Yup. Stress can make you show your true face, and deep down, many, especially the old guard in power, are very xenophobic.
On the face of it, it is a fiscally sound idea. Japan is an expensive place to live, much more so than Latin America. So it is cheaper to pay them a lump sum to leave rather than dole out socialist welfare benefits to unemployed families for who knows how long. Even if they have a job and are paying taxes, the government would naturally want them to leave so their job can be back-filled by a voting disgruntled currently-unemployed citizen.
But making them not apply to return to seek legal employment in the future? Even if the economy picks up and Japan starts importing foreign workers again? That is just coldly xenophobic and very short-sighted.
You would
want to bring them back later rather than fresh newbies. They already know the system, probably know the language, and wouldn't suffer the same culture shock of a FOB guest worker who only speaks Spanish or Portuguese.
Stupid stupid stupid.
