Japan to launch crackdown on asylum seekers: report

I thought Japan is in shortage of workers??? this could be the answer tot hat problem.

Japan's immigration policy is very sensible, and one others would do well to follow. No one should be allowed in under any circumstances unless they are needed, and that applies to refugees also. Where there are labour shortages, which Japan is starting to have, then temporary work visas are good, and that can lead to a permanent type or PR wherever the likelihood of them being permanently employable is estimated as a high probabliity and they have showed themselves to be good residents after a minimum period of, say, five years.

Personally, I'm not for Japan making the mistakes that Western Europe has made.

However, there is a reality that certain jobs in Japan are shunned by native Japanese.

Asylum seekers are being used to fill jobs which the natives don't want.

One example is Subaru which through its many contractors makes use of asylum seekers' cut price labor!

Even Taro Aso has criticized the system as in need of review and change.

The problem is that the focus of politicians here is on how to be able to start wars and constitutional revision and not on the future!

When bridges and tunnels start to collapse in Japan, the Japanese people will question why.

Not being a youngster I find most Japanese my age or older very friendly with foreigners most tend to be good at English to boost.

Can't recall how often I ordered meals at a local restaurant to be served a mega-mori as a free service (we foreigners eat a lot). ;)

Said that my area is full of Universities and foreigners (Student and Business).

Disillusioned

Japan is far from being the most xenophobic place.

They are nice to most foreigners generally speaking.

Japan should accept more real refugees, those who lost their home because of wars. And crack down harder on those who only want better lives than their home country.

@ pacint: the Czech Republic does not "refuse to take in refugees". There are asylum applicants, hundreds of thousands, that should be relocated to different EU countries (equally spread all over EU) while they are waiting for their application to be processed (= turned down as unsubstantiated). The problem is that the applicants do not want to stay in the CR and they tend to run away to Germany/ westwards at their earliest convinience because the CR sucks in terms of perks provided to the applicants (well, an average income is four times higher in Germany than in CR and the social handouts are incomparably higher in Germany than in the CR). When the CR tried to keep the applicants in detention (in order to make them stay), again, it was frown upon and the CR was scolded by the wiser, bigger Western EU countries. The wiser, bigger Western EU countries failed to give some advice on how to keep the applicants where they do not want to stay, though. On the other hand, it is the CR which has taken in tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians since the Ukrainian war started.

Exellent news. Japan should not accept as much refugees as Europe for two reasons.

First, Japan does not want to repeat the suicidal mistake of some European countries with their whole immigrant ghettos where locals, even local police are afraid to enter.

Second, among those people who call themselves refugees there are too little geniune refugees and too many economic migrants. Genuine refugees are happy just to be out of the place where their lives are in danger, travelling through several countries in search of welfare benefits is economig migration. I have sympathy for such people, but in that case don't make a scene when you are not recognized as a refugee and apply for working visa.

"pacint", Czechs are afraid of radical muslism committing terroristic acts all over Czech Republic, even though there are currently around 800 accepted refugees from third countries. A man named Tomio Okamura (half Japanese half Czech) made his political campaign based almost completely on the hate on (radical he says) islam and would probably become a part of leading coalition of local senate. So when he is also going to ban refugee program from inside, I am inclined to believe at least one of those 800 migrants might get angry that people such as themselves are denied "second chance" and would go down the same path. Even though no new muslims would come, there are already some you can not expect to remain absolutely docile.

Also, Czechoslovakia stopped existing 1st January 1991. Like, really, wow. Slovakia has whole another policy on refugees.

I hope this policy change will discourage non-serious asylum seekers to apply and enhance the reviewing process for application from refugees who truly need protection.

Correction: Poland, Hungary & Czechoslovakia refuse to accept refugees even though they are required to do so.

There are refugees in every EU country, not just in western Europe. Have you heard of Sweden, Bulgaria and Greece? Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with the map of Europe.

Come on, everybody knows that if you are a male from a 2nd-3rd world country, enter on a tourist visa for 3 months. You can renew again and again. Or, get a student visa. Find a Japanese single women and marry. Then stay. If you are a woman, work at night in a snack, you can stay. These people are economic migrants. If refugees are truely serious, they have to understand the norms and rules.

Would not that anger fleeing radical muslims and set them on path of fundamentalist insanity acts? This has to be thoroughly evaluated. I am all for throwing everyone out, though. Japan is quickly degrading in culture and numbers. Their right to choose between slow aging decay or "cultural impurity".

About time it was dond, these people post a risk to our safety

Human Rights Watch in January described the country's record on asylum seekers as "abysmal".*

Dear HRW Japan, I checked your website but I couldn't find any personal stories or case files of failed asylum seekers who clearly should have been granted refugee status. I also didn't find any stories or evidence of failed asylum seekers who were wrongly denied refugee status in Japan and then murdered, tortured, or imprisoned after being forcibly deported back to their unsafe country of origin. Presumably there must be thousands of such cases considering how many thousands of genuine refugees Japan is rejecting every year. Can you post just a few on your website... or even just one? Otherwise, people will begin to wonder whether the lack of any evidence of persecution amongst deportees might mean that Japan is actually making correct determinations in assessing the veracity of these cases.

Good on Japan. We don't need another western Europe here.

Keep up the good work Japan.

Plenty of other people in other countries would love to stop the import of so called "refugees"

Almost six in 10 Japanese think diversity of ethnic groups, religions and races makes their country a worse place,

This should come as no surprise from the most xenophobic country on the planet. I've often pondered why Japan was so afraid of foreigners integrating into Japanese society and I've concluded that, it's not because they don't want to share, it's because they don't want the rest of the world to know exactly what goes on in the world's largest island asylum!

Thanks Alfie, good research

„One sign that Japanese views may change: 44% of Japanese ages 18 to 29 say diversity makes for a better country, compared with 17% of those ages 50 and older.“

„Politics is too important to leave to the politicians“ as they adhere to age groups.

the new rule will effectively deny the right to work for more than 10,000 asylum seekers a year who don't qualify for refugee status

Are they really being denied a right? Or are they just no longer being granted a privilege? If you lack citizenship, have no residence permit, no valid visa, and have not been granted refugee status, then my understanding is that you have exactly zero rights to walk the streets of Japan, let alone work.

Allowing certain asylum seekers to live in the community and work before their cases have been determined is something entirely within the discretion of the Japanese government. Unfortunately it has been abused by people who come from certain countries to work while their baseless asylum claims are being processed. There are entire networks that arrange jobs and transportation for these people before they arrive. It's almost like a working holiday visa insofar as you can only participate once and it's for a limited time.

So as it is now anyone can apply for refugee status and get a renewable working permit? How the hell did the government think that would be a good idea to begin with?

I do not mind this because if there are over 10,000 applications then it will surely make it harder for real refugees to apply for asylum. I can see that this program was made with good intentions but greedy people that apply in bad faith and just use it as an excuse to work ruin it for everyone. The new system seems fair, they actually review the application before issuing the work permit, and lock up the ones that are just trying to stay in the country with no danger back home.

My only concern is that there will be thousands of illegals running around the country once this policy is implemented and word spreads that the ride is over.

Japan accepted all of 3 refugees. Might as well close it up

What will the JP construction industry do? They specially advertise for these, while I'm sure there are legit cases, it's a loophole for a work visa into Japan. JP companies are exploiting these people, no insurance, no overtime pay and low pay in general.

Most Japanese (and indeed Asians) believe that accepting refugees from faraway lands is a Western thing and is something that doesnt or shouldnt concern them.

YAY! Well done ! Its so rare to actually see logical government action these days.

Almost six in 10 Japanese think diversity of ethnic groups, religions and races makes their country a worse place, a poll this month by the Pew Research Center showed.

Selective quoting. The full quote is:

But increasing Japan’s immigrant population may face domestic reluctance. Just 24% of Japanese believe that having people of many different backgrounds – diverse ethnic groups, religions and races – makes their country a better place to live. A majority (57%) says it makes Japan a worse place to live. One sign that Japanese views may change: 44% of Japanese ages 18 to 29 say diversity makes for a better country, compared with 17% of those ages 50 and older.

So, younger people are far more inclined to feel diversity makes their country better. Good for them.

The whole survey makes very interesting reading:

http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/10/17/japanese-divided-on-democracys-success-at-home-but-value-voice-of-the-people/

Well a true asylum seeker/refugee is looking for safety from persecution, so in theory they have an entire world of other nations they could try to move to that may also allow them to work. If it's only work they are after, they've applied to the wrong place and should go through the proper legal channels like every other non-Japanese resident in Japan, as it does a disservice to those who went through the proper process