I've been an immigrant, a "stranger" for most of my life. Most countries I have lived in or know of struggle to have an adult debate about immigration. My own country, the UK, seems to have given up trying.
In Sir Thomas More, a play possibly written by Shakespeare, More addresses the crowds who have rioted agains foreigners or "strangers":
Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all our country’s majesty;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
It's a great speech. But of course it will take more than even beautiful words like this to end xenophobia.
The other day I was walking by a candidate (from the Japanese Communist Party) who was giving a speech outside my local station. She mentionied foreigners in her speech. I paused and nodded my head in her direction. She looked at me, smiled and nodded back with the words "arigatou gozaimasu". It all felt very civilised.
Jeffrey, thank you so much for this moving comment. What you wrote resonated deeply with me, not only because of the Sir Thomas More passage (which is extraordinary and sadly eve-relevant), but because of the quiet gesture you described at your local station. That small exchange, brief as it was, speaks to something I keep returning to in my own thinking and writing: that recognition, however fleeting, still matters.
I share your sense of frustration. How rare it is to find spaces where immigration can be discussed with nuance, honesty, and compassion. The fact that you’ve lived most of your life as a “stranger” gives your words particular weight. Being foreign can sometimes feel like standing on the edge of the conversation, even when the topic is you.
Thank you again for taking the time to write. I was really touched.
Here are a couple of other good books by Stephen Vlastos, for a historic approach to how the Japanese corporate nation-state herds its own people ...
'Peasant Uprisings and Revolts in Tokugawa Japan' and
'Invented Traditions of Modern Japan' (Editor)
I've exchanged letters with him about making Japanese translations, but have not kept in touch... mostly because of the distracting pandemic, geoengineered-induced disasters, hot wars, etc. I will dash off an email to him and see what the prospects are ... but I suspect the books tend to be only a scaffolding resource for only those who dig deep into academic texts to try and understand what's going on now ... a very small number of people in a world of tweet-length attention spans.
I was also in occasional contact with Debito Arudou (David Aldwinckle), an American who became a Japanese citizen and a long-time, vocal advocate for human rights in Japan. Through Baye, I just yesterday discovered he has a Substack, but have not yet had the time to check it out.
Yesterday, I was in Tachikawa chatting with a Japanese friend about the SNS-savvy impact of Sanseito. When I suggested that they are probably exchanging money with the LDP, she verified that many Japanese on X (Twitter) suspect the Sanseito is actually a covert cover for the most right-wing extreme of the LDP, a younger, high-tech version of Abe's old 'Nihonkaigi'. If anything goes wrong with the Sanseito (especially at the international level), being a nominally separate party from the ruling LDP allows the LDP to protect face (and voters) with plausible deniability of connection.
Just a couple of days ago, a Brit I occasionally follow came up with a doozy of a YouTube podcast comparing Japan's immigration policies and problems with those of France and England, and extolling the virtues of the Sanseito without even being able to pronounce it.
"This is not merely an immigration debate. It is a test of whether a constitutional democracy can withstand the pressures of hortatory ethno-nationalism cloaked in the policies of economic pragmatism." Great article! Thanks for sharing it. I'm working on an article myself about this very distressing issue but being among those long-term residents here not fluent in the language, a lot of the political jargon goes over my head, so I've been doing the footwork to try to gain a better understanding of the situation via English language reporting. This has been one of the best essays I've come across so far in broadening my knowledge of what's amiss. Thanks for sharing the author's work, Gianni. I will do the same so that more people can at least get a foothold. The statement above says a great deal. Basically, it argues that what looks like a debate over immigration is actually a deeper struggle: whether democratic values can survive when exclusionary, ethnically driven ideologies are being pushed under the guise of sensible economic policy. It’s a warning that democracy isn’t just threatened by overt authoritarianism—it can also be eroded by persuasive, seemingly rational arguments that mask divisive intentions. And that is a powerful statement backed up by the facts laid out in the essay! The story I'm working on doesn't seek to elucidate it so much as tries to show how long-termers like you and I are responding to being lumped in with problematic foreigners based purely on our "race". How irrational it is and how creepily dehumanizing and Trump'd it feels. Mine will come out in Toyokeizai (in Japanese) on Monday morning. Look out for it
Thanks, Baye. Unfortunately, it's the same old story, in Europe, America, everywhere. Foreigners are a very easy and convenient target. They make you forget or overlook the real causes of the social and economic problems each country is experiencing.
You're so right. smh. Even my wife, who for the 10 years we've been together had been politcally apathetic (aside from the statement made by marrying a foreigner) is now out their hanging posters and driving her favorite candidate around while he speaks into his loud speakers of the real issues Japan should be focused on how Japan mustn't allow so-called immigration issues distract them and send them spiraling down into the cesspool that the Nippon First people will take the country down. I'm so proud of her!
One thing is clear. Without immigration Japanese economy will not survive unless by 2070 everything is done by robots. Because there will be only 85 ml. people or so in 2070 as compared to 120 now. Of course, damage control (property pricing as one) is necessary through economic means.
I do get that the "foreigner problem" is in part at least misdirection from more serious underlying issues that are not readily resolvable but that doesn't mean it isn't an issue in its own right. Despite being an immigrant here in Japan, I am generally fine with some limits being placed on immigration. If you look at the mess that Europe has turned into in the last decade or two then you see the dangers of excessively lax immigration policies.
What I do notice though is that politicians and general commentary is combining and mingling two or three (or more?) different perceived problems into one. There's the perception that foreigners are everywhere which is mostly due to tourism numbers. That is an issue but it is fixable. I think the biggest issue here is how the numbers have grown so fast, but there is also very definitely the problem that foreign tourists take advantage of Japanese politeness and either don't realize or don't care about the resentment that results.
There's the perception that foreigners have ways to work around the system so they get to the front of the queue - e.g. in the issuance of driver's licenses - or that they can get away with ignoring the regulations as in various Chinese developments in Hokkaido. Again a fixable issue and likely due to slightly too much liberalization of previously excessively restrictive policies.
Then there's the crime issue, which includes the visa over-stayers and so on. I think that this is overstated as an actual issue, but that there is a core truth that on average foreigners do commit more crimes. Obviously not all foreigners. And also obviously not all Japanese are total innocents. But I note that places like Shinjuku/Okubo where there are a lot of foreigners are the only places where I see actual barb wire fences around houses and actual security as opposed the usual security theatre of most Japanese buildings.
Francis, thank you for this detailed and thoughtful comment. I think you’re absolutely right to highlight how different issues—tourism, immigration, crime, economic policy—often get bundled together in the public discourse. It’s this conflation, I think, that muddies the waters and makes it harder to have a serious, fact-based conversation.
You also rightly point to the role of perception. That word is crucial. Many of the concerns you raise—about rule-bending, resentment, crime—are, as you say, perceptions. But perception is not the same as reality. The two often diverge, especially when it comes to minority or outsider groups.
On crime in particular, the data doesn’t support the idea that foreigners commit more crimes than Japanese people. In fact, the statistics from Japan’s own Ministry of Justice consistently show that crime rates among foreigners are proportionally low and often tied to visa status or labor violations rather than violence or theft. These are structural issues as much as individual ones.
I agree with you that rapid change can unsettle people, and that resentment can grow when people feel the rules aren't being applied equally. But I also think we need to be careful about the narratives we allow to harden into “truths.” It's one thing to describe perceptions; it's another to let them become the framework through which we judge a whole group of people.
Thanks again for engaging so carefully and constructively.
Resentment is indeed the key. I think in places where foreigners seem to be providing value to the local community rather than overwhelming it, Japanese people are happy to have them
For example, here in Izumo we have a fairly significant number of Vietnamese, Brazillian and Indian subcontinent guest workers. It was notable that when the covidiocy began and factories temporarily stopped, there was fair amount of sympathetic coverage in the local media regarding the way some of these guest workers were unceremoniously required to leave at short notice. In fact I believe the coverage and resulting complaints by local Japanese caused one of the companies involved, Murata, to change its policy and keep on workers that they might otherwise have let go. [Given the way Murata has subsequently expanded here after the covidiocy that may have been a blessing in disguise for them, but at the time it may not have seemed to be one]
That’s a really interesting example. You're absolutely right — resentment, or perhaps its opposite, recognition, often shapes how foreign residents are perceived. When people are seen as contributing to the community in visible or practical ways, there's often a sense of gratitude or solidarity, as your example from Izumo shows.
What strikes me, though, is how narrowly “providing value” can sometimes be defined — often in economic or utilitarian terms. I wonder how that affects those whose contributions are less tangible: caregivers, artists, students, or even long-term residents quietly living their lives. It seems that part of the challenge is broadening the frame so that “value” isn’t only measured in labor or output, but also in the richness that diversity brings to daily life.
Still, it’s encouraging to hear stories like the Murata case — moments when public sentiment pushes toward inclusion, and institutions actually listen. That feels rare, and worth noting.
I am highly skeptical of the MoJ's statistics. I can't help recall that Japan's police force has a improbably high clean up rate and successful prosecution rate. I'm fairly sure that there's more crime than is reported both because I suspect the police regularly lose reports of crimes they can't easily solve and because people prefer not to get the police involved anyway. I have very definitely noticed that Japanese people prefer to not get the police involved in disputes that would very much see a police presence in other countries and I suspect that applies to some crime victims too. In fact, based on much anecdotal evidence, I am quite certain that applies to a lot of rapes/assaults by Japanese men. It may turn out that victims in foreign communities in Japan likewise prefer not to report crimes to the police.
Thanks again for the follow-up. I completely agree that underreporting is a real issue in Japan, for many reasons—cultural reluctance to involve the police, skepticism about the justice system, and a strong preference for informal resolution, especially in cases involving acquaintances or family. As you rightly point out, this likely affects a wide range of crimes, including serious ones like sexual assault.
But crucially, as you also note, this underreporting isn't specific to crimes committed by foreigners. If anything, it may be even more pronounced when the victims are non-Japanese, given language barriers, legal uncertainty, and fear of drawing unwanted attention. So while the data may indeed be incomplete, that incompleteness affects both sides of the ledger.
That’s part of why I hesitate to lean on perceptions that “foreigners commit more crime.” We just don’t have a solid statistical basis for that claim—and perception, again, too often morphs into prejudice. It’s important to remain cautious and critical, especially when narratives about crime and outsiders tend to echo across history in ways that rarely end well.
Appreciate the exchange—these conversations matter, and I’m grateful for the respectful tone.
I think we’re in general agreement here that the stats are not anywhere close to complete coverage.
That’s why I consider the evidence of actual security measures being taken to be a useful proxy for the actual crime rate. I’m a great believer in the revealed preference of what people spend their money on. But I could well be wrong, it could be just that (some) foreigners in Japan bring the habits of their native culture with them and hence have greater security than necessary.
I've been an immigrant, a "stranger" for most of my life. Most countries I have lived in or know of struggle to have an adult debate about immigration. My own country, the UK, seems to have given up trying.
In Sir Thomas More, a play possibly written by Shakespeare, More addresses the crowds who have rioted agains foreigners or "strangers":
Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all our country’s majesty;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
It's a great speech. But of course it will take more than even beautiful words like this to end xenophobia.
The other day I was walking by a candidate (from the Japanese Communist Party) who was giving a speech outside my local station. She mentionied foreigners in her speech. I paused and nodded my head in her direction. She looked at me, smiled and nodded back with the words "arigatou gozaimasu". It all felt very civilised.
Jeffrey, thank you so much for this moving comment. What you wrote resonated deeply with me, not only because of the Sir Thomas More passage (which is extraordinary and sadly eve-relevant), but because of the quiet gesture you described at your local station. That small exchange, brief as it was, speaks to something I keep returning to in my own thinking and writing: that recognition, however fleeting, still matters.
I share your sense of frustration. How rare it is to find spaces where immigration can be discussed with nuance, honesty, and compassion. The fact that you’ve lived most of your life as a “stranger” gives your words particular weight. Being foreign can sometimes feel like standing on the edge of the conversation, even when the topic is you.
Thank you again for taking the time to write. I was really touched.
Excellent article Gianni!
And thanks for the heads up about the books.
Here are a couple of other good books by Stephen Vlastos, for a historic approach to how the Japanese corporate nation-state herds its own people ...
'Peasant Uprisings and Revolts in Tokugawa Japan' and
'Invented Traditions of Modern Japan' (Editor)
I've exchanged letters with him about making Japanese translations, but have not kept in touch... mostly because of the distracting pandemic, geoengineered-induced disasters, hot wars, etc. I will dash off an email to him and see what the prospects are ... but I suspect the books tend to be only a scaffolding resource for only those who dig deep into academic texts to try and understand what's going on now ... a very small number of people in a world of tweet-length attention spans.
I was also in occasional contact with Debito Arudou (David Aldwinckle), an American who became a Japanese citizen and a long-time, vocal advocate for human rights in Japan. Through Baye, I just yesterday discovered he has a Substack, but have not yet had the time to check it out.
Yesterday, I was in Tachikawa chatting with a Japanese friend about the SNS-savvy impact of Sanseito. When I suggested that they are probably exchanging money with the LDP, she verified that many Japanese on X (Twitter) suspect the Sanseito is actually a covert cover for the most right-wing extreme of the LDP, a younger, high-tech version of Abe's old 'Nihonkaigi'. If anything goes wrong with the Sanseito (especially at the international level), being a nominally separate party from the ruling LDP allows the LDP to protect face (and voters) with plausible deniability of connection.
Just a couple of days ago, a Brit I occasionally follow came up with a doozy of a YouTube podcast comparing Japan's immigration policies and problems with those of France and England, and extolling the virtues of the Sanseito without even being able to pronounce it.
I suspect that podcast was bought and paid for by some Densu-LDP cronies of Japan Inc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtT9wNXZq8Y
Despite it all,
Cheers and take care.
We are 'living in interesting times'.
Steve
Cheers, Steve. Thanks as always for your comments. You should check out Christopher's substack, it's very interesting and thought-provoking.
I know those two books you mentioned, by the way. They are both in my university library.
Hi Gianni.
You're on the university circuit? Where at? (primate chat is okay too).
Will check out that substack!
LOL ... 'primate' for 'private'? A.I. spell checking at its best.
I suspect we will have some interesting discussions to share when we meet.
More interesting than fishing. 😎
Cheers!
"This is not merely an immigration debate. It is a test of whether a constitutional democracy can withstand the pressures of hortatory ethno-nationalism cloaked in the policies of economic pragmatism." Great article! Thanks for sharing it. I'm working on an article myself about this very distressing issue but being among those long-term residents here not fluent in the language, a lot of the political jargon goes over my head, so I've been doing the footwork to try to gain a better understanding of the situation via English language reporting. This has been one of the best essays I've come across so far in broadening my knowledge of what's amiss. Thanks for sharing the author's work, Gianni. I will do the same so that more people can at least get a foothold. The statement above says a great deal. Basically, it argues that what looks like a debate over immigration is actually a deeper struggle: whether democratic values can survive when exclusionary, ethnically driven ideologies are being pushed under the guise of sensible economic policy. It’s a warning that democracy isn’t just threatened by overt authoritarianism—it can also be eroded by persuasive, seemingly rational arguments that mask divisive intentions. And that is a powerful statement backed up by the facts laid out in the essay! The story I'm working on doesn't seek to elucidate it so much as tries to show how long-termers like you and I are responding to being lumped in with problematic foreigners based purely on our "race". How irrational it is and how creepily dehumanizing and Trump'd it feels. Mine will come out in Toyokeizai (in Japanese) on Monday morning. Look out for it
Thanks, Baye. Unfortunately, it's the same old story, in Europe, America, everywhere. Foreigners are a very easy and convenient target. They make you forget or overlook the real causes of the social and economic problems each country is experiencing.
You're so right. smh. Even my wife, who for the 10 years we've been together had been politcally apathetic (aside from the statement made by marrying a foreigner) is now out their hanging posters and driving her favorite candidate around while he speaks into his loud speakers of the real issues Japan should be focused on how Japan mustn't allow so-called immigration issues distract them and send them spiraling down into the cesspool that the Nippon First people will take the country down. I'm so proud of her!
That's great, Baye. I hope to meet her sooner or later.
One thing is clear. Without immigration Japanese economy will not survive unless by 2070 everything is done by robots. Because there will be only 85 ml. people or so in 2070 as compared to 120 now. Of course, damage control (property pricing as one) is necessary through economic means.
I definitely prefer foreigners to robots. Unless they look like the female replicant in Blade Runner.
We have similar preferences (:
No shade thrown at Darryl Hannah, though. But Sean Young...yeah, my kind of skin job! lol
lol yeah Sean Young was a hot number!!
Tks for the list about further reading!
Thank YOU for reading!
I do get that the "foreigner problem" is in part at least misdirection from more serious underlying issues that are not readily resolvable but that doesn't mean it isn't an issue in its own right. Despite being an immigrant here in Japan, I am generally fine with some limits being placed on immigration. If you look at the mess that Europe has turned into in the last decade or two then you see the dangers of excessively lax immigration policies.
What I do notice though is that politicians and general commentary is combining and mingling two or three (or more?) different perceived problems into one. There's the perception that foreigners are everywhere which is mostly due to tourism numbers. That is an issue but it is fixable. I think the biggest issue here is how the numbers have grown so fast, but there is also very definitely the problem that foreign tourists take advantage of Japanese politeness and either don't realize or don't care about the resentment that results.
There's the perception that foreigners have ways to work around the system so they get to the front of the queue - e.g. in the issuance of driver's licenses - or that they can get away with ignoring the regulations as in various Chinese developments in Hokkaido. Again a fixable issue and likely due to slightly too much liberalization of previously excessively restrictive policies.
Then there's the crime issue, which includes the visa over-stayers and so on. I think that this is overstated as an actual issue, but that there is a core truth that on average foreigners do commit more crimes. Obviously not all foreigners. And also obviously not all Japanese are total innocents. But I note that places like Shinjuku/Okubo where there are a lot of foreigners are the only places where I see actual barb wire fences around houses and actual security as opposed the usual security theatre of most Japanese buildings.
Francis, thank you for this detailed and thoughtful comment. I think you’re absolutely right to highlight how different issues—tourism, immigration, crime, economic policy—often get bundled together in the public discourse. It’s this conflation, I think, that muddies the waters and makes it harder to have a serious, fact-based conversation.
You also rightly point to the role of perception. That word is crucial. Many of the concerns you raise—about rule-bending, resentment, crime—are, as you say, perceptions. But perception is not the same as reality. The two often diverge, especially when it comes to minority or outsider groups.
On crime in particular, the data doesn’t support the idea that foreigners commit more crimes than Japanese people. In fact, the statistics from Japan’s own Ministry of Justice consistently show that crime rates among foreigners are proportionally low and often tied to visa status or labor violations rather than violence or theft. These are structural issues as much as individual ones.
I agree with you that rapid change can unsettle people, and that resentment can grow when people feel the rules aren't being applied equally. But I also think we need to be careful about the narratives we allow to harden into “truths.” It's one thing to describe perceptions; it's another to let them become the framework through which we judge a whole group of people.
Thanks again for engaging so carefully and constructively.
Resentment is indeed the key. I think in places where foreigners seem to be providing value to the local community rather than overwhelming it, Japanese people are happy to have them
For example, here in Izumo we have a fairly significant number of Vietnamese, Brazillian and Indian subcontinent guest workers. It was notable that when the covidiocy began and factories temporarily stopped, there was fair amount of sympathetic coverage in the local media regarding the way some of these guest workers were unceremoniously required to leave at short notice. In fact I believe the coverage and resulting complaints by local Japanese caused one of the companies involved, Murata, to change its policy and keep on workers that they might otherwise have let go. [Given the way Murata has subsequently expanded here after the covidiocy that may have been a blessing in disguise for them, but at the time it may not have seemed to be one]
That’s a really interesting example. You're absolutely right — resentment, or perhaps its opposite, recognition, often shapes how foreign residents are perceived. When people are seen as contributing to the community in visible or practical ways, there's often a sense of gratitude or solidarity, as your example from Izumo shows.
What strikes me, though, is how narrowly “providing value” can sometimes be defined — often in economic or utilitarian terms. I wonder how that affects those whose contributions are less tangible: caregivers, artists, students, or even long-term residents quietly living their lives. It seems that part of the challenge is broadening the frame so that “value” isn’t only measured in labor or output, but also in the richness that diversity brings to daily life.
Still, it’s encouraging to hear stories like the Murata case — moments when public sentiment pushes toward inclusion, and institutions actually listen. That feels rare, and worth noting.
I am highly skeptical of the MoJ's statistics. I can't help recall that Japan's police force has a improbably high clean up rate and successful prosecution rate. I'm fairly sure that there's more crime than is reported both because I suspect the police regularly lose reports of crimes they can't easily solve and because people prefer not to get the police involved anyway. I have very definitely noticed that Japanese people prefer to not get the police involved in disputes that would very much see a police presence in other countries and I suspect that applies to some crime victims too. In fact, based on much anecdotal evidence, I am quite certain that applies to a lot of rapes/assaults by Japanese men. It may turn out that victims in foreign communities in Japan likewise prefer not to report crimes to the police.
Thanks again for the follow-up. I completely agree that underreporting is a real issue in Japan, for many reasons—cultural reluctance to involve the police, skepticism about the justice system, and a strong preference for informal resolution, especially in cases involving acquaintances or family. As you rightly point out, this likely affects a wide range of crimes, including serious ones like sexual assault.
But crucially, as you also note, this underreporting isn't specific to crimes committed by foreigners. If anything, it may be even more pronounced when the victims are non-Japanese, given language barriers, legal uncertainty, and fear of drawing unwanted attention. So while the data may indeed be incomplete, that incompleteness affects both sides of the ledger.
That’s part of why I hesitate to lean on perceptions that “foreigners commit more crime.” We just don’t have a solid statistical basis for that claim—and perception, again, too often morphs into prejudice. It’s important to remain cautious and critical, especially when narratives about crime and outsiders tend to echo across history in ways that rarely end well.
Appreciate the exchange—these conversations matter, and I’m grateful for the respectful tone.
I think we’re in general agreement here that the stats are not anywhere close to complete coverage.
That’s why I consider the evidence of actual security measures being taken to be a useful proxy for the actual crime rate. I’m a great believer in the revealed preference of what people spend their money on. But I could well be wrong, it could be just that (some) foreigners in Japan bring the habits of their native culture with them and hence have greater security than necessary.