Introduction
In 2016 Japan accepted 28 refugees, while 10,901 people sought asylum.
Most applicants are not from war zones or unsafe countries though.
Japan’s formal policy is that it is not an immigration nation.
That’s a shame- it could certainly take more refugees than the very small number it does now.
There are few refugees in Japan still now.
This is not a surprising fact.
Japan has no immigrant tradition and has a highly regulated homogeneous society with a very small foreign population, the bulk of which are Koreans who have lived there for generations.
However, it’s about time for Japan to open its door to welcome refugees.
With this in mind, this blog will consider the importance of the Japanese government accept refugees.
The Japanese Public’s General Attitude Towards Refugees
Japan has been criticized as a country that pays money but is closed for refugees.
Japan’s record on immigration and refugees is not something that the country can be proud of.
In 2016, Japan accepted 28 refugees, while 10,901 people sought asylum.
In short, Japanese government rejected 99 percent of applications.
Most people are not from war zones or unsafe countries though.
Japan’s formal policy is that is not an immigration nation.
That’s a shame- it could certainly take more refugees than the very small number it does now.
To begin with, human rights are considered the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world and involve a belief in the dignity and worth of all people.
Nearly everyone agrees that all people have or ought to have some rights, but there’s less agreement on what those rights are and still less on how to enforce them.
Today, the struggle for human rights is a global issue, hotly debated between nations and even used as a justification for war.
Traditionally, public awareness of human rights has remained very low in Japanese society.
Many Japanese people have been unsympathetic toward human rights, especially the rights of foreigners living in Japan.
This is a reasonable explanation: the society’s unawareness of human rights has resulted in the persistent unresponsive manner of the Japanese government.
Generally, Japanese people have been uninterested in refugee issues.
Few Japanese showed interest in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
The indifference toward refugee problems remained in Japanese society until 1975, when the Vietnamese asylum seekers came.
“Today, the Japanese attitude toward refugee protection still remains passive, which has affected the implementation of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugee within Japan.”
Historically, the Japanese government has taken a relatively limited approach to the protection of refugees.
At the end of the 1930s, many Jewish people left their countries because of oppression from the Nazi regime.
Some of them, who were safeguarded by the international protection policy, escaped to Japan, but their application for refugee status was denied.
In fact, the Japanese government doesn’t welcome refugees.
Such a nonhuman rights-based approach would not only discourage those who seeking safety to apply for refugee status in Japan, but also spread negative prejudice against asylum seekers among the public.
The cultural differences are really hard to deal with.
Most Japanese people tend to recognize refugees would seem to be a “threat “.
Japanese used to have a sort of pride that Japan was only for Japanese people, and so we are worried about or resistant to unknown people.
Moreover, we have few chances to learn about the refugee situation in the news or school in Japan.
Therefore, the people seldom have the opportunity to think about refugees.
Also, some Japanese people are concerned that if Japan accepted refugees and gives them jobs, there would be fewer jobs for Japanese people.
Most Japanese people have the idea that the government should think about its people and our lives first before accepting too many refugees.
On the other hand, Japan is facing a democratic crisis- it needs young migrants or else its economy will shrunk as its population countries to gray.
Therefore, “it’s about time for Japan to open its door to welcome refugees.”
The Current Situation Concerning Refugees in Japan
Having recognised only 27 people as refugees in 2015, Japan has been criticised for its reluctance to accept those seeking asylum, especially when such turmoil was ongoing in the Middle East.
There are few refugees in Japan still now.
This is not a surprising fact.
Japan has no immigrant tradition and has a highly regulated homogeneous society with a very small foreign population, the bulk of which are Koreans who have lived there for generations.
Japan prefers to deal humanitarian issues by sending foreign aid.
Taking refugees as student is probably a compromise.
Japan understands very well the need to do something for the refugees.
However, it is still not ready to take refugees on resettlement, to have them live in Japan permanently.
With possibilities of settling in Japan, the program is a landmark approach toward the Middle Eastern refugee crisis.
Unfortunately, the number of refugees it accepts is far too low.
As I wrote above, Japan has a huge history of distrust towards foreigners in Japanese history and preserving their culture to keep the nation a closed state.
Japan is for Japanese it is pretty much what most of the Japanese think and wants.
We should open our society not just to refugees but to foreign labor as well as we actually need it.
However, most of the Japanese are concerned that as the foreign population increases would lead to break the unity of Japan and its culture.
Also, Japanese people probably keep up on world events noticed a lot of shootings, and bombing in Europe that they decided not to bring in any refugees or migrants coming from the Middle East since it is rife with radical Muslims, intolerant Muslims and possible ISIS sympathizers or members.
The Japanese are now afraid of possible terrorist activity, and are determined to stand their ground against any potential problems from the region.
Japan accepts some refugees on a basis of humanitarian consideration, allowing them to stay in Japan temporarily.
However, such people cannot call for their families and receive public support, language lessons, bank accounts or cellphones, which would help their new life in Japan.
Therefore, it is very difficult for refugees to start their lives in Japan; they cannot have anything at the first six months in Japan.
They cannot live as normal people.
“The first problem is that Japan does not have enough political will to accept refugees proactively.
Essentially, the refugee issue is a simple matter of ‘saving people’s lives ‘.”
“In November 2011, both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors adopted the “Continuous Efforts with regards to Refugee Protection and Refugee issue solution Act” and expressed that Japan would work on protecting refugees.”
The Japanese government is gradually as it talks about strengthening partnership with some international organisations.
However, it is also important to attract Japanese citizens more interest.
In Japan, many people have a misunderstanding and bias that towards accepting refugees with declension in security or increased social risk and this might lead to delay initiatives in politics.
The most serious problem in Japan is the weak recognition of human rights; Japanese people are not interested in refugee issues.
However, fortunately, Japan is gradually becoming an opening country to refugees.
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last September said Japan is committing $2.8bn towards refugee aid and assisting host countries over the next three years.”
Still, this is a small step.
Now, Japan faces the difficult task to deal with the problem of an aging population and shrinking workforce.
Therefore, the time has finally come for Japan to rely on foreign workforce.
Refugee Acceptance in Other Developed Countries
“As of the end of 2015, at least 65 million people can be considered displaced, having fled their homes because of war, disaster, or persecution.”
Developed countries have a greater responsibility to accept refugees.
Some countries have taken in so many refugees it’s caused a population spike, while others have done little or nothing at all.
In Europe there is a history of refugee; many Europeans are themselves descendant from refugees.
Also, all European countries have signed the Refugee convention.
Therefore, it is a political decision to receive the refugees who enter any European country.
On the other hand, many European countries are fighting the problem: terrorism, failed states, warlords, and militia.
Some European think it was completely ridiculous to bring in this many refugees and migrants.
Instead of making anything better, it frightened people, women got raped, stores got robbed, people harassed and jumped, police disrespected.
In short, the reason European countries are closing their border is because they realize that this is causing more problems than solutions.
The open door policy has failed.
Many of the European leaders are concerned that accepting refugees will cause internal problems within their respective countries.
One example of this is Sweden.
Sweden accepted 100,000 refugees who are allot for a country with a population of 6 million people.
Since accepting those refugees Sweden has had a surge in crime and the Swedish tax payers are paying for migrant centres and healthcare for the migrants when the Swedish people have to wait a couple of months to see a healthcare professional.
Sweden was quite eager to take people in during the last refugee wave, but even Sweden changed their policies, because it was too much.
Many countries other than Sweden are having a hard time hosting refugees mainly because it’s creating a big burden on the infrastructure.
Europe has always welcomed migrants but they cannot take anymore migrants because it is destabilizing Europe and it is causing a crisis which people have called the Migrant crisis.
The Migrant crisis is also one of the reasons why the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU.
Moreover, many refugees are not refugees but economic immigrants.
Many immigrants simply cannot and do not want to change their life style to fit in the new culture and reality.
Some of them are even terrorists and recruit new terrorists inside Europe.
The massive arrival of new people in need of everything hit hard the welfare system.
They need places to stay, live and a job; as result salaries that are already not increasing by years are likely to decrease, working rights are likely to be lost, and house prices are likely to rise.
The unemployment rate is quite high among natives.
“While Europe hosts many refugees, the overall gap between the developing and developed world is large.
Developing countries hosted 13.9 million refugees at the end of 2015, compared to 2.2 million in the developed world, according to the UN report.”
Moreover, “The 10 countries with the largest number of refugees at the end of 2015 were all in developing regions.”
Poor countries do not generally have the capacity to run the kind of resettlement programs run by Western countries, and if they do welcome in refugees they might not be as eager to settle, there as opposed to settling in a developed country.
Most Asian countries are still not wealthy countries, even though many are now middle-income.
This places a heavy burden on economies struggling to grow and with few extra resources to support new people coming in.
“The world’s poorest countries continue to shoulder the burden of the global refugee crisis, according to the UNHCR’s latest annual Global Trends report.
The report finds that developing regions host 84% of the world’s refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate .”
Conclusion
Japan’s record on immigration and refugees is not something that the country can be proud of.
The cultural differences are really hard to deal with.
Japanese used to have a sort of pride that Japan was only for Japanese people, and so we are worried about or resistant to unknown people.
Plus, most Japanese people tend to recognise refugees would seem to be a “threat “.
To tell the truth, some refugees frightened people, raped women, robbed, harassed and jumped people, disrespected police.
No country can accept endless numbers of refugees and migrants, but accepting refugees is one way to make a difference in the lives of people affected by conflicts around the world.
Thanks for reading:)