On March 29, the Japanese government set a growth record for the country through 2028. At the same time, the number of foreign nationals is particularly increasing and now exceeds 3 million. Japan also hosts refugees from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Multiculturalism is a challenge in a highly classical society.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) – The Japanese government is back to counter the demographic crisis that has plagued the country in recent decades.
To do this, the Japanese government has to include four more sectors in its “Specific Skilled Worker” visa program, which will allow about 820,000 foreigners to work in the country until fiscal year 2028.
Last year, the number of births hit a record high of 758,631, a drop of 5. 1 percent. Due to the declining birth rate, labor shortages are putting pressure on industries.
This trend is accompanied by a record increase in the number of foreign workers. In 2023, the increase was 12. 4% compared to 2022, or 2. 04 million workers, according to data released this year by the Ministry of Labor.
This number will increase as Japan desperately needs staff for meeting lines, structure sites, elder care, and agriculture (vegetable picking).
“Japan is entering an era of great foreign immigration,” said Junji Ikeda, president of Saikaikyo, a Hiroshima-based company that recruits and supervises foreign workers. “Incremental changes will suffice. “
The government’s latest move follows other attempts to counter the population decline; This includes granting refugee status to 303 people in 2032, an increase of 101 people or 50 percent from last year.
Most of the safe havens, 237, were from Afghanistan, many of whom were connected to Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and sought safe haven after the Taliban returned to power. JICA is a government enterprise that provides maximum assistance for Japan’s progress.
Twenty-seven others are from Myanmar, a volatile country ruled by the military, while six are from Ethiopia.
Currently, some 13,823 asylum applications are still pending, the second number after the record year of 2017, when 19,629 asylum applications were filed.
Sri Lanka tops the ranking of applicants, with 3,778 people, although a significant number also come from Turkey and Pakistan.
In the case of the Rohingya in Myanmar, their claim for asylum is a highly debatable issue.
In January, the Nagoya High Court ordered the Japanese government to grant refugee status to a Rohingya asylum seeker. Earlier, a lower court ruled that Khin Maung Soe, 44, was actually a Rohingya, but that his ethnicity was not sufficient grounds to consider him a refugee.
In its reasoning, the High Court stated that since Myanmar’s military “ethnically cleansed the Rohingya” after the 2021 coup, there is “an objective fact that raises fears of persecution”, further recognising the right to refugee status.
At the same time, due to high levels of immigration and recent government policies, the number of foreign nationals in Japan amounted to 3,410,992 (out of a population of approximately 125 million), up 10. 9% from 2023, a record for the second time in a row, according to the Japan Immigration Agency.
This trend suggests that this East Asian country is in a more multicultural society; However, this truth faces social limitations, as well as underdeveloped integration mechanisms.
The accumulation of foreign population in Japan could cause more social friction than concord and non-violent coexistence due to religious and linguistic differences.
This is true for Japan, a country steeped in shared traditions, values, and social norms, where cultural homogeneity has characterized the nation’s very identity over the centuries.
It is for this reason that new demanding situations await Japan in the future, especially with regard to the school system, public and networked programs, which were originally developed for a homogeneous population.
On March 29, the Japanese government set a growth record for the country through 2028. At the same time, the number of foreign nationals is particularly increasing and now exceeds 3 million. Japan also hosts refugees from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Multiculturalism is a challenge in a highly classical society.