Japan is currently amidst a battle between retaining a sense of monoethnic Japaneseness and opening up its borders to create a larger and more diverse labor force. It is evident that allowing foreign workers into Japan is the better move economically. In Mitsuru Obe’s article "Famous for its resistance to immigration, Japan opens its doors," he references an owner of a construction company who states that his foreign trainees are critical to the success of his company, as they work harder than most other Japanese people. Additionally, the CEO of Rakuten stated that a technology company can only survive if it brings in the best talent from all around the world. Ultimately, in a world dominated by capitalism, a country that opens up its borders is going to be more economically successful than one that does not.
However, Abe doesn’t choose to openly pursue an immigration policy due to the backlash that it may incur from those who believe in retaining a monoethnic society. Thus, he has been forced to do some political signaling. He states that he will not open up the country’s borders yet the number of foreign residents had increased by 20% in the three years leading up to 2018. These halfway policies have left some in limbo. Obe describes the experience of an elderly care worker from the Philippines, Marliezl Abud. Abud was able to pass a licensing exam, which allowed her to stay in Japan. She then brought her husband with her, but his visa only allows him to work 28 hours per week in Japan. Policies like these may be deterring skilled workers from immigrating to Japan. As Japan’s working population continues to age, Abe may be forced to pursue a full-on immigration policy.
In John Lie’s book Multiethnic Japan, he describes how Abe’s strategy may be working in retaining a monoethnic identity. He details a conversation with a Japanese friend where he stated Japan is multiethnic due to the large population of foreign workers in places like Yokohama and Tokyo. His friend rejects this idea by stating that these are port cities, thus they are the exception and not the rule. Even a nationalist like the Kyojin baseball team manager, Kawakami Tetsuharu, couldn’t avoid Japan’s multiethnic reality. He vowed to “build a team of pure-blooded and pure-hearted Japanese.” However, one of the best players on his team, Oh Sadaharu, was Taiwanese Japanese. Kawakami would go on to state that Oh “has a Japanese heart.” It seems like this signaling of a monoethnic identity has been widespread for quite a while now. This strategy may be functional in the moment, but doesn’t seem to be a sustainable course of action.
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