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Exploring the Connection Between Demographic Change, Immigration Legislation Design and Policy Mobilities in Ageing Japan Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2017 Newcomers, Welcome? Exploring the Connection Between Demographic Change, Immigration Legislation Design and Policy Mobilities in Ageing Japan Héctor Goldar Perrote [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Human Geography Commons Recommended Citation Goldar Perrote, Héctor, "Newcomers, Welcome? Exploring the Connection Between Demographic Change, Immigration Legislation Design and Policy Mobilities in Ageing Japan" (2017). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1981. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1981 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Newcomers, Welcome? Exploring the Connection Between Demographic Change, Immigration Legislation Design and Policy Mobilities in Ageing Japan by Héctor Goldar Perrote Waterloo – Laurier Graduate Program in Geography, 2017 THESIS Submitted to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies In partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Arts in Geography Wilfrid Laurier University and The University of Waterloo © (Héctor Goldar Perrote) 2017 Abstract Japan is ageing, and its population is declining. Given the potential detrimental economic and social consequences brought about by this sort of demographic change, it has been suggested that the Japanese could benefit from the implementation of more liberal (im)migration policies. This thesis studies the demographic change – immigration policy development nexus from the perspective of the state in the context of Japan and assesses the role that immigration plays within the larger population debate. A constructivist grounded theory methodology is utilised to analyse primary and secondary qualitative data. Additionally, two theoretical approaches of political demography (Robbins and Smith, 2016) and policy mobilities paradigm (see Baker et al. 2016) are employed in order to explore how demographic change may be informing immigration policy design and how Japan might be interacting with other nations and international organizations in such process. The thesis concludes with the observation that the immigration option has not been prioritized to address the various challenges that have been brought about by population decline and ageing. The available evidence gathered for this project also indicates that the latest amendments to the law – which are more liberal in nature – do not consider immigration to be a replacement for the loss in population. These amendments do, however, facilitate the mobility of foreign human resources with a view to partially alleviating specific labour shortages and having newcomers contribute to economic growth while, at the same time, respecting the current ‘façade’ regarding immigration control policies as well as the country’s nationhood regulatory principle. As such, this work makes the case that Japan’s strategy regarding immigration policy change is that of ‘highly selective, cautious, progressive incrementalism’. This thesis also suggests that Japanese policy-makers closely examine other countries’ systems and keep track of the latest trends regarding immigration control management but remain reticent to actively engage with other nations and international organizations in the design of the legislation. Keywords: Demographic Change, Immigration, Japan, Political Demography, Policy Mobilities ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped me, in one way or another, complete this master’s thesis. Family and old friends at home. Extremely kind respondents, colleagues, and professors in Japan (special thanks to Professor Chizuko Kawamura and also Professor Masayuki Tadokoro – who helped me figure out the ‘incrementalism’ argument that I make in this thesis). Friends in Canada and academic staff at Laurier and UW. Thesis committee members (professors Alison Mountz, Rianne Mahon and Derek Hall). And specially, I would like to emphasize how grateful I am to have worked with my advisor, Professor Margaret Walton-Roberts, for her advice, expertise, patience, support, and generosity have been extraordinary. Thank you all iii Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6 1. The Dynamics of Demographic Change in Japan ............................................................... 9 2. The Challenges of Demographic Change in Japan ............................................................ 18 3. Study Design ................................................................................................................. 30 4. Japan’s Immigration Model ........................................................................................... 41 4.1. Historical Context .............................................................................................................. 41 4.2. The Policy-Making Process ................................................................................................ 47 5. Managing Immigration .................................................................................................. 58 5.1. Management and general remarks .................................................................................. 58 5.2. Admission .......................................................................................................................... 67 5.3. Integration ........................................................................................................................ 79 5.4. Anti-Discrimination ............................................................................................................ 81 6. Policy Mobilities ............................................................................................................ 82 6.1. Overview ........................................................................................................................... 82 6.2. Policy-Learning .................................................................................................................. 85 6.3. Collaborative Policy Design ............................................................................................... 93 7. Final Discussion ............................................................................................................. 94 7.1. Contributions and Limitations .......................................................................................... 94 7.2. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 95 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Current and Projected Population of Japan Figure 2: Trends in the Proportion of Elderly Citizens Figure 3: Japan’s Population Development Figure 4: Japan’s Demographic Transition Figure 5: Demographic Balancing Equation Figure 6: Japan’s Ageing Population Figure 7: Figures in Foreign Resident Stock Figure 8: The Immigration Policy-making Process in Japan and its Relation to Demographic Change Figure 9: Population Replacement by Immigration v Introduction The question of demographic change is a recurring topic in most conversations that discuss politics in Japan. Whilst the debate has been active for about four decades, the discussion has gained further momentum over the last few years. This is due primarily to the pressing labour gaps that have emerged as of late as the Japanese economy has continued to grow and the working-age cohort has kept dwindling. To minimize the effects brought about by ageing and population decline, the government has enacted a series of policy measures which have, among others, fostered female labour participation (MOFA, 2017), raised the age of retirement eligibility (Rodionova, 2016) and encouraged the development of labour saving technologies (Murai, 2016). Aside from these initiatives, various influential voices have advocated for the implementation of more liberal (im)migration regulations. Given the current imperative need for comprehensive economic and social policy reform, and the new heights that the immigration debate was reaching at the time of writing, this thesis set out to explore the connection between demographic change and immigration policy design in the context of Japan. Building from the demographic data which is analysed in Chapter One, and taking into consideration how ageing and population decline pose a substantial challenge - and an opportunity - for the Japanese (the relationship between demography and economics, social policy and others is laid out in Chapter Two), this thesis employs a constructivist grounded theory methodology guided by the theoretical approaches of political demography and policy mobilities to examine how population change and immigration policy design are connected and how Japan might be interacting with other foreign entities in such process. Chapter Three provides the reader with more details about how this study was conducted. Chapter Four serves as an introduction to the field of immigration in Japan, explores how the policy making process takes place, and offers a concise historical account of the development of the current legislation. Chapter Five addresses the first
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