Paper short abstract

This paper elucidates the purpose behind the shift in Japanese refugee policy in 1979. Allowing them to settle down in Japan was a tool and catalyst to foster nascent inter-state goodwill with ASEAN and eventually to become a permanent member of the Uited Nation Security Council.

Paper long abstract

This paper elucidates the purpose behind the shift in Japanese refugee policy in 1979. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 and the establishment of communist governments in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos –commonly known as Indochina – generated the sudden mass migration of refugees to Western countries. The stance of the newly established communist governments in these countries worried many people, and a large number of people undertook the dangerous journey to seek temporary asylum in nearby countries. In the face of the refugee crisis, the ASEAN countries opened their doors to the number of refugees fleeing the region, and the US, in the Carter administration, which created a foreign policy agenda that centered on human rights, took on a proactive role to accept these people. Although Japan, as a major economic power in the world, contributed significant financial support both to the UNHCR and Vietnam to suppress the refugees, it had never accepted asylum seekers into the country. But in 1979, the number of refugees fleeing their countries reached its peak, and Japan finally ended up admitting some refugees from these countries. Despite the burden of accommodating such a large influx of refugees, why would Japan go through the trouble of accepting refugees in the country? Drawing on newly discovered primary sources from Japan, this paper elaborates on Japan’s diplomatic stance in the wave of structural shift in international politics during the détente in the Cold War. Caring for human rights was by no means the main motivation for Japan to accept refugees. Rather, allowing them to settle down in Japan was a tool and catalyst to foster nascent inter-state goodwill with Southeast Asia and eventually to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.