Category Archives: Immigration

Should Japan allow dual citizenship?

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by Ryuhei Sugiyama

Today, in international society, some countries such as the U.S., Australia, and Canada allow people to have dual citizenships legally. In these countries, there are a lot of immigrants from other countries and various types of races. Therefore, the rate of international marriage or over-ethic marriage is higher than the countries that do not allow people to have dual citizenship like Japan. Japanese government does not allow dual citizenship because of a bias or stereotype that “Japan is the homogeneous nation.” According to the Constitution of Japan, Japanese people who have dual citizenship must choice either of two by 22 years old. If people choice the citizenships of other country, they legally treated as “foreigner” through their life in Japan.

To be begin with, why do people have two citizenships? This is because each country adopt different requirement to give citizenship to the people. Some country adopt Jus sanguinis, the notion that regards blood of their parents as important, and some country adopt Jus soli, the notion that regards birth of place as important. Until international society standardizes the requirement of the citizenship, those who have dual citizenship will exist in the future. In addition, the extinction of the stateless person is also one of the biggest problems of international society because these people cannot get any protection or rights, and this strengthens the possibility of violation of fundamental human rights. From these reasons, people are given a citizenship, or in some cases given two citizenships.

There are some merits for people who have dual citizenships. First, these people can come and go both two countries easily because they do not have to get the visa. These people have relatives in both countries, so this convenience is helpful for them. Second, it relates to the determent of wars by increasing the number of people who have plural patriotisms on plural countries. This claim is argued positively in the U.S.

Even if dual citizenship has some merits, Japanese government do not allow it. According to the opinion of the Ministry of Justice, dual citizenship will make legal unfairness between people who have it and who do not have it. In addition, increasing the number of people who do not have the patriotism on Japan will have a bad effect on Japan. For these reasons, government force people to choose the citizenship into one.

In the end, should Japan allow people to have dual citizenship? Actually, dual citizenship has strong merits, and these merits are very helpful for them. However, the unfairness also cannot be overlooked. On one occasion, dual citizenship is profitable for them, but on another occasion, it is unfavorable for them. On the other hand, the way of giving the citizenship also has a problem. Japan adopt the way base on the blood of their parents. In this way, for example, people who have American parents and grow up in Japan cannot get the citizenship of Japan nevertheless they may have an identity as Japanese. However, that is not to say the way that bases on the place of birth is good. The important thing is preparing rules for forming individual identities, not imposing of them. Come to think of this, dual citizenship should be allowed after all because the choice of citizenship may mean the imposing of an identity. Today, the number of “hafu” is increasing sharply in Japan, and the condition drastically changed the one in half century ago. Therefore, today’s laws are not enough to correspond to the complex situation in Japan. Government should prepare rules in older to cope with complex situation flexibly, and admitting of dual citizenship may one of the solution of it.

References

The choice of nationality. Retrieved May 8, 2013 from http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji06.html

The different treatment of dual citizenship. Retrieved May 8, 2013 from http://www.gcnet.at/countries/variety.html

The treatment of dual citizenship. Retrieved May 8, 2013 from http://www.gcnet.at/campaign/ciperle-cl.htm

Hafu in Japan

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by Ryoma Kagawa

What do Japanese people think about hafu? In the video about hafu in class, the Japanese interviewed responded to this question that hafu are pretty and cool, have good command of some languages, and behave socially, and some of the interviewees envied hafu and even wanted to be hafu for their image. Japanese people tend to have positive image about hafu in this way, but it seems that they do not really understand hafu because, in spite of such images, there are some problems with which hafu encounter in Japanese society.

The first problem is that hafu are often treated as if they were foreigners when they look like Westerner. For example, when they are hunting for a job, they are asked if they speak English very well or they go to attend church on Sundays. This is because Japanese people have the wrong view that Westerners, or Western-looking people, are English speakers and Catholics (Haefelin, 2013). However, hafu were raised in Japanese society and are familiar with Japanese culture, and some hafu are not so good at commanding English. Furthermore, the second problem is that hafu are often discriminated against especially in rural areas, no matter that they look like Western or Asian. I found a person who has a Japanese parent and a Chinese one on the Web and he once has had negative feelings for Japan due to discrimination which he experienced; yet he was sure that he would not be accepted in China as well because he had no command of Chinese language and was hardly close to Chinese culture (Yamashita, 2013). I think that hafu share Japanese culture, customs, and language with Japanese people who have Japanese parents, so they are not foreigners but Japanese.

In order for hafu to join in Japanese society, I believe that the Japanese should change their view on them, and there are some means for the conversion of the view. One of them is to teach children other cultures at elementary schools. While adults belong for a long time to Japanese society which avoids hafu, children have flexible thoughts. Consequently, it is thought that education of multiculturalism at an early age is efficient for forming a society which better includes hafu. Such a society cannot be achieved soon, but now that one in thirty babies in Japan is hafu, I think that they will come to be accepted in society gradually.

Some Japanese people regard hafu as special, and admire them, but it is true that they have difficulty belonging to Japanese society. For a society open to them, I think that to appeal to flexible mind of the young is of great significance. In the stream of globalization, I believe that this will be realized although it requires a long time.

References

Haefelin, S. (2013, February 18). Haahu to shushokukatsudou [Hafu and job hunting]. Haahu wo kangaeyou [Let’s think about hafu]. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://half-sandra.com/column/2013/02/18/1423.php

Yamashita, M. (2013, April 11). 30 nin ni 1 ri ga haahu no jidai tachihadakaru bunka no kabe wo dou norikoeruno ka? [The era that 1 in 30 is hafu – how do they overcome the cultural barrier in front of them?]. WEDGE Infinity. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/2702

Should Japan Allow Dual Citizenship?

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by Satoshi Tanaka

Through  globalization, a lot of companies have an office and a factory in foreign country, and people have many opportunities to work overseas. However, Japanese government allows people to have citizenship of only one country. As a result, Japanese people who work in a foreign country cannot get a service as citizen of the country without resigning their Japanese citizenship. However, getting other citizenship makes people difficult to come back and live in Japan. In some countries, government allows people to have dual citizenship, and it helps people to work in other country, but I think that dual citizenship has also some disadvantages.

Dual citizenship has both advantage and disadvantage. Firstly, getting dual citizenship makes people feel more comfortable to work in foreign country. For example, people have no right to vote for the person who governs the country where they live if they have only Japanese citizenship. Moreover, people cannot get service without citizenship there such as a support of a fee for medical care and education. Therefore, dual citizenship gives people a support to live in the country. However, it also has demerits. Dual citizenship makes the tax system much more confused. Which government do people have to pay tax to? Which government do people get pension from? Now, tax and pension are already very complex problem which the government has. By introducing dual citizenship, the government must manage people who work all over the world.

Then, I suggest that people have two types of citizenship, main citizenship and sub citizenship. This system has the advantage of dual citizenship and solves the disadvantage which it has. First, this system gives people services such as medical care support and education in the country where they work like dual citizenship. Moreover, this system solves the problem of tax and pension. By dividing two citizenships into main and sub, it is easy to divide tax into the tax for home country and the tax for the country where people work. Moreover, this system makes people more flexible to change the second citizenship because they have the main citizenship.

In conclusion, following the globalization, the opportunity to work overseas is increasing. The current system of citizenship cannot support people to work in foreign country. I think that Japan should suit the change of the society by introducing dual citizenship. However, dual citizenship has still disadvantages. Then, allowing two types of citizenship, main and sub, makes up for the weakness of dual citizenship.

Understanding about another: The most important thing to understand foreigner or “hafu”

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by Tomoya Yamaguchi

Recently, in Japan there are a lot of “hafu” who is one parent is a foreigner who is white people.  Their faces are different from so-called “Japanese” and they are often thought as a foreigner in Japan, because consciousness of Japanese people is “Japanese is Japanese”.  This means that people think Japanese has a similar face as Asian ethnicity, so they are thought as a foreigner.  Another reason why people think they are foreigner is also that Japan is said to be a mono-racial country.  Hafu is rare to ordinary Japanese.  These facts result in that situation in Japan.

Hafu has a Japanese citizenship, and they have lived in Japan since they were born.  Some of the hafu has an identity as a Japanese citizen.  However Japanese people have a consciousness as mono-racial country.  This is a serious problem to hafu.  In order for them to be accustomed to Japanese society comfortably, Japanese government should create a class about multiculturalism or different culture from the elementary school.  By taking a class in the early period of children, they can understand or learn hafu or another culture and foreigner.  International school is a good example.  In our class, we watched a movie about discrimination and the identity of hafu.  In the movie, one hafu said that his company forced him to use his French name because he could be forgiven by customer when he mistook.  This is a terrible discrimination.  I think that the boss of him who forced him to use the name hasn’t touched another culture or foreigner in his childhood and he doesn’t understand the feeling of them.  If he understood the feelings, he would not say such a terrible thing.  In Japan, a lot of people don’t have an opportunity to contact with foreigners who have different culture and racial background.  This contributes to that discrimination indirectly, so it is important for children to take the class.

I think that it is difficult for us to change this situation because Japan is said to be a mono-racial country and people don’t have a consideration as to foreigner or hafu even today when globalization has progressed.  Besides, Japan doesn’t have a lot of immigrants and the policy toward foreigner is also hard or rigid.  I don’t intend to say that Japan should take an action drastically to multiculturalism because the measures about it are not prepared for.  However Japanese education should be changed to multiculturalism because globalization is progressing now and from now, more people will come to Japan from foreign countries.  In addition to it, the number of the hafu will increase more and more.  According to it, for children to take the class must be so valuable and to be a person who can understand foreign stuff is important.

Undocumented Immigrants

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by Yokoyama Yuu

The U.S. receives a lot of immigrants and there are many undocumented immigrants – about twelve million people. Today, undocumented immigrants also come in Japan. Each immigrant has the reason they cannot return their home country. For example, there are some children who do not know that they are undocumented till they try to get their driver license or university application. Although they love their country as well as other citizens, they always have the fear that they will be arrested and deported from their home country. On the other hand, there are some people who suggest it. Today, Japan also tends to deport undocumented immigrants – about a half million foreign people are taken in prison as illegal residence every year and Japan forces to deport them. It is cruel that undocumented immigrants are forced to be arrested and deported although they are innocent, isn’t it?

However, there are also problems for allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in. First, some immigrants who can get the status of residence desperately feel it is not equal that illegal ones can live without such effort. Second, some people are worried about that the job for citizens will decrease because illegal immigration works very low salary. For example, in U.S. about 5% of labor population depends on illegal immigration. Many undocumented immigration works in agricultural business. Third, if the country allows undocumented immigrants to stay without limit, it will be difficult to count the population of immigrants and the investigation of crime foreigners will become hard. This makes society worse.

In human view point, some people think government should not deport illegal people because some American has immigrant friends. Obama suggested new policy which allows illegal immigrant to stay in U.S. for two years. Thus, U.S. progress the direction to protect of immigration rights. However, we have to also consider if we receive many immigrants, how the society of the country will become.

I think Japan should give more chance for undocumented immigrants like the U.S. For example, Japan allows undocumented immigrants to work and if they can work well and success, gives states of residence forever having some conditions such as renewal of states once a year. Japan can let illegal immigration for the business which Japanese people do not want to such as agribusiness, caring for old people and train immigrants so that they can learn professional technique and work in the Japanese companies of foreign local place. It will increase the profit of Japan. They enter the country to earn money to live, so Illegal immigration has the motivation to work. In this way, immigrant may give Japan benefits. It will lead the “Dream Act” of Japan.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States

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by Naoko Yamada

In 2012 Barack Obama announced that some young illegal immigrants be allowed temporary status and work permits, that is, it will stop deportations and begin granting work permits for some Dream Act-eligible students. According to article of DHS, “undocumented immigrants who came to the United States under the age of 16 and have lived in the country for at least five years can apply for the relief, so long as they are under the age of 30.”

In 2012, an estimated 11.9 million undocumented immigrants resided in the United States without legal procedure. Moreover more than 70% of them are from Middle and South America, especially from Mexico, and they are called “Hispanic”. In Los Angeles where a lot of undocumented immigrants the number of immigrants is rising steadily.  The greater part of inhabitants is opposed to Obama’s policy however actually immigrant’s labor force is very important part to support American society.

The United States is a country of immigrants, and it is true that undocumented immigrants support society and economic. For example the greater part of labors is undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Because of this policy, many immigrants with hope will go to United States.

For young immigrants, it would be quite good announcement because they  are suffered from problems that they don’t have legal status. Also immigrant’s children are innocent, and they had no choice to refuse to move to U.S. I think if government strengthen control of immigrant who are living in U.S., American society would damage. So I think U.S. should accept immigrants who are living now in U.S. and adopt policy for immigrants like Obama’s policy. And then government should strengthen the enforcement of laws against new immigrants.

Refugees Tomorrow

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by Satomi Toba

Through the classes, I’ve learned that the difficulties which undocumented people experienced in their ‘home’ country. As we watched in a documentary film, those people cannot be supplied driving license, national health insurance. In Japan, there is another big burden: more than anything else, those people are not allowed to work while the application for refugee status term. It means that they cannot earn money for their living cost. Then, how can they live under the harsh situation? After I think about this, I come up with two ideas. In this report, I’ll try to write down my opinions over the big, important issue.

I know that those undocumented people, refugees have stayed a country illegally, usually without formal extended visa. Thus, they originally break the law. At the same time, they were exiled their native country because of some political problems and they couldn’t get formal documents regarding their refugee status from the government. It is also applied to their passport. If they get their own passport through ‘black’ route, to stop an inflow of refugees seems to be mostly impossible. It is out of a country’s responsibility. Then, what is a responsibility that the host country has to take? I think it is to take care about the refugees healthy. We must not overlook that they are human beings as we are. They have a right to live like we do. That is why I think the health insurance should be enjoyed by all people.

The second point is not regarding government, but that there are some nonprofit organizations which help refugees in Japan. For example, there is an organization, called Japan Association for Refugees (JAR). That organization holds lectures about refugees in Japan for university students and supports them by making a network in refugee’s neighborhood. Relationships with other people have big meanings for refugees, because most of them don’t have any relatives in the host country and in an emergency case, they cannot ask help to the others. To reinforce the connection, we, the receiving country’s people will be better to learn more about refugees. As I knew little about them before I joined this class, there will be a lot of people who don’t know well or don’t have interests in them. I think this big issue won’t be solved until the society is changed by supports from as much as many people.

Reference

Japan Association for Refugees: http://www.refugee.or.jp/

Undocumented Immigrants

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by Tomoka Otani

As we studied about the undocumented immigrants, I learned that there are various kinds of undocumented immigrants in the world. Firstly, undocumented immigrants in Japan and the current situation of illegal entrance to Japan will be described. Secondly, undocumented immigrants in the United States and the current situation of the country will be described as well. Thirdly, solutions for illegal entrance and the conclusion will be written. This essay focuses on undocumented immigrants who were brought to other countries when they were children

The number of undocumented immigrants in Japan is increasing and in 2008, there were over 20 thousand illegal immigrants. There are many illegal immigrants whose visa had expired and overstaying in Japan, however, in recent years, the number of immigrants who entered the country with fake passports are increasing. As we learned about the case of “Noriko” whose parents were from the Philippines and used fake passports to get in the country in order to have better lives in Japan, we need to rethink how difficult it is for undocumented children to deal with the problem.

There are over a million people who are entering in the United States illegally per year and its 80 % are from Mexico. As I lived in Southern California for a year, I know some undocumented people who are from Mexico. One of my classmates was child when she came to America and she did not have any idea that she was undocumented until she applied for a driver’s license. I did not have much knowledge about illegal immigrants at that time; however, I realized that this is one of the most serious problems in the United States. I could not do anything for her and it was depressing for both of us. When I studied about undocumented children in the class, I instantly thought of her. I learned that there are many undocumented children like her in the United States and they are dealing with the problems that were caused not by their choice.

In order to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, as for Japan, since it is not connected with any other countries by land, I think it is important to strengthen passport check at the airport because most of undocumented people who intentionally enter Japan illegally have fake passports. I do not know how it is difficult to make fake passports or to recognize them; however, I think it is the fastest and easiest ways to eliminate illegal entrance to Japan.

As for the United States, I think it is more difficult to decrease the number of undocumented immigrants because it is next to other countries like Mexico and Canada. People could just walk or drive illegally into the United States. In order to decrease the number of illegal immigrants who enter the nation from neighbor countries, the government should double the guards of border crossing. I think this is the only solution to eliminate illegal entrance to the U.S.

The biggest problem of all is that how should the government treat the undocumented people who entered the country when they were children and brought to another country by their parents choice. I personally think that the governments should give some kind of legal status to the children because they did not have any idea when they were brought to the other countries. Some people might say that this system increase the number of undocumented immigrants in order to provide their children with legal status, however, I do not think there are better solution for undocumented children. I think they have the right to live equally and right to receive the opportunities in order to enjoy their lives.

The Issues of Undocumented Immigrants

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by Kohei Nomura

Almost automatically, I am engaged in Japan’s social welfare and security system. In addition, I guess that almost all people including you are the same. I could not imagine how we should survive if these kinds of rights had gone. However, in this world, there are the undocumented people in term of legal status. They do not have the right to receive any administrative service. It remains as the taboo but big problem of societies.

When people illegally cross the border, or overstay after their visa’s expiration, the immigrants become undocumented. Because they are staying illegally, they cannot even get their legal status. In other words, even if they are violated or treated terrible way ignoring human rights, they cannot claim to police. In this case, the social structure that undocumented immigrants are never treated as ordinary people tends to stuck in the countries’ low-level society. Moreover, even if they catch diseases, they cannot get a tax deduction. It is easily assumed that undocumented immigrants cannot earn enough money to pay full medical expenses, so that they probably cannot go to the hospital. Undocumented immigrants are afraid of the detection of the fact they are illegal immigrants; therefore, the terrible structure among undocumented immigrants would be hidden and be taboo. Nevertheless, the realities of the undocumented immigrants are quite severe.

The only way to recover the administrative service for the undocumented immigrants is to go back to their mother countries. (Actually there are some ways to get a legal status in the escaped country, but the opportunities are extremely limited.) Conservatives may say that these severe treatments are undocumented immigrants’ fault because they are illegally there. It is partly true, and they should go back to their mother countries if possible. However, the children of illegal immigrants cannot do so, because the children are grown up with the countries’ identity and education of the countries’ language. If the country commit deportation of the children, it is wrong as the humanistic perspectives. The children have never committed the crime like illegal immigration, unlike their parents.

In conclusion, politically, the special decision how the country engages the undocumented immigrants in the area of humanity to get rid of violation of human rights of undocumented immigrants. Moreover, we should rethink of how we should accept the immigrants.

The “DREAM Act” is still dream…

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by Misa Takahashi

In November 7, the U.S president Obama was reelected. His reelection can realize ideal of ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants, or keep on harsh reality to them… I would like to talk about them aspect of ‘dream act’ in U.S.

Before talking about ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants, I mention about what ‘dream act’ is. The goal of this project is giving relief to children of ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants. If the law could be approved, they can have the right of permanent residence. The U.S. president Obama has worked hard for approve the law because of the background that immigrants are necessary for U.S. economy, however the Republican Party opposed to it because of increasing the expense of social security and the number of illegal immigrants. “Dream act” is still dream…

Almost of those children was taken by their parents who use illegal passports to U.S. in babyhood. Their parents are illegal immigrants, of course they are also ‘illegal’. Naturally enough, they don’t receive college education, get driver license, and more worse, they are suffering the fear of forced repatriation. But, they don’t know about their born countries and those cultures. They only know U.S., only have U.S. identities.

From such situation, Obama carried out the president command, give the reside license to them. If they satisfy requirement which is they are under 30 years old, enter illegally to U.S. until 16, pass 5 years from illegal entry, have the license of high school graduation or enroll and don’t have experience of crime, they can stay 2 years, get driver license and jobs. However, this command is temporary things, so it can’t become fundamental solution.

Considering for receiving immigrants in aspect of good point, immigrants support U.S. economy, in fact, most of all big farm workers is Hispanic immigrants. But ins aspect of bad point, increasing the number of illegal immigrants create to increase the expense of social security and expand the poor class. I think that we have to cut the roots ‘illegal immigrant’ to solve the problem and only help children who is difficult to be educated and got jobs in now. However, it is difficult to cut roots of illegal immigrant, if we do it, we must change the worldwide immigrant’s situation and problem. I think that this problem shouldn’t be left as it is, but there is no epoch-making solution.

Reference

NHK online. http://www.nhk.or.jp/worldwave/marugoto/2012/08/0817.html