Mainichi & Asahi: 40% of Japan’s local govts received complaints about their policies designed to help NJ Residents. This fits a history of coordinated efforts from Far-Right internet trolls nationwide to stymie conscientious public policy. Hence being the “Good Gaijin” will not help you assimilate in this political climate.

Posted on December 22, 2025December 23, 2025 by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

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(Original title of this blog post was, “Mainichi and Asahi: 40% of Japan’s local govts received coordinated complaints from Far-Right Internet Trolls nationwide, stymieing local-govt policies to help their NJ Residents. Hence being the “Good Gaijin” will not help you assimilate in this political climate.” But that was a bit misleading, so amended; H/T to SB.)

Hi Blog. I post these two articles because they offer evidence that becoming a part of Japanese society isn’t just a matter of being “Good Gaijin”, e.g., contributing and behaving until “your outward appearance causes no particular problems“. These are good things to do, of course, but they are not a panacea, because the Netto Uyoku (Far-Right Internet Xenophobes and Trolls) in Japan are well-organized and will not accept NJ as Residents under any circumstances.

There is in fact a long history of the Netto Uyoku and helpful local government policies shot down one after another due to a storm of “complaints” like these (many of which aren’t even from local residents; see the Asahi article below the Mainichi in Japanese), as seen in this case study from 2013 about Tottori Prefecture passed, then UN-PASSED, a human rights ordinance. This is how the structural barriers to NJ Residents remain, and will not be removed until governments stand up to racists and trolls like these. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

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40% of Japan local gov’ts received complaints over foreigner policies: Mainichi survey

December 19, 2025 (Mainichi Japan), courtesy of Mark Schreiber

Courtesy https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251219/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

Japanese version below

Photo: People raise signs opposing immigrants during a rally in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on Nov. 30, 2025. (Mainichi)

FUKUOKA — There has been a spate of cases where local governments in Japan have been flooded with complaints over measures related to foreigners.

A Mainichi Shimbun survey covering 67 local bodies — 47 prefectural governments and 20 ordinance-designated cities — found that 40%, or 26 of 65 bodies responding to the survey, had instances of complaints, protests and opinions streaming in regarding foreigner policies over the past year. [emphasis added]

The survey specifically asked whether there were cases where complaints and other opinions were frequent, what triggered them and the number of those cases over a one-year period up to the end of September 2025. A total of 65 local governments, excluding the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Nara Prefectural Government, replied, with the response rate at 97%.

Of the 26 local bodies that reported experiencing a series of complaints, 15 received fewer than 100 calls or emails across 18 cases, 13 received 100 to fewer than 1,000 calls or emails across 18 cases, and three received 1,000 or more calls or emails across three cases.

The most significant case involved Miyagi Prefecture’s temporary consideration of developing burial grounds with Muslim residents in mind, which drew 2,470 calls and emails including those expressing concerns about the potential impact on water quality and soil.

Several local governments indicated that complaints were driven by unverified or false information on social media.

Of the 26 governments, 19 reported feeling burdened by handling complaints, with Miyagi Prefecture noting instances requiring 1 1/2 to 2 hours to respond and Shizuoka Prefecture revealing that staff were subjected to verbal abuse, causing them to feel scared of answering calls.

While most governments said there was no impact on their policies from a rush of baseless complaints, Shizuoka Prefecture noted increased caution in sending out information on multicultural coexistence policies to avoid complaints. Nara Prefecture, while admitting there were cases where complaints, protests and opinions flooded in, refrained from responding to the survey due to concerns about similar incidents arising from media coverage.

Among the 26 governments, more than 90%, or 24 local bodies, reported an increase in complaints compared to the previous year. As for the reasons, they cited a surge in foreign residents and extensive discussions on foreign nationals during the House of Councillors election in July.

Masami Wakayama, a professor of political science at Hokuriku Gakuin University, pointed out, “The concentration of burdens on local governments may cause them to feel intimidated, potentially reversing the trend toward multicultural coexistence.” He stated, “The current Liberal Democratic Party-led administration is extremely wary of introducing measures as ‘immigration policy’ due to concerns about alienating conservative voters. However, adapting to changing times and society is essential. As demands from residents to local governments increase, there is a growing need to enhance support systems for local bodies, including the development of laws to serve as a basis for their decision-making.”

(Japanese original by Keisuke Muneoka and Mayuka Ikeda, Kyushu News Department)

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外国人施策などへの苦情、自治体の4割に　「電話怖くなった」職員も
社会
毎日新聞 2025/12/19 07:00（最終更新 12/19 07:49）
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20251217/k00/00m/040/345000c

フォート：移民に反対するプラカードを掲げる人たち＝東京都新宿区で2025年11月30日午後2時45分

外国人に関わる施策などを巡り、自治体に苦情が殺到するケースが相次いでいる。毎日新聞が過去1年間に苦情や抗議、意見が相次いだ事例の有無について都道府県と政令市の計67自治体に取材したところ、回答した65自治体のうち4割にあたる26自治体が「あった」と答えた。

2025年9月末までの1年間で、苦情が相次いだ事例の有無やきっかけ、件数などを聞き、東京都と奈良県を除く65自治体が回答した（回答率97％）。

苦情などが相次いだ経験があったと答えた26自治体に寄せられた電話やメールの件数は、100件未満が15自治体18事例▽100件以上1000件未満が13自治体18事例▽1000件以上が3自治体3事例――だった。

最も多かったのは、宮城県が整備を一時検討していた、イスラム教徒らの利用を念頭に置いた土葬墓地に関する事例で、「水質や土壌への影響が不安」などといった電話やメールが2470件程度寄せられた。

在留外国人数の推移
26自治体中19自治体が苦情対応の負担が「あった」と回答。「1時間半から2時間に及ぶ対応を迫られる事例が複数」（宮城県）「（職員が）一方的に暴言を受け、電話に出るのが怖くなった」（静岡県）と明かした。

多くの自治体が根拠のない苦情が殺到することによる施策への影響は「なかった」と回答したが、静岡県は「多文化共生施策に関する情報発信で、苦情を受けないよう配慮をするようになった」と答えた。奈良県は「苦情や抗議、意見が相次いだ事例はあったが、記事で同様の事案が発生することを懸念」と回答を控えた。

苦情が相次いだ26自治体のうち、前年に比べ苦情が「増えた」と答えたのは9割超の24自治体。在留外国人が急増していることや、7月の参院選で外国人に関する議論が多く交わされたことを理由に挙げた。

北陸学院大の若山将実教授（政治学）は「自治体に負担が集中することで萎縮し多文化共生の流れが後退する恐れもある」と指摘。「現在の自民党中心政権では保守層を意識し『移民政策』として施策を打ち出すことを極度に恐れる側面があるが、時代と社会の変化への対応は不可欠だ。住民からの自治体への要望が増えるなか、判断のよりどころとなる法律の整備など自治体の支援体制の拡充が一層求められる」と話す。【宗岡敬介、池田真由香】

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Miyagi halts Muslim burial site plan amid pushback
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 19, 2025 at 18:49 JST, courtesy of Niklas
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16039254

SENDAI—Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai abruptly scrapped a plan to build burial sites for Muslims on Sept. 18, citing unanimous oppositiion from local mayors–just weeks ahead of the gubernatorial election.

His announcement came during a general session of the prefectural assemby that day, when Murai responded to a question from a member who asked, “Wouldn’t it be appropriate to cancel the plan to avoid further confusion, given the lack of support?”

The proposal, which had been under consideration since late last year, sought to accommodate religious burial practices for foreign workers—but faced strong public opposition and political resistance.

Murai revealed that between Sept. 13 and 17, he had called every mayor in the prefecture to confirm their position.

“All of them said they could not accept the plan, even if the prefecture formally proposed it,” he said.

Under Japan’s cemetery and burial law and prefectural ordinances, new cemeteries require approval from local municipalities.

With no prospect of gaining consent from mayors—the final decision-makers—Murai said, “The situation is extremely difficult, and I have decided to withdraw the plan entirely.”

Just days earlier, on Sept. 12, the governor had responded to a similar question by saying the plan was still in the research phase and undecided. However, that exchange prompted him to seek clarity from local leaders, he said.

Speaking to reporters after the withdrawal announcement, Murai said, “I’ve been struggling with this for quite some time. I concluded that continuing the discussion would only increase anxiety among residents.”

ORIGINS OF THE PLAN

The idea to build burial sites for Muslims emerged as part of Miyagi Prefecture’s efforts to attract foreign workers, particularly from Islamic countries such as Indonesia.

Due to religious beliefs, Muslims cannot be cremated, but Japan has only about 10 cemeteries nationwide that allow burials.

In 2023, the prefectural government signed a memorandum with the Indonesian government to accept more technical interns and skilled workers.

Anticipating a rise in long-term residents, Murai had identified the need to “create a supportive living environment,” including burial options, as a key policy goal.

In October last year, Murai told the prefectural assembly that he wanted to explore building burial sites for Muslims and others who, for religious reasons, do not wish to be cremated. Prefectural staff began visiting existing burial sites outside the prefecture to gather information.

Although Japan does not legally prohibit burials, many municipalities effectively ban them through local ordinances.

In Miyagi, Muslim residents had previously consulted municipal governments about building burial sites, but conditions such as “no impact on the surrounding environment” and “consent from nearby residents” proved difficult to meet.

As a result, families often had to transport bodies to distant burial sites or repatriate them to their home countries.

PUBLIC BACKLASH

When media reported in late December that Murai was considering building burial sites, the prefectural office was flooded with calls and emails expressing concern and opposition.

Comments included, “Is this going to move forward without public input?” “I’m worried about damage to the reputation of local products and environmental impact,” and “I’m uneasy about the increase in foreign residents.”

The prefecture has received more than 2,000 emails and phone calls to date. Approximately half of these reportedly came from outside the prefecture. [emphasis added]

Despite the backlash, Murai initially stood firm. He said the plan was based on requests from Muslim residents and argued, “If we talk about multicultural coexistence, but ignore (burial) needs, that’s a failure of governance. Even if criticized, we must move forward.”

In March, Murai condemned discriminatory social media posts targeting Muslims and reiterated his commitment to the burial site plan.

“Japan originally had a burial culture. Christianity is also based on burial. Even the imperial family used to be buried,” he said.

He emphasized that the issue affected not only foreign residents but also Japanese converts to Islam.

Murai also downplayed environmental concerns: “Wild animals return to the soil naturally. Saying burial causes pollution is an exaggeration.”

Acknowledging the negative reactions, he said, “I’ve received online pushback, but I believe this is necessary.”

ELECTION PRESSURE

The sudden reversal has sparked speculation that Murai’s decision was politically motivated. He is currently serving his fifth term and plans to run for a sixth. Official campaigning will kick off on Oct. 9 and voting is scheduled for Oct. 26.

While the burial site plan was never part of his official campaign platform, some candidates voiced opposition, saying it could lead to increased immigration and should not be led by the prefecture.

Even within the Liberal Democratic Party faction supporting Murai in the gubernatorial election, many members expressed negative views toward the plan.

Murai insisted, “I didn’t withdraw the plan because of the election.”

However, opposition lawmakers say the timing suggests a political calculation.

“He probably realized he couldn’t go into the election with this controversy swirling,” said an opposition assembly member. “Murai isn’t the type to give up after a single phone call. He may have been looking for the right moment to pull back.

COMMUNITY REACTION

“It made me happy that (the prefecture) didn’t just see foreigners as laborers, but actually considered their lives,” said Noboru Sato, 83, a Muslim and representative of the Islamic Cultural Center of Sendai (ICCS). “That’s why this is so disappointing.”

According to Sato, who has led the organization for nearly four decades, the Muslim populations in the prefecture–once made up primarily of international students–now includes workers in the automotive and construction industries, reflecting both steady growth and increasing diversity.

There are only about 10 burial cemeteries in Japan, and none in the Tohoku region. Sato said that many Muslims wish to be buried in their hometowns, but currently must travel to the Kanto or Chubu regions, which is costly and complicated.

Sato and other Muslims had written letters to the governor requesting burial sites.

“Many people aren’t familiar with Muslim culture. Forcing the plan through amid so much criticism wouldn’t be right. I suppose it can’t be helped,” Sato said.

Muhammad Usama, 29, a Pakistani staff member at ICCS, said he understands that the Islamic burial rules may appear to Japanese as a “unique culture.“

At the same time, he added, “Day by day, Japanese people accept Islam” and “understand our religion.”

Sato agreed, saying, “We must continue working to eliminate misunderstandings and prejudice.”

(This article was compiled from reports by Ryo Oyama, Ikuko Abe and Yosuke Fukudome.)

Muslims living in Japan face difficulties burying the dead
May 11, 2022
ENDS
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My Shingetsu News Agency Visible Minorities column 67: “Int’l tourism has been good for Japan” (June 19, 2025), where I argue that short-sighted criticisms about Japan being “overtouristed” may spoil things, so don’t let the debate backfire into racialized policymaking

Posted on June 20, 2025August 4, 2025 by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hi Blog. I just got back from a tour in Japan and saw a lot of tourists. “Overtourism is becoming a hot topic. But it threatens to metaphorically “kill the golden goose”. I offer my perspective in my latest SNA column on how even local NJ Residents are falling into the fallacy that tourism is “spoiling” Japan, because countermeasures are threatening to encourage racial profiling against them. Read on. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

==================================

INTERNATIONAL TOURISM HAS BEEN GOOD FOR JAPAN

Short-sighted criticisms about Japan being “overtouristed” may spoil things. Don’t let the debate backfire into racialized policymaking.

SNA VM 67, June 19, 2025, By Debito Arudou

Courtesy https://shingetsunewsagency.com/2025/06/19/visible-minorities-international-tourism-has-been-good-for-japan/
Last month’s column was late because I just got back from four weeks in Japan. A luxury of academia is that in between semesters I can do long trips. As retirement looms, I’m finding ways to make life not only about work and column writing.

Interestingly, Japan is becoming part of that work-life balance. Like so many other Japan long-termers (such as Donald Keene and Alex Kerr), I’m finding myself living in Japan about twice a year. I like both Japan and US better when I can take a break from each, enjoying the best of both worlds.

The interesting thing I discovered this trip, as the US goes through another periodic isolationist phase, is that Japan in contrast seems to be becoming more accommodating. International tourism is making Japan into a more open society and an easier place to live.

JAPAN IS OLD AND BORING. EXCEPT FOR THE BOOMING TOURIST ECONOMY

When I first arrived in the 1980s, Japan was this forbidding, impenetrable, and “inscrutable” society hidebound to illogical systems. A place with a pervasive “culture of no,” where any new idea was shot down as “lacking precedent.” It certainly spent a lot of energy stymieing young, optimistic, reform-minded young people like me at the time.

But I’m aged 60 now, and finding Japan a lot more cooperative and friendly. Even sensible.

Granted, it helps that I’m fluent in the language, and Japan is inherently geared to serving old people who crave routine and predictability. It prides itself on public transport running on time, social welfare systems being reliable, and government policy being predictable and boring.

I really get that now. Given the decade of constant and wasteful spectacle generated by the Trump Era, not to mention a non-zero chance of outright civil warn in the US, I’m actually craving a boring government.

But one thing is certainly not boring about Japan: the tourist economy.

This, of course, is the product of decades of government programs. “Cool Japan,” “Yokoso Japan,” and “Omotenashi” have had their intended effect. Japan is becoming a major world tourist hub.

This trip I saw a lot of it. In addition to my regular flaneuring around Tokyo, I nipped out to Nagano, Osaka, Nara, Okayama, and Fukuoka. I saw firsthand how Japan is successfully coping with more diversity than ever before—while fighting its reflex to blame foreigners for everything.

JAPAN’S TOURISM IN PERSPECTIVE

The rate of growth of Japan’s tourism from overseas has indeed been startling, tripling from under 10 million to over 30 million foreign visitors in about a decade.

From that has sprung a lot of hoopla about Japan is becoming “overtouristed.” A quick Google will find much griping and sniping: overcrowding, traffic congestion, bad manners, garbage, luggage, noise, intrusive photography, etc. Some even call it an “invasion.”

That’s the blame reflex. But let’s keep things in perspective.

First, Japan is still a relative laggard compared to other countries. It doesn’t even make the top ten. According to World Population Review, the most-visited countries in terms of international tourist arrivals are predicted to be (in descending order, 2024): France, Spain, the US, China, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, Germany, and the UK.

Japan bubbles under at #11. No doubt those rankings will change as the US self-sabotages its tourist economy, but Japan’s numbers are still less than half the totals of each of the top five. And yet they somehow manage their foreigner “invasions” with a lot less grumbling.

Second, it’s important to note that most tourism in Japan does not involve inbound foreigners. According to Statista, more than 80% of tourism in Japan over the past decade has been domestic. So when you talk about a tourist in Japan, they’re overwhelmingly likely to be a Japanese.

That said, that looks to change. For the first time in 2024, record numbers of tourists from overseas made up nearly a quarter of all tourist expenditure, and tourism in general is now a significant part of Japan’s economy. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, successive record-breaking years of tourists now amount to an estimated 7.5% of Japan’s GDP.

This means after more than thirty years of economic stagnation, tourism is the one reliable source of growth and jobs. It’s forecast to account for one in ten jobs in the Japanese workforce by 2034.

RISING TO THE OCCASION WITH CLEAR ACCOMMODATION

Staying three weeks just outside Ginza this trip, I saw for myself the fruits of this tourism boom, and I think Japan is handling it pretty well.

Ginza’s streets and shops were crowded as usual, but this time there was enough ferment of foreign languages around me to make me feel I was back in Europe. Non-Japanese (NJ) were navigating trains, subways, and the shinkansen, and I saw no apparent source of concern. The NJ staff in the name-brand shops and convenience store counters were normal to the point of mundane.

Local businesses and facilities seem to be coping just fine. Along all the major train arteries were multilingual maps and ticketing machines. Food menus, especially at the chain restaurants, were on iPads or via tabletop QR codes in at least four languages. No actual spoken interaction between customer and staff was required for people to get service.

That’s quite a change. Not so long ago, there were frequent cases of establishments with “Japanese Only” signs and rules. Their most common excuse for refusing NJ entry was the presumption of a language barrier. “We don’t speak foreign languages, so we can’t give foreigners good service.” So naturally they gave them no service at all.

Of course, exclusionism still happens (and people still send me “Japanese Only” signs occasionally). But from what I saw, businesses have found a workaround. As they will. The lure of the foreign tourist yen has been irresistible, and it’s knocking down barriers.

Now tourism looks likely to expand beyond the beaten paths. I saw phalanxes of foreign tourists in places as far-flung as Tsuruga. In the backstreets of Ginza, I saw lines around the block for boutique sandwiches and other fad foods that tourists told me they found on Instagram and YouTube. People aren’t just following the tour guide flags. They’re finding their own adventures. Which means the rising tide of tourist funds will incentivize businesses nationwide to lose their exclusionary rules.

BLOWBACK FROM THE LOCALS

Of course not everyone is happy, and one surprising voice of dissent I found were long-term NJ Residents I talked to.

They felt foreign tourists were spoiling things. Echoing the standard complaints that people worldwide always make about tourists (including Japanese tourists abroad a generation ago), they find fewer and fewer “unspoiled” places where they can escape crowds,

That’s why they too support some means to tamp down on foreign tourists. Such as dual pricing. Entry restrictions. Higher entry and exit taxes to deter the onrush.

I asked why they supported charging foreigners extra.

“Because they are causing extra problems. Places have to provide menus and services in other languages. That costs money. Foreigners should foot that bill.”

Me: “So I guess that means you’d be in support of a tax on handicapped people, because one has to provide extra ‘barrier-free’ services to them, yes?” Well, uh, no.

Me again: “And how would you enforce a dual pricing policy? Don’t you think that foreign residents of Japan—like you—and Japanese-citizen Visible Minorities would also wind up being charged extra just because they didn’t look ‘Japanese’ enough?”

They responded with the fact they faced dual pricing structures in other countries. To which I said, “Yes, but you were incoming tourists there. You might think differently if you were a resident of that country and charged more just for looking foreign.”

Some cited Hawaii’s “Kama‘aina” discount for Hawaiian residents as extra pricing for foreigners. To which I said, “But when I was a resident there, I too got the “Kama’aina” discount once I got my Hawaii driver license. So it wasn’t racialized enforcement. It was a matter of residency. It’s not the same system.”

Their grumble would then return to how the tentacles of foreign tourism were killing off their special Japan. Whereupon I noted that, again, most tourism in Japan is still overwhelmingly domestic, done by residents of Japan, including crowds and pollution. We basically hear about foreign culprits because they’re more easily targeted by media. Their retort was basically yeah but still.

That was generally how our conversations went. I politely left unspoken their sense of entitlement—how only they should retain the privilege of visiting a depopulated temple, shrine, or natural area. But if others might wish to have the same experience, that would spoil it. Lucky my friends got there first so they could close the door behind them.

HALF-BAKED ARGUMENTS AND PUBLIC POLICY

Unfortunately, the Japanese Government is falling into similar logical fallacies. Local governments are already instituting higher fees starting in July at some places (such as Hokkaido’s Niseko ski resort), where the policy rubric is “foreign tourist” vs “Japanese residents.” Again, where do foreign residents fall?

As the Japan Times noted on June 5, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering hiking the departure tax (currently levied on Japanese and foreign departer equally) only for foreigners. And it still lumps foreign tourist and NJ Resident together as a single unit. Worse, as usual, lawmakers are explicitly only considering the concerns of “the people (Japanese citizens)” in their policy rhetoric.

Even columnist Gearoid Ready (who generally goes out of his way to defend Japan government policies) in 2024 wrote a Japan times article entitled, “Japan really should charge tourists four times more” and make it a nationwide policy. But then he didn’t include himself as a resident of Japan, and didn’t discuss how this policy would personally affect him.

Again, this isn’t being well thought through. And it’s especially ironic that some of the strongest voices are from by reactionary NJ Residents who are potentially penalizing themselves.

Some of this understandable. With any social change there is going to be fallout and blowback. The point is to make sure that all parties have a voice at the table when crafting public policy to resolve problems. This should include locals, Japanese tourists, foreign tourists, and foreign residents. There should be conscious distinctions between each as interest groups.

It’s also important to remember why we are in this situation. The government and by-and-large the locals wanted this. And they got it. Now live with it and tweak it. Don’t make a xenophobic meal out of it.

The bottom line is that the tourism boom has been a net positive. It’s stimulating the economy, enriching both guest and host, made people more flexible about dealing with diversity, and made Japan more accessible and less inscrutable.

Most importantly, from my point of view, it’s torn down more “Japanese Only” signs than I ever could have.

The potential is there for this all to go sour. But this is what happens when you see foreigners as an economic entity but not a domestic political force. Time for that to stop.

And it’s especially time for NJ Residents not to shoot themselves in the foot by agreeing with discrimination against tourists. Because in many policymakers’ view, all foreigners are tourists. Change course. Because with the direction things are going, they won’t be part of the “Kama’aina” unless they push for it.

ENDS

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Debito’s SNA VM column 58 “Japan’s Census Shenanigans”: How Japan’s registry system and accounting of foreign residents has led to statistical inaccuracies and exclusionary politics (July 30, 2024)

Posted on July 31, 2024July 31, 2024 by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

SNA VM 58 JAPAN’S CENSUS SHENANIGANS

Subtitle: How Japan’s registry system and accounting of foreign residents has led to statistical inaccuracies and exclusionary politics

By Debito Arudou, PhD. Shingetsu News Agency, Visible Minorities column 58, July 30, 2024

Courtesy https://shingetsunewsagency.com/2024/07/30/visible-minorities-japans-census-shenanigans/

A fundamental issue for any country is knowing who lives there, and this is generally measured by a national census every ten years.

Censuses are serious things. They should accurately reveal in granular detail who people are, where they live, and how they live, in order for public policies to effectively target social services, health and welfare. Censuses even have international standards, with the United Nations’ Statistics Division providing a template.

In 2020, the UN approved the “World Population and Housing Census Programme,” which “recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability.”

The UN notes that, “Disaggregated data are fundamental for the measurement of progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially in the context of assessing the situation of people by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics.”

Yet a seemingly simple act of a headcount is subject to nasty political tugs-of-war.

POWER IN NUMBERS, IF MEASURED

For example, in the late 2010s, the Trump Administration pushed hard to insert a nationality question in the US Census. The unstated reasoning behind not counting non-citizens (as exposed by the New York Times) was purely political. Republican policymakers wanted to shrink the populations of urban areas (which generally vote more Democrat) so they would get less federal funding. It would also shrink Democrat power in terms of electoral delegates, helping Republicans win elections and further gerrymander electoral districts in their favor.

In other words, the GOP wanted to stop counting immigrants as people because they wanted to counteract an inevitable demographic phenomenon—the United States getting browner.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court ultimately blocked this move, so the current policy of the US Census remains to count all people in the US, regardless of legal status, as denizens. But that’s the power of a Census—counting people is the lynchpin of political representation.

JAPAN’S STATISTICAL HOCUS-POCUS WITH COUNTING EVEN DOCUMENTED FOREIGNERS

In Japan it’s even more politicized and nasty, but that’s not news. Japan has steadfastly refused to account for its foreign population for generations.

For example, from 1947 onwards, despite their contributions to Japan’s wartime effort as soldiers and citizens of empire, Japan stripped all resident ethnic Koreans and Chinese of their Japanese citizenship and residency.

By doing so, Japan effectively ethnically cleansed the country.

It worked like this: Japan has two registry systems. One, the koseki system, confers Japanese citizenship. The other, the basic resident roster (jumin kihon daicho), determines residency.

By excluding foreigners from the latter, the local resident rosters, all foreigners were rendered as legally invisible on local household (setai) registries. Even if they were married to Japanese—foreign spouses simply weren’t listed as “family members.”

Similarly, Japan refused to issue foreigners living in Japan equivalent Residency Certificates (juminhyo), which are essential to establishing basic amenities such as bank accounts.

In other words, anyone not officially a Japanese citizen on a koseki was not an official Japanese resident (jumin) either. Japan remained the only “developed” country in the Postwar order doing this, long into the twenty first century.

After enough embarrassing oddities making the news (e.g., local governments granting honorary juminhyo to stray animals and cartoon characters), the system was amended in 2012 to allow Foreign Residents with legal residency visas to be issued juminhyo.

But to this day Japan still excludes foreigners from the jumin kihon daicho. This means they are not counted in Japan’s official population tallies.

Look closely at the government’s next annual announcement of population decline. The wording includes the caveat that they are talking about the “population of Japanese” (nihonjin no jinko), not the “population of Japan” (nihon no jinko). This despite the fact that Foreign Residents live in and pay taxes in Japan like any other Japanese? Again, you have to be a citizen to be countable.

Nasty old habits die hard.

CONTROL THE CENSUS AND MAINTAIN JAPAN’S ETHNOSTATE

So what about Japan’s broader decennial Census (kokusei chousa)? Does it better account for the status of Non-Japanese in Japan?

I turned to scholar Dr. John C. Maher, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at International Christian University, and author of works including “Language Communities in Japan” (Oxford University Press, 2022), “Multilingualism: A Very Short Introduction” (Oxford, 2017), and “Diversity in Japanese Culture and Language” (Routledge, 2012).

To see how diversity was measured in censuses worldwide, his approach was to look at how closely they adhered to UN census protocols. Let’s start with what he found intriguing from a linguistics point of view:

“There are around 211 censuses in the world. Most never ask about what language is spoken by the household. For example, Italy, Holland, Germany, Sweden, and Greece do not. But Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, New Zealand—in other words, the English-speaking countries—do.”

But if you’re going to include questions about languages spoken, Dr. Maher stresses, do it right. “Questions like these are tendentious. Some may actually create the wrong impression. For example in Britain, the question asked is, ‘What is your main language?’ From a linguistics standpoint, that’s poorly constructed. No answer will give you dispositive data.”

Japan doesn’t include a language question either, and in Dr. Maher’s view this is quite “normal” among the community of nations. What Japan does do surprisingly well, he notes, is acknowledge domestic multilinguality.

“Japan publishes its Census in 22 languages. Most countries, including the United States, come nowhere near that number. You can, of course, opt to get the Census in Japanese, so it’s not forced on you. But that’s a remarkable effort to communicate with your foreign population on the part of the government.”

However, there is one question Japan also conspicuously leaves out: a question on race and ethnicity.

That’s odd since Japan’s Census is otherwise pretty nosy. It asks detailed questions about socioeconomic status, income, household members, etc. As it should, for reasons argued above.

But a number of my friends (who harbor abiding concerns about what any government does with your data) consider the Japan Census overly intrusive, and treat it like the NHK guy knocking to collect TV subscriptions.

To get around that predisposition, the Japanese government stresses that answering Census questions is entirely optional.

But how about making it optional for respondents to reveal their racial or ethnic backgrounds?

The Japan Census for decades now has refused to include that question.

It does, however, ask about nationality. And that’s where I see the politics tiptoeing in.

For example, when I (as a Japanese citizen) fill out the Census, there is a question about nationality. You either choose “Japanese” or “Foreign;” and if the latter, indicate your country of citizenship.

As a naturalized citizen, I tick “Japanese,” of course. But there is no means for me to indicate that I am a Japanese with American ancestry/ethnicity/national origin, etc. If I could, I would indicate my hyphenated status. A “Japanese with American roots” (beikoku-kei nihonjin).

But I can’t. The Census remains willfully blind to that.

I asked Dr. Maher why. “A former member of the committee for the national census told me that questions about ethnicity and language are omitted because of concerns about privacy.”

Suddenly now there’s a privacy concern? Even though making things optional should obviate that?

“I don’t have a hypothesis for that. When I have one, I will ask the Japan’s Census Committee. But I imagine their answer will be something along the lines of, ‘Our privacy concerns are the same as every other country.’”

Dr. Maher concluded, “Granted, most countries don’t follow the guidance from the UN Census Committee, despite their experts from many countries on how to do a census. So I have little doubt that Japan believes it is not acting anywhere outside the international norm.”

WHY DOES THE JAPAN CENSUS OPT TO BE INACCURATE?

Dr. Maher, being the cautious academic, doesn’t have a hypothesis yet. But here I’m writing in the capacity of a newspaper columnist, and it’s my job to have an argument. So I will offer mine:

Japan doesn’t inquire about race and ethnicity because that data would uncover an inconvenient truth—that Japan is in fact more multicultural and multiethnic than official narratives would hold.

Japan has had generations of international marriages and fairly small (but unignorable) numbers of naturalized citizens.

Those people will not show up as such on the Japan Census.

This matters. Thanks to the bloodline assumptions (enshrined in Japanese law) that anyone with Japanese citizenship is of Japanese blood, many people (even some overseas academics who should know better) erroneously assume that Japan has few, if any, minorities; and even if they exist, they are invisible.

Never mind the existence of Visible Minorities that ground this very column. Never mind the evidence of “Japanese Only” signs. Never mind all the cases of police racial profiling during street shakedowns, targeting Japanese citizens who don’t “look Japanese.”

Their existence is officially overlooked by the Japan Census by having only a nationality question.

This is essentially a means to deny policy relief to Japan’s Visible Minorities, unilaterally deciding they aren’t worthy of being counted.

Without any hard data, now comes the repeated claims by the Japanese government in the United Nations that Japan doesn’t need a law against racial discrimination.

Why? Because Japan has no races.

Japan’s international representatives have officially and repeatedly stated that all Japanese citizens belong to “the Japanese race,” and any discrimination that happens is happening to “foreigners,” due to their foreign nationality. It’s “foreigner discrimination,” not “racial discrimination.”

Thus in Japan you are either a Japanese or a foreigner. The binary must hold. And the Japan Census’s nationality-only question explicitly upholds it.

Dr. Maher would not explicitly say that the Japan Census deliberately chooses to maintain the fiction that Japan is monocultural and monoethnic (tan’itsu minzoku).

So I will. That’s its goal. It opts to be inaccurate.

Because it’s completely within character. Given the long and continued history of excluding foreigners from population and residency tallies, the National Census’s undercounting Japan’s people with foreign roots is just another nasty old habit.

There are another five years before Japan’s next Census. Plenty of time to make amends and amendments.

Add the optional race and ethnicity question, include foreign residents as part of the official Japan population, and give us some official data for just how diverse Japan actually is.

ENDS

Kyodo: “Record 3.4 million foreign residents in Japan as work visas rise” in 2023. Only a brief reference to foreign crime (i.e., overstaying) this time. Fancy that.

Posted on March 30, 2024March 30, 2024 by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

mytest

Hi Blog. Interesting statistics here on how the labor migration has resumed to the point where hundreds of thousands of NJ are migrating to Japan every year, and NJ Residents are at record highs. Also interesting is that Kyodo doesn’t seem to feel the need to shoehorn in foreign crime statistics this time (just a brief allusion to overstaying at the end). I’ll be incorporating these stats into my next SNA Visible Minorities column, out shortly, and argue how this influx can translate into political power. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.

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Record 3.4 million foreign residents in Japan as work visas rise
PHOTO: Foreign tourists visit Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa area of Tokyo. As of the end of December, 3,410,992 foreign nationals resided in Japan, up 10.9% from the previous year.
The Japan Times/Kyodo Mar 23, 2024
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/03/23/japan/society/foreign-nationals-visas-japan-record/

The number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of over 3.4 million in 2023, government data has shown, with employment-related visas seeing significant growth amid the country’s efforts to address its acute labor shortage.

As of the end of December, 3,410,992 foreign nationals resided in Japan, up 10.9% from the previous year to mark a record high for the second consecutive year, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday.

The number of specified skilled workers jumped 59.2% to around 208,000, while trainees under Japan’s technical internship program grew 24.5% to around 404,000 to approach the record high level marked in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the data showed.

The specified skilled workers visa, which allows the holder to immediately take on jobs in designated industries without the need for training, was introduced in 2019 in response to Japan’s severe labor shortage resulting from its declining birthrate, with the aim of attracting foreign workers.

Meanwhile, permanent residents, who made up the largest group by residential status, stood at around 891,000, up 3.2%. Engineers, specialists in humanities and international services, including foreign language teachers, rose 16.2% to around 362,000.

By nationality, Chinese accounted for the largest population of foreign residents at around 821,000, followed by Vietnamese at around 565,000 and South Koreans at around 410,000.

The number of foreign arrivals, excluding reentry by residents, increased more than sixfold from the previous year to around 25.83 million following the easing of border restrictions associated with COVID-19.

The number has now recovered to over 80% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

In 2023, over 9.62 million Japanese nationals left the country for reasons including tourism, which was more than triple the figure from a year earlier but still remained under half of pre-pandemic levels.

There were 79,113 foreign nationals who overstayed their visas in Japan as of Jan. 1, 2024, an increase of 8,622 compared with the year before. Vietnamese made up the largest group at approximately 15,000. ENDS

debito.org

Important Statistics

The prefecture has received more than 2,000 emails and phone calls to date. Approximately half of these reportedly came from outside the prefecture. [emphasis added]

Kyodo: “Record 3.4 million foreign residents in Japan as work visas rise” in 2023. Only a brief reference to foreign crime (i.e., overstaying) this time. Fancy that.