Japan as an Immigration Nation

This book proposes a solution to three interrelated problems facing Japan: the rapidly declining population, a decrease in working age adults, and a lack of social and economic vitality. Hidenori Sakanaka, the former director of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, proposes that Japan accept ten million immigrants, including refugees, over the next fifty years, and articulates the benefits of this measure for Japan and its future. The author has spent close to fifty years working in the field of immigration and was one of the first to identify the pending population crisis as early as the mid-1970s. This is the first time his thoughts appear in book-length form in English.

In this urgent appeal to Japanese policy makers and the public, Hidenori Sakanaka demonstrates the critical importance of forging a revolutionary immigration policy if Japan is to avoid population collapse and economic ruin as a result of its extremely low birthrates and aging population. As Japan’s leading mind on immigration policy, Sakanaka’s plan to incorporate 10 million immigrants as permanent residents (and citizens, if they choose) over the next 50 years is passionate, visionary, carefully forged, and practical. It focuses on nurturing immigrant youth (including refugees), through education, training, job placement, and social supports. Drawing on a growing sense of urgency among Japanese youth, Sakanaka envisions the birth of a lively hybrid Japan and diverse human community with implications far beyond its own borders., Bringing his longstanding experience as a Japanese public official involved in immigration control and as an advocate for proactive migration policies of Japan to bear, the author—known as “Mr. Immigration”—not only argues for making Japan into a country of immigration, but also sketches a bold vision of a “global human community” geared towards the peaceful coexistence of people with diverse backgrounds. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Japanese immigration policies and global migration issues.

Hidenori Sakanaka established the Japan Immigration Policy Institute and is the author of almost two dozen books about immigration policy in Japan.Robert D. Eldridge is former associate professor of Japanese political and diplomatic history at Osaka University.Graham B. Leonard earned a PhD in international public policy from Osaka University.