Monthly Archives: June 2013

Bilingual Education in Japan

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by Misa Fukutome

In Japan it has become popular to send one’s child to a bilingual school along with the increase of foreigners. Hence, there is an increase of bilingual schools in Japan. However, there is a problem that occurs that the expectation of the parents and the children tend to misunderstand, because when the children are young and have not developed a sense of identity, going to a bilingual school is not a problem. Then children grow up and realise that they have their own identity and become more self conscious, which leads to the next problem of their imperfection of their second language they are speaking. For example if the children are going to a English bilingual school, because of their environment around them is in Japanese they don’t find the need to speak English, or having an education in English because it is easier in Japanese.

Yasuko Kanno wrote “Imagined Communities, School Visions, and the Education of Bilingual Students in Japan,” in which she compares 4 different types of bilingual schools.

The first one is an English bilingual school where the majority of the students have no bilingual background and their knowledge towards English is zero. The reason why those Japanese students are sent there is because the parents enroll their children in the bilingual school, because they believe that it is important for the 21st century children to be able to bilingual. However, the problem is that as mentioned above they have no use of English in their everyday life that their language perfection is very low.

The second type of bilingual school is Chinese-Japanese. Their curriculum is that they start off with mainly Chinese and then gradually the main focus goes to Japanese by the time the students are in junior high. This school is designed for the 4th- and 5th-generation Chinese children whose native language is Japanese. Not to to forget to mention even though most children attending are 4th or 5th generation, there are also children that have just moved from mainland China, and there is a minority of full-Japanese students attending this school. Here too the problem of the main communication language occurs, because of this system of fading into main Japanese courses their ability to express themselves in Chinese becomes limited.

The third type is the other way around in terms of main language, because this is an international school. If one looks at where the international schools are located, one might see that it is placed where there are a lot of international businesses, diplomatic work, or where there are hāfu (half-Japanese and half-foreign). Because financially those groups of people are able to afford expensive education, the children going there are expected to have a high level of English, since it is an international school. However, since the school is located in Japan, there are some Japanese programs such as arts and social studies, and of course Japanese language courses. Here the problem is that the western, or English-speaking students do not make an effort in learning Japanese, since at home they do not necessarily speak Japanese or they can get by in their daily life with English.

The fourth type of school is also focused on  location. There are Japanese public schools that are located in a community that has a lot of foreigners, who have mainly blue-collar jobs. Since there are few programs to support bilingual education in Japanese public schools, those schools must find their own solutions, including supporting the children who must learn Japanese as a second language by providing extra Japanese lessons, but those supports are limited.

In the end I would like to say that education is very important but I think we get off-track because of this idea of being INTERNATIONAL or BILINGUAL, so we do not look at our children and see what is best for them. I have gone through Japanese school (NOT BILINGUAL SCHOOL) and international school and what I have learned is that I am glad that I could perfect my Japanese first then my English, but I am not saying that this is right for all children. I imagine that it is very hard for the schools too, to make a curriculum for children who are bilingual and who are not, and the level comes into play too. We can always have ideals and expectation for the best but it is not always right for everybody.

Transnational Migration and Limitations

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by Miho Tanaka

The activities of transnational migration are expanding every day and the immigrants’ social interactions and their relationship with their host countries is changing.

Since many African American’s diaspora started around seventeenth century, immigration to the U.S. and transnational migration accompanied with it has continued. Irish, Jews, Armenians and Greeks have settled in the U.S. as well as African Americans. Nowadays more and more immigrants arrive in the U.S. from mainly Asia and Latin America and seek job opportunity there. Each government of their host lands are trying to making ties with them in order to benefit from their immigration activity beyond borders. Levitt considers this phenomenon as long-distance nationalism that emerged from this current mainstream of globalization, whose processes tend to be de-linked from specific national territories (Levitt, 2001, p.202). On the basis of the changes of immigration in the U.S., Levitt addresses how policymakers should challenge these changes (Levitt, 2004).

I consider that the U.S. is one of the epitomes of immigrant issue in the world. A lot of people and ethnic groups have migrated to the country but the country also has many problems. Though Mexicans, Dominicans, El Salvadorans and the other immigrants can have strong ties with their host countries but non-immigrants do not have any connection with the other countries and they are losing jobs. Low-skilled people in the country may have their jobs taken by immigrants. However immigrants have some issues as well; for example some of them gradually lose relationships with their home countries, and if they assimilate to U.S. society culturally, economically and socially they willing to live and settle to the U.S. In addition the second generation often find itself as American citizens; therefore long-distance nationalism would be meaningless for them.

And most importantly the issue of racism is still large in U.S. society, and the U.S. society still allows domination by European Americans and sustains racism toward minority ethnic groups. At Western Michigan University, I took an Africana studies class and a social work class, which dealt with cultural and racial issues in the U.S. Through both classes I mainly learned how African American is racially discriminated in the society.

I suppose my way of thinking is similar to colorism but those whose skin color is dark tend to be targeted as an object of discrimination. Even if they transmigrated for such a long time they still cannot assimilate into their societies and their social status is threatened by newcomer of immigrants. From the perspective I found out a limitation of transnationalism, since the U.S. itself also has a lot of unemployed people. The problem would not be solved unless people change their racial tensions based on the skin color or appearance.

Reference

Levitt, P. (2001). Transnational migration: Taking stock and future directions. In Global Networks. 1, 3, 195-216.

Levitt, P. (2004). Transnational migrants: When “home” means more than one country. Retrieved on June 6, 2013, from  http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?id=261

Transnationalism: the case of Zainichi Koreans, support and problems

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by Yuriko Otsuka

In Japanese society, there are a lot of Zainichi Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians and other ethnic minorities who have been staying in Japan for more than half a century. In the case of Zainichi Koreans, Chapman (2008) wrote that from 1910, Koreans started to come in to Japan due to  Japanese colonization in the imperial period (as cited in Shipper 2010, p.58). Inokuchi (2000) said that many Koreans left Japan after losing World War 2, however about 620,000 Koreans remained in Japan (ibid). In 2010, the Ministry of Justice estimated that 600,000 Zainichi Koreans were living in Japan (as cited in Sooim, 2012).

Peggy Levitt (2001) says that there are 3 institutional actors that help immigrants connect to their home country: states, political parties, and hometown organizations. In the case of the Zainichi Koreans, I think the states and especially the hometown organizations are playing a big role in Japanese society to help maintain its Korean identity.

The establishment and prevalence of Korean schools is one example of hometown organizations and government involvement. According to the Chosen Soren (as cited in Shipper 2010, p.61), Chongryun (an organization for Zainichi North Koreans) promoted the ties between North Korea and Zainichi by building a lot of Korean schools, also agitating Zainichi Korean parents to enroll their kids in the schools they built (ibid). Chongryun’s Central Education Institute is said to be working closely with the North Korean government through the encouragement of not only teaching Korean and history, but also “loyalty education subjects”, which the government promoted strongly under the periods of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

I also had an opportunity once to go to a Korean school in Osaka. One of the classrooms that I passed had both Japanese and Korean writings on the walls, which I thought is teaching the second and further generations of Zainichi to not forget about their homeland culture and language, and also nurturing their identities as not Japanese but Koreans. In addition, the government of South Korea started to enable Zainichi and other Koreans who live outside South Korea to vote in elections from April 2012 (Choson Ilbo, 2009). I think this is another way for Zainichi and other Koreans outside of Korea to have a sense of belonging towards their home country, and also to build an identity as Koreans by participating in the elections of their country. The examples that I wrote above are only a few of the supports that are done by the government and also the hometown organizations to give Zainichi Koreans to maintain their identity.

The problem that I thought is occurring towards not only Zainichi Koreans but also other ethnic minorities is related to ethnic plurality in Japanese society. As I wrote above, Zainichi Koreans have been staying in Japan for a long time, getting into the Japanese society so well that most people could not even tell the differences between Japanese and Zainichi Koreans. However, I think there is still discrimination against ethnic minorities such as Zainichi Koreans in Japan, which I thought that Japanese should overcome due to having lived with other ethnicities for such a long period. It might be hard for the society to change soon, but at least we have to try more to change our minds to accept people who are trying to live in a difficult society: Japan.

References

Choson Ilbo. (2009). Zaigaigaikokujinnimo senkyoken 2012 sousenkyokara (Koreans in overseas’ general election voting rights starting from 2012). Retrieved from http://japanese.joins.com/article/451/110451.html

Lee, Soo im. (2012). Diversity of zainichi Koreans and their ties to Japan and Korea. Shiga: Japan.

Levitt, Peggy. (2001). Transnational migration: Taking stock and future directions. Global networks, 1(3), 195-216.

Shipper, Apichai W. (2010). Nationalisms of and against Zainichi Koreans in Japan. Asian politics & policy, 2(1). Retrieved from http://csii.usc.edu/documents/Nationalisms_of_and_against_Zainichi.pdf.

Japanese History: 100 Years of Solitude on Fantasy Island?

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by Robert Moorehead

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” Audre Lorde

Repeatedly in the past few weeks, some of the worst parts of 20th-century Japanese history have been in the news. Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto has repeated comments he’s made over the years, including denying that women were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese state during the war. Just yesterday, Lower House representative Nariaki Nakayama joined the party by saying “We need to raise our voices and tell the world that (females) were not forcibly taken away.”

These comments have been widely criticized for their fictional view of Japanese history, but how well do people in Japan understand that history? If there’s hope for the future, then present-day university students would show a deeper, more accurate grasp, right?

One of my classes has been discussing the experiences of refugees, including whether Japan should accept more of them. In recent years, Japan has granted refugee status to only about 0.05% of applicants, for a total of about 10-30 people per year. In contrast, other developed countries have accepted tens of thousand of refugees per year. Japan has ratified the UN Convention on Refugees, and as one of the wealthiest and most populous nations in the world, Japan could be a stronger member of the international community by lending aid to more of the world’s most needy.

However, many students disagreed, and their disagreements show a clear pattern in describing Japan as a special, unique place that cannot be compared with anywhere else. In this version of Japan, there are no foreigners, only Japanese—and all Japanese share the same ethnicity and language. (Well, some say that there are Ainu, but their existence does not refute the dominant narrative.)

How could Japan sustain this monoracial, monoethnic, homogeneous space? Geography. As a series of islands, Japan was inaccessible to the rest of the world. Precisely how the inhabitants of the Japanese islands got here is unclear, because if they used boats, then couldn’t other people have also used boats to travel here? Was there an ancient land bridge that later collapsed, standing the islands in the middle of the ocean? Were the original inhabitants amazing swimmers who made the journey from the Korean peninsula?

The Japanese people have been united through a shared “island mentality” (shimaguni konjō) that instructed them to love each other and to love being Japanese. This mentality prevents Japanese from accepting others into their club. Also, the fact that Japan has always been so homogeneous means that Japanese have no experience living near non-Japanese, and are not familiar with dealing with such people.

I’ve tried to remind my students that in the first half of the 20th century, Japan was the head of a colonial empire that spanned much of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Millions of people from throughout the empire lived on the Japanese mainland, held Japanese citizenship, and voted in Japanese elections. One student later acknowledged that his grandmother told him that as a child many of her friends were Korean.

Notions of Japanese identity in this era justified Japan’s dominance by emphasizing ties between Japan and its Asian neighbors. One government propaganda slogan professed Japanese unity with its Asian brothers and sisters as “do-so, do-shu” (Same origin, same race). The idea of Japan as a homogeneous nation is a postwar idea to reunite a defeated nation after the collapse of its empire.

These facts of Japanese history are absent from students’ narratives. Instead, they act as if nothing happened in Japan between the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s and the Tokyo Olympics in 1964—100 years of solitude on Fantasy Island. It’s as if Gabriel García Márquez and Mr. Roarke were both Japanese and had 127 million love children.

But somehow their fantastical islands have a few million non-fantastical people, and there are other people whose islands became part of the fantasy more recently—and many of whom are unhappy about this. And many people who pass as fantasy people are, in fact, of non-fantastical ancestry. And let’s not forget the hundreds of thousands of fantastical return migrants, who also brought their slightly less fantastical Latin American family members.

Students express concerns over the challenges of integrating immigrants, refugees, and other foreigners into Japanese society. Those are valid concerns, but their solution is to close the door and to isolate Japan from the rest of the world. Is that a solution? Japan does have a neighbor that is much more isolated and that is largely closed to foreigners—North Korea. But is that the model they want to follow?

In an attempt to get students to rethink the issues, I read Dr. Seuss’s classic story Green Eggs and Ham, which challenges readers to get past their dislike of the unfamiliar. Green eggs and ham are delicious, after all.

Japan’s economic success has come from being embedded in the global economy, and continued success in the 21st century requires accepting not only people’s money, but the people themselves. We’re not scary. We’re green eggs and ham. Try us, you might like us.

Japanese aspect toward Hafu

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by Ryota Takatsuka

What image do you have of hafu? Hafu means people who have one Japanese parent and one foreign parent. In Japanese, they are sometimes called “Ainoko” or “Konketsuji” and so on. What we can know from these word is that Japanese regard them as a not pure Japanese but as a half blood people. In fact, there are still discrimination against hafu in everywhere. For instance, according to the movie “Hafu project” almost all hafu people who interviewed have an experience that they were not treated as Japanese. In some case, when they were young, they were called “Gaikokujin” (means foreigner) and bullied. In general it is said that child is cruel because they do not cover word. However, what hafu people states is that they are still feeling as if they are outsider of Japanese society and they lost identity “Who am I”. This feeling gives Japanese a question”What make us treat hafu that way”.

In the movie “hafu project”, there some interesting interview of a Japanese young woman. She was asked the image of hafu people she has, and she answered”hafu people is cool and beautiful than us”. The point is she thinks hafu people has different characteristics and hafu is different from other people. In addition to this example, one man stated that he envy hafu, because they are bilingual.  From date which the director of this movie took, Japanese people pointed out almost same image they have such as cool. bilingual, and something about the differences what hafu have. Japanese tend to have image that hafu have a one Japanese aspect and other aspect from parent from oversea. This is why Japanese sometimes treat hafu as a foreigner because of such kind of image.

Due to this,what hafu people think of themselves? Many hafu people states they confuse whether they are Japanese or not. Once they in foreign country they feel I am Japanese, but in Japan they feel like different. This seems related with japanese image of Japanese people.

In my experience, some Japanese have narrow aspect against multiculturalism. Japanese have no education about culture in obligation education system. Japanese have less ability to understand the other aspect from other country, because we do not have knowledge about way of thinking. For example, I met person who is polychronic. He does not care about the time even when I rush him. I learned that there is such kind of idea in the world. As this experience shows Japanese people have to know the difference of other sense so that Japanese people adapt hafu.

Japanese society face aging problem and declining birth rate problem together. Therefore world tend to promote internationalization in terms of society, education and so on. In order to these situation around Japan, foreigner who try to get Japanese citizenship will be precious length for many field. My conclusion is Japanese should set an education about multiculturalism and promote reception of immigrants. Understanding of hafu people will be the key to develop internationalization in Japan.

References

Views from street on hafu (English Version), Hafu project, from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi2r23e7fpA

Hafu’s identity, Hafu project, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96SbzJX1Jlw

Refusing Refugees

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by Tomoya Yamaguchi

On my opinion, Japan should not receive refugees from other countries right now. Today, a lot of countries have conflicts politically and they are so serious situation. According to it, the number of refugees has been increased automatically and they are suffering from those situations where the refugees lose family and house.

As above written, refugees are generated by conflicts. In Africa, there are a lot of refugees, and they hope that they can be alive while they feel peace of mind. The United States of America has received a lot of refugees from other countries and the government forces them to live in the U.S. The government gives them many rights. For example the government looks for their apartment, job and gives them the opportunity that they can be educated. The government saves many refugees from serious situation. In 2011 UNHCR reported that refugees who crossed borders were generated at 15. 2million. The U.S. received 264,800 refugees. Germany was the largest receiving country in developed countries and Germany received 571, 700 refugees. As to the U.S., the country has been made by immigrants, many races, and refugees.

About Japan, however it was not a nation of immigrants and multicultural intrinsically. In fact, a lot of people arrived at Japan from Korean peninsula but the era was mainly from 3c to 7c. The situation was not same to today’s Japan. Today’s situation in Japan is so complicated and the ideology of Japanese is so-called homogeneous nation. In my English class, members of the opposite side, which supported to receive refugees, said that Japan would need to get labors, so Japan ought to receive refugees. However this purpose in receiving refugees has likelihoods that hierarchy of labor and discrimination are generated in Japan. Moreover, a lot of countries insist that Japan should contribute to international society and receive refugees as one of the developed country. However Japan has not prepared for receiving refugees yet and if Japan receives them in this volatile situation, both of Japanese people and refugees will not be able to adapt to the situation. Basically, even if politicians in Japan vow to receive refugees as their manifest, Japanese people and other politicians will deny it. I think that it’s because many Japanese have a stereotype including me. I insisted that Japan would not be able to receive refugees and the government should not do that. However I think to receive refugees is not something bad. If Japan prepare for policies about receiving refugees, I think that Japan can make a success about it gradually. Today, the Japanese government educates a little about refugees in elementary schools and Japanese has an ideology that Japanese is so-called “Japanese”. According to it, I insist that it is not “now” that Japan should receive them. It’s because it will cause serious disorder in Japan.

Against the Japanese policy on refugees

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by Ryota Takatsuka

We learned about the situation of Japanese acceptance of refugees. According to the readings and materials which the professor gave to us, Japan accepts less than 1% of applicants. Although Japan has the third biggest economy in the world, Japan accepts by far fewer refugees than other developed countries. We have debate about question “Whether Japan should accept more refugees or not”. My answer is “Yes”. There are two reasons why I answered at the debate.

The first reason is that refugee can cover the shortage of labor especially in field that seek labor. Now, Japan is about to face aging society and decline of birth rate, so in some field, lack of young labor will cause vanish of job. Agriculture is famous example of this. Although Japanese self-sufficiency rate is lower than any other developed country, the number of young people who choose agriculture to work is decreasing year and year. This is why the age average of farmer is getting higher and agriculture is in danger to be disappeared in the near future. However, refugees can solve this kind of problem, because they come to Japan seeking job to live. I mean increasing number of worker promote people including Japanese young people to work in various kind of work such as agriculture. The more people come in Japan, the competition of job hunting will more hard and tough. Due to this people will be supposed to expand their eye to the industries which have not been gotten attention. This situation can help various kind of industry develop and solve Japanese current problem that lack of labor because of aging society and declining of young people.

The second reason is fundamentally, Japan is responsible for guaranteeing human rights of people all over the world by the Japanese constitution. Accepting refugee and supporting them in language and job hunting are duty of Japanese government. If Japanese government keep rejecting accept much more refugees like other country do, Japanese constitution has no power to guarantee the human rights against even Japanese people.

I feel strange that fact that Japan accepts fewer refugees than other countries. The trend of the world is globalization. Japan has to catch up with this trend by accepting refugee and admit the multiculturalism in society. The tie between other nations will be more tight and Japan start being flexible against diversity. Following this, Japan can find benefit in accepting foreign community such as immigrants and refugee in terms.

Reconsideration of the Japanese Policy about Refugees

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by Ryuhei Sugiyama

Today japan has a very strict rule about accepting refugees. According to the Ministry of Justice, there were only 21 people who were admitted as refugees in 2011, nevertheless 1867 people applied refugees screenings, and most of them who rejected their applications made a protest to the judgments (Ministry of Justice, 2012). In other words, most of the people who cannot be refugees are not guaranteed their safe lives in Japan. Compared with the U.S., about 90-thousand people are admitted as refuges each year (Refugee Assistance Headquarters, 2008). In this way, the number of reception of refugees in Japan is one of the lowest among the developed countries. This is because the strict rule of Japan toward people who pursued aid from Japan.

Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act is the standard to judge whether the person is admitted as refugee or not. This act is very severe and it has some problems. Frist, the standard has a lack of balance. Japanese government asks for people to present many documents. However, most of them run away for their lives from their countries, so they cannot have any documents to present their states. In addition, there are lacks of systems of interpreting, thus people who want to do the application for refugee states cannot get enough information. Second, people whose applications are denied are ordered to get away from Japan. They cannot get any protections or legal status if their applications are denied, and are treated as illegal residents. Therefore, the government deports them. If they refuse to leave Japan, they will be imprisoned.

In this way, Japan copes with people who want to be refugees very seriously. However, is this treatment of Japan humanitarian? These people ask Japan for help because there is no place for them to return. If they return to their countries, they will get political, economic, or sometimes physical abuses from their governments. International society has an obligation to protect human rights of all of people around the world. Japan is a member of international society, and has a big influence as one of the developed countries. Therefore, Japan also has an obligation to protect people who ask for help. It is clear that Japan abandons this obligation, and the treatment is inhumane. At this point, Japan should admit more refugees and the act that refuses their helps should be revised.

References

The number of people who were admitted as refugees in 2011. The Ministry of Justice. Retrieved May 29, 2013 from  http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/nyuukokukanri03_00085.html

The Reception of Refugees in Japan. Refugee Assistance Headquarters. Retrieved May 29, 2013 from http://www.rhq.gr.jp/japanese/know/ukeire.htm

Refugees are people too

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by Mei Satoi

According to UNCHR (United Nation High Commissioner for Refugee), a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution. The present acceptable situation of refugee in Japan is very less. On the other hand, other developed countries accept a lot of refugees. 2,545 people applied for refugee recognition in Japan in 2012. It is the best number for the past fifteen years. However, in fact, Japan recognized only 18 refugees. It is very few. When people cannot be recognized as refugee in Japan, they do not have the right to reside in Japan and cannot receive public service like medical care.

I think that Japan should accept more refugees. In addition, the support for refugees would be more settled. I agree with that refugee is also human like Japanese. Human needs help each other. If one human needs support, other should give a hand. Refugees have different background. However, do not judge them by their nationality, race, and culture, Japanese have to protect their human rights. Some Japanese worry about worsen relationship with foreign countries, became less working places, and lose Japanese culture by accepting refugees. However, I believe that Japan can approach to other states as state which can protect human security. In addition, Japanese would be able to understand refugee’s situation by having communication with refugee. Japanese often think that refugee is not our problem. It is only other countries’ problem. So, I think that Japanese can get chance to understand and feel foreign problem and crisis by communication with people have real experience. It would promote Japan’s degree of international contribution.

In conclusion, Japan should accept refugees to protect their humanity. Of course, Japan has to prepare to accept refugees. In fact, it is very important for refugees and Japanese society. As, refugees face to behavior suitable for the occasion, they need understanding of Japanese language and culture. So, to set education places for refugees is needed. In addition, it is important for refugee to avoid isolation. So, giving communication place is also needed. Maybe, Japanese citizen also participate in that places. Following that Japanese get understandings how and why refugees had to come Japan. In fact, Japan has support system for refugees. However, Japan accepts so little refugees. As, a lot Japanese citizen do not accept refugees. They have tried to make country without people who have different race, language, and culture. To realize nation which citizen can recognize differences each other, Japanese citizen try to have generous viewpoint to refugee.

Japan’s Refugee Policy: Its Problems and Solutions

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by Kentaro Sakamoto

Japan has been known for accepting few refugees. In 2012, 18 people, only 0.56 % of the asylum seekers who applied for refugee status in Japan, were officially accepted as refugees (Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan, 2013). There were also 112 people who were not able to get refugee status but permitted to stay in Japan on humanitarian grounds. However, even if you combine these two groups of people, it is only 4.07 % of the asylum seekers who demanded refugee status in 2012 (Ibid). The average number of refugees accepted per year in Japan from 2000 to 2012 is only 28 (Amnesty International, 2013). In contrast, other developed countries accept a lot more refugees than Japan does. For example, the U.S. accepted 16,742 refugees in 2008, Canada accepted 9,648, Germany had 7, 291, Britain had 4,752, Italy had 1,785 and the Netherlands had 515, while Japan only accepted 57 in the same year (Sekai to Nihon no nanmin nintei su, n.d.). Yet 2008 is the year that Japan had accepted more refugees than any other year between 2000 and 2012.

There are mainly four reasons why Japan does not accept many refugees. First, the Japanese government wants to have a strict screening process on deciding who can become a refugee and who cannot. The government is afraid of the possibility of people abusing the system as a method to stay in Japan or get financial aid from the government (Amnesty International, 2012). Second, the government is afraid of accepting refugees from certain countries such as China and Turkey for fear of relationships between Japan and those countries being deteriorated. This is the reason why Kurds from Turkey have never been admitted as refugee yet, despite the fact that many Kurds are demanding refugee status in Japan. For example, in 2011, 234 people from Turkey applied for refugee status and all of them were Kurds, but not even a single person was able to become an official refugee (Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan, 2012). Thirdly, the number of people who demand refugee status in Japan is not big due to the first and second reasons written above. In 2012, the number of applicants seeking for refugee status was 2545 (Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan, 2013), which is not even bigger than the number of refugees accepted in the U.S, Germany and Britain in 2008, according to the data shown in the first paragraph. The system that requires people to actually be in Japan to apply for the status also reduces the number of applicants. Moreover, since applicants are not allowed to work during the screening process which can take up to several years, people hesitate to come to Japan as asylum seekers. Fourth, the cultural and language barriers of Japan are quit big, since many people still believe that Japan is an ethnically homogenous nation. Also, the fact that many people cannot speak English makes it harder for some asylum seekers to adapt themselves to Japan.

Despite all these reasons that are limiting Japan from accepting more refugees, I believe that Japan should accept more of them. Refugees are human, and all humans certainly have human rights. An international trend to protect human rights is being more and more promoted, and responsible states in the international society are expected to protect not only the human rights of their own people but the rights of people from other states/regions too. If Japan wants to become the leader of Asia, it must start from protecting human rights more and appeal to the world that Japan is a nation that can contribute to create a better world. Accepting refugees is the first step for this. Currently in Japan, because of the system forbidding asylum seekers to work during the screening process, many of them are working illegally with low wages, and some of them are even treated inhumanely in their jobs. Accepting more official refugees and modifying the screening system will protect them from falling into this situation which can violate their rights. Moreover, accepting refugees can be a solution to the declining working population in primary industries, since many of the native Japanese do not want to work in these fields. It can also be a solution to the national pension system that is facing problems because of the increase of old people and the decrease of young people, as most of the asylum seekers are from the younger working generation. Accepting refugees is not merely a way to improve the lives of people who were persecuted in their original countries, but also a way to solve the difficult problems that Japan is facing now.

References

Amnesty International. (2012). Nihon no nanmin: Nanmin nintei seido ranyousha o ippanka suruna [Refugees in Japan: Do not generalize the misusers of the refugee admitting system]. Amnesty International. Retrieved May 30, 2013 from http://www.amnesty.or.jp/human-rights/topic/refugee_in_japan/topic_refugee_media_asahi2012.html

Amnesty International. (2013). Nihon no nanmin: Nihon ni kurasu nanmin no kiso A to Z [Refugees of Japan: The basic knowledge of refugees living in Japan from A to Z]. Amnesty International. Retrieved May 30, 2013 from http://www.amnesty.or.jp/human-rights/topic/refugee_in_japan/faq.html

Sekai to Nihon no nanmin nintei su [Numbers of refugees accepted in Japan and the world]. (n.d.). Rafiq Website. Retrieved May 30, 2013 from http://rafiq.jp/event/101205nanmin_report.pdf

Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan. (2012). Nanmin nintei shinsei su [Number of applicants for refugee status]. Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan [Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees]. Retrieved May 30, 2013 from http://www.jlnr.jp/stat/past10_02.html

Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan. (2013). 2012 nen no Nihon ni okeru nanmin ninteisha su tou ni kansuru seimei [A statement about the number of refugees accepted in Japan in 2012]. Zenkoku Nanmin Bengodan [Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees] . Retrieved May 30, 2013 from http://www.jlnr.jp/statements/2013/JLNR_statement_201304_jp.pdf