Japan Immigration Case Study

Japan, with a highly homogeneous population both culturally and ethnically, does not have much historical background with any types of extensive immigration. Japan is one of the most developed countries in the world and is currently tackling demographic deficits accelerated by the rapidly changing society with a long lifespan and low birth rate. Japanese government may be considering to more immigration to address the demographical issues like the shrinkage of active workforce which can lead to slow economic development. Even though the Japanese people’s perception on immigration is still generally negative, the demographic variable, regional differences and English ability play an important role in attitude to immigration. Since 2005, Japanese government has been changing the immigration policy because of several reasons. First, as the population

Individuals with English conversational ability has more positive disposition on expanding the foreign inhabitants. On the other hand, individuals with only English reading ability are less favorable towards the immigration influx. Kadoya (2011) reports that the mandatory schooling structure provides English language teaching to students, but the education modules is ordinarily focused around English reading to get ready for university entrance examination with only an hour class of English per week. As a result, Japanese people are minimally capable in reading English and substantially less skillful at English conversation. This somewhat describes why people with English reading ability only are unfavorable to growing immigration as they have limited exposure to foreign languages (English) and feel uncomfortable communing in that respective language. Therefore, the unfavorable outlook towards increasing immigration relates with the currently low English proficiency level of Japanese