Kiwis puzzle Japanese

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 19

Kiwis puzzle Japanese

Denying a New Zealand identity in order to get a job usually are the tactics reserved for deceiving Australian employers who are wary of fly-by-night Kiwis. But some New Zealanders appear to be using the same strategy to get work in Japan — to the puzzlement of Japanese who unfailingly take pride in their national identity. According to the Japan-Australia - Working Holiday Office in Tokyo, . young New Zealand tourists often pose as Australians in the hope of getting introductions to Japanese companies. To weed out New Zealanders from the Australians, the office now makes it a rule to check all passports. “Every now and then we turn up a New Zealander in search of work,” says Miss Mari Niisato, who runs the programme “I suppose it is' understandable cfeidering the

economic situation in New Zealand. But we cannot accept New Zealanders.” The New Zealand Government has presented a draft agreement to the Japanese Foreign Ministry for the establishment of a similar working holiday scheme between the two countries. It is not clear how the programme will be administered, but there are lessons for New Zealand in the experiences of the JapanAustralia programme, Japan’s first involvement in a working holiday scheme. Japanese travel agents, Miss Niisato says, not only use Australian job introductions as a means to get young Japanese in their travel packages, they also take a commission from the salary paid by the Australian employer.

“That happened a lot in housemaid jobs. Japanese working in Australia were paid much less than the wages Australians got in Japan.” There has been confusion, too, in the definition of “working holiday.” Miss Niisato says that some Australians thought they were partworking, part-holidaying, while employers regarded the workers as full-time, though temporary, employees. Under the Japan-Australia scheme, Australians aged between 18 and 30 are eligible as “young” workers, while for Japanese the limit is age 25. Ms Hanae Tokunaga, managing director of the Tokyo office, says the office would be willing to run the New Zealand-Japan programme at Tokyo.

From

BRUCE ROSCOE,

in Tokyo #