Measures on Increasing Foreigners

Minister of Justice, Keisuke Suzuki, released an interim report of his private study group on influx of foreigners into Japan. It found that Japan’s policy on immigrants lacked strategic basis and recommended to consider setting a limit on accepting foreigners as workforce. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is going to grapple with the issue which was paid attention by voters in the Upper House election in July. 

While the Liberal Democratic Party reduced 13 seats in the Upper House election, Saiseito added the same number of seats. One of the policies in Sanseito’s platform was stopping “silent invasion” to Japan by foreign countries. The party upheld limiting foreign workers to Japan and introduction of stricter regulation on foreigners’ purchase of land, forest, source of water supply and isolated islands.

 

Recognizing growing attention on foreign immigrants in Japan, the MOJ began to review its policies on foreign people in Japan. Suzuki’s study group listed up policies which would be needed to consider. Concerning current tendency of xenophobic sentiments among people in Japan, the ministry expects proper reception of foreign people with consideration of economic needs for foreign workers and protecting foreigners’ human rights.

 

Interim report of the study group criticized current policy on foreigners as “symptomatic treatment” without integrated concept. According to Population Estimates in March 2025, foreigners in Japan was 3.56 million, sharing 2.9 percent of whole population. Although the share is expected to grow to 10 percent in 2070, the report warned that the growth of foreign population may be faster than the estimation.

 

The report recommended to review policies on foreigners from seven viewpoints, which were economic growth, industrial policy, labor policy, taxation and social security, local lives, public safety and immigration. It demanded stricter measures on foreigners who do not abide by rules, including illegal immigrants in Japan. The study group realized necessity of those kinds of rules to protect social safety.

 

The ministry established a project team in its Immigrations Services Agency to implement recommendations of the study group. Reducing cultural friction between foreigners and local community is one of the main purposes of measures for foreigners. Education of Japanese language can be the fucus of policies for coexistence of foreigners and the Japanese.

 

With structural changes in economy and shortage of labor, Japan needs foreign people as labor force. Foreign travelers are indispensable for economic growth in Japan. However, xenophobic sentiment causes discrimination against foreign people in each local community and generates distorted nationalism to exclude foreign people from the society. It is tested whether Japan can establish its unique policy toward foreigners, different from social antagonism seen in some countries in Europe or America.

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