Author Archives: japansociology

The Undocumented Immigrant Problem

Posted on by

by Marina Kouyama

“Issue of undocumented immigrant” – the American society is now facing with this problem. In this paper, I focus on this “undocumented immigrant problem” of America at first, and then consider the situation in Japan compared with the United States.

In America today, 11.2 million undocumented immigrants are estimated to live in the country. It includes the largest number is Hispanics, Asians, Muslims and Europeans. It is the problem whether people view undocumented immigrants in a positive or negative way. People who affirm claim that undocumented immigrants are an important part of the U.S. society’s workforce even though they are “illegal.” In fact, many workers who work on a large farm are undocumented immigrants who come from Mexico and some other countries. While on the other hand, people who oppose argue that undocumented immigrant could disturb the social order, concerning that American citizens have to pay for undocumented immigrant’s medical-care cost or unemployment insurance, or undocumented people deprive American citizen of their employment opportunity. Also, it is the problem that young generation of “undocumented immigrant” are innocent because they were brought to the country by their parents.

The problem about undocumented immigrant was a controversial issue in the recent U.S. presidential election, in which Obama was reelected.

The undocumented immigrant’s issue about what to do with their visa status has been the one of big tasks of American politics. In the previous presidential election, Obama made a granting of a path to legal status for undocumented youths a campaign promise, and has been aimed to realize the enactment of the DREAM Act. However, the DREAM Act is still invalid because of the criticism from the opposition Republicans. Therefore, last June (before the election), Obama announced a new policy of undocumented immigrant. He took measure to grant temporary residential status to undocumented youths by executive order, which does not require congressional action. Young undocumented immigrants can get the status if they come to America before age of 16 years; are 30 or younger; have lived in America since 15 June 2007; graduated from or are currently in high school, or are an American soldier; have no previous records of committing crimes. It is presumed that about 0.8 to 1.7 millions of undocumented youths would be blessed with this new policy. In the recent election, Obama did not directly win the vote from them as they did not have the vote right.

However, he gained support from Hispanic-American those close to undocumented people. According to New York Times report, 71% of Hispanic-American voted for him. Attention is currently focused on future moves of Obama administration.

In contrast to sign of improvement of undocumented immigrant in the U.S., Japan’s situation is getting worse. On July 9, 2012, foreign resident registration system was abolished, due to the revision of the immigration law. Legal residents get “resident card”, meanwhile, illegal residents cannot gain it. There is fear that undocumented residents become lack of access to essential administrative services without public identification. Also, it will become more difficult for them to find employment. A Ministry of Justice view these detriments as natural result because law revision is to regulate illegal stay.

It is surprising to see the difference about policy toward undocumented people between the United States and Japan. Even though America is nation of immigrant and Japan is not, Japanese policy seems to me too harsh for those people. Illegal residents in Japan are undeniably labors who prop up the Japanese economy. Therefore, Japanese government should offer minimum services (education to medical treatment and social insurance).

References

27 November, 2012. Education Week. “Undocumented Youths Will Not Be Deported”. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/06/undocumented_youths.html

7 November, 2012. New York Times. “A Record Latino Turnout, Solidly Back Obama and Wield Influence”. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/politics/with-record-turnout-latinos-solidly-back-obama-and-wield-influence.html?_r=0

6 July, 2012. The Japan Times. “New Rules Put Scare Into Illegal Immigrants”. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120706f1.html

Undocumented Immigrants

Posted on by

by Maho Machida

In America, about 1100 million immigrants live illegally. They don’t have future in their country and come to America, seeking a better life. Some people commit a crime and that is a fear of local people. The case of Farmingville is a good example. Other people work hard, having a fear of deportations. Undocumented immigrations are burdens and the cause of deterioration in security for American society. On the other hand, they are necessary labor force for them. They are engaged in the jobs the American don’t want to do. Most of workers in agriculture are immigrants, including undocumented immigrants.

Considering this situation, I agree with Obama’s framing of undocumented immigrant issues. I think those who are not a threat to the US security can or should contribute to its society. So I agree with the DREAM act. The government should provide the young with a certain legal status and permanent residency, I think. The reasons are as follows. The young undocumented immigrants who followed their parents as children grew up in America and have an American identity. They are innocent and some of them didn’t know they live illegally until they apply for the university and driver license. With regard to their parents, it is inevitable to return to their country as punishments for illegal stay, I think. If not, the inequality between those who have a child or not could be caused. However, it is necessary the consideration that their deportation should be deferred until their children become independent, I think.

As I state above, I’m in favor of DREAM Act, however I don’t hope that it leads to increase the number of undocumented immigrations. In my opinion, it would be not good for both a sending and receiving country. In a sending country, its development would remain worse because of population drain. In receiving country, the number of the problems accompanied with it would increase. Therefore, regulations in border should be enforced in order not to enter illegally. Moreover, a work visa should be more flexible and easier accessible to immigrants, so that the companies in America can keep workforce and immigrants can get jobs.

It seems natural to me that everyone seeks a better life, hoping good future. Therefore, such people can realize it their country, or a new country where they migrate legally from their country. I hope such world comes true someday.

Undocumented Migrants

Posted on by

by Maika Kubo

In the US, there are 1.2 million illegal migrants. 70% of them came from Mexico and other Latin American countries to earn better wages. In the class, especially we’ve learned about undocumented migrants who were brought by parents when they were children.

They go to local school and learn local language. They grow up same as other children. However, they notice the fact that they are undocumented migrants when they need identification. They can’t drive because they can’t get driver’s license. They can’t go abroad because they can’t get passport. Also, sometimes they can’t get job because of the lack of identification.

There are two opinions about undocumented migrants. One opinion affirms the stay of undocumented migrants because they contribute to the development of the country as one people. Also, these migrants didn’t commit a crime. They were just brought by parents. The other opinion denies the stay of undocumented migrants because they increase the country’s burden of social security. Also, admitting the stay of undocumented migrant would promote the illegal immigration.

The U.S. president Obama is the former. He declared “DREAM act” which helps undocumented migrants. This law admits less than 30 year-old undocumented migrants who were brought by parents when they were less than 16 years old. They have to be enrolled or graduated from high school in the US, and also they mustn’t have been arrested. If this law is carried out, these undocumented migrants won’t be forced repatriation in two years.

I agree with “DREAM act”, because these migrants should be admitted as American. In Japan, there are many Korean residents. After the WWII, many Korean people smuggle themselves into Japan to escape from the fires of the Korean War. Their descendants go to Japanese school, and grow up as Japanese. I have many such friend, however, I can’t distinguish whether they are Korean or not until they tell it to me because they are totally Japanese. I think environment where they grow is the most important matter when we think about identity, because people can grow up only by being influenced by the environment. They learn their language, common sense, culture, and behavior by the environment. Only the environment can makes people’s character. Therefore, even if the parents are illegal migrants, their children shouldn’t treat as illegal, and they should be given the right to reside.

Immigrants can be a good factor economically or not

Posted on by

by Koichi Sugimoto

Today, migration is becoming a serious problem that is unavoidable. In Japan, that problem barely has been spoken about because the Japanese government has taken a restricted approach to immigrants for a long time, but this Japan’s case is relatively rare compared with other countries. For example, in the case of the US, this country consists of immigrants from a historic point of view, and now the US is facing that problem. As we can see the election, the immigrant’s problem was an important issue, and eventually Obama showed citizens a tolerant policy, but the problem concerned with American unemployed remains there. Japan will be facing this problem as well as the US. In that case, I think Japanese government should take more immigrants. I am going to argue that reason in the next paragraph.

First of all, I’d like to see the present Japan’s situation. Some companies changed an official language from Japanese to English, and also are about to adopt more foreigners. That means they have to spread the market to global areas, so they decided to take more foreigners and bring up global people who are having recent widespread values. This may be the time to be ought to accept more immigrants. However, that is not easy because there is a problem about unemployed as well, and the population is occupied by almost all the same race, Asian. That’s because Japanese still keep having a thing like a single nationalism, and also they have a prejudice against foreigners because many crimes by them are often taken up by the media, but Japanese should understand that is a merely part of all of crimes.

On the other hand, I believe immigrants give us some benefits such as, different values, ways, thoughts and something. Japanese absorb these factors, and should be more tolerant toward everything that happened in the world, but that does not mean all of immigrants can be admitted by the government because Japan has a capacity, so has to choose. Concretely it’s better to do the test to confirm their abilities, for example, communication ability, mathematics, flexibility and something moral. This way will be able to relate to their motivation.

From these reasons, Japanese government should accept more immigrants, but it can be gradually carried out because it’s an important issue, so they need do think a system seriously. Also, successful applicants will be acquired to be motivated, and if possible experienced. I think this way I mentioned above will be able to lighten Japanese future.

Undocumented Immigrants

Posted on by

by Akifumi Kamamoto

You know, undocumented immigrants are very difficult problem all over the world. I think one of the reasons why it is difficult is concerned about existence of young undocumented immigrants. This is because they didn’t become undocumented immigrants by themselves. Also they didn’t have choice whether they would be undocumented or not, and more some children don’t realize they are undocumented immigrant. Of course, undocumented immigrants are illegal, but children are not guilty, I think. Their parents were in difficult situation in their own countries and left there. I know this process, but they should have thought about their own children who will be born or grown up much more, I think.

In this class, we had some discussions about undocumented immigrants. There were some difficult questions. For example, should undocumented immigrants receive free education, medical care and so on? As I’ve already written in this blog, young undocumented immigrants couldn’t choose, so I think they should receive free education. However, some problems were occurred at the same time. It would make inequality between documented and undocumented immigrants. We can’t decide easily how we should do. In America, there is a policy for undocumented immigrants, Dream Act. I think it is good policy, but as I wrote before there are people who disagree with this policy because of problem of inequality or so. And in my opinion about medical care, I think every immigrant should be able to receive medical care. This is because medical issue is not only for them but for all residents. I mean, disease can be infectious to other people.

In addition, there are some questions which we have to think about. How should government do with undocumented immigrants? Should they be able to stay or have to leave? It is difficult problem, too. I think we have to be strict with undocumented parents. However hard they were in their own countries, undocumented immigrants are illegal. Many countries have policies about immigrant protection, so they should use these policies effectively, I think. In Japan, it is difficult to get protection for immigrants. So I think Japan should be more tolerant with immigrants and make the number of undocumented immigrants decreased.

In conclusion, as I wrote many times, it is difficult to think about immigrant.  Especially the treatment of undocumented immigrants is too difficult. However we have to continue to think about it. I hope the number of immigrants who are in trouble will be decreased.

The Future of Undocumented Immigrants

Posted on by

by Yuuka Kageyama

An undocumented immigrant is someone who resides in a country without proper documentation and the number of it is estimated over 10 million in the US. Sometimes the adjective “illegal” is used to describe certain immigrants in many places including public organization. However, some people have come to disagree to the use of the word by saying that it’s inaccurate and improper.  The problem over undocumented immigrants is dividing the recognition about them in the US.

It is true that they are not legitimate residents because they entered into the country and keep staying there without getting the permission from the government by using fake passport or overstaying their visas for instance. That’s why they are called as illegal immigrants and some people say it’s not unfair to deport them.

In spite of such viewpoints against undocumented immigrants, they are also regarded as important elements in part because they can contribute to the US economy by paying tax. Moreover, they can have jobs which Americans don’t want to have, and meet the demand in the low cost labor. Moreover, undocumented immigrants, facing to many difficulties such as discrimination and insufficient access to medical care, education and to court because of the fear to be arrested by the police, struggle to change the situation to get a legal status and citizenship.

As can be seen above, there are both opponents and proponents. What should government do about this problem? I think the Dream Act, which provides conditional permanent residency to the young, would be effective because it can protect the children who have no responsibility to their status. In my opinion, the situation of children and that of parents are different. Children have no choice but to be undocumented immigrants because of their parents. For them, new country is their only place to live in and feel attachment to. They should not be treated as illegal, much less deported. As the Convention on the Rights of the Children states, children need to be fully protected irrespective of their situation and the country they belong to. Although there are still problems, it would be easier to reach an agreement on the protection of the children. I don’t think it is better for government to accept more and more immigrants but undocumented immigrants, especially young people in the country should be given the right in some ways so that they can dream hopeful future, which can also contribute to the country.

The Children of Illegal Immigrants

Posted on by

by Akisato Fujita

Through the classes about undocumented immigrants, I found that there are many illegal immigrants especially in America, and they are suffering from some limitations and obstacles because of their illegal status. Among undocumented immigrants, I felt that the children are in the very serious situation. Therefore, I would like to think about the children of illegal immigrants.

One of the problems of the children of illegal immigrants is whether or not they should be deported with their parents when it is found out that they are illegal. I think that the children could stay in the country, and they are with their parents until they become adults. There are mainly 3 reasons about it.

First, most of the children do not know the language and culture of their country which they were born in. Therefore, it is considered that the children could not lead a good life if they go back to the country. On the other hand, they understand the language and culture of the country where they have grown up and they live now. It can be said that their home country is the country and they have become the people of the country, so it is natural that they should continue to live there.

Second, it cannot be said that the children of undocumented immigrants migrated from their country to the new country illegally. It is sure that illegal immigrants came to the country without legal status, so they commit a crime. However, their children just followed them and the migration is not their will. Therefore, I think that the children have a right to stay in the country. There are no reasons why they are blamed for the illegal immigration.

Finally, the children of illegal immigrants should live with their parents in order to spend a relieved and safe time. Some people claim that their parents should be deported right now because they came to the country illegally. However, considering the children, the existence of the parents would be necessary. If undocumented immigrants go back to the country they used to live in, their children have to live alone because they have no relatives there. It is too hard for the children to live in the situation, so their parents should lead a life with them at least until they become adult.

In short, considering the children of illegal immigrants, it is thought that they could stay in the country they live in now, and be with their parents while they are children.

Social movements: Anti-nuclear movements in Fukushima

Posted on by

by Jun Yasukawa

In March 11, 2011, a huge earthquake and tsunami occurred and wide range of Tohoku was damaged. Those damages were mostly due to the enormous tsunami, but there was another big problem. It is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. It was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Plant, after the disaster of Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It is said that it is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster, which happened in 1986. Because of this nuclear problem, anti-nuclear movements occurred not only in Japan, but also in all over the world. People all over the world once again recognized the danger of the nuclear plants and the risk that they have toward citizens. On March 12, 2011, about 60,000 Germans lined up on the street, forming a human chain that is about 45-km long, from Stuttgart to the Neckarwestheim power plant. Also, on March 14, 2011, about 110,000 people protested in 450 German towns. During this social movement, opinion poll was conducted and it indicated that 80% of Germans opposed the extension of nuclear power by the government. There are many other anti-nuclear social movements all over the world, such as the ones by 2,000 anti-nuclear protesters in Taiwan and Switzerland. Of course, this is only few cases of anti-nuclear movements, and there are a lot other ones also around the world.

Although the fact that this many people all over the world protest against nuclear power plants, the reality is that we need to depend on nuclear power. That is because it is able to generate big amount of power and if we are not able use nuclear power, there might be a lack in power. Right now, all the nuclear plants in Japan are stopped, but it took long time to stop it, because Tokyo Electric Power Company hesitated to stop it.

I think that almost all the people around the world oppose or have a negative image towards nuclear power plants. However, it seems like those voices are weaker than government’s and companies’ voices, despite the fact that there are way more number of people. Since government and big companies have authorities and powers, it may be a natural thing. However, it is very unfair because unclear power problem is an issue that is deeply related to our life. So I strongly think that our voices need to be heard more. And I hope that government, electric power companies, and other top authorities will compromise and work together with citizens, and we all should seek for our bright future.

References

The New York Times March 8 2012, “Japan’s Nuclear Energy Industry Nears Shutdown, at Least for Now” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/world/asia/japan-shutting-down-its-nuclear-power-industry.html?ref=energyandpower&_r=0

BBC News, March 26 2011, “Germany stages anti-nuclear marches after Fukushima” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12872339

How to become a more multicultural society?

Posted on by

by Jun Yasukawa

Multiculturalism is a society that consists of many various cultures. And they coexist together. Recently in the world, there are many multicultural cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, London, and Hong Kong. However, Japan is not considered to be the multicultural society, even the biggest city in Japan, Tokyo. There are many benefits of being multicultural city, but Japan has not been able to receive those benefits, because of not being multicultural society. Therefore, I think that Japan should be more multicultural society.

Few months ago, I went to Vancouver, Canada, for my school trip to study about multiculturalism in Vancouver. Vancouver had been selected as the most livable city in the world for five years in a row before, despite the fact that it is very multicultural society, consisting of a lot of cultures and races. The biggest obstacle immigrants face when they enter new country is the language problems. Especially, in case of Japan, they must be able to use Japanese. In many different societies, English can be used, even though they are not English spoken countries, such as France and Germany. Therefore, I think that the most important task that Japan and Japanese people has to improve is the ability to use English. By improving the skills of English, Japan can be involved a lot more in international society and people from all over the world can come and interact with Japanese people easily, in terms of both business and private. Also, when I went to Vancouver, I noticed that volunteers are playing a big role of welcoming immigrants, supporting them to settle nicely, and live comfortably. For example, when immigrants enter and decide to live in Vancouver, this organization, run by the volunteers, takes care of all the registrations that are needed to settle, such as housing and school registrations. In this way, immigrants can easily settle into new society. However, it does not mean that immigrants depend on those volunteers completely. They learn how to do those kinds of registration, by looking at the support of those volunteers. And later immigrants themselves can become the volunteers and take care of new volunteers, using the knowledge and experiences that they learned before. That is how immigration and settlements work in Vancouver.

I think that Japan should welcome more foreigners, like Vancouver. In Vancouver, volunteers are playing a big role of welcoming foreigners and support them to settle nicely. Today in Japan, I don’t see many volunteers that work to support immigrants. So, in order to be active in international society and become multicultural society, it is important to form a welcoming society, and support and take care new people in long terms.

Globalization and politics of fair burden for global environmental problems

Posted on by

by Wataru Yukita

As globalization has progressed, global environmental problems have been addressed in recent years. Global environmental problems are related to all people and all nations, so the problem should be covered equally by all countries. However, is it possible? Despite the fact that there is a large economic difference in the world, could these problems be really shared by all countries? So, I will consider of difficult points for fair and equitable burden in global environmental problems.

First, a feature of the global environmental issue is that it is difficult to set responsibility and role of shared burden. Because defining cause and outcome is hard, to identify responsibility and sharing role is also hard when take measures for these problems. Global warming, which is symbol of global environmental problems, is true of this example, in that it is difficult to identify and share roles. Though IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change) provides scientific proof, there is a firm opposite opinion yet and skeptical eye that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG).

In global warming problem, not only cause and outcome relation, it is also difficult to specify who is a wrongdoer and who is a victim. That is because all people’s behavior has an effect on global warming more or less, regardless of rich people or poor people. What is more, though global warming is a significant issue in the long term, incentive to take measures by having a sense of ownership is likely to decline because the effect is spreading thinly and widely in short term.

Second, while anyone agrees with the concept of sustainable development, in fact, it is not easy to balance environment and development. There is no agreement that how much environmental damage is allowed for economic activity. It is true that it is possible to convert environmental damage to economic cost. But if we pay the cost, are we really allowed to damage environment? It will introduce another problem like morality. Therefore, simple converting is not beneficial solution.

Finally, how adjust interest of developed and developing countries? Perhaps, this is the biggest problem for global environmental issues. For example, in global warming problem, developed countries have emitted CO2 too much for economic growth. Thus, developing countries also want to use energy and progress their economy. However, regulating to emit CO2 around the world and raising cost is not fair for developing countries. They will say “we need to emit CO2 as well as other countries”. In these problems, we need to consider responsibility that is common and differentiated.

Global environmental problems come to be more complicated as global economy has developed. So, it will be hard to solve these problems fairly and equally. However, I think developed counties have responsibility that make framework to solve the problems. For this activity, we need to use globalization.

Reference

“Govt must replace strategy for new CO2 framework”, Dec13, 2012, The DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE.  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/T121212003863.htm