Introduction

As the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (hereafter, Immigration Control Act) came into effect in April 2019, Japan started receiving migrant workers under the new residence status of “Specified Skills.” This signals a departure from the conventional policy of not receiving low-skilled workers, opening the door to an increased number of migrants who work and live in Japan.

However, migrants are not arriving in Japan for the first time. Before and during the Asia-Pacific War, modernization and colonization brought a number of people from China, Taiwan, and the Korean Peninsula to Japan. On the other hand, a number of Japanese people also emigrated to Asia and North and South America until the 1970s, when Japan became a “receiving country” again by receiving Japanese and their families who had remained in China after the War, as well as Indochinese refugees. Since the 1980s, a greater number of migrants have continuously come to Japan, aided by globalization and the 1989 revision of the Immigration Control Act. Although the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake in 2011 discouraged this flow, the number of migrants newly coming into Japan has recovered recently. As of the end of 2020, the number of foreign nationals living in Japan is estimated to be approximately 2,970,000 (estimated from the number of those with residence statuses and those overstaying them) – the highest number on record.

Those foreign nationals living in Japan include people who have been living in Japan for more than 40 years, and those who were born and raised in Japan. Over half of those foreign nationals have stable residence statuses such as “special permanent resident,” “permanent resident,” “long-term resident,” “spouse or child of Japanese national,” and “spouse or child of permanent resident.” There are also Japanese nationals with foreign roots, such as those who have been naturalized or those whose parents are from foreign countries. That is, Japan is already a society of migrants.

Yet, those people with various foreign roots are often referred to as “foreigners,” not “migrants.” The Japanese government repeatedly states that “we do not receive migrants” or “the government will not legislate an immigration policy.” Such an attitude by the government neglects the reality of migrants, and effectively denies their rights because it legitimates the government’s focus on immigration control when few policies and programs exist to support migrants living in Japan. This has made social participation and self-determination for migrants difficult, leading to their unstable status and living conditions despite the long time they have spent in Japanese society. Issues of inequality, poverty, and discrimination have remained unaddressed.

The Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ) is a network of groups and individuals who have worked to support migrants living in Japan since the late 1980s. We have published a series of policy proposals, namely: “Toward Co-habitation with Foreign Residents” in 2006 and “The Future of a Multi-ethnic and Multi-cultural Society” in 2009.

This booklet is the latest of our policy proposals to support migrants, based on our NGO activity experiences. Under each proposal (chapter), we first describe the actual situations of migrants we directly know of, and then present the pertinent policy challenges that require attention. Although many people may see politics and policy issues as things that are detached from their everyday lives, we have witnessed through our activities, the ways in which inadequate and absent policies prevent migrants from enjoying their rights. We hope that readers will put themselves in the shoes of migrants while they read about our concerns and policy proposals in this booklet.

Because foreign nationals are not allowed to vote in Japan, they are not able to participate in political decision-making. Although, “Do not make decisions that affect us without our input,” should be the fundamental principle in any kind of policy-making related to the rights of minorities, in Japan, migrants are hardly listened to when policies and programs related to them are legislated and implemented. To change this situation, SMJ has organized workshops in various locations throughout the country at which migrants discuss policies and programs they think are necessary for securer livelihoods in Japan. Among the many issues raised at those workshops, we selected the most urgent ones, and hereby present them in this booklet together with the recommendations and policy proposals from the migrant-support NGOs “on the ground.” Thus, the proposals presented in this booklet are the most essential ones for the society of migrants which Japan has become.

Of course, only a handful of the large number of migrants in Japan were able to participate in those workshops, and we are aware that there are still many voices to be heard and needs to be articulated. Furthermore, we are not able to cover every issue related to the recently-revised Immigration Control Act, as it was implemented while we were compiling this booklet. Still, we believe that this booklet will serve as a springboard for fostering further discussion. It is our hope that this booklet will both inspire discussions with regard to what are needed for a society of migrants, and pave a path toward the realization of a true and just immigration policy in Japan.

October 2021 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan

＊This book is  the updated version of  the booklet「移民社会20の提案」that was published in 2019.

Note on terminology:

“Immigrants” or “migrants” refers to people who have come to live in a place other than the place of their origin due to transnational migration, regardless of current nationality. Second- and third- generation migrants who were born in the country their parents or grandparents immigrated to, are referred to as “people with migrant roots.” Those people are sometimes referred to as “immigrants” or “migrants” in a broader sense. “Foreign nationals” is used to refer to those without Japanese nationality in contexts in which difference in nationality must be noted.