Why Japan accepts so few refugees

Vas · Apr 17, 2018

Regulus Tera said:
to be fair, the korean peninsula problem is kind of the Japanese Empire's fault

Japan also has one of the worst environmental records of the 20th century. They've come a long way, but they still have a lot of issues in that regard. It was so bad they had to change out of necessity, not some high-minded desire to leave the world a better place.

Spine Crawler · Apr 17, 2018

capitalCORN said:
Tourism. A true sign of diplomatic endeavours.

well it was meant to be sarcastic but hey.

Pikachu · Apr 17, 2018

Labor said:
Sounds like hell

IT WAS HELL. Though I guess to be fair you could just rip the warning ticket off your bike every day and nothing would actually happen.

capitalCORN · Apr 17, 2018

Pikachu said:
Unironically, Abe dressing up as Mario at the Rio Olympics was probably Japan's greatest diplomatic triumph in recent memory.

As a soft power. His standing in the geopolitical spectrum betrays Japan's position as an economic power.
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-...e-has-few-choices-island-dispute-after-russia
Not to mention his cronyism charges.

TickleMeElbow · Apr 17, 2018

Pikachu said:
Having too many rules and assuming "well it's just too difficult for a non-Japanese to understand" isn't an acceptable excuse IMO. Especially when so many of the rules are arbitrary stupid BS.

I wish I had a picture of this random guard rail next to the school I studied abroad at. You were not allowed to lock a bike to it. It was hurting nobody. It wasn't actually near the road, and it wasn't near the sidewalk either.

I'm not excusing it. Just giving my perspective.

In Japanese there's this word "mendoukusai". Basically it means "it's a hassle". I think the Japanese just see it as a big hassle. When it comes to the arbitrary rules you mentioned, they don't really see it as that much of a hassle because that shit's normal.

For example it wasn't until my mom moved to the US that she realized how much of a hassle mundane shit like separating trash actually is in Japan.

Marvo Pandoras · Apr 17, 2018

TickleMeElbow said:
My gut instinct as a halfie who's lived there is that they just don't want to deal with all the difficulties that come with letting a lot of refugees in.

This exactly. They are very involved in their customs that a large influx foriegners will only bring confusion. As american lvining in Japan, their society and their customs are extremely different from Western and African nations.

Side note: I've never been to Central and South America so I can't talk about the societies there.

Pikachu · Apr 17, 2018

I gotta say though Japan's not good attitude towards foreigners lends itself to great television. YOUは何しに日本へ？ (Why did you come to Japan?) is a riot. The one guy who started a clothing company called Fujimoto and decided to come to Japan just to find someone named Fujimoto. The woman who came to Japan to walk the 53 stations of the Tokaido. WHY, NON-JAPANESE PEOPLE?

asmith906 · Apr 17, 2018

I think Japan's Xenophobia is a thing that doesn't get condemned enough. Just look how they treated Ariana Miyamoto. She got shit on by a lot of people because her skin was too dark so she couldn't really be Japanese. They've lived as largely homogeneous society for so long that they don't want to change that by bringing in foreigners.

TheGhost · Apr 17, 2018

XMonkey said:
It's damned hard to even immigrate there period, I wouldn't expect refugees to have much of any chance.

Their stance on immigration needs to change or they're going to be in real trouble.

Why are they going to be in trouble? Is population slow there? Birth rate wise? I never heard that mentioned in the news before. Or do you mean in trouble with other nations?

signal · Apr 17, 2018

Pikachu said:
I gotta say though Japan's not good attitude towards foreigners lends itself to great television. YOUは何しに日本へ？ (Why did you come to Japan?) is a riot. The one guy who started a clothing company called Fujimoto and decided to come to Japan just to find someone named Fujimoto. The woman who came to Japan to walk the 53 stations of the Tokaido. WHY, NON-JAPANESE PEOPLE?

I'm convinced some of those dumber ones that they actually follow people around for are staged lol.

TheGhost said:
Why are they going to be in trouble? Is population slow there? Birth rate wise? I never heard that mentioned in the news before. Or do you mean in trouble with other nations?

Bait post.

Poetic Injustice · Apr 17, 2018

asmith906 said:
I think Japan's Xenophobia is a thing that doesn't get condemned enough. Just look how they treated Ariana Miyamoto. She got shit on by a lot of people because her skin was too dark so she couldn't really be Japanese. They've lived as largely homogeneous society for so long that they don't want to change that by bringing in foreigners.

For anyone who doesn't know about her.https://youtu.be/x-5sHglFbO8

XMonkey · Apr 17, 2018

TheGhost said:
Why are they going to be in trouble? Is population slow there? Birth rate wise? I never heard that mentioned in the news before. Or do you mean in trouble with other nations?

Low birthrate, declining population, abundance of older people compared to younger people, and a robust social services system that needs to be paid for (their debt-to-GDP ratio is already pretty damn high) don't make for a great outlook. IMO it's the declining population that's the biggest issue. It's hard to keep your economy performing at a great pace when your population is declining like that.

We'll see how they tackle it. They seem to be going hard at automation to keep productivity levels up. From the outside it's a good example to study as the issues they're running into will be felt by other developed countries eventually.

lupinko · Apr 17, 2018

Thebeast! said:
I think the problem is that japanese citizenship is tied to your cultue. To them a person of Mexican background can't be called a Japanese citizen but if a Japanese person lives in the United States I don't think most people would have a problem calling them them an american.

No it's not, there are many non-ethnic Japanese who are naturalized citizens. Getting Japanese citizenship is actually less hassle than trying to get Permanent Residency.

Noroi_Kisaragi · Apr 17, 2018

Japan is a conformist country. They expect refugees to conform. That's why refugees are required to complete an education requirement to keep their asylum status. But admittably, very few refugees actually pass.

In fact, in January of this year, Japan made it even harder for asylum seekers to work in the country
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ekers-right-to-work-from-monday-idUSKBN1F10SN

Pikachu · Apr 17, 2018

lupinko said:
No it's not, there are many non-ethnic Japanese who are naturalized citizens. Getting Japanese citizenship is actually less hassle than trying to get Permanent Residency.

I think the point is that even if a non-ethnic Japanese person obtains citizenship.................. no Japanese person is going to consider them Japanese, ever. In the US you look at anyone of any race and can assume that they can be American.

You see an Iranian person in Japan and it's not even going to cross your mind that there's even a possibility they could be Japanese. "Konnichiwa" "Nihongo jouzu!!!!!111!111!"

subpar spatula · Apr 17, 2018

Japan's xenophobia is what makes the place interesting. It's an isolated island country trying so hard to maintain its traditions and culture since before it became Sunrise Land. That concention of culture and tradition would be dilluted the more they let in, and they see it as a problem, we see it as xenophobia.

Andrew Lucas · Apr 17, 2018

Oh my, Japan is evil! /s

Dynamite Cop · Apr 17, 2018

People like pointing out the xenophobia, but their nationalism is a big problem as well.

Thebeast! · Apr 17, 2018

lupinko said:
No it's not, there are many non-ethnic Japanese who are naturalized citizens. Getting Japanese citizenship is actually less hassle than trying to get Permanent Residency.

How come ? I didnt know that

Gibson · Apr 17, 2018

I think the average Japanese person looks to Europe and sees things like terrorist attacks committed by ISIS and this kind of thing springs to mind when they are questioned about immigration and whatnot.

There's also the worry of tensions concerning Japanese culture and foreign culture coming together.

I'm not sure how prevalent this kind of thought is, but I was watching a show yesterday and when immigration came up as a means of tackling population decline (to offset lowering birth rates) these kind of anxieties came up from many of the participants.

I think it's probably a question of education. I don't think much of anything will change with the current government.

Poetic Injustice · Apr 17, 2018

Noroi_Kisaragi said:
Japan is a conformist country. They expect refugees to conform. That's why refugees are required to complete an education requirement to keep their asylum status. But admittably, very few refugees actually pass.

In fact, in January of this year, Japan made it even harder for asylum seekers to work in the country
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ekers-right-to-work-from-monday-idUSKBN1F10SN

Japan's immigration detention centers held 417,383 people in 2016, the latest year for which data is available. The figure includes those detained more than once during the year, however.

Over 400,000 people detained, didn't expect it to be so high.

Lexxism · Apr 17, 2018

capitalCORN said:
How about some Canadian statistics?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-refugees-1.3239460

USA is on the list? WTF?

mujun · Apr 17, 2018

Pikachu said:
I wish I had a picture of this random guard rail next to the school I studied abroad at. You were not allowed to lock a bike to it. It was hurting nobody. It wasn't actually near the road, and it wasn't near the sidewalk either.

Japan does love their rules.

That being said, if the school you were studying at was within a 100 metres of a train station then you aren't allowed to park your bike anywhere except in a proper parking area.

capitalCORN · Apr 17, 2018

Lexxism said:
USA is on the list? WTF?

I would imagine they are rejected claimants from the US.

wandering · Apr 17, 2018

asmith906 said:
I think Japan's Xenophobia is a thing that doesn't get condemned enough. Just look how they treated Ariana Miyamoto. She got shit on by a lot of people because her skin was too dark so she couldn't really be Japanese. They've lived as largely homogeneous society for so long that they don't want to change that by bringing in foreigners.

I agree that it should be condemned, but "doesn't get condemned enough" makes it sound like Japanese xenophobia never gets talked about. It's like one of the top things people bring up whenever the country is mentioned.

KillLaCam · Apr 17, 2018

signal said:
Weekly "post all Japanese societal hot takes here" thread.

It's always funny.

GungHo · Apr 17, 2018

Pikachu said:
jitsu wa nihon wa mou shindeiru

Yo quiero taco bell to you too.

Pikachu said:
The woman who came to Japan to walk the 53 stations of the Tokaido. WHY, NON-JAPANESE PEOPLE?

Eh, a bucket list feat of strength isn't too weird. I still wanna do Route 66 in a convertible.

Deleted member 15948 · Apr 17, 2018

Lexxism said:
USA is on the list? WTF?

Why are you surprised? Have you looked at the US lately?

the magical kitsune · Apr 18, 2018

maxxpower said:
It's hard to immigrate to any country that isn't the US.

Yeah, cause the US is so open and welcome to foreigners. Every time I have to enter the states I spend fifteen minutes getting interrogated before I board my flight and after I've landed, have to fill out a form, have to present 3-4 different papers and get my fingerprints / photo taken, then possibly spend another twenty minutes in a room while waiting for them to look over my passport / visas. I'm not even from one of the 'blacklisted' countries as per emperor Trump. It's like I'm entering a forbidden stronghold.

Why Japan accepts so few refugees

Vas

Spine Crawler

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza

capitalCORN

TickleMeElbow

Marvo Pandoras

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza

asmith906

TheGhost

signal

Poetic Injustice

XMonkey

lupinko

Noroi_Kisaragi

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza

subpar spatula

Refuses to Wash his Ass

Andrew Lucas

Dynamite Cop

Thebeast!

Gibson

Poetic Injustice

Lexxism

mujun

capitalCORN

wandering

flâneur

KillLaCam

Prophet of Truth

GungHo

Deleted member 15948

User Requested Account Closure

the magical kitsune