Japan has revised its permanent residence rules. The move is a response to concerns about abuse of the process. The problem is that Japan needs more immigrants to help fill the expanding shortages in the labor force.
An important driver of these revisions is a sense that the growing number of foreign immigrants is changing Japan for the worse. This is an impression, more than a reality. Japan, like every other nation, should aim to ensure that foreign immigrants obey the law, have the tools to fit into society and be prepared to make contributions — but that does not mean that it should necessarily be harder to immigrate. The Japanese government must focus on the long-term need for immigrants rather than the short-term political payoffs that come from exploiting unfounded fear.
Japan has long been ambivalent about its foreign-born population. For more than 200 years, it embraced an official policy of “sakoku” that resulted in an isolationist foreign policy and the creation of ghettos for the very few foreign residents who lived here. The country’s identity has been based on a myth of homogeneity — diversity is natural to a country of this geographic size and population — and a resulting insularity, expressed at a fatal moment as “100 million hearts beating as one.” Foreigners remained foreign, an identity that was often thrust upon them no matter how much they tried to integrate.
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