Business Notes JAPAN

Amid the gravest labor shortage to afflict Japan in 15 years, the Diet has taken a step that could deepen the dearth. In a vote that critics attacked as a sign of Japanese insularity, legislators approved a crackdown on companies that employ any of the more than 100,000 unskilled illegal aliens from Bangladesh, the Philippines and other Asian nations who live in Japan. Under the measure, which contains no amnesty provision for illegal aliens who now hold jobs, firms caught hiring illegal foreign workers will be fined as much as $14,000. Employers who persist in the practice could face three years in prison.

Supporters of the law argue that Japan cannot provide basic services such as education and medical care to the unskilled immigrants, who are concentrated in low-paying construction and manufacturing jobs that Japanese often shun. But opponents charge that the crackdown will "push Asian laborers into even more inferior working conditions and further Japan's xenophobia."