午夜剧场

Every day across Japan, news repeats that population decline has hit record lows this year. Maintaining the population has become a focus in local elections, and the government claims to be working on "unprecedented" measures to combat the low birthrate. Unfortunately, the chances of these efforts bearing fruit are extremely low. This is because the number of women of childbearing age is decreasing with each younger generation; even if the birthrate improves slightly, it is merely a drop in the bucket. According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research's projections through 2070, there is not a single year in which the population is expected to increase over the previous year.

This book examines a Japan that cannot face the "immigration" issue head-on, despite being in a period of massive population collapse where the Japanese population decreases by 800,000 people per year. Defining this as the "immigration dilemma," the author clarifies why immigration became a political taboo and proposes a way to break free from this dilemma.

To put it simply, the immigration issue became an emotional one where objective discussion was no longer possible. This was the result of political disputes over local suffrage for permanent residents that intensified after 2010, territorial disputes with China and South Korea occurring around the same time, arguments that adopting immigration policies would lead to a takeover by Chinese people, and the prevalence of hate speech.

On the other hand, while there was a time in Germany when immigration issues involving Muslims were considered taboo, the country passed an Immigration Act in 2004. As a result, Germany escaped population decline and has successfully tapped into the potential of immigrants to the point where they now account for one-third of all new business startups.

Looking back, the island nation of Japan has developed since ancient times by accepting foreigners and foreign cultures and sublimating them into Japanese culture. The term "Imakino-tehito" from the era of Prince Shotoku means "newly arrived foreigners" (newcomers). This implies that there were also "oldcomers" at that time. In this way, Japan has historically accepted foreigners and foreign cultures many times.

Accepting immigrants is not contrary to Japanese tradition. Rather, has Japan not developed its own unique culture and sparked innovation by accepting foreign cultures and immigrants? The message of this book is that immigration is an old yet new way to open up Japan's future.

Toshihiro Menju

Asahi Shinsho

256 pages, 935 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.