japanese, math, social studies, science, or English.
Therefore, even if they try to find work after graduating high school, they are of no use.
Inevitably, they then proceed to university.
Universities suffering from student shortages accept them freely.
After four years of doing almost nothing, they graduate with no skills and no knowledge, and enter clerical work—where their unhappy life begins.

Why?
The answer is obvious.
For incompetent clerical workers, the future holds eventual dismissal.
And a certain percentage of them will become shut-ins.
This is how our current high schools and universities are creating a reserve army of people destined for unhappy lives.

Therefore, for junior high school graduates who do not need to advance academically, the Ministry of Education should create a new type of one-year technical school (it may be attached to a high school) where they can learn essential practical skills.
By sending them into society equipped with manual labor skills, there would be no need to admit foreign workers.
Why do the Ministry of Education and Keidanren not make such autonomous efforts?
They must approach this issue with a “hundred-year plan.”

Even if this proposal is accepted, it will take time to implement.
Therefore, as an immediate measure, I propose the following:

For newly arriving foreigners and those already residing in Japan—since Japan is responsible for their safety—we should impose, separate from income tax and other taxes, a national defense tax of 200,000 yen per year.
If there are 2 million foreign residents, that would amount to 400 billion yen.
This tax should be used for thorough monitoring.

Such a defense tax has a precedent.
Switzerland imposes a national defense tax on long-term foreign residents.
I have heard it amounts to around 300,000 yen per person.
Naturally, foreign residents who do not pay this defense tax should be immediately deported.
That itself constitutes another form of “national defense.”

In short, we must strictly manage foreign workers.
Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, we must carry out educational system reform—reform based not on superficial academic credentials, but on the essential abilities of human beings.
This is the “hundred-year plan” most needed by politicians.

As the ancients said, “Without compasses and squares, one cannot form a circle or a square.”