JAPAN’S IMMINENT INTERNATIONALIZATION Can Japan Assimilate its Immigrants? Download this paper in Word format at By ARUDOU Debito Associate Professor, Hokkaido Information University JSAC Annual Conference 2006 Thompson Rivers University, October 13, 2006

Facts to consider  Japan’s economy is still about as big as all other Asian economies combined.  Japan’s economy still has a labor shortage, and without foreign labor many domestic industries cannot function.

Shuukan Diamondo June 5, 2004: “IMMIGRATION ARCHIPELAGO JAPAN” “Without foreigners, the Toyota System of manufacturing won’t work”

Japan needs foreigners!  With the record-low birthrate and record-high lifetime expectancies, the UN predicts Japanese society will soon have the highest percentage of elderly.  As of 2006, the Health Ministry says Japan’s population has started to decrease, and will fall from 127 to 100 million by (The average annual influx of around 50,000 foreigners buoyed Japan in the black in 2005.)

Yes, Japan needs foreigners  Both the UN and a PM Cabinet survey in 2000 indicated that Japan must import 600,000 workers per year to maintain the current standard of living and tax base.  Japan is already importing foreign workers, to alleviate the labor shortage and hollowing out of domestic industry.

The writing on the wall  Japan’s number of registered foreigners has risen without pause for decades, topping 2 million in  Japan’s Permanent Residents ( 永住者 ) more than doubled between 2000 and 2005, and may outnumber the shrinking Zainichi ethnic Korean and Chinese generational foreigners within this decade.  Negligible in 1990, Brazilians now number 300,000, the third largest body of foreign residents (behind the Koreans and Chinese).

Will immigrants want to stay in Japan?

Factors conducive to assimilation  Foreigners can own property.  Foreigners can found and run their own businesses, with reasonable restrictions.  Marriage to a Japanese is relatively easy, with over 40,000 international couples per year marrying in Japan.

Factors not conducive to assimilation  Foreigners cannot get secure (or any) jobs in certain sectors.  Foreigners are routinely denied lifestyle essentials, such as apartments, credit, and health insurance.  Foreigners are being portrayed as a social bane, not a boon, by the government and police forces.

Factors not conducive to assimilation (2)  Foreigners cannot get juuminhyou Residency Certificates or koseki Family Registries. (How many countries can you think of that require citizenship for formal residency?)  Foreigners’ contributions to Japanese society remain largely unrecognized, and promoting a “monoethnic Japan” is still official policy.

JAPAN STILL HAS NO LAW AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION Without legal protections to safeguard their rights, will foreigners want to stay and raise families?

. Sapporo Otaru Monbetsu Wakkanai. Rumoi Nemuro. Ohtaki-mura.... More information and photos at MISAWA, AOMORI PREF. AKITA CITY TOKYO OGIKUBO TOKYO AOYAMA DOORI TOKYO SHINBASHI TOKYO SHINJUKU-KU TOKYO KABUKICHO KOSHIGAYA, SAITAMA PREF. TODA CITY, SAITAMA PREF. KOFU, YAMANASHI PREF. NAGOYA ISESAKI CITY, GUNMA PREF. KYOTO KURASHIKI CITY, OKAYAMA PREF. HAMAMATSU, SHIZUOKA PREF. OKINAWA URUMA CITY. HIROSHIMA OHTA CITY, GUNMA PREF.

What Japan must do next  Institute free language education in reading, writing, and spoken Japanese.  Make elementary education compulsory for all children regardless of nationality, and accredit more ethnic schools.  Pass laws and take concrete measures to safeguard the human rights for all residents regardless of nationality.

What else Japan must do  Enact a clear immigration policy to secure stable jobs and visas.  Eliminate the “Nationality Clause”, and employ people by qualification, not nationality.  Eliminate the “grey zone” of Zainichi status by granting citizenship by birth, granting local suffrage, legalizing dual nationality, and reducing the arbitrariness of naturalization procedures.

What else Japan must do  Eliminate the separation of “resident” and “citizen” fostered by the “koseki” and “juuminhyou” systems.  Make public statements from the highest levels of government on why foreigners are in Japan, what good works they are doing, and how they are community residents and taxpayers like everyone else.

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