The Change Mariner

Insular Japan Needs, but Resists, Immigration

New York Times:

Second of three articles in series, Can Japan Change?, examines country's antipathy to immigrants and issue of immigration; Japan has rapidly aging population and dwindling fertility; size of its work force has entered decline that experts expect to accelarate; many economists and demographers say Japan's success or failure in addressing concerns of immigrants, who complain of prejudice and discrimination, will go long way toward determining whether country remains economic powerhouse or whether its population shrivels and its economy sinks; experts say only hope for stabilizing population is large-scale immigration, sustained over many years; but Japan is most tenaciously insular of countries, with deeply conservative notions about ethnic purity making it hard for even experts to envision large-scale immigration; Japanese government plans to encourage only kind of 'high end' immigration that would be limited to those with specialized knowledge or skills; critics say that strategy may fail, as Japan is increasingly incapable of competing for foreign brainpower.

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