Begrudgingly, Japan is beginning to accept that it needs more immigrants

[NED funded]

It seems that economic pressure finally cracked Japanese resistance to immigration.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/2...narrow-passage

Begrudgingly, Japan is beginning to accept that it needs more immigrants

IN THE Shin-Okubo neighbourhood of Tokyo, smells of Korean food and snatches of the language waft in the air. A supermarket selling kimchi sits next to an Indian-run kebab shop—the latter complete with leaflets promoting Islam, the religion of the Calcutta-born owner. A local estate agent advertises staff that speak Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai alongside the floor plans for tiny Tokyo apartments.

Shin-Okubo is a rarity in Japan. The country has remained relatively closed to foreigners, who make up only 2% of the population of 127m, compared with an average of 12% in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. Yet Japan is especially short of workers. Fully 83% of firms have trouble hiring, according to Manpower, a recruiting firm, the highest of any country it surveys. And the squeeze is likely to become much worse. The population is projected to drop to 87m by 2060, and the working-age population (15-64) from 78m to 44m, because of ageing. The Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, and prominent business leaders such as Takeshi Niinami, the head of Suntory, a drinks company, have long called for more immigration.

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, says he would prefer to raise the relatively low proportion of Japanese women who work, and to keep all Japanese working later in life, before admitting droves of foreigners. But his government has nonetheless taken a few small steps to boost immigration. It has quietly eased Japan’s near-ban on visas for low-skilled workers, with agreements to allow foreign maids to work in special economic zones. It is now talking about relaxing requirements for Filipino carers. The authorities have also made student and trainee visas easier to obtain, and turned a blind eye to those who exploit them to recruit staff for jobs that involve very little study or training at kombinis (the ubiquitous corner stores, often staffed by Chinese) or in forestry, fishing, farming and food-processing. It may extend trainee visas from three years to five. Mr Abe has also boasted that he will reduce the time non-permanent residents need to live in Japan before becoming eligible for permanent residence to the “shortest in the world”—probably to less than three years (far from the shortest) from the current five.

All this is starting to make a difference. Last year the number of foreign permanent residents reached a record 2.23m, a 72% increase on two decades ago—and the number of people on non-permanent visas is also rising. But the goal seems to be a surreptitious increase in the number of temporary workers and a more accommodating system for skilled workers, not the settlement of foreigners on a grand scale. Only tiny numbers of foreigners become Japanese citizens (see article) and even fewer are granted asylum: only 27 in 2015, a mere 0.4% of applicants.

A few voices advocate opening the door more widely. Hidenori Sakanaka, a former immigration chief who now heads the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, a think-tank, reckons Japan needs 10m migrants in the next 50 years. At the very least the country needs a clear policy on bringing in menial foreign workers, rather than ignoring the abuse of student and trainee visas, says Shigeru Ishiba, a prominent lawmaker in the Liberal Democratic Party who is expected to challenge Mr Abe for the party’s leadership in 2018. The government needs to lay out the specifics of how many people it wants to attract and in what time-frame, he says.

Public opinion seems to be gradually shifting. The authors of a recent poll by WinGallup were surprised that more Japanese favoured immigration than were against it—22% to 15%—although a whopping 63% said they were not sure. A warm embrace for lots of foreigners is unlikely. Japan’s nationalists do not have the power of Europe’s broad-based anti-immigrant movements. But the country prides itself on its homogeneity, and although the media no longer reflexively blame foreigners for all social ills, discrimination is still rife. Many landlords will not accept foreign tenants, ostensibly, says Li Hong Kun, a Chinese estate agent in Shin-Okubo, because they do not adhere to rules such as being quiet after 10pm and sorting the rubbish properly (a complex task). Others suggest terrorist attacks in Europe as a reason to keep Japan for the Japanese. Brazilians of Japanese origin, who were encouraged to migrate to Japan in the 1980s, have never really been accepted despite their Japanese ethnicity, notes Tatsuya Mizuno, the author of a book on the community.

Even Mr Sakanaka and Mr Ishiba think all migrants must learn the language and local customs, such as showing respect for the imperial family. But the economic case for a bigger influx is undeniable. For those, like Mr Abe, who speak of national revival, there are few alternatives.

[Deleted]

if I get a japanese maid I'll volunteer

[Independent voter]

This is why they are working on robots. Japanese would rather have robots than immigrants and maybe it's not just the Japanese.

[Khelek]

Japan does not need more immigrants. The governments needs more bodies to tax and they are starting not to care where those bodies come from.

[NED funded]

This is why they are working on robots. Japanese would rather have robots than immigrants and maybe it's not just the Japanese.

I've heard of the idea of no growth economies, the problem I find is that it requires stable conditions, something that Japan doesn't have

[Vizardlorde]

BRB packing up.

[W1sp]

Japan does not need more immigrants. The governments needs more bodies to tax and they are starting not to care where those bodies come from.

So much this

[Deleted]

Japan does not need more immigrants. The governments needs more bodies to tax and they are starting not to care where those bodies come from.

Sure, it's all about that, and has nothing to do with falling fertility rates that will eventually lead to massive pension deficits and an insufficient workforce.

[LaserSharkDFB]

I like Japan, for all its insanity, but I wouldn't want to work there in any kind of office environment. Too many horror stories.

[dd614]

Or they could cut their expensive socialist policies, take steps to lower the cost of living and give incentives for families to have more children. But nah, it's easier to bring in foreigners than admit your way of life is unsustainable and that your policies are fucking backwards and stupid.

[nextormento]

As was foretold by our savior and visionary leader tennisball.

[satimy]

No japan needs to start a new currency. Years of the Keynes blue pill have ruined that economy

[Khelek]

Sure, it's all about that, and has nothing to do with falling fertility rates that will eventually lead to massive pension deficits and an insufficient workforce.

That's exactly what it is about. The current system requires a growing tax base to maintain all the benefits the politicians promised to get elected. Rather than adjust the systems, the government wants to bring in more people to tax. This only works, however, if the population moving into the country is work ready.

We can see the failure of this policy in Europe and the US, which are bringing in massive numbers of uneducated unemployable people who will not provide tax revenue. Even those that eventually become employed will do so in the lowest income brackets and will be a net loss for the government after welfare, food stamps, etc is accounted for, but on the plus side the politicians will get more indebted voters to maintain there power. As they build the house of cards higher and higher it will eventually fall, but not on their heads, it will be future generations who bear the brunt of current leaders bad decisions.

[TrumpIsPresident]

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, says he would prefer to raise the relatively low proportion of Japanese women who work, and to keep all Japanese working later in life, before admitting droves of foreigners.

Sounds like they know their best move is to take care of their own, first.

America should take note.

But no ...gotta import that low-skill, low-wealth, low-value human cattle and drive them to market (polling place) every 4 years.

[Rend Blackhand]

At least we can trust Japan to have tighter controls and security measures when they let in more migrants, unlike the EU and other western countries.

[DeadmanWalking]

The problem with countries in decline is that there are always social tenents that set the nation up for population decline. Take Germany for example, the average German has a culture where they consider marraige to be passe and if they have a child it isn't planned and they rarely have more than 1 or 2 children if they have children at all. There is no business for baby supplies in Germany. Now the Turkish who live there on the other hand have a culture where the norm is to have as many children as possible, upwards of 7 isn't unheard of. That continues exponentially and eventually the population will shift to majority Turkish and when that happens Germany will become New Turkey.

The problem isn't that they don't have enough people making babies, the problem is that they don't have enough people with German culture producing babies. German Culture has to change to make it desireable to have lots of babies in order to solve Germany's population problem. Simply packing bodies in there doesn't solve the problems, it just creates a new population that isn't German. Once that population becomes the dominant population that country will no longer be Germany.

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Sounds like they know their best move is to take care of their own, first.

America should take note.

But no ...gotta import that low-skill, low-wealth, low-value human cattle and drive them to market (polling place) every 4 years.

If America stopped giving them jobs they would not come here, during every economic downturn in american history where jobs become more scarce illegal imigrant populations declined as people decided to go back to their countries because opportunities were better there.

That goes from farmers, warehouses, hotels right down to the guy who drives up to a gas station to pick up day labors to paint his fence for $50 instead of hiring an American, put some of them in jail and that shit would stop.

[Deleted]

For some reason the men in Japan are too akward to have relationships, let alone intercourse with women.

And I guess the work ethic/culture doesnt help with family life either.

[TrumpIsPresident]

If America stopped giving them jobs they would not come here, during every economic downturn in american history where jobs become more scarce illegal imigrant populations declined as people decided to go back to their countries because opportunities were better there.

That goes from farmers, warehouses, hotels right down to the guy who drives up to a gas station to pick up day labors to paint his fence for $50 instead of hiring an American, put some of them in jail and that shit would stop.

Damn right.

Getting Americans working is a great way to reduce some of the enticement that some illegals have to be here.

There's no singular trick to fixing the illegal infestation but this is surely one thing that needs to be done.

And ya, anybody who hires illegals should be imprisoned at heavily fined.

[Deleted]

It seems that economic pressure finally cracked Japanese resistance to immigration.

Nowhere does the article say or imply anything like that.

And whatever the motivation for letting in this measly, measly amount of people from Korea/China - the real issue is and if the Japanese were serious, is the insane amounts of NEETs.

There are plenty things you can do before you go for radical measures like massive import of foreigners - that is, employing everyone, raising the general qualification of the population AND cutting inefficiency/optimizing wherever and whatever you can.

That of course requires enormous political will and power. Much easier to import X amount than get to those reforms done and adjust to the reality of declining birth rates.

[Deleted]

It seems that economic pressure finally cracked Japanese resistance to immigration.


Begrudgingly, Japan is beginning to accept that it needs more immigrants

No, they do not.
They need more productive people.
They can either raise native productivity, or the can 'import' productive people.
They do not need 'immigrants'.