Hi all. Here's a Japan Times essay on the pros and cons of "replacement migration"
to Japan. Due to editorial constraints, some sentences I found valuable (particularly
the paragraph on exceptionalism) got cut out of the printed article, so I enclose
the original version I submitted to the JT for your consideration. Bests, Arudou
Debito in Sapporo
The Japan Times, Sept 14, 2004
THE ZEIT GIST
Japan and the immigration issue
Barry Brophy and Debito Arudou offer two views on the immigration system
Courtesy http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040914zg.htm
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POINT
Japan is not ready or willing to accept an immigrant influx,
says Barry Brophy
One of the great givens regarding Japan's aging population and declining birthrate
is that an influx of immigrants, or "replacement migration," is needed
if the nation's pension burden is not to become unmanageable, and the shrinking labor
force harm the economy.
The introduction of foreign labor is an established and successful means of relieving
labor shortages and, as has been the case in the U.S., a cause of increased productivity.
However, the promotion of large scale, long term immigration when applied to Japan
at this time is flawed in several key respects.
Most crucially, assuming large numbers of immigrants were admitted, what kind of
welcome would they receive?
The government, even at a time when it moots replacement migration as a possible
answer to the aging issue, aggressively seeks to marginalize the existing foreign
population, from running absurd campaigns against foreign crime to refusing to enact
even the most basic of human rights legislation for foreigners.
If Japan is to seriously consider increasing immigration, then it must also be serious
about creating a social and legal framework that allows for the successful long-term
integration of immigrants into society. There is none at present.
Recent survey results that show a majority of Japanese in support of immigration
remain dominated by the question of illegal workers.
These results reflect legislative attitudes here, which have seen the passage only
of laws designed to control foreigners and absolutely none to protect them from discrimination.
Even existing legal foreign residents, who are fully paid-up members of the tax,
pension and insurance systems, can have difficulty in obtaining loans, finding accommodation
and getting served in bars.
In other words, while Japan is having trouble coping with the foreign population
that's already here, it should hardly be talking about increasing it substantially.
It is argued and accepted that foreigners are needed to fill labor shortages caused
by an aging population and decline in birthrate. But labor import assumes that Japan
can attract skilled and absorb unskilled workers. Neither is certain.
Rigid and often non-performing management structures, a lack of career advancement
opportunities, short term contracts, and an emphasis on seniority over skill make
Japanese companies unattractive to the qualified, skilled worker.
If unskilled foreign workers are brought in to fill the labor gap -- and they would
come -- then the profile of these workers in Japan must change; from one of doing
the jobs that Japanese won't do themselves, to one of filling employment needs when
and where they arise.
These workers must also be offered the rights, rewards and status enjoyed by Japanese
workers, and steps taken to fully assimilate them.
At present, however, officialdom appears far happier to turn a blind eye to illegal
-- and essential -- foreign labor and then target it as a source of social problems
when political expediency dictates.
And the debate on immigration also ignores one basic demographic fact: immigrants
also age.
A 2001 report by the U.N.'s population division on whether replacement migration
is a solution to the problem of an aging society concluded that Japan will need to
admit over 530 million immigrants by 2050 to maintain the current support ratio between
pensioners and workers.
The report concluded that large-scale immigration was presently unsuitable for Japan
since there is no precedent for admitting and assimilating large numbers of foreigners.
Japan is not unique in this sense, but the oversimplification of the issue of immigration
here, ostensibly to avoid discussion and solution of integration problems, makes
useful debate on the subject difficult.
Until that debate does take place, it is neither responsible or realistic to argue
for replacement migration.
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COUNTERPOINT
More migration to Japan is inevitable, so we should start getting used to the
idea,
says Debito Arudou
(original version)
This is not an essay arguing the merits of immigration. It would be like
arguing for or against the sunrise. Simply put, migration to Japan is
inevitable.
It may be hard to envision Japan as an "international society", but that
is
precisely what is happening. The number of registered foreigners (those
here on three-month visas and up) will probably top two million this
year--yet another record. International marriages number around 40,000
couples per year, up by a third from just five years ago. "Illegal
foreigners" according to the government, number at least 250,000 souls--many
brought in, supported, and exploited by both the above-board and underground
industries.
Demographics aside, foreigners are now an intrinsic part of the economy. To
ameliorate Japan's corporate "hollowing out" from outsourcing abroad, the
government in 1990 created visas to bring in cheap foreign workers as
"trainees" etc, i.e. people who would work for half minimum wage and few
welfare benefits.
Result: 250,000 South American laborers have suddenly become Japan's
third-largest foreign minority--their population percentage in some areas
reaching double digits. Shukan Diamondo (June 5, 2004) reported that
Japan's 760,000 foreign workers, some working 22-hour days, are now powering
companies like Toyota, Suzuki, Sanyo, Honda, and Yamaha. During a crackdown
on Chinese last year due to fears of SARS, factories in ruralities like
Shikoku simply closed down.
Fact is, Japan needs foreigners. And they will come. Japan's economy is
bigger than all the other Asian economies combined--which means the pull is
irresistible.
This is not unprecedented. According to John Lie's book "Multiethnic
Japan", Japan had a higher percentage of "foreigners" (i.e. migrants
from
Japan's colonies) in the population during World War Two. Yes, many were
brought here as forced labor, but when the postwar government tried to kick
them out (by depriving them of citizenship and registering them like
criminals), some still stayed on.
Why? They had roots and livelihoods. Some, despite everything, preferred
it here.
Nowadays there is even more to like in Japan, as any immigrant can tell you.
"Immigrant" might sound too hopeful a term, but remember: many
peoples--more than 75%--are not from Anglophone countries, and their
lifestyles are largely invisible to Japan's English-language media.
(NB: Source on the 75%: Ministry of Justice's most recent stats:
http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/040611-1/040611-1.html
)
So they come, stay on, learn the language, negotiate for what they need, and
create roots and livelihoods of their own. The growing numbers of
foreigners from developing countries (despite the modern disincentives of
being portrayed by officialdom as social destabilizers) will attest.
I am not an expert in issues of immigration or globalization, so I will not
further quantify migration's side benefits: beefing up Japan's taxation
base, funding future social services for an aging society, rescuing an
educational system withering from depopulation...
So let me focus on common sense:
Postwar Japan got rich, rejoining the club of developed nations, through
access to the international market.
Nowadays all developed nations are dealing with issues of migrant workers
and immigration.
But Japan in particular is making a hash of it. The government is having
trouble treating foreigners like human beings, let alone as contributing
residents, by denying them civil rights or legal protections.
This should not give rise to exceptionalism. Japan's current inability to
deal with the demographics should be a source of criticism, not an
invitation to sophistry or licence. Why should Japanese benefit this much
from the world economy (sometimes even as migrants themselves!) yet give
nothing back? Especially since domestic foreign labor is paying its way.
And to those who think that Japan will never change, read your history. At
least three times in the past 150 years (the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the
Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and defeat in 1945), Japanese society
essentially turned on a dime. How? It saw the writing on the wall,
mobilized, and--for better or worse--worked miracles. It can happen.
The writing is on the wall again. Foreigners are coming, many to stay.
Short of closing its borders (which would defy Koizumi's pushes for tourism,
not to mention damage global capital markets), banning international
marriage, stripping the foreigners already here (and their kin) of property
rights, or driving the rural economies further into bankruptcy, migration is
an inevitable part of the landscape. Live with it.
702 words
ENDS
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The Japan Times: Sept. 14, 2004
(C) All rights reserved
ENDS