Japan’s birth rate isn’t even that low anymore comparatively to other nations.
Take a look at South Korea. It’s nearly half of Japan. Japan is like 1.3 (OP’s article) and SK is at 0.7 (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-fertility-rate-dropped-fresh-record-low-2023-2024-02-28/). SK is the absolute dead last in the world. Even China is lower than Japan now at 1.2 even after getting rid of the 1 child policy.
Think the west is any different? Canada also hovers at round 1.3. (https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadas-birth-rate-has-dropped-off-a-cliff-and-its-because-nobody-can-afford-housing - just sourcing 1.3, I don’t actually agree with their reasoning) Canada’s population only increases because of massive immigration they accept. And immigrants from poorer countries are more likely to have children than existing. So, might even rival SK if we were to not count 1st/2nd gen immigrants, though we don’t have such exact data collection, only corollary.
I see what you’re trying to say but immigration simply is an important part and especially feasible for huge countries like Canada. Good luck on getting proper immigration programs up and running in SK, Japan or especially China though. Foreign workers are of course at an all time high in Japan, but it‘s not on a western level and the push back is fierce there as well. The stigma there is on a whole different level, making immigration especially uncomfortable.
And yet, business as usual continues. The older decision makers have to move out the way for things to progress. The same is true in many other countries.
My Mexican people? Where are they? Do japanese tortillerias not exist? Tortillerias are the key! We Mexican people fuck like bunnies supposedly allegedly. So just bring a few, do some testing and if they like the results let’s get some more!
Do japanese tortillerias not exist?
Not really. Also, finding good mexican food in Japan can be quite rough (especially out of the bigger few cities, and many places adjust to Japanese tastes).
Sounds like a job for a special kind of Mexican. All we need is one who can carry a corn seed to fruition. From there, once you got 1 ear of corn and probably beans too, you can mexicanize. That’s the reason there are no humans in Mars yet. Why? No tortillas man!
They don’t want Mexicans, or any other peoples, they want to stay in their little racist bubble.
That’s what I hear. I mean Mexico is no different. It’s shocking for me going back to Mexico and all you see is Mexican people. I feel more at home because everyone is relatively the same and looks like me. But I’ve gotten used to the huge variety of the USA. Man, here, even at my job now, we got people from all places, Mexico obviously, Cuba, India, the US obviously, England, Korea, China, Philippines. We’re a small company and look how even if it was just one person from each different place, we are already at a nice 10% multicultural. And it really feels at home. I’m happy listening to all sorts of ways of being.
You need a 4-year degree and a company to sponsor you which, compared to a lot of countries, is a fairly low bar. You can also go the education route and go to language school and/or university here. There are also other ways to come over in addition to that. The above poster seems to just be repeating bullshit or have a chip on their shoulder.
Man, someone should tell them that so they can revoke my status of residency that they keep accidentally renewing every single time for the better part of a decade now. And the people that employee me in Japan. And the people who let me buy a house in Japan.
Oh wow residency! And they graciously allow you to renew it!
Gee golly, what’s the foreign born citizenship rate at?
You did not mention citizenship in your post. Japan does not allow dual citizenship (there are some grey zones here, however). The bar to apply for citizenship, however, can actually be lower than the bar for permanent residency in some cases. As for how many people give up their citizenship to naturalize, I can’t be bothered to look right now. I personally know one person who did and have heard from others.
Being a temp worker who can be kicked out at any time would not imply you’re wanted there - so it’s kind of a given. Even if we factor residency into it, you’re looking at 3% of the population being non-Japanese.
Japan is famously xenophobic, just because you’re allowed to work there doesn’t change that. You’ve been there a decade, do the locals consider you Japanese?
I mean, that’s the way immigration works in most countries around the world for average people. I don’t have to like it, but I will have PR next year.
Yeah, last I looked between 2.5 and 3 percent are non-Japanese with about .5 of that being non-Asian.
I don’t care whether the locals consider me Japanese or not; that’s not an important thing for me. My relationship with my neighbors is fine. My wife’s family loves me and we get along very well. People in my neighborhood will strike up conversation when they see me out gardening. That’s fine for me. I don’t aspire to “be Japanese” and I don’t know what that even means. I aspire to be part of my community.
Does Japan have its issues? Absolutely. Are there policies that disproportionately affect foreigners? Unfortunately, yes (though things have been slowly improving in my decade here, on the whole). However, none of this is particularly unique to Japan, either.
