Japan took in 20 asylum seekers in 2017 from nearly 20,000 applications

The ministry declined to specify the nationalities of the remaining eight, citing concerns that they might be too easily identified.

Like folks from Egypt, Afghanistan, and Syria aren't, particularly here?

I can certainly understand Japan's reluctance to admit any immigrants for any reason. If you look at other parts of the world that take them in by the tens of thousands it is very apparent all the problems they create.

I don't see an issue with this. Not long ago people would have immediately condemned all Japanese with such news of restrictive immigration. However, in light of how the world has seen how destructive rampant, feel good immigration/asylum has been, particularly for several European nations, the Japanese government can't be faulted.

I can certainly understand Japan's reluctance to admit any immigrants for any reason.

Reluctance? Folks need to take a closer look at Japanese immigration and just how many people are coming here, legally and overstaying, or coming to "study" at a language school and get hired at jobs that no one else wants.

The government is turning a blind eye to the problem, and allowing this grey area to stay open, because these folks are supposed to go back to their own countries after 3 to 6 years or so.

Yubaru

From my experience, if you are a foriegner in Japan but do everything by the book, the immigration department gets worse.

At Otamachi I once had all correct documentation, all was legal, but the officer screamed and shouted like he was having fit.

Perhaps illegals feel that they are better avoiding all of that.

Asylum targets need to be part of every trade agreement with Japan. Especially those with the EU, UK, and USA.

28? I started looking for the punch line. Embarrassing for Japan.

From my experience, if you are a foriegner in Japan but do everything by the book, the immigration department gets worse.

Funny, I wonder what you did to piss them off so much.

The immigration experience for me has been the direct opposite of what you wrote here. The people were always polite and very helpful, no animosity, nor anger, nothing of the sort.

I would stay away from over generalizing about all foreigners, as I know quite a few that have had the exact same experiences as mine, so maybe it's possible that your experience was the exception and not the rule.

28? I started looking for the punch line. Embarrassing for Japan.

You want the punch line? 20 for 2017, the 28 was for 2016!

They should be embarrassed, but they won't, because they don't care!

Good. Very sensible.

If there is a giant conspiracy to keep out genuine refugees, it would be incredibly easy to expose. The media and refugee advocacy groups could just point to a few dozen well founded cases of persecution out of the 19,448 who were rejected. Alternatively, they could find cases where people have been tortured, disappeared or killed by their own government after being deported from Japan. Why don't we hear about these people, assuming they exist? Why does the media always frame these stories in a way that suggests the system is broken or corrupt simply because 20 seems like a low number compared to 19,000? Let's have some hard evidence for once.

The alt-right in Western countries are huge fans of Japan, for this and other reasons.

I met an Afghani in London whose brother managed to stay here-his main work?

Clearing up the damage after the devestation in Fukushima!

Immigration without proper integration policies doesnt often mix well.

Not to mention Japan and the Japanese aren’t really ready in infrastructure or mentality to accept immigrants en mass.

Its hard enough for legal ex pats or mixed blood Japanese. Their won’t be much empathy for them and they will be blamed by the media just for the hell of it.

I think it is for the Japanese to decide on, and only the Japanese.

For us foreigners living in Japan to say they shouldn't accept more refugees is kinda hypocritical considering they let us stay.

I'd love to have a say in the political system in Japan. After all, I am a tax payer. But I also believe that only citizens should get the vote.

My sympathy goes out to genuine applications. But I suspect they are very few and far between.

Japan is a first world country and as such has a moral obligation to take in refugees and provide sanctuary to those who have no other option.

Worst still is that Japan is sorely in need of an immigrant population to replace its rapidly aging population. In a few generations Japan will be begging for an immigrant workforce.

It would be a great shame to see Japan destroy itself due to hysteric ethnic protectionism.

Mass immigration is a disaster. That can readily be seen in Europe (be certain to not only read the main stream media) and it is a mess in Canada, where we are taking in a few hundred thousand per year. One component which is bad is the 'chain migration' - qualified person X arrives, then brings in all his relatives, pets, neighbours and such who are often a pure drain on the economy and healthcare system, etc. And of course, oil and water do not mix - there's a lot of that happening as well. Sadly, we have a complete nut for a prime minister for whom the children voted - and they will be paying dearly in their future for that mistake.

Immigration should be controlled like this in other countries. Rather than having refugees who refuse to assimilate with the country that accepts them, they should be stringently examined about their background and intentions l. My parents are immigrants.

As I read the posts, I found one common item, as long as the numbers are low and immigration continues to do what it does a very good job, we are kept safe from all the other issues mass immigration has led to.  While there are some who have had issues at immigration, it is not done intentional but part of the process, their process. I feel very safe and comfortable walking to the local stores and if driving I feel comfortable I won't be shot, blown up or mugged, my wife or daughter forcibly raped as is seen or printed by crimes committed in other countries who have allowed mass migration. No I won't stand for that in Japan. Immigration is doing a great job in ensuring the safety and security of Japan is intact. If you have a good system leave it alone it has proven itself that it works. Does it have kinks yes every system does and some day it might even apply to work against me but that is the way of systems. You have to accept it before you can change it and that too takes time.

For us foreigners living in Japan to say they shouldn't accept more refugees is kinda hypocritical considering they let us stay.

You are a refugee? We can stay here because either some of us are married, work here on a engineering visa, studentvisa or touristvisa.

All I have to say is that, I would like to see more info on WHY they were refused and why the 20 were allowed? If people come here to work hard, let em in, otherwise keep them out. Also, leave your religion at the door.

This is good news, we don’t need more immigrants in Japan. This is one of the reasons the LDP was brought back to power.

It's always astounding to me that people can write off immigrants and refugees as 'rapists, muggers, someone that is going to blow you up, etc'. I simply cannot shove my head far enough into the sand to understand how these people see the world. The irony being that, if you go back just a few generations, these people are from immigrant families themselves - yet they still can't see the positive side to immigration.

Pushing people to the fringe of society and exploiting them is far more damaging than the immigrants themselves - as history has proved time and time again if you care to look.

Anyway, we are talking about refugees here, not immigration...

I think people from Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Filippines are unlikely to be accepted as refugees in any EU country also.

... in Japan, where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity

Leaving aside the refugee issue for a second, this sentence is always rolled out for this article, and to be honest I dont get it. Are there really people here in 2018 - and elsewhere in the world - that are proud they are supposedly made up only of one "race" (if that is even possible)? Sounds scarily similar to the ideology of Nazi Germany - racial "hygiene", eugenics etc.

The immigration experience for me has been the direct opposite of what you wrote here. The people were always polite and very helpful, no animosity, nor anger, nothing of the sort.

Like being charged for overweight baggage at the airport, it is all about which agent you get and where you do it from. I never have trouble in the sticks compared to those living in the big city with tons of people coming in per day.

If these asylum seekers have the information on how to seek asylum in Japan, shouldn't they also know that it is nearly impossible to be granted asylum? Why not try other countries that may be more lenient.

Agree 100 % with Capuchin and AgentX

For us foreigners living in Japan to say they shouldn't accept more refugees is kinda hypocritical considering they let us stay.

Another EXCELLENT point

many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity, even as the population ages and its workforce shrinks.

And therein, lies the problem. Pride before the fall and all that.

@papigiullo

No mate.. I'm not a refugee. Here on a permanent visa. And very glad to have the privilege too.

Just saying that genuine refugees in fear for there lives should be protected. It could be any one of us one day.

Japan should adopt Australian-style island facilities for genuine refugee.

Japan should adopt Australian-style island facilities for genuine refugee.

Island facilities? Why? The vast majority of refugees that Australia takes in - around 20,000 per year - are settled on Australian soil. That is the policy.

Christ, people make it sound as if 20 refugees are going to completely wreck the Japanese DNA. Nobody is asking for Japan to open its floodgates. But if Japan wants to be considered in the same group as the countries it looks up to (read: rich western countries), then it should help just a little bit more. These countries have done more than their fair share, to the point of letting every Tom, Dick and Harry in. They have done too much and Japan has done sweet FA.

For us foreigners living in Japan to say they shouldn't accept more refugees is kinda hypocritical considering they let us stay.

Do you have any idea how many Japanese migrants are living abroad at the moment? And do you know how many have historically emigrated to the Americas? They weren't even fleeing persecution - they were economic migrants.

dcog:

This is good news, we don’t need more immigrants in Japan. This is one of the reasons the LDP was brought back to power.

I sure hope you're not a foreigner living in Japan. If the LDP had their way, they'd get rid of all foreigners and hafus, and perhaps only let rich Jews live here (as wished by Aso Taro).

For us foreigners living in Japan to say they shouldn't accept more refugees is kinda hypocritical considering they let us stay.

Nothing hypocritical here. There's a big difference between legal immigration and seeking asylum. I guess most of the foreigners here fall into first category.

dcog9065Today  

09:17 am JST

This is good news, we don’t need more immigrants in Japan. 

Not only that, it will be rendered obsolete in the near future. Japan simply does NOT need more people with no jobs ready to be found. Otherwise Japan will end up like the disaster seen in Sweden and France. “Paris syndrome” is very real and Japanese sure do not want that to happen in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, etc etc.

and also...

“A.I. will be 'billions of times' smarter than humans and man needs to merge with it, expert says”

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/13/a-i-will-be-billions-of-times-smarter-than-humans-man-and-machine-need-to-merge.html

Japan should just weather low-population storm in the meantime. Once A.I.+ automation rears its head in western countries with high number of immigrants ... Japan will come out better off economically & socially

Haven't there been reports that the majority of these applications are made in bad faith for people who come in on tourist visas and due to a loophole, if they apply for refugee status the government has to take their application which takes around a year to process and they get a work permit even if their application has absolutely no chance to be accepted? There are several websites for these countries which explain how to come to Japan through this method to make money and agencies that will even help you through the process. It's a scam and people just look at the numbers without realizing what's going on, and these bad applications are a strain on the system which makes it harder for the real refugees to get recognition. I even saw that LUSH had a big signboard in their store complaining about it, it just reeks of ignorance.

I heard that they actually closed this loophole this year and will immediately start detaining people if the application looks to be made in bad faith. I get the feeling that the numbers for this year will be much lower, but a better percentage of real refugee applications.

I feel very safe and comfortable walking to the local stores and if driving I feel comfortable I won't be shot, blown up or mugged, my wife or daughter forcibly raped as is seen or printed by crimes committed in other countries who have allowed mass migration.

And those committing these crimes are all refugees?

apan simply does NOT need more people with no jobs ready to be found. 

As Japan’s economy picks up speed, 70 percent of its companies are facing labor shortages, a recent Finance Ministry survey suggests.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/01/business/70-firms-pinched-labor-shortages-finance-ministry-survey-says/#.WoOPrrZ7EdU

And, if you cannot be bothered to read more than just headlines:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/labor-shortage/

Any other misinformation you'd like to post?

Island facilities? Why? The vast majority of refugees that Australia takes in - around 20,000 per year - are settled on Australian soil. That is the policy

Lets add a japanese twist.

They Stay in the refugee island (with top class facilities to make it respectable) until it’s safe to return to their respective countries.

I like how every time this exact passage is repeated:

Immigration is a controversial subject in Japan, where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity, even as the population ages and its workforce shrinks.

What exactly is bad about this? Should people only care about money and economy? Not all people subscribe to the dogma of multiculturalism.

I guess articles like this this continue as long as Japan stays relatively well off (being a 3rd world economy sucks, yeah), with low levels of immigration. It's very existence ruins all the framework of forced diversity.

Tommy Jones

Today  10:25 am JST

YES - japan sure still needs SHORT TERM temp laborers in the meantime where A.I. and automation cannot yet take over humans.

NO - japan does not need long term foreign residents (a trickle of special cases talents in advanced degree or foreign invester is ok). Heck, do Japanese even want that? Looks like most japanese got the answer when they see France, Sweden, Germany on TV. Also Japan has favorable ratio of job offers to job seekers which is good for the locals and only bad for those greedy AFs.

From my experience, if you are a foriegner in Japan but do everything by the book, the immigration department gets worse.

i was deported once. Lost my job, apartment and ex partner. Just one foreigner hating immigration boss. His understaff tried so hard to help me, but he was the boss. I came back $10000 less.

as we all know, Japan is a hard country to live in if you don’t know the language and customs. I think the solution is for japan to have offices in asylum seeking countries to process them with integration and language courses. During this process, Japanese officials can verify if they really need resettling here.

I don't understand everyones need to make every country into a melting pot.

I don't understand why everyone points fingers at a country making its own rules about who comes in.

And I don't understand why people want other countries to operate in the way their home country does.

The whole Japan/Asylum thing is mostly a smoke screen, yeah Japan ""graciously"" allow a tiny fee in as refugees.

NOW the real reason for Japan's stance is to ALLOW documented & UN-documented ""refugees"" into Japan as TEMPORARY WORKERS

It is another program for cheap labour, nothing more & a lot less. There answered.

Obligatory watch.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C18_G6wIh-Y

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPTcUMT4co

"Immigration is a controversial subject in Japan, where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity, even as the population ages and its workforce shrinks."

Simple reasons to that can be found here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C18_G6wIh-Y

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPTcUMT4co

Well, it should be noted that Egypt, Syria and Vietnam accepted zero. So, Japan accepted 20 times what they did.

No more refugees. If they are real asylum seekers or refugees, then their primary concern is safety from persecution, so they should be fine with applying to 200 other countries around the world. Why they keep applying to Japan undermines the validity of their claims.

There's no problems at all with professional and highly skilled expats coming and going, as they bring education and high added value. Am unsure what the point is at all of bringing in the unskilled or low wagers who only push down local wages with low added value and are highly likely to become extremely embittered at society very quickly

Canada's continued success ruins a good lie from fearmongers.

sf2kToday  

12:00 pm JST

Canada's continued success ruins a good lie from fearmongers

Because they’re just ‘murica’s top hat!

but seriously Canada gifted by the fact it does not share pourus border in mexico and enforcement is so good that NO illegals can hide for long.

And to top it off.

USA’s immigration system is so antiquated, they’re even looking to Canada as inspiration!

Sessions: 'We should be like Canada' in how we take in immigrants

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/369274-sessions-we-should-be-like-canada-in-how-we-accept-immigrants

Well, it should be noted that Egypt, Syria and Vietnam accepted zero. So, Japan accepted 20 times what they did.

20 times zero is still zero.

No more refugees. If they are real asylum seekers or refugees, then their primary concern is safety from persecution, so they should be fine with applying to 200 other countries around the world. Why they keep applying to Japan undermines the validity of their claims.

Not strictly true bud. I thought the same thing until someone pointed out to me, that the refugee(s) could have boarded (or smuggled on) a cargo ship in their own country of origin that just happened to be bound for Japan. Once here, claimed refuge.

0.1% is an embarrassment for a developed country. Of course, Japan DOES give a lot of money, but money does little -- especially when it rarely reaches those intended and is only offered in exchange for promised future outsourcing.

"Immigration is a controversial subject in Japan, where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity, even as the population ages and its workforce shrinks."

That's a rather euphemistic way of defining xenophobia. Japan has got to be careful, or the way of life and culture won't just be threatened but could disappear. I've never understood the morbid fear of change. People who come to Japan often do so because they look up to and respect the ways and culture. Not everything, of course, but all of the good things would stay the same, and even be adopted more overseas as people from other nations came, embraced them, and then in one way or another transmitted it back their home nations. Change is inevitable, but fighting it tooth and nail is more likely to ensure it gets lost and forgotten completely. I know many foreigners who know more about Japanese culture (history, origins of traditions, etc.) than Japanese, and while it seems weird, this is one way it is assured to carry on; unless it is stopped because "they are not Japanese".

The aging population and workforce problem is well past the tipping point, and the world isn't going to settle, nor will Japan in the near future be able to cope with, trafficking programs like the government sponsored "Intern program" (again, just human trafficking), nor can the people hope and pray for robots. Let more people in who are more willing to do the nitty gritty jobs then people already here. And let them stay so they can continue to do them.

Japan is a hard country to live in if you don’t know the language and customs.

You could take away the "Japan" replace it with just about ANY country and the same could be said. However one HUGE thing in Japan is it's relative safety.

How come no one whines that china and Russia should do more to take in refugees? They have larger land & more resources than Japan.

I think Japan is doing the right thing. Esp when you see the problems that Europe is having.

The vast majority of foreigners, that is, non Japanese living in Japan, are not in fact asylum seekers or immigrants but people from Chinese and Korean descent born in the country.

An excellent point many people forget. If we were to take the number of FOREIGN BORN foreigners, the number would be tiny.

smithinjapan

Today  12:58 pm JST

The mainstream answer is here.

Do you need economist to spell it out for you?

Obligatory watch.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C18_G6wIh-Y

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPTcUMT4co

In Japan, In USA, In UK, In some Europe countries, the people have said through votes, they don't want immigrations.

Seth M

Today  01:47 pm JST

In Japan, In USA, In UK, In some Europe countries, the people have said through votes, they don't want immigrations.

Actually

USA loves and is a-ok with immigration ad long as it’s modernized.

There’s plans underway in Republican-@led US congress to:

1) modernize rules and align it with most western nations (merit based and points based)

2) eliminate “diversity” visa

3) eliminate “chain-migration”

In Japan, In USA, In UK, In some Europe countries, the people have said through votes, they don't want immigrations.

No they don't. They say they don't want uncontrolled large-scale immigration and they believe that foreigners who sneak into a country illegally and work illegally should be deported when caught. They also say an inordinate number of political refugees are in practice economic refugees and should instead be treated as regular immigration candidates and vetted as such.

In other words, those "wacsists" or "bwigots," or whatever you want to call them, hold views in line with policies implemented nearly everywhere else in the world.

I don't think such a small number of people will dilute Japanese blood much more than it already is. Unless you live in an isolated village in some far-off mountain range, it is preposterous these days to think you have some type of 'genetic purity'. We are all made of various cultural influence and different bloodlines.

I don't understand everyones need to make every country into a melting pot.

I guess it's similar to how Japan wants to export their culture and people around the world. Foreigners who adore Japanese culture are often depicted in school text books. There are TV shows about Japanese living abroad, should they come home? Japanese culture spreading around the world is a common talking point. Add to that, the huge number of Japanese migrants happily living abroad and it gets a little hypocritical when people, Japanese or otherwise, bang on about 'immigrants ruining Japan'.

AgentX Brilliant Brilliant Post!

Young single men should never be given refugee status unless they are being persecuted for their religion or ethnic background.

I would love to see more foreigners as it is kind of lonely here but then I think it would be very lonely for the immigrants too as they would not have people from their own communities to associate with and they would find it almost impossible to assimilate. I think it is much better they apply in Europe, Australia or America. Better for them. If they are accepted here it is good for Japan though as it will add much needed diversity.

As much as I found everyone friendly and helpful when I visited Japan, and as much as I would love to visit again, the fact that refugee numbers are so low and immigration numbers are also very low, It is hard to have any alternate view that foreigners are ok if they leave, but we would rather they dont stay. Racism would be the best way to describe this. While too polite to say anything to anyone's face, it remains at the core of this issue.

Do you have any idea how many Japanese migrants are living abroad at the moment?

Be interesting if the close to 4 million Japanese living abroad were faced with the same circumstances, maybe not asylum status, but unable to get stable work, had to live under contracted positions, etc etc etc.

Maybe governments abroad should be treating their Japanese citizens the same way Japan treats foreigners here...quid pro quo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_diaspora

https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/6-biggest-Japanese-communities-outside-Japan

Far too many people here are confusing Immigrants with refugees.

Sure there are a lot of people claiming to be refugees whom are in fact economic migrants, but Japans historical record on refugees is far too poor to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Kind of made me laugh. It took them a month and a half to count to 20!!"

-@Papigiulio

 If people come here to work hard, let em in, otherwise keep them out. Also, leave your religion at the door.

It's a package, fool. I don't know who you are, but if you're a foreigner living in japan (or anywhere else), did they ask you to leave your identity and culture back home?

-@Red Suns

enforcement is so good that NO illegals can hide for long.

Wrong! Canada is crawling with aliens. That's yet another reason it's such a popular place to run to

Here comes the knee jerk reactions! They just come and come!

To be honest, this is one of those occasions where I’d say the policies of the powers that be are pretty much aligned with the honest opinion of the majority of the country.

Many years ago I had a Japanese girlfriend. In those days Caucasians like myself were a bit of a novalty to many Japanese. One day while out in the Japanese countryside, I said to her "one day, thousands of foriegners will come to Japan, and thousands will live here". She looked at me (almost sadly) and said "I hope not".

I guess that sums it all up really.

One day while out in the Japanese countryside, I said to her "one day, thousands of foriegners will come to Japan, and thousands will live here"

Why would you say something like that to your girlfriend?? Seriously, what's your issue?

Andy30

At that time, more and more Japanese people were starting to travel, as were more people travelling to Japan. Airfares were getting cheaper, foriegn companies were setting up in Japan and vice versa.

Japan had gained worldwide respectand was really changing. Those were the issues of that time.

No more refugees. If they are real asylum seekers or refugees, then their primary concern is safety from persecution, so they should be fine with applying to 200 other countries around the world. Why they keep applying to Japan undermines the validity of their claims.

Nope.

Young single men should never be given refugee status unless they are being persecuted for their religion or ethnic background.

Because no young single male should run from war since they have nothing to lose by staying and fighting? Yikes.

A refugee and an immigrant are two different things.

I am granted residence here based on my income and employment record, despite having had the option of a fast track via marriage. I pay taxes and all that is required of me and have followed the law to the letter.

While sadly I have no legal recourse to vote on these kinds of topics, I feel Im very much able to have an opinion.

As for immigration office treatment, can't say I have ever had a problem, always helpful and friendly enough for a government department, I will say however I have seen others, though I don't know all the details, mostly from other asian countries seemingly having a much tougher time.

A refugee or asylum seeker are claiming they are unable to live in their normal country of residence because of unsafe conditions, and more than likely will require significant financial help from the country that takes them on, and may not ever contribute to the greater good. It has to be vetted to extremely stringent levels, while people need assistance surely a countries main responsibility is to its current residents.

People coming from war or developing nations with vastly different ideas can and do have issues trying to adapt and on the rare occasion actually cause harm to residents.

Perhaps the numbers are low but in all honesty better that than sudden influxes, where we have seen around the world, and even when I was in New Zealand in the late 80s and mid 90s and we had nearly open immigration at one point, causes issues and not just for the locals but for the people that come their expecting a life and levels of assistance that don't actually exist.

Im all for a well managed skills and merit based immigration system, which includes ways for those from nations that may not have as high levels of education or wealth as Japan needs all kinds of workers as its population declines.

What I'll say, is if we do suddenly have mass refugee and asylum seekers and start seeing the issues that can cause, I will have to reconsider living here.

Japan taking a look at France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden.

shakes head

No thanks.

Pro's and con's on both sides but for a country such as Japan, which is still very insular its more likely to go wrong than right.

Keep right on doing what you're doing - Stay away from this New World order . who's leaders are actually causing the implosion of western Europe, nation by nation town by town. You Don't Need It OR Refugees .

Stay the course Japan - Mass Immigration and the modern definition of refugee's will destroy your culture and harmony, crime rates will rise, the so-called refugee's will become a financial burden - don't believe me take a look at Western Europe.

If Japan doesn't want more refugees, do more active advertising in the countries of refugee's origins.

Don't bother coming to Japan, because your chance of winning asylum is 1 in 1000.

A culture would have to pretty weak if it was destroyed by 20 refugees. Or 20 thousand, even.

It would be akin to saying that Japan's culture and harmony are being destroyed by all us gaijin already here.

@ Capuchin

Japan is a first world country and as such has a moral obligation to take in refugees and provide sanctuary to those who have no other option.

Well, they took in 20 after all and 'addressed' with this number the 'moral obligation'

You can't compare Japan with other developed countries as they only experienced limited labour immigration compared to for example Western-European countries. Those countries have been dealing with large numbers of labour migrants since the early sixties of the last century. It's known that the offspring of the first generation migrants is still having problems to integrate and both 'natives' and 'migrants' are to blame for that situation.

Worst still is that Japan is sorely in need of an immigrant population to replace its rapidly aging population. In a few generations Japan will be begging for an immigrant workforce.

Japan already received Brazilians and other South Americans of Japanese descent in the 1980's along with other Asians for jobs in for example the automotive industry. More recently a growing number of Mainland Chinese are registrated as residents.

The Japanese would rather choose for a 'dying story' than 'begging' for an immigrant workforce.

Robotics and automations will be more easily accepted than in any other developed country.

Last but not least: the Japanese are not interested at all in the opinion of a biased expat or tourist bypasser :)

It is a disgrace, nothing should be above humanity. I am all in for extremely carefulness, but if someone really in need want refugee he should never be denied that right. Japanese moved to several countries to run away from wars, now it is your turn to take in refugees.

Japan, you are fair, honest and smart country...

Well, it should be noted that Egypt, Syria and Vietnam accepted zero. So, Japan accepted 20 times what they did.

20 times zero is still zero.

Wow. People are downvoting math. Math.

Indisputable, inarguable, actual math.

Proving once again how illogical nationalism is.