Do you think Japan's declining birth rate will cause it to increase immigration?

[Umihito]

Similar to what the UK is doing with it's declining population. The UK is bringing in many Polish immigrants to fill gaps by a declining population.
Do you think something similar will happen to Japan in which it'll bring in more immigrants? Where do you think they'll come from if they do?

Or do you think that Japan will tough it out with the population they have?
I personally hope they do not increase immigration, I think Japan is best staying as a homogeneous nation.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by Umihito

Similar to what the UK is doing with it's declining population. The UK is bringing in many Polish immigrants to fill gaps by a declining population.
Do you think something similar will happen to Japan in which it'll bring in more immigrants? Where do you think they'll come from if they do?

Or do you think that Japan will tough it out with the population they have?
I personally hope they do not increase immigration, I think Japan is best staying as a homogeneous nation.

I also think it should tough it out but not because the reason you give.

Japan is not a homogeneous nation by the way. It is less diverse than the USA or the UK or other western countries but is not homogeneous.

The reason I think Japan should let its population decline is for environmental reasons.

The fact is that Japan consumes more than it can sustain from a global perspective.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

I also think it should tough it out but not because the reason you give.

Japan is not a homogeneous nation by the way. It is less diverse than the USA or the UK or other western countries but is not homogeneous.

The reason I think Japan should let its population decline is for environmental reasons.

The fact is that Japan consumes more than it can sustain from a global perspective.

What is the current immigration law like anyways? As far as i know, its almost non-existent?

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by godwine

What is the current immigration law like anyways? As far as i know, its almost non-existent?

I'm not familiar with the laws off the top of my head.

All I know is that they are pretty strict.

If I remember correctly.. basically if you are a foriegner it is possible to live and work in Japan indefinitely, but the expectation is that as a foriegner you will one day leave.

I can't remember if you can become a citizen through marriage. But if you can that's about the only way you can. It is not unheard of to become a citizen via other means though... just really difficult.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

I'm not familiar with the laws off the top of my head.

All I know is that they are pretty strict.

If I remember correctly.. basically if you are a foriegner it is possible to live and work in Japan indefinitely, but the expectation is that as a foriegner you will one day leave.

I can't remember if you can become a citizen through marriage. But if you can that's about the only way you can. It is not unheard of to become a citizen via other means though... just really difficult.

Yeah thats what I thought, marriage is the only way to becoem a citizen, which of course grant you the benefit of being Japanese citizen (Which is not much anyways)... i think i saw somewhere that you can also become a citizen if your parents are japanese, and to proof it, all you need is an old enough couple singing to say that "Yes this is my kid", it has to be reasonable of course, i mean, i don't think a Japanese couple declairing a Caucasian kid as their child will cut it

For those who know, what about in the case of an adoption? And If let say a foreigh couple working in Japan for an extended period of time and gave birth to a baby in Japan, what citizenship will the baby be?

[JohnBraden]

I've been seeing many reports on NHK Newsline about graduating students not being able to find work. Some reports say that nearly 50% of graduating classes cannot find a job or the job they do find is part-time and not sufficient to sustain oneself.

On the other hand, I see reports on how nearly 25% of the population is 65 years or older and the number will be growing in the future. Those people get paid pensions from the ever-decreasing number of active workers who pay the taxes.

I don't know where this is going to lead.... If the native people cannot find jobs, how can the influx of foreigners help?

[spicytuna]

Originally Posted by godwine

Yeah thats what I thought, marriage is the only way to becoem a citizen

Will marrying a Japanese national make you a Japanese citizen? It'll give you a visa called, "Spouse of a Japanese national" but I don't think it immediately leads to Japanese citizenship.

As for your second question, according to Wikipedia :

Article 2 of the Nationality Act provides three situations in which a person can become a Japanese national at birth:

1. When either parent is a Japanese national at the time of birth
2. When the father dies before the birth and is a Japanese national at the time of death
3. When the person is born on Japanese soil and both parents are unknown or stateless

[Umihito]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

I also think it should tough it out but not because the reason you give.

Japan is not a homogeneous nation by the way. It is less diverse than the USA or the UK or other western countries but is not homogeneous.

The reason I think Japan should let its population decline is for environmental reasons.

The fact is that Japan consumes more than it can sustain from a global perspective.

Well last time I checked it was at about 98% pure Japanese, so although it's not 100% homogeneous, I'd say that's close enough to call it that.

[Umihito]

Originally Posted by JohnBraden

I've been seeing many reports on NHK Newsline about graduating students not being able to find work. Some reports say that nearly 50% of graduating classes cannot find a job or the job they do find is part-time and not sufficient to sustain oneself.

On the other hand, I see reports on how nearly 25% of the population is 65 years or older and the number will be growing in the future. Those people get paid pensions from the ever-decreasing number of active workers who pay the taxes.

I don't know this is going to lead.... If the native people cannot find jobs, how can the influx of foreigners help?

Ahh that's interesting. I'd guess that's because the economy sucks at the moment so there's not that 'any job for everyone' attitude any more.
I guess that works pretty strongly against immigration.

Yeah that's exactly the case here in the UK with the pension and dependency issue. I had to learn about it in my old Geography lessons.

[Sangetsu]

Japan's declining birth rate is an immense problem. Japan has a lot of social programs to fund, and these were over-optimistically planned with a growing population in mind. Apparently no one in the Japanese government figured out that the high taxation required to subsidize the government and these programs would 1, make it more difficult for families to afford children, and 2, lead to the wholesale outsourcing of labor to foreign countries. As a result, people are having fewer and fewer children, and there are less and less jobs for those whom remain.

Another problem is that Japan is quite a xenophobic country, and has far fewer foreigners in it's workforce than any other developed country. Even when Japan was allowing Brazilians to come to work in the auto factories, special preference was given to Brazilians with Japanese ancestry. The Japanese are a polite people, but this politeness masks a long-standing fear/dislike of foreigners. As the labor market continues to shrink, Japan will absolutely not import any foreign laborers into the country. In fact, those Brazilan auto workers who came during he boom times are being encouraged to leave. Since they were not Japanese, or fully Japanese, they were the first ones to lose their jobs when production slowed down. Rather than pay long-term unrpemployment benefits, the government prefers simply to send them back to Brazil.