Immigration to Japan

History

Due to geographic remoteness, and periods of self-imposed isolation, the immigration, cultural assimilation and integration of foreign nationals into mainstream Japanese society has been comparatively limited. Historian Yukiko Koshiro has identified three historically significant waves of immigration prior to 1945; the 8th century settlement of Korean artists and intellectuals; the asylum offered to a small number of Chinese families in the 1600s; and the forced immigration of up to 670,000 Korean and Chinese laborers during the Second World War.

After 1945, unlike the Gastarbeiter immigration encouraged in advanced industrial economies such as Germany, Japan was for the greater part able to rely on internal pools of rural labour to satisfy the manpower needs of industry. The demands of small business owners and demographic shifts in the late 1980's however gave rise for a limited period to a wave of tacitly accepted illegal immigration from countries as diverse as the Philippines and Iran.

Production offshoring in the 1980s also enabled Japanese firms in some labour intensive industries such as electronic goods manufacture and vehicle assembly to reduce their dependence on imported labour. In 1990, new government legislation provided South Americans of Japanese ancestry such as Japanese Brazilians and Japanese Peruvians with preferential working visa immigration status. By 1998, there were 222,217 Brazilian nationals registered as resident in Japan with additional smaller groups from Peru and Argentina. In 2009, with economic conditions less favorable, this trend was reversed as the Japanese government introduced a new programme that would incentivise Brazilian and other Latin American immigrants to return home with a stipend of $3000 for airfare and $2000 for each dependent.

As of the second half of 2015, with an increasingly elderly Japanese population and lack of manpower in key sectors such as construction, IT services and health care, Japanese politicians are again debating the need to expand temporary foreign labour pools, through the use of short-term trainee programs.

Current immigration statistics

Resident foreign nationals in Japan that are counted in immigration statistics of permanent residents and mid-long term residents (granted resident visas for 12 months or more) include individuals and their registered dependents with:

From 2013 published government reports, the proportion of foreign residents granted permanent resident status in Japan exceeded 30%. Although, if foreign residents granted special permanent resident status, spouses of Japanese nationals, fixed domicile residents (those of Japanese ancestry) and ethnic Koreans with residence in Japan are included, the number of resident foreigners granted permanent residence effectively exceeds 60%.

Special Permanent Resident

The published statistics on foreign nationals resident in Japan includes zainichi Koreans with tokubetsu eijusha Special permanent resident status, of whom there were 354,503 (of a total of 358,409 of all nationalities with such visas).

Permanent Resident

Foreign nationals already long term residents in Japan under another visa category such as a working visa or as the spouse of a Japanese national are eligible to apply for permanent residence status. The granting of permanent residence status is at the discretion of the Immigration Bureau and dependent on satisfaction of a number of detailed criteria such as length of stay, ability to make an independent living, record of tax payments and documented contributions to Japan in terms of public service or professional activities.

Immigration through marriage

International marriage migration used to represent as much as 25% of permanent migration flows to Japan, but this trend has been in decline since a peak in 2006. In the 1980's increasing numbers of Japanese men were registering marriages in Japan to women from China, Korea and the Philippines.

In 2006, according to data released by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, 44,701 marriages, or 6.11% of all marriages registered in Japan were to a foreign national. In 2013, this number had fallen to 21,488 marriages or 3.25% of all marriages registered in Japan. Of the 21,488 international marriages registered in Japan in 2013, 15,442 or 71.77% were marriages involving a foreign bride, compared to 6,046 or 28.23% where the groom was non-Japanese.

Japan registered marriage statistics alone may not present a comprehensive picture of the numbers of international marriages in Japan as marriages registered overseas may also contribute to total immigrant spouse numbers. Once married, foreign spouses may also, if certain criteria are satisfied, change their visa status to Permanent Resident or other visa categories. 2012 Ministry of Justice data indicates that of all foreigners in Japan, 7.5% are resident in Japan under a visa designation as a spouse of a Japanese national.

Long term residents on limited duration employment or student visas

At the end of December 2014 there were 2,121,831 foreigners residing in Japan. Of this number 677,019 (32%) were considered long-term, but non permanent residents; those granted visas for a duration of 12 months or more. The majority of long-term residents in Japan on limited duration work or study visas were from Asia, totalling 478,953. Chinese made up the largest portion of this group with 215,155, followed by Filipinos with 115,857, and Koreans with 65,711. Thai, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese long-term residents totaled 47,956, and those from other Asian countries totaled 34,274. Individuals on limited duration Technical Intern Training Program visas account for nearly 200,000 of the number of long-term residents in any given year.

Refugees and asylum seekers

Japan is a signatory to the UN 1951 Refugee Convention as well as the 1967 Protocol. The country therefore has made a commitment to offer protection to people who seek asylum and fall into the legal definition of a refugee, and moreover, not to return any displaced person to places where they would otherwise face persecution.

Japan has historically been one of the world's most generous donors to refugee relief and resettlement programs overseas. In 2014 it was the world's 2nd largest financial contributor to UNHCR programs. Japanese diplomat Sadako Ogata served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991-2000.

As of December 2015 Japan had 13,831 asylum applications under review. In 2016, more than 10,000 applications for refugee status in Japan were received and in the same year 28 asylum applications were approved. In 2015, more than 7,500 people applied for refugee status and 27 asylum applications were approved. In 2014, more than 5000 applications were made and 11 applications were approved. Recent low approval rates for asylum applications follow historic trends; in a 22 year period from 1982 to 2004, a total of 330 applications for asylum were approved, an average of 15 per year.

Whereas in Germany and Canada around 40% of asylum applications are approved, in Japan the number averages 0.2 per cent. On occasion, where Japan has stopped short of granting official refugee status, a limited number of applicants have been granted permission to stay on humanitarian grounds. In 2016, 97 refugee applicants were granted permission to stay on this basis. Decisions on refugee status in Japan are often slow, and confirmation of deportation orders are not widely published. Resubmission of asylum claims by previously unsuccessful applicants often occurs.

A recent rise in asylum seekers in Japan has been attributed in part to a legal loophole related to the government administered Technical Intern Training Program. In 2015, 192,655 vocational trainees mainly from developing economies were working in Japan in factories, construction sites, farms, food processing and in retail. Although total numbers are small, following a change in rules in 2010, asylum applications jumped four-fold, fueled by asylum seekers from Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka. Rising numbers of vocational trainees reportedly made formal asylum applications in order to change employers and escape reported employment abuses and low pay. The government-backed vocational program allows trainees to work on either one or three year contracts. Although the chances of refugee status been granted in Japan are exceptionally small, asylumn applicants are permitted to get a job six months after applying for refugee status and, significantly, to make their own choice of employer.

Illegal immigration

According to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) estimates, the number of foreign nationals staying illegally in Japan beyond their authorized period of stay dropped to approximately 60,000 as of January 1, 2015. Illegal immigrant numbers had peaked at approximately 300,000 in May 1993, but have been gradually reduced through both stricter enforcement of border controls, workplace monitoring and an expansion of government run foreign worker programs for those seeking a legal route to short term employment opportunities in Japan.

Border controls at ports of entry for foreign nationals include examination of personal identification documentation, finger printing and photo recording. Security at both air and maritime ports is closely controlled. As a result, according to MOJ data, the single largest source of illegal immigrants in Japan are those foreign nationals found to have stayed illegally beyond the 90 day time period of the temporary visitor visa.

Naturalisation

In 2015 9,469 applications for Japanese citizenship were approved. The number of foreign residents in Japan applying to naturalize and obtain Japanese citizenship peaked in 2008 at more than 16,000, but declined to 12,442 in 2015. Processing of applications can take up to 18 months. Application criteria are set deliberately high and inspectors are granted a degree of discretion in interpretation of eligibility and good conduct criteria.

Most of the decline in applications is accounted for by a steep reduction in the number of Japan-born Koreans taking Japanese citizenship. Historically the bulk of those taking Japanese citizenship have not been new immigrants but rather Special Permanent Residents; Japan-born descendants of Koreans and Taiwanese who remained in Japan at the end of the Second World War.

Ethnicity and nationality

The concept of minzoku (民族, "ethnic group") as represented in Japanese makes no distinction between racial, ethnic, and national identities. Where the census of the United Kingdom, for example, separates ethnic or racial background from nationality, the Japanese Census and Statistics Bureau do not distinguish between the two.

The definition of ethnic and racial boundaries alongside national ones leads many people to represent Japan as tan’itsu minzoku kokka (単一民族国家, "an ethnically homogeneous nation"), with an explicit purity of blood and culture. This ignores the reality of Japan's native ethnic minorities, even as the Ainu and Ryukyuan people campaign for greater recognition, and discourages the idea of immigration. In 2005 Former Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō described Japan as being a nation of "one race, one civilization, one language and one culture" and in 2012, this claim was repeated by former Governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara. Such statements have led to media scrutiny.

The concept of a unified minzoku retains a legal authority. A 1984 amendment to the Japanese Nationality Act made citizenship jus sanguinis, tied to blood rather than place of birth. Japanese citizenship is exclusive: those who naturalize must renounce their first nationality, and those who are born Japanese but with a second citizenship must choose between them by the time they are 20 years old.

Public opinion towards immigration

Polls in the past have shown that most Japanese people oppose an expansion of immigration. However, a recent 2015 poll by the Asahi Shimbun found that fewer people (34%) oppose an expansion of immigration to maintain Japan's economic status in the face of a shrinking and rapidly aging workforce, while many (51%) people support increased immigration. Many people expect immigrants to assimilate. Nearly half of those who responded to a 2016 poll said that immigrants should respect Japanese culture and obey Japanese customs, while about one quarter said that Japanese people should embrace diversity.