I don’t know what stat I should be looking for as don’t know much about this but seeing stats like 2.5% Japan population foreign born vs 15% of US.
Or current immigration rates of 0.7/1000 in Japan vs 3.0/1000 in USA. (Ironically Japan was directly next to Russia in that listing)
It seems the government is acknowledging exactly what Biden was super clumsily trying to say. I completely agree Biden choice of word was horrific but he seems clearly to be talking about a real phenomena.
From the article
“ Yet even with the steady inflows of workers, Japan’s immigrant population is only around 2%, the lowest among the Group of Seven advanced economies, with the other six having such numbers in the double digits, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
The 2% proportion reflects a reluctance to encourage foreign workers to build a life in Japan. ”
Japan is one of only a handful of countries that won’t give birthright citizenship.
I thought a lot of counties don’t give birthright citizenship and it causes problems.
Low immigration numbers doesn’t make the country xenophobic.
And also from the article: things are changing, and will continue to change into the future.
That’s super interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Haha, this is the worst presidential scandal since Obama wore a tan suit.
This seems like one of those things where everyone rushes to declare Biden has made a gaffe but he’s actually right. Japanese culture is notoriously hostile to foreigners. Economically they would be doing a lot better if they had US levels of immigration over the last 4 decades or so and if they made society more welcoming to those immigrants when they arrive.
He had a point, and just expressed it very badly. But I don’t think any voter actually cares about this statement.
My son is considering going to Japan for a year to teach English before starting Law School.
It is the other way around. America is one of a handful of countries that give birthright citizenship.
He clearly shouldn’t come to this Xenophobic place!
I’m just afraid he’ll fall in love with it and never come back home.
not to harp on this. i am hugely looking forward to visiting japan. i have friends who grew up there as foreigners, and friends who moved there permanently as adults. both spoke very highly. then i have a friend whose daughter lived in japan and found that it was hard to have social connections with the japanese. regardless, sounds like the trend is on becoming a more open society, not less. other countries should be so lucky.
Well that’s what happened to me, so it’s a possibility!
However, if he’s intelligent enough to be considering a career in law, teaching English will quickly grow old and he’ll realize that there are few decent career options in Japan without being able to speak the language along with a marketable skill. So I wouldn’t worry about that too much.
The truth is that the foreign experience here depends on the individual. As you said, I’ve known people like myself who came, here love it, and have been able to create a happy existence with a robust social life.
But the streets are also littered with the bodies of countless gaijin who came here with high hopes, only to end up alone and isolated, unable to forge meaningful relationships, and left (and in some cases still remain!) bitter and jaded, and hate Japan with every fiber of their being.
Living in Japan is not for everyone. But I don’t know of a single person who came for a short visit and didn’t love it. I’m sure you will too.
Curious what do you see as the “profile” of folks from elsewhere who happily live there vs not?
As I’m sure you know in US there is a group of non-Japanese people who are highly interested in Japanese anime/snacks/etc in some case almost crossing into a fetishized interest (not talking sexual here I’m sure that’s a whole different topic). Do these highly interested folks actually try to move to Japan in any numbers and if they do I just wouldn’t think it would go well?
This is the group that comes to Japan and tends to fail hardest due to their unrealistic expectation of what the country & its culture is like. These are the ones who give up and go home after a couple of years–their Japanese dream dashed.
Likewise those who come to teach English, fall in love, get married & have kids, but have no Japanese ability and no other means to make a living. Those are the embittered ones who are stuck here with no other life options.
As for those who find happiness here, gaining competence in the language is a good start, as is having a means of making a decent living other than by teaching English. And finally, having a healthy respect for the people and the culture, rather than trying to superimpose one’s own values & cultural norms.