Nativist international: Bribing immigrants to leave.

• Author: Winkler, Jeff
• Position: Citings - Japan - Brief article

IN MARCH, Japan's unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent, a four-year high. To ease the competition for jobs, the government says it's willing to pay ethnically Japanese guest workers--mostly the descendants of early 20th century Japanese emigrants to Brazil--to permanently cede their right to work in the country. The state is offering [yen] 300,000 (about $3,320) to the head of each household, plus [yen]200,000 (about $2,909) per dependent, to cover the cost of a plane ride back to their country of origin.

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The plan is unusual, but it isn't unique. Spain, with an unemployment rate of 17.4 percent, has adopted...