Jonathan Saxty, a columnist for Britain's Daily Express, saying that Japan and the UK have both gone into technical recessions but only Japan will bounce back because it remains a manufacturing giant.
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The Japanese look at the West and see that mass immigration is hardly helping ailing economies like Britain, France, and Germany. Japan's national cohesion also makes for a very liveable and safe country, unlike Germany or the UK.
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kaimycahl
@TaiwanIsNotChina Are you serious? IN what way, besides HELPING THE US go broke! The sanctuary cities are draining the cities budgets and crime and the quality of life in those cities with the illegals is on the rise because they do not respect law in order, because most come from third world countries where they didn't respect the rule of law. America is becoming a third world breeding ground!
It is helping the US, though.
Fighto!
I don't know of any credible people/organization who are "telling" Japan to accept mass immigration. A handful of foreign residents and SE Asians desperate to live in Japan are perhaps the exceptions, but they are not exactly acting in Japan's best interests.
Mass immigration to Japan is not on the table - never will be.
Japan is the model for showing the world how society can function well with a shrinking population and negligible immigration.
Tamarama
Japan has the right to say no to mass immigration, and other people simply don't have the right to tell them they are wrong to do so. It's their country, they have the right to decide what is best for them. If the Japanese prefer a much smaller sized population that retains the same monocultural complexion of today, I'm 100% fine with that. In fact, I admire them for that. Partly because that's one of the things I personally like about Japan, but partly because they don't wilt to international pressure on the matter.
Good on 'em.
Mocheake
National cohesion can't help with a falling birthrate, stagnant wages, an apathetic population, unfriendly neighbors, a graying population, etc but it doesn't bother me. When the bottom drops out, many will still want to blame foreigners.
wallace
The UK by ethnic group.
82% of people in England and Wales are white, and 18% belong to a black, Asian, mixed, or other ethnic group (2021 Census data). British Asians are the largest non-white group, 9.6%.
Fighto!
When an empire colonizes around a quarter of the world, there are going to be repercussions. In the case of the UK, it was "mass" immigration from Asia, Africa the West Indies and more. Those bigots calling London "Londonistan" for example were probably enthusiastic supporters of a powerful Great British Empire in past times.
Think carefully before colonizing nations if you do not wish to have massive future changes (some of which have been very positive, to be fair).
Japan has some challenges - no one can feasibly dispute this - but it is highly unlikely they will ever allow or require mass immigration. Technology will be adequate to take the place of many jobs going forward - robots working on farms and in factories, AI, drones and self-driving vehicles, to name a few.
Jimizo
That’s one of the downsides.
It’s one of the reasons why immigration needs more careful thought.
I remember the UK government talking about granting potential citizenship to millions of Hong Kongers. I fully sympathize with anyone wanting to get out and go to the UK, but where were they going to live in a country with housing shortages?
Jimizo
The Daily Express.
One of the tabloids of choice for the fearful, insular and genuinely bigoted.
Toilet paper.
wallace
Mass immigration causes housing problems. In Holland, there is a shortage of affordable housing for renting and buying. Similar problems in other countries.
bass4funk
So, you’re saying Canada is lying about its own stats? Huh?
This has nothing to do with Trump, this has to do with Trudeau and his policies, and the growing homeless crisis that’s developing rapidly in Canada
Strangerland
Cause you guys blocked border legislation. One democrat already won a seat based on that, and November will be a blue landslide. Anyone who thinks otherwise must be the type of person who believed Fox when they said Trump won in 2020.
That's a logical impossibility.
UChosePoorly
Fair enough, so just military aid (weapons) to be sent to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and not cash? I could live with that.
Redemption
Only been there 2 times and it appeared spotless and dynamic to me. Never been to the UK. The US is great in certain areas but we have completely abandoned certain urban areas to chaos.
bass4funk
And that is the reason why I want all the resources available to get these people off the streets, I think that should be a first priority before sending money anywhere to any other nation, along with sealing the border
wallace
Like the 600,000 homeless in the US.
Strangerland
And that was my reply to the comment that I quoted.
Yeah, because Vancouver is the place people in Canada have migrated to most over the past number of years. Including the homeless, as it is the warmest place in Canada.
Moderator
All readers back on topic please.
bass4funk
Yes, but they don’t need to be on the streets, liberals certainly don’t want them anywhere near them, that’s a fact
bass4funk
Ok, and?
I see, but it has nothing to do with the rising homeless crisis that is brewing in Vancouver
UChosePoorly
I feel like I have heard you say 'the poor will always be with us' or something to that effect, no?
UChosePoorly
As a descendent of immigrants, I am certainly glad my country took my folks in. I don't think it would be very sporting of me to close the door on others after all the opportunity that my country has afforded my family.
bass4funk
I disagree..
This is true.
And that is your opinion, but I think you are wrong.
Aly Rustom
Immigration is an area rich in fear mongering and muck racking.
Exactly! The west is what it is because of immigration. And as someone who lives in Japan with a good job, a house with a garden and 2 cars, I'd HAPPILY drop all of that and move to Canada in a HEARTBEAT if I could with my family.
bass4funk
Homeless.
Rising in Vancouver, a once beautiful city.
12 times, no pessimism involved.
Well, I am from Los Angeles, and it’s a hellhole, but some people they love it, and don’t see it as a hellhole, that’s OK, but the crime status say something different, but people can see what they want.
It would depend on the person as to who they believe or what they see as believable, we are all different.
Again, that is a matter of opinion.
Strangerland
Canada's net immigration is positive. Many high-educated.
Every country has incoming and outgoing migration. Canada is no different.
Strangerland
You mean the roaring housing market?
And what city doesn't have poverty and homelessness?
Anyways, people can take each opinion based on that of the speaker. You, a chicken-little pessimist who visited Vancouver once, or me, someone who has been visiting Vancouver for decades and currently lives just outside it. I know which "opinion" I would feel has validity, and which person looks foolish for thinking they know more from one visit.
K3PO
The Canadians that leave are a loss to Canada but will be welcomed anywhere, I'm sure.
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-why-so-many-canadians-are-moving-out-of-vancouver-the-province-and-the-country
wallace
British farmers cannot hire enough workers to harvest their crops.
bass4funk
Well, Japan has nothing to do with What I saw in Vancouver.
You know what they say about opinions...
bass4funk
Well, that’s not what I saw a few short years ago.
I disagree, but that’s my opinion.
Good for them.
Well, you can’t because you can’t change what I saw, you can’t.
Strangerland
As someone who lived in Vancouver as a teen, and has been returning regularly ever few years for decades, and finally living in the same province, I assure you it's not falling apart at all, and it's one of the best cities on the planet, with an extremely high quality of life.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
bass4funk
I was in Vancouver just before Covid and it was once a great city but it’s now a shadow of its former self, a real dump and it’s a damn shame, but Trudeau is another Newsom carbon copy. Just disgusting what these men have done to these great places.
One in five children in B.C. were living in poverty in 2019," the organization said in a statement released Wednesday alongside the 2021 report. With 18 per cent of B.C. children living in poverty, the province is just above the national average of 17.7 per cent.
-Vancouver Poverty Reduction Centre.
GuruMick
Can someone define "mass immigration " and show how, say in the UK, the rate of immigration could meet the definition.
My experience is that many people see anyone different as an immigrant no matter how long the person has resided or even how many generations have been living in a place.
Strangerland
As someone who lives in Canada, I assure you it is at the top of quality of life in the world, and is only "falling apart" to people who have an inability to be satisfied with anywhere on the planet.
JeffLee
Indeed, in Canada, the current prime minister energetically warns tells the public that without mass immigration, the country would fall apart. Naturally the country is in fact falling apart while his ultra-neolib policies are in full force.
@moon
The UK saw a sharp rise in manufacturing in the 1980s. The slowdown happened during the 70s, when guess who was in charge of the country.
"Why did UK manufacturing productivity growth slow down in the 1970s and speed up in the 1980s?"
https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/economics/papers/1999/w24/ch3.pdf
The pro-mass immigration folks tend to be either deceptive in their arguments or woefully misinformed. It's all about the narrative and not the reality. The public is not as stupid as you think it is.
GillislowTier
lol they really quoted a tabloid. Geeze
GBR48
The British tabloid press is a terrible place to go fishing for quotes. The tabloids have zero credibility for a reason. They just peddle their owner's prejudices to their sector of the market.
Loads of sectors in the UK are starved of labour because Brexit has blocked migrant labour or increased the cost of it.
Food has rotted in the fields, nurseries and care homes have closed, and the NHS is reaching breaking point. Services are collapsing.
5% unemployment is seen as 'full employment' as those who remain out of work are not looking for it or do not have the skills or temperament to be employed without harming the reputation of the employer. Most G7 countries are running low on staff.
Increasing wages isn't a solution, but is a good way of initiating an inflation spiral that increases poverty. If competent, reliable staff are not available, it doesn't matter how much cash you offer. Higher wages do not make people competent.
Migrant labour is as important a resource as rare earth metals. Without it, G7 economies will decay.
America and its infrastructure was built with migrant labour. Biden's new plans will require migrant labour again.
GuruMick
Agree that the source newspaper and columnist are right wing wack jobs.
Dont agree that "mass immigration " is the source of the chattering class'' woes for everything but the weather.
Trump made fake connections with crime and Latino/Mexican migrants which was debunked by statistics showing a lower incidence of arrest for these groups.
Australia has a stupid history including the "White Australia " policy, the election of populists like One Nation party who started on Aboriginal "privilege, moved to Japanese signage in tourist area and finally settled on anti Muslim sentiment.
Immigration is an area rich in fear mongering and muck racking.
Right wing Politicians in Australia getting mileage from Palestinian immigrants/refugees...."may be terrorists among them.""
Remember the pre WW2 story of the ship with hundreds of Jews fleeing Germany....the ship was denied landing in many countries including Australia, and the USA....both nations built on migration.
Moonraker
Funny. The Express has long been a mouthpiece for the party that destroyed manufacturing in the UK in the 80s. It would gladly have supported that destruction at the time as being in the interest of some higher cause. And bouncing back from recession in Japan requires greater private consumption. You can have factories churning out widgets mightily but if nobody buys them in Japan then GDP will not rise.
These right-wing papers are just silly. But their readers are not the sharpest.
Of course, "mass immigration" may not be great but little immigration may not be great either. Maybe a happy medium is needed. But such nuance is impossible when you are either for something or against it in the minds of the readers (which these reporters are generally cognisant of and like to exploit).
browny1
Speed - right to the point.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about MASS immigration being required for Japan.
The EU shares common borders and are located close to the largest mass-upheaval of people through war, conflict, socio-economic hell etc.
Japan is not comparable at all.
It's needs are distinctly different.
kohakuebisu
The Daily Express is a complete joke and no-one writing for it will know the first thing about Japan. They will have zero reporters in Japan. Japan here is just a convenient stick to beat immigrants into the UK with.
The analysis is also extremely weak, because Japan is desparate for immigrants to drive buses, taxis and work in care homes, work in convenience stores etc. etc. Japan is not a country that is closed and is somehow not "ailing" because of it.
Speed
Japan doesn't need or want MASS migration.
We need more migration perhaps with a higher cap with more family and language support, more longer term and inclusive visas, and less discrimination against foreigners having public service jobs.
More well integrated immigrants is exactly what Japan needs.
JeffLee
Could have added Canada to that list. More immigrants per capita than any other OECD nation while socio-economic conditions have plummeted to crisis levels: no affordable housing and healthcare, hardly any decent jobs, very bad public transportation and many other strained and broken infrastructure.
Japan with its prudently low immigration is sooooo much better off. The Japan model could well be the model of the future, because there's no future for countries like Canada anymore.
TaiwanIsNotChina
It is helping the US, though.
Blacksamurai
You can't compare the immigrants in the UK who came legally through the system with associated costs with the subversiveness and net losses of the 'asylum seeking' scams in Europe and the UK for about 30 years now. That's unfair and if you go to cental London today, you'll find the succeeding generations of immigrant families to be running businesses, driving the buses, working in different industries.
The EU has tolerated human traffickers bringing countless unsuitable people into its domain while having harsh laws for the descendants of the Europeans, British and Irish who left in the 18th and 19th centuries for the US, Canada, Austalia and NZ. You can have an unbroken line of European and British/Irish descent for thousands of years but in most cases you can't live in your homeland unless your grandparents or parents come from there. Meanwhile millions, many of whom are economic opportunists and some with drug cartel connections, militia membership, human trafficking families/connections have been allowed to scame the system by claiming 'asylum'.
One of the driving forces behind Brexit was to leave this toxic, unjust sytem whereby those conmen and conwomen and cultures generally unsuited to a liberal, western democracy have been given precedence and endless welfare because in some of those cultures, men don't work. They don't stay and fight for their countries either which is why Europe and the UK ended up with so many aggressive males banding together in gangs or in criminal enterprises.
The hypocrite Ursual Leyden, of course from a very rich and privileged family, says she won't work with the 'far right' govts in Europe - she enjoys conflating right wing with far right because she and her kind take a moral ground yet all the while having unleashed the dysfunction including an increase in arms trafficking and sexual assaults on women through their agendas. Their refugee criteria is also low bar so no wonder Europeans will start voting for any party that will take the action needed to deport those who shouldn't be there.
kyushubill
It's not "mass immigration", it's mass ILLEGAL immigration.
Tim Sullivan
Mass immigration has been a disaster for the UK.