Anti-immigrant eh? Shall Okinawa go back to being Ryukyu? Hokkaido returned to the Ainu, and then Honshu returned to the Jomon?
Japan was never “pro-immigrant” and rightfully so. It just comes out as foreigner influx is becoming unbearable for japanese people.
PS: downvotes show most ppl here know nothing about japanese society
They are confusing a bunch of stuff together.
Economy stagnating? Because foreigners are taking advantage of Japan’s social programs.
Over tourisrm? Proof that there are too many foreign residents in Japan.
Foreign workers working at XYZ company? They are stealing our jobs!
Foreigner getting arrested? Japan’s crime rate should be 0, but those darn Foreigners are inflating the numbers!
Etc…
EDIT to add that Japan is absolutely not unique with these points. Foreigners will always get the short hand of the stick.
Japanese people voting for Sanseito are ignorant fools. Japanese people choose not to make enough babies anymore. Japan can’t survive without immigrants. They are needed as workers, tax and social insurance payers and as consumers.
But of course they should choose immigrants who come in. Health care workers from Asia: Yes. Uneducated and low skilled workers: No
Japan has never been foreigners friendly as far as I can remember. They also never needed any fringe far-right parties to enact any anti-immigration policies.
Meaning: imo, it’s business as usual. They will keep the JP population happy by putting in the headlines that Chinese are screwing them over, that all that is going on here is not their fault and it is clearly the responsibility of the 3.7M foreigners living in Japan, and that if they don’t fuck and make kids, it is probably because Li and Zhang get some subsidies when they come to study in Tokyo.
Base your feelings about all this on what is your daily life here “Has my life as a foreigner became terrible recently, or suffered any significant changes?”.
I think people all over the world are tired of the immigration issue and seeing their communities change.
As for Japan, I think the stigma some foreigners give (i.e disrespecting Japanese culture, not taking the time to learn the language etc) albeit likely small is making some feel that something needs to be done about it. If course Japan itself is grappling with a population crisis as it is with how old the median population is. Some might not like the idea of foreigners being able to solve the population crisis
They are kind of duping people with their messaging though, similar to Trump. I know someone who is literally married to a foreigner that voted for sanseitou. She had no idea it was racist, corona conspiracy, etc. She had heard directly from a Filipino acquaintance that they were getting free schooling here and then leaving right after, which she thought was wrong, and then I guess and saw some sanseitou online thing talking about that… and that was all it took! Once I told her more about sanseitou she felt really terrible and foolish.
To be clear, I have no idea about how foreigners are able to take advantage of social programs—I’m certainly not getting any assistance and I’m poor AF. But I was there when this Filipino dude was bragging about how he was basically getting paid by the Japanese government to go to college. Is that a real thing? Because if so, I’d like to sign up…
There is no immigration issue in Japan
It’s 3%, most of them being Chinese and most of them working and paying taxes
Although there are some issues it’s very small and far to be the priority of what needs to be addressed
They just want to find a proxy to avoid talking about the real problems
The foreign residents are getting lumped in with the shitty tourists, and I feel for them because almost every foreign resident that I’ve met makes an effort to respect the culture and is just trying to survive like the rest of us Japanese. They need to crack down on misbehaving tourists, slap them with some harsh fines and jail time for more serious offenses.
It has been like that for ever 40 years.
funny stories. The same thing happens in my country.
immigrants tends to get the blame when life is hard.
Becoming? Lol
The sweet poison…
“Everything wrong in your life isn’t your fault…. It’s the fault of <insert minority here>”
“If only we got tough on <insert minority here> then everything will be great again!”
Worked for the Nazis…. Worked for the American Nazis… Worked for the Brexit Nazis….
I always feel like Japan is exceptionally highlighted with this due to one important factor. Japan is among the very few “developed” and “democratic”countries in which white people aren’t in control.
This kind of anti-immigrant sentiment exists in most European countries and North America, but there it mainly hits those immigrating from Middle Eastern, African, or SE countries.
It’s not even that white people are specifically targeted by Japanese media, but the discourse lumps all together as 外国人. This allows white people to feel a specific kind of persecution that is pretty rare in countries they would normally emigrate to.
Is Japan free of racism? No, absolutely not, and the government has been doing a less than decent job of educating people on it. But is the overall discourse much better in Germany or the UK? I don’t see it.
Russia is fanning the tiny flames of anti-immigration sentiment in Japan. They’ve done in it Western Europe, the US, and many other countries. It’s effective in some places. All of this is designed to sow dissent in western or western allied countries.
Watch out, it doesn’t take much to become an embarrassment of a nation with an embarrassment of a leader in charge. Nations like the US are falling victim to the same thing; when a nations problems don’t disappear because of a crack down on immigration….then who will the right wing turn their attention to next?
A lot of this hype is fueled and funded by russia. Take a look at candidates appearing on RT and Sputnik propaganda outlets — obvious “product placement”
Japan has always been immigrant adverse, future tense does not apply here.
<insert spacesuit always has been meme here>
I know Japan gets some dollars and dimes from tourism, but because of shitty tourists we are going to get the short end of the stick even when we try our best to integrate with the country.
Overtourism should definitely be addressed to fix this
if they are not, it is only a matter of time. Hypertourism is straining things imo.
Japan has never liked immigrants. They used to like tourists back in the day since they go home after their trip. Now they hate both foreign residents as well as tourists due to overtourism. I don’t think it is ever going to change.
This is, in a way, good because what I’m seeing and hearing is just rumours and conspiracies that have pretty much always been around. The thing is I can’t remember the discussion about immigration being so out in the open before so people just do their whispers and spread misinformation unchallenged. Nothing new.
What I’m seeing now is the conversation is more out in the open, which is making people think a bit harder about their opinions. There’s a news story going around which is a takedown of some common misinformation.
Therefore, while the right wing might be more visible, it should make the more rational majority consider their opinions a bit more deeply. Deep down, I think most Japanese people are moderate about nearly every issue so I think that’ll end up being the majority position – we need to keep the society going but moderately. Hopefully anyway.
Becoming?
Politicians exploiting the island syndrome where anything or anyone from outside is a threat to the status quo and easy to blame when things disturb it.
If 3% of society can magically ruin society for the other 97% doesnt seem like a very good society me thinks
Immigration issue in Japan. Hahahaha.
To be fair it seems to me that many countries in the world are becoming anti-immigrants with far-right parties in power
imo there always has been a bias in Japanese society. older folks were well well aware that Japan has changed to its benefit learning from foreign civilizations. looking up to, admiring, acknowledging achievements in many a field of modern societies. usually they are genuinly friendly and curious toward foreigners without depending on inbound tourism (until recently).
now increasing work force from abroad, in a rather homogeneous society with a language and customs which are “challenging” , integrating citizens who have not been “socialized” in Japan is a big issue nowadays as is in any other country. I would say that Japan is less xenophobic than anywhere else.
it might seem to be tough for foreigners but honestly it also very objectively is for Japanese fellow citizens as well. yet there is a gap in perception: the majority of “standard”Japanese is brought up to follow the rules, and do not feel discriminated, whereas citizens from other countries have a lower threshold/acceptance in terms of “discriminative behaviour”. being treated differently is discrimination, yet I do not have the impression that the majority of foreign citizens/visitors is being treated worse, on the contrary they are iften being treated better than fellow citizens…..
misbehaving is sanctioned more or less equally, maybe even with a gaijin “bonus”. SNSs are prone to amplify negative news which per se is a big problem. just thinking.
32 comments
Becoming?
Of course it is.
Anti-immigrant eh? Shall Okinawa go back to being Ryukyu? Hokkaido returned to the Ainu, and then Honshu returned to the Jomon?
Japan was never “pro-immigrant” and rightfully so. It just comes out as foreigner influx is becoming unbearable for japanese people.
PS: downvotes show most ppl here know nothing about japanese society
They are confusing a bunch of stuff together.
Economy stagnating? Because foreigners are taking advantage of Japan’s social programs.
Over tourisrm? Proof that there are too many foreign residents in Japan.
Foreign workers working at XYZ company? They are stealing our jobs!
Foreigner getting arrested? Japan’s crime rate should be 0, but those darn Foreigners are inflating the numbers!
Etc…
EDIT to add that Japan is absolutely not unique with these points. Foreigners will always get the short hand of the stick.
Japanese people voting for Sanseito are ignorant fools. Japanese people choose not to make enough babies anymore. Japan can’t survive without immigrants. They are needed as workers, tax and social insurance payers and as consumers.
But of course they should choose immigrants who come in. Health care workers from Asia: Yes. Uneducated and low skilled workers: No
Japan has never been foreigners friendly as far as I can remember. They also never needed any fringe far-right parties to enact any anti-immigration policies.
Meaning: imo, it’s business as usual. They will keep the JP population happy by putting in the headlines that Chinese are screwing them over, that all that is going on here is not their fault and it is clearly the responsibility of the 3.7M foreigners living in Japan, and that if they don’t fuck and make kids, it is probably because Li and Zhang get some subsidies when they come to study in Tokyo.
Base your feelings about all this on what is your daily life here “Has my life as a foreigner became terrible recently, or suffered any significant changes?”.
I think people all over the world are tired of the immigration issue and seeing their communities change.
As for Japan, I think the stigma some foreigners give (i.e disrespecting Japanese culture, not taking the time to learn the language etc) albeit likely small is making some feel that something needs to be done about it. If course Japan itself is grappling with a population crisis as it is with how old the median population is. Some might not like the idea of foreigners being able to solve the population crisis
They are kind of duping people with their messaging though, similar to Trump. I know someone who is literally married to a foreigner that voted for sanseitou. She had no idea it was racist, corona conspiracy, etc. She had heard directly from a Filipino acquaintance that they were getting free schooling here and then leaving right after, which she thought was wrong, and then I guess and saw some sanseitou online thing talking about that… and that was all it took! Once I told her more about sanseitou she felt really terrible and foolish.
To be clear, I have no idea about how foreigners are able to take advantage of social programs—I’m certainly not getting any assistance and I’m poor AF. But I was there when this Filipino dude was bragging about how he was basically getting paid by the Japanese government to go to college. Is that a real thing? Because if so, I’d like to sign up…
There is no immigration issue in Japan
It’s 3%, most of them being Chinese and most of them working and paying taxes
Although there are some issues it’s very small and far to be the priority of what needs to be addressed
They just want to find a proxy to avoid talking about the real problems
The foreign residents are getting lumped in with the shitty tourists, and I feel for them because almost every foreign resident that I’ve met makes an effort to respect the culture and is just trying to survive like the rest of us Japanese. They need to crack down on misbehaving tourists, slap them with some harsh fines and jail time for more serious offenses.
It has been like that for ever 40 years.
funny stories. The same thing happens in my country.
immigrants tends to get the blame when life is hard.
Becoming? Lol
The sweet poison…
“Everything wrong in your life isn’t your fault…. It’s the fault of <insert minority here>”
“If only we got tough on <insert minority here> then everything will be great again!”
Worked for the Nazis…. Worked for the American Nazis… Worked for the Brexit Nazis….
I always feel like Japan is exceptionally highlighted with this due to one important factor. Japan is among the very few “developed” and “democratic”countries in which white people aren’t in control.
This kind of anti-immigrant sentiment exists in most European countries and North America, but there it mainly hits those immigrating from Middle Eastern, African, or SE countries.
It’s not even that white people are specifically targeted by Japanese media, but the discourse lumps all together as 外国人. This allows white people to feel a specific kind of persecution that is pretty rare in countries they would normally emigrate to.
Is Japan free of racism? No, absolutely not, and the government has been doing a less than decent job of educating people on it. But is the overall discourse much better in Germany or the UK? I don’t see it.
Russia is fanning the tiny flames of anti-immigration sentiment in Japan. They’ve done in it Western Europe, the US, and many other countries. It’s effective in some places. All of this is designed to sow dissent in western or western allied countries.
Watch out, it doesn’t take much to become an embarrassment of a nation with an embarrassment of a leader in charge. Nations like the US are falling victim to the same thing; when a nations problems don’t disappear because of a crack down on immigration….then who will the right wing turn their attention to next?
A lot of this hype is fueled and funded by russia. Take a look at candidates appearing on RT and Sputnik propaganda outlets — obvious “product placement”
Japan has always been immigrant adverse, future tense does not apply here.
<insert spacesuit always has been meme here>
I know Japan gets some dollars and dimes from tourism, but because of shitty tourists we are going to get the short end of the stick even when we try our best to integrate with the country.
Overtourism should definitely be addressed to fix this
if they are not, it is only a matter of time. Hypertourism is straining things imo.
Japan has never liked immigrants. They used to like tourists back in the day since they go home after their trip. Now they hate both foreign residents as well as tourists due to overtourism. I don’t think it is ever going to change.
This is, in a way, good because what I’m seeing and hearing is just rumours and conspiracies that have pretty much always been around. The thing is I can’t remember the discussion about immigration being so out in the open before so people just do their whispers and spread misinformation unchallenged. Nothing new.
What I’m seeing now is the conversation is more out in the open, which is making people think a bit harder about their opinions. There’s a news story going around which is a takedown of some common misinformation.
Therefore, while the right wing might be more visible, it should make the more rational majority consider their opinions a bit more deeply. Deep down, I think most Japanese people are moderate about nearly every issue so I think that’ll end up being the majority position – we need to keep the society going but moderately. Hopefully anyway.
Becoming?
Politicians exploiting the island syndrome where anything or anyone from outside is a threat to the status quo and easy to blame when things disturb it.
If 3% of society can magically ruin society for the other 97% doesnt seem like a very good society me thinks
Immigration issue in Japan. Hahahaha.
To be fair it seems to me that many countries in the world are becoming anti-immigrants with far-right parties in power
imo there always has been a bias in Japanese society. older folks were well well aware that Japan has changed to its benefit learning from foreign civilizations. looking up to, admiring, acknowledging achievements in many a field of modern societies. usually they are genuinly friendly and curious toward foreigners without depending on inbound tourism (until recently).
now increasing work force from abroad, in a rather homogeneous society with a language and customs which are “challenging” , integrating citizens who have not been “socialized” in Japan is a big issue nowadays as is in any other country. I would say that Japan is less xenophobic than anywhere else.
it might seem to be tough for foreigners but honestly it also very objectively is for Japanese fellow citizens as well. yet there is a gap in perception: the majority of “standard”Japanese is brought up to follow the rules, and do not feel discriminated, whereas citizens from other countries have a lower threshold/acceptance in terms of “discriminative behaviour”. being treated differently is discrimination, yet I do not have the impression that the majority of foreign citizens/visitors is being treated worse, on the contrary they are iften being treated better than fellow citizens…..
misbehaving is sanctioned more or less equally, maybe even with a gaijin “bonus”. SNSs are prone to amplify negative news which per se is a big problem. just thinking.
Good