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Can Japan Become “A Society Attractive for Immigrants?” Identity, Gender and Nation‐States under Globalization in East Asia
Author(s) -
Jung YeongHae
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal of japanese sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.133
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1475-6781
pISSN - 0918-7545
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6781.2004.00053.x
Subject(s) - immigration , xenophobia , globalization , foreign national , political science , development economics , immigration policy , population , economic growth , east asia , demographic economics , economics , sociology , china , law , demography
In 2003, the total fertility rate in Japan was 1.29. According to many predictions, if the current rate continues, the labor shortage will become critical. The Economic and Fiscal Policy White Paper, edited by the Cabinet Office (Naikakuhu, 2003a), stated “If we attempt to fill the lack by accepting immigrants in order to maintain the population of productive workers, we will need to accept 640 000 immigrants every year until 2050. It is necessary to make our country more attractive for foreign workers”. However, it is unlikely that more than 30 million immigrants will choose to live in Japan unless efforts are made to abolish xenophobia and to make qualitative changes that will change Japanese society so that it is more open to co‐existence. Moreover, Japan is not the only country that must worry about future declines in the work force and other countries will most likely start to attract foreign workers earlier than Japan (Naikakuhu, 2003b).