Author Archives: japansociology

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

The situation of refugees in Japan

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by Kim Jina

In the rush of globalization, Japan consists of less than 2 percent of foreigners (they are mostly Korean and Chinese). By contrast Japan consists of more than 98 percent of Japanese. Like a reflection of this, the average annual number of recognized refugees in Japan is very small. It is less than 1 percent. According to a report researched by the Immigration Bureau of Japan, about 2,500 asylum seekers came to Japan in 2012 and only 18 of them were accepted as refugees with legal status. It is lower than 1 percent. On the other hand, the United States, Canada and even South Korea have higher acceptance rate than Japan, 53 %, 44.6% and 11.7% respectively. The irony is that even though Japan has a major economic power, Japan has the lowest refugee acceptance rate. Japan is supposed to make more contributions to international society than other countries which have less economic power. Japan should admit more refugees so that Japan could serve as an example of how to cope with the progress of accepting refugees to other Asian countries and even international society.

Refugees including asylum seekers desperately need help from international society. Most of them are forced to leave their home countries or they have no choice but to flee their home countries. They lose their home, job, family and even some documents or something as an evidence of that they are in serious trouble. They are inevitably coming to other countries with almost nothing. At first, helping them to find a job and house as well as providing financial aids might be the best way to support refugees when they come to new countries. However, before supporting them, the legal resident status should be given to them, so that they are able to receive health insurance service, find a job and go to school.

Of course, it would be difficult to give every asylum seekers came to Japan the legal refugee status, but it is possible to provide them more opportunities to have legal status. Even if they are granted legal refugee status, most of them are struggling to find a job. There are only few people who have legal refugee status in Japan. Nevertheless, most of them are in unfair conditions. However, Japan has good example of how to support refugees. Uniqlo, one of the major apparel companies in Japan, provides refugee Khadiza Begum an opportunity to work at Uniqlo through a Uniqlo program. To admit more refugees in Japan, the Japanese government should encourage major companies to provide refugees more chance to work like Uniqlo. In addition, Japanese people should try to change the way they think about refugees. However, the most important thing to accept more refugees in Japan is that the Japanese government should make the immigration policy easier to get legal status. With the efforts mentioned above, it is expected that the number of refugees in Japan could be increased.

Japan and Refugees

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by Ryoma Kagawa

Today, there are a great number of refugees in the world because of some factors such as conflicts, religion, and their political thoughts. While developing countries receive many of them, developed countries arrange for them to evacuate from their home countries as well. Among the developed countries, the U.S., France, and Germany accept more refugees than Japan does. In fact, the number of refugees which Japan has received is very tiny; according to the Ministry of Justice (2012), 1,867 people sought asylum, and 21 were accepted in 2011, which is the source of the criticism of Japan. It has been argued for a long time whether Japan should accept more refugees or not. In my opinion, Japan should do it, and there is a reason for it.

The biggest reason is that the acceptance of refugees is a matter of human rights. All people have the rights to live human lives, and so do refugees. I think that not accepting refugees means the denial of their human rights. Practically, however, it may be difficult for a country to receive refugees who are forced to escape from their homelands by the government for political reasons when their homelands are its friendly countries. The acceptance of refugees has the possibility to deteriorate the relationships between both of the countries. Actually, a Kurdish man living in Japan seeks asylum many times, yet it may be difficult because Japan has a good relationship with Turkey (Ito, 2012). To receive refugees allows a country to gain the prestige from the international society, but might lead it to the loss of trust from its friendly countries.

Still, it does not mean that Japan should be strict about the acceptance of refugees. If it is the concern for Japan that the relationships will go sour, I believe that Japan does not need to officially recognize refugees and grant them asylum. Actually, the Ministry of Justice (2012) also reports that it accepted 248 people of all the asylum seekers in 2011 to keep staying in Japan from the humanitarian point of view, although they had no certifications to prove them refugees. In such a way, Japan can accept refugees without officially recognizing them so that the relationships with other countries do not deteriorate; I believe that Japan should establish laws to increase the number of such people and to grant them more rights.

Refugees have human rights as well as non-refugees, so it is nonsense that, in spite of hard experiences in the homelands and refuge in Japan, they gain no asylum like insurances. Thus, in order to secure their human rights, Japan should be more open to refugees.

References

Ito, M. (2012, May 26). Desperate Kurd plays final asylum card. The Japan Times News. Retrieved May 30, 2013, from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/05/26/news/desperate-kurd-plays-final-asylum-card/

Ministry of Justice. (2012). Heisei 23nen ni okeru nanminninteishasuto ni tsuite [On the number of refugees recognized by Japan in 2011]. Ministry of Justice. Retrieved May 30, 2013, from http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/nyuukokukanri03_00085.html

Japan’s “island mentality” and refugees

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by Kensuke Ikeda

The refugee problem is complicated because of cultures, languages and human rights. Through the class of EKK, I am harder to decide whether Japan should admit more refugees because I come to think about this issue. Also, I find Japan has peculiar culture and identity. I understand that there are good points by taking accept of refugees. I will show you some advantages if Japan does the new policy like more admit of refugees. First, the refugee will be fresh labor and the increase might make Japan the affluent society because Japan loses young people by decreasing birthrate and aging population. In other words, the refugees will complement the lack of labor in Japan. Second, the host of more refugees will be intended to act as the catalyst to stimulate the Japanese globalization. If Japan can, Japanese force to talk English for working with them and to accept another culture for cultural immigrant. Of course, this changing is not immediate, but the change must do. Third, Japan will get international trust by receiving the refugees since Japan is one of the members of treaty about refugees. These reasons are merit of taking more refugees in Japan.

However, actually Japanese people tend not to receive more refugees from other countries. Japan is said to be a racially homogeneous nation and people have “Shimaguni Konzyou” that means the identity like “we are Japanese” and “we love Japan”. These identity works as tendency to associate with only intimate people. The identity has long process to make it and will not change. Therefore, if Japan becomes host country of more refugees, Japanese people keep having the identity. If she can, she should make policy without forgetting the assumption.

In my opinion, I disagree with the idea that Japan receives more refugees. It is important that refugee problem is related to humanitarian problem, but Japan should not lose their “Shimaguni Konzyou” and Japanese government will not be able to make new solution that Japanese people can exist together refugees with their identity. I recommend that Japan should cope with refugee problem from radically another point how refugees decrease. Also, Japan use ODA for the poor countries for solving refugee problems, for example teaching good education system and offering technological assistance. For solving refugee problem, there are many approaches Japan absolutely need not to be host country. Japan should find some idea that fit the Japanese culture and identity. These ideas are my opinion.

Receiving of Refugees and Refugee Resettlement in Japan

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by Kanami Hirokawa

It is said that the number of refugees is 43.3 million in the world now and many refugees are driven away from their living places. Although many of them are staying at their home country or the neighboring country, there are also refugees who come to the developed countries such as the US and Canada in order to look for their safe and stable life. This is refugee resettlement. Since 2010, Japan also began to the program of refugee resettlement as the first country of the Asian country. In 2010, 27 refugees of Myanmar who live in refugee camp of Thailand came to Japan. This is a new approach for Japan.

At first, why does not Japan receive many refugees? About 1.6 thousand refugees came to Japan in order to be recognized as refugees in 2008. However, the refugees who were recognized as refugees by the Minister of Justice are only 56 refugees. This number shows that many refugees can not be recognized as refugees and be allowed to come to Japan. Compared with other developed countries such as the US and France, the number of refugees being received is very few. The cause that the refugees in Japan are a small number is the system on the refugees and entry into a country. In Japan receiving entry permit to Japan is difficult in the eyes of the system of Japan. In the present day, refugees who came to Japan in order to be recognized as refugees are accommodated in an accommodation temporarily and they are treated like illegal immigrants. The food they receive is a poor Japanese food and they can not eat well because they do not adapt to Japanese food. They suffer in the accommodation until the result of the procedure comes out.

Next, Myanmarese refugees who came to Japan in 2010 learned a lot about the way in Japan in order to know about Japanese life and culture and to live comfortably. They learned Japanese language, culture and custom. Moreover, they were taught the necessary things to live without being in trouble such as the way of shopping and ATM because they lived in refugee camp and do not know these ways. They learned about many things for six months and they began to live and work by themselves.

However, refugees face many problems and difficulties in their lives in Japan. They face the wall of culture, language, discrimination and so on. In particular, in Japan foreigners tend to be recognized as strangers. Many Japanese still think that people living in Japan can speak Japanese and have black hair and eyes. Therefore, refugees who can not speak Japanese well are seen as the objects of the discrimination. Even if they can get the entry permit, their lives is not easy.

At last, Although Japan began to the approach of the refugee resettlement since 2010, Japan also contributes much money to United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees (UNHCR). The contribution of Japan is the second to the US. In Japan many Japanese do not know the existence of refugees in the world, but Japanese government has an effort to decreasing number of refugees. Therefore, Japan will receive more refugees in the future. Japan is not friendly country for refugees in the present state of affairs of Japan. In order to achieve receiving more number of refugees to Japan, changing the mind of Japanese people and being improved the system of the entry permit are also needed. Japan has many points to be improved about refugees.

Reference

Daisanngokuteizyu [Refugee Resettlement]. (2012). Seihu Kouhou Onrainn. Retrieved May 28, 2013 from http://www.gov-online.go.jp/useful/article/201201/5.html

Nannminn Mondai Toha [What is Refugees?]. (2011). Gaimusyo. Retrieved May 28, 2013 from http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/pr/wakaru/topics/vol70/index.html

Sekai no Nannmin[Refugees in the World]. (2010). AAR Japan. Retrieved May 28, 2013 from http://www.aarjapan.gr.jp/activity/emergency/refugee.html

Be a true advanced nation, Japan

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by Tatsuya Haishi

Japan is known as a country that is reluctant to accept refugees compared to other advanced countries. I know that receiving refugees or asylum seekers has many difficulties. There are may be illegal aliens pretending to be refugees. It is need that the budgets to give protection to them. Still, rights of human beings are more important. It is natural that refugees and asylum seekers live comfortably as humanity; moreover, I think they will benefit Japan in the future.

The working population of Japan has been declining and Japan will need more labor. Allowing to refugees or asylum seekers and hiring them is one of the effective solutions against this problem. Of course employment issue of Japanese young people is also important but I do not think the employment rate of the youth of Japan would increase even without accepting refugees and asylum seekers. Therefore more Japanese companies should hire them like Uniqlo, which has a sort of exchange internship program for refugees. One of the Uniqlo’s Japanese staff says “Refugees have various experiences, so the Japanese staff are also learning a lot from them.” I think a refugee who can take this program is limited and he or she is really smart but there must be other refugees who are much more talented than Japanese workers. Maybe refugees will lead Japan’s economy in the upcoming aging society with fewer children. However, we must not forget that rights of a refugee are far more important than expectation for a refugee as labor. Ensuring refugee’s human rights takes top priority.

I believe that Japan has a duty to help refugees, but if I say that, there must be people who insist, “You are looking down on refugees!” or “The word of ‘help’ sounds condescending!” I hate arrogant attitude, too. Yet, we should discuss whether I am condescending or not after refugees are guaranteed their safety. No one can choose where they are born and they are brought up. I was born in Japan and have never left from this country. However, if I was born in a troubled area, I might be a refugee now and leave from my homeland. The only reason I am not a refugee is because I was born in Japan. The only reason I think that Japan should accept more refugees is because I was born in an advanced country with my right to live. Japan has to allow to refugees just because Japan is an advanced nation. There is no reason except that.

Japan should admit more refugees

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by Fujisaka Shunsuke

I think Japan should accept more refugees. Comparing with other developed countries, Japan’s refugee is too little. Person who has a risk of persecution is admitted as refugees in Japan. However to be refugee in Japan is very difficult. Only 1 percent can be refugee and other 99 percent of people still have to find other place to go. I think Japan should admit more refugees. There are two main reasons why Japan should accept refugees. First refugees will be a labor. Second it is also good for refugees to be in Japan.

First, refugees will be a good labor mostly in the country side. It is because there is a shortage of labor in the countryside. For example there is shortage of farmer. Therefore farmers want more labor to work. Some people might say that farmer is hard work and it is 3K work in Japan. 3K stands for kitanai (dirty), kiken (dangerous), kitsui (difficult). I do not think farmer is 3K work. Many farmers have a pride to be a farmer and farmer support all Japanese by making food. Even if farmer is 3K work it is better than nothing. However to change the system of refugee is important. Government should change the society that refugee can get job easily. Refugees must be treated like Japanese.

Second it is also good for refugees to be in Japan. I think Japan’s economy is stable comparing with European countries. I think there are a lot of people those who want to come to Japan as a refugee. That’s why insurance is good for refugees. They will have a more chance to get insurance than other countries. For example in Japan there is a system of the public health insurance for whole nation but America does not have this system of the insurance. It means that Japan ‘s insurance is good.

In conclusion Japan should admit more refugees. Due to refugees will be a good labor and it is good for refugees to be in Japan rather than to be in any other countries. It is also good for Japan to admit more refugees because it changes other countries impression of Japan. Other countries will have good impression to Japan. Finally I want to say that refugees must be cared by government and society after they became refugees. Aftercare is important for refugees. To support continuously is necessary to be a good country for refugees.

Japan and Refugees

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by Shoki Fujimoto

I think Japan should keep current stance on acceptance of refugee. There are some reasons why I think so. First, Japan is not suitable for accepting refugees or immigration. Japanese national feeling is kind of exclusive for foreign people. This attitude was promoted by the fact that Japan has not accepted refugees historically. Japanese people tend to feel fear against foreign people for some reasons. Moreover, there are not small numbers of people that kind of look down on refugees.

Second, we cannot ignore historical reason. Those who that say America and European countries’ cases as why Japan should take in refugees often say that we had better follow the stance of international society. According Ministry of Justice, Japan admitted only 21 refugees in 2011. On the other hand, America approves on average about 90 thousand refugees every year. However, this opinion does not include important factor that Japan has been a country of “Japanese”. This does not mean that I would like to say “Japan is monoracial country and there is no foreigner in Japan”. Needless to say, there has been and are many foreign people in Japan, and they contributed to Japan’s development by working for Japan like introducing culture, and bringing technology. However, comparing Japan with America and European countries, power of foreign people that contributed to build country is very small. America is very new country created by foreigners and in Europe, there has been numberless exchanges including war. It means that such countries were built by foreigners. Therefore, variation of way of building country makes difference on the stance on foreigners.

Third, acceptance of refugees has few merits on Japan. In our debate in EKK class, affirmative side claimed that we can solve Japan’s declining birthrate and aging population problem by refugee’s labor. However, we cannot agree with this opinion. First of all, I do not think it is good that compensating vacuum of labor by using refugees. If we aim to supply labor by foreign people, we should increase number of immigrants, but Japanese literacy is must, I think. Besides, designating refugee’s work and where they live means restricting their human rights. This is reverse of intension.

Certainly, it is so sad to refuse refugees who have run away from their countries, and personally I would like to admit refugees. However, my intention is one thing, and Japan’s national interest is another thing. Even if current Japan’s stance changes, it will take a long time to change its policy. To conclude, Japan should not change its stance if truly we aim at Japan’s national interest.

References

Ministry of Justice. [http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/nyuukokukanri03_00085.html] (retrieved May 30, 2013).

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan [http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/nanmin/main3.html] (retrieved May 30, 2013)

Refugees cannot fit in and would take jobs from Japanese

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by Reina Doi

Recently, lots of refugees are coming to Japan to expect better living, but most of them are not accepted as refugees, so they forced displacement. For this situation, some people criticized that this is not appropriate as a country which ratify the treaty of refugees,and Japan should accept more refugees. However, I disagree that opinion in that employment issue, cultural aspects and national sentiments.

First of all, I believe if Japan admits many refugees to come, more Japanese will feel difficulty to find job, and it will make hierarchy in Japanese society. Employer prefers low cost to employ, so refugees would rob work from Japanese people, and an unemployment rate will increase. In addition, society will divide into two opposites, and as a result, cognition that refugees should do working which people do not want to do will be general. Thus, increasing refugees affects Japanese employment.

Next, there are big culture shock if refugees come to Japan, and especially language seems suffered them. Language is the basic of communication, and important in everything one does. Of course, refugees who come to Japan did not study Japanese in their own country, even English is not so common, and not useful in daily life, so Japan is not good to live. However, Japanese government does not support for them to learn language, so it is too hard to live like their home country.

Finally, national sentiments could be important when we think about refugees. Many Japanese normally feel uncomfortable around foreigners, because it is rare that foreigners live in Japan compared with other countries. For instance, U.S. is formed by immigrants, and even now there are lots of people are coming and live together. However, Japan is not same as U.S., and even though Japan ratified the treaty of refugees, it does not match public opinion, so if government enforce to admit more refugees, they would suffer from discrimination. Besides, if tax which is caused for taking care of refugees increase, antipathy will burst, and it makes demonstration which accept lots of refugees.

To sum up, saving Japanese worker, culture differences in that language and national sentiments is the reason that I disagree to allow. Japan seems that it is not appropriate to admit refugees, because there are no good system to save refugees and people are exclusive. Therefore it does not good effect for refugees, and they will feel difficulty to live Japan. For these reasons, I think Japan should not allow more refugees.