OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO NOT CONCEIVE:

No easy answers to immigration issues (Hugh Cortazzi, March 10, 2004, The Japan Times)

On the whole I think that, although the situation is far from satisfactory, Britain has tried to maintain a fair regime for dealing with asylum seekers and that its record is better than that of some other European countries. Britain has also been generally more open to migrants coming to Britain to work, mainly because Britain has recognized its need for skilled workers especially in health services and information technology. But the change in the composition of the British workforce over the last half century has not been achieved without strains and stresses. Racism remains a problem in the police force and in some other sectors of society. In some parts of London and other large cities, immigrants seem to be in a majority.

Big problems remain in integrating immigrants into British life. One small step taken recently has been to require those granted British citizenship to attend ceremonies where they swear an oath of loyalty, but much more needs to be done to educate immigrants not only in the English language but also in the fundamental principles of British law and democracy including respect for the rights of women, which seem to be ignored in some sections of the immigrant community. [...]

Japan also has problems with illegal immigrants and foreign workers, but foreigners represent a tiny proportion of the population (1.4 percent as of December 2001). Japan's rapidly declining population will require significant increases in immigration, if only to help look after the aged.

One estimate I saw in an article in Japan Spotlight (January/February 2004) suggests that the average annual immigration in recent years of some 50,000 would need to go up more than 10-fold to 640,000 a year to offset the rapid decline in the productive age population. It would require a revolution in Japanese attitudes to accept such an increase, and it could not be achieved without serious social strains.

Japan could cope with a smaller population as it did in the past. More labor-saving devices can be used and people can go on working in perhaps less demanding jobs until they are literally unable to work any longer. Even so the Japanese net reproduction rate of 1.32 has very serious implications for Japanese society in this century, and much more attention needs to be given to expanding immigration in addition to the emphasis on inward investment.

The problem for a place like Japan is that because its national identity is based on race, rather than ideas, immigration at the levels it requires will mean the end of that nation. What follows may well be better, but it must be very different.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 9, 2004 8:36 PM