Paper short abstract:

The paper will examine the evolution of Japanese immigration policy within the past three decades in the context of migration in East Asia, explore the transformation of the composition of foreign labor force and analyze the ongoing debate on migration as a way of solving the aging problem.

Paper long abstract:

Japan as one of the most technologically advanced states tries to reshape the traditional ways of work organization in the search for new opportunities as it keeps struggling with progressing aging of society. While the introduction of new technologies partly compensates vigorous labor demand, migrant labor turned to be the easiest way to immediately fill the gap in many unskilled occupations. From the late 1980s, the progressing aging of society forced the Japanese government to gradually relax its immigration law and introduce the policies of internationalization (kokusaika) and "cross-cultural co-existence" (tabunka kyousei). Over three decades, some specific groups of migrants such as people of Japanese descent (nikkeijin) were granted special residence permit, while some side-door mechanisms such as trainee system (ginou jisshuusei seido) were established. Finally, in November 2018, the Japanese government introduced its "specified skill visa" (tokutei ginou biza) in order to attract some 340,000 new workers. The structure of migrant labor force in Japan has also changed significantly within the last three decades. Some oldcomer ethnic groups had gradually been replaced by newcomers of a different origin. Inevitably, the growth and diversification of migrant population in Japan had certain impact on Japanese perception of themselves, society and its future. Although the increase and diversification of immigrant flows has not been received negatively, the debate on migrant society and its role continue to unfold. In this respect, Japan is not alone in elaborating a policy of cautious and gradual introduction of migrant labor. Its neighbor, the Republic of Korea, suddenly introduced the policy of multiculturalism in 2006, suddenly going ahead of Japan, which trainee system had been a model for the ROK until the early 2000s. Some Chinese cities also see the formation of migrant communities. The paper will examine the evolution of Japanese immigration policy within the past three decades in East Asian context, explore the transformation of the composition of foreign labor force and analyze the ongoing debate on migration as a way of solving the aging problem.

Paper short abstract:

The present study examines Indian diaspora in Japan, emphasizing its transnational nature and focusing on cross-cultural contacts of the members of Indian communities with the mainstream society.

Paper long abstract:

Migrants recently gained significant attention from ordinary people and academics in Japan. The present study examines Indian diaspora in Japan, emphasizing its transnational nature and focusing on cross-cultural contacts of the members of Indian communities with the mainstream society. The paper is based on the interview data and other materials collected during one-year fieldwork, carried out in Japan in 2012-13 and short-term visits to Japan in 2017 and 2019 years. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice, there were around 38,000 Indians registered in Japan in 2019, and their number has not changed significantly for the past years. Indian diaspora is quite diverse. There are permanent residents (some of them are descendants of Indian entrepreneurs who came in Japan in the second half of the 19th and first half of 20th century and their dependents). About half of Indians in Japan are skilled workers, engaged in IT, catering and hotel business. These different Indian communities mostly do not intersect. Many Indians are coming in Japan as contract workers and do not intend to stay long. However, many of them may stay longer than they initially planned and continue living in transnational space, shuttling back and forth between two or even more countries. This can last for a few years, decades and even through generations. Internet and SNS facilitate this process. Although the number of Indians in Japan is not large, they have become quite visible in closed Japanese society, making some impact on its globalization by creating sites of Indian culture such as restaurants, Indian towns, international schools, Indian art clubs and Indian temples, which are to be examined in the paper.

Paper short abstract:

Can we apply Western-developed theories of online hate to the Japanese context? Japan's online environment is comparatively isolated from the English-speaking web, and immigration has not become an issue of national significance. Socio-political context must be central to understanding online hate.

Paper long abstract:

Online hate has become a hot topic for social research globally. Older theories attributing its prominence to anonymity or 'online disinhibition' have been replaced by a focus on 'echo chambers' and 'polarisation'. In 2016 we saw this taken to new levels, when both the Leave and Trump campaigns were accused of employing social media analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to profile and target scores of voters with advertisements exploiting xenophobic sentiments. In Japan, scholarship on 'hate speech' and online hate has developed mostly independently of these discussions. Particularly since the Zaitokukai group caught the attention of national media for taking an online anti-multiculturalist movement into the sphere of offline activism, Japanese scholars have used terms like 'heeto supiichi' and 'neto-uyo' to describe a growing social problem of vocal anti-Korean and anti-migrant discourse with a strong foothold online.

The parallel development of these phenomena in Japan and the West have led to questions of how alike they may be. This paper will present the argument for exercising caution in applying Western-developed theories of online hate to the Japanese context, not least because these theories are themselves flawed in their evidence base which is disproportionately focused on Twitter and computational analysis. Japan's online environment is comparatively isolated from the English-speaking web. Much of Japanese online hate has been concentrated on Japan-specific web forums like 2-chan, and perhaps because of cultural norms around privacy, exposing social media platforms like Facebook have failed to gain widespread popularity there. Furthermore, unlike many Western countries, Japan has not seen immigration or multiculturalism become an issue of national significance. Racist expressions in Japan, mostly directed towards ethnic-Koreans, are set within a post-colonial historical context and justified through historical revisionist discourses. Despite the global nature of the internet, socio-political context must remain central to our understandings of online hate.