A Study Of Japanese Migration Policies And Its Future Implications

Japan has been perceived as a country of no immigration.The country's foreign population ratio as well as citizenship acquisition status for migrants is quite small compared with other industrialized economies.This is due to the restrictive nature of the country's immigration policies over the years.Japan's population has been declining over the last few decades marking a demographic turning point in the country's current history.Japan has low birth rates coupled with a rapidly ageing population.At the same time,the country is experiencing a sharp decline in their active working class.These developments puts pressure on its social security system,medical care and pension's scheme.The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research has estimated that Japan's current population of approximately 128 million people will fall below 100 million by 2028 and below 90 million by 2060.This means that,the population will shrink about the same margin that it used to grow after the Pacific War,but a completely different age structure will be seen.No matter the indices one employs,Japan's increasing population decline becomes unavoidable.This research identifies the factors that have accounted for Japan's restrictive immigration policies despite the growing challenges of population decline and assesses new developments responsible for current changes in these policies to favour foreign migrants.The first chapter provides the research background and an overview of migration.The main focus of the research is to identify why Japan's immigration policies are starting to change after it existence for many years.A critical focus is placed on how cultural homogeneity has been very instrumental in the enactment of Japan's restrictive immigration policies over the years.The current immigration policy of Japan is analysed as well as the emerging factors playing critical roles in causing changes to the country's immigration policies in recent times.A qualitative research approach is employed with an in-depth analysis of data and materials regarding the topic.The second chapter provides a brief history of Japanese immigration policies and illustrates the chronological development of these policies.The chapter also explains various changes the “90 Regime policy”(main immigration policy in Japan currently)has seen in recent years,their likely implications and continuity of these initiatives.The country's policy framework on immigration has been revised remarkably with initiatives such as “the 2006 new Guidelines about permanent residence”,the Economic Partnership Agreement(EPA)ratification in 2007,“the 300,000 exchange students plan lunched in 2008”,the 2010 enactment of a program for refugees resident in third world countries,the 2012 point system for highly skilled immigrants and quite recently,a new regulation permitting two kinds of visa statuses for blue-collar workers.Internal policy initiatives by the government to solve the problem of population decline have also been discussed in this chapter.Chapter three outlines the theoretical framework adopted to discuss the narrative of the research.Two theories are employed in this research to support the arguments in this research.The first theory is the National Identity theory which focuses on how Japanese immigration policies have been shaped by debates over culture and national identity.In Japan,the dominant cultural belief that predominantly forms their national identity and wields political and social weight is the “Nihonjinron”.This genre advocates that the Japanese are unique and highly homogeneous with cultural orientations different from the outside world.This cultural homogeneity is highly accepted and promoted by policy makers making acceptance of immigrants very difficult.The second theory is the Neoclassical Economic theory which suggests that international migration is related to the global supply and demand for labour.Thus,countries with high wages and a declining population will attract citizens of countries with low wages but have abundant labour supply.This can be related to the Japanese case,however,it is necessary to emphasize that culture matters in immigration policy formulation.Some other internal factors have positively influenced and caused remarkable changes in the said restrictive immigration policies of Japan.Demographic concerns as well as economic factors have been identified.Pressure from the International Community,regional factors,globalisation and economic integration have all been identified as external factors contributing to changes in the immigration policies of Japan.Chapter Four concludes the study by highlighting the major advantages of Japanese immigration policies which are not found in many of the policies of other advanced countries.These advantages include the provision made for family reunification and other dependents to have easy access to Japan.One major disadvantage of the policy is the lack of a proper definition for highly skilled migrants making it ambiguous and sometimes difficult to make a critical assessment of such policies.In terms of comparison,a study among highly skilled migrants and their preferred destination conducted by the Institute for Management Development(IMD)in 2009 involving 59 countries placed Japan 44 th below China,India and other states.This is quite alarming for an advanced country like Japan not to be preferred by many workers.Although the records show that Japan's economic growth for about three decades(between 1955 and 1980)was largely attributed to the country's homogeneity and closed borders to foreigners as part of the findings in this research,this position may not be the case in the future.Japan's economy has not seen much growth since the bubble economic ‘burst' around the 1990 s and there are predictions of future decline if measures are not taken to address the declining population.It is evident that the single most dominant reason responsible for Japan's dislike for accepting foreign immigrants is rooted deeply in their history.Gradually and reluctantly,Japan has begun reforms to its immigration policies and labour laws for foreigners.However,there seem to be a gap between policy makers in Japan and the entire Japanese society on matters relating to Japan's migration.To conclude,Japan can learn from countries which have had similar population challenges and how they solved these issues so as to develop a comprehensive policy aimed at handling its population challenges.