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Paper short abstract

This study analyzes how Korean migration to Japan during colonial rule (1910–1945) has indirectly shaped postwar Japanese electoral politics. Using panel data (1958–2015) and a fixed-effects model, it shows birthplace-driven spatial effects on voting and party support.

Paper long abstract

This study examines the long-term and spatial effects of Korean migration to Japan and its indirect impact on postwar Japanese electoral politics, focusing on House of Representatives elections between 1958 and 2015. The analysis is situated within the broader historical context of Japan’s colonial rule over Korea (1910–1945), when large numbers of Koreans—often through forced or semi-forced migration—moved to Japan. Many of their descendants, known as Zainichi Koreans, remained in Japan after World War II under ambiguous legal status and persistent social discrimination. Their settlement patterns and social presence have indirectly shaped the political preferences and voting behavior of surrounding Japanese communities.

The study builds a prefecture-level panel dataset combining House of Representatives election results, demographic indicators, and detailed immigration records from the Japanese National Diet Library. A fixed-effects model is used to estimate the effects of migrants’ regional origins on local electoral outcomes. The analysis distinguishes Korean migrants’ birthplaces by levels of economic development and political orientation, allowing for the identification of the key mechanism through which migration legacies affect Japanese politics.

The results show that the main channel of influence is the migrants’ birthplace on the Korean Peninsula. Birthplace characteristics—reflecting historical regional differences in economic and political conditions—exert lasting and spatially diverse effects on voting patterns, party support, and turnout across Japan’s 47 prefectures. These effects operate primarily through neighborhood-level social interaction and local diffusion. By linking colonial-era migration patterns to contemporary political behavior, this study demonstrates that imperial and migratory legacies continue to shape the structure of democratic politics in postcolonial Japan.