Desirable Immigration Integration Policy for Japanese/Immigrants: A Social Survey of Japanese and Foreign Nationals

Institute of Asian Migrations & Migration and Citizenship Research Group

Asian Migrations Seminar Series

Desirable Immigration Integration Policy for Japanese/immigrants:

A Social Survey of Japanese and Foreign Nationals

Date and venue:

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November 2nd, 2021 (Tuesday) at 15:00-16:00 (JST) / Online (Zoom)

The talk will be in Japanese language

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Speaker:

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Professor. Kikuko Nakayoshi is an Asociate Professor in the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Tokyo, specializing in political consciousness studies such as attitudes to acceptance of immigrants and support for social security systems. Her primary research is focused on the effect of the macro-system on individual consciousness and living conditions. Her book ‘Immigration and Japanese Society(移民と日本社会)’ was published in 2020 with Chuokoron-Shinsha and she edited the book ‘Immigration Integration in Japan(日本の移民統合)’ in 2021 with Akashi Shoten.

Abstract:

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While the number of foreign nationals living in Japan is increasing year by year, Japan is still in the stage of deciding whether to accept immigrants or not, and there is no progress in discussing how to accept themselves. There are criticisms that it is nothing more than ‘cosmetic multiculturalism’ that only accepts superficial cultural diversity, ignoring socioeconomic rights for ‘multicultural coexistence(多文化共生),’ which is an integrated philosophy that has been established under such circumstances. In this seminar, Professor. Nagayoshi will examine what Japanese and foreign nationals living in Japan think about the desirable integration policy based on social survey data conducted in 2017 and 2018. The survey results of Japanese citizens showed that the proportion of people who support cultural rights is relatively high, but the relationship between supporting cultural rights and supporting social and political rights is relatively weak. On the other hand, a survey of foreign nationals who settled in Japan showed that the more active they are in acquiring rights and the more they find it challenging to maintain the culture, the less likely it is to feel recognized as members of Japanese society. These results suggest that the Japanese are not necessarily active in granting rights to foreign nationals but that granting rights plays an essential role in the process of integrating immigrants.

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日本に暮らす外国籍者が年々増加する一方、日本はいまだ移民の受け入れの是非を 問う段階にとどまっており、「どのように受け入れるか」については議論が進んで いない。そのような中で打ち立てられてきた統合理念である「多文化共生」に対し ては、社会経済的権利が無視されており、表面的な文化的多様性の受容にとどまる 「コスメティック多文化主義」にすぎないとの批判もある。本報告では、日本に暮 らす日本国籍者・外国籍者それぞれが、望ましい統合政策の在り方についてどのよ うに考えているのか、2017 年、2018 年に実施した社会調査データをもとに検討す る。分析の結果、日本国籍者調査からは、文化的権利に対しては肯定的な割合が比 較的高いが、文化的権利の支持と社会的権利・政治的権利への支持の関連は相対的 に弱く、すべてを支持している人の割合は高くないことが示された。一方、外国籍 者への調査をみると、日本に定着している人ほど、権利の獲得に積極的であること、 また、文化の維持が難しい感じることが、日本社会の一員として認められていると いう意識を持ちにくくしていることが示された。これらの結果は、日本人側は外国 籍者への権利の付与に必ずしも積極的ではないが、移民の統合の過程において権利 の付与が重要な役割を果たすことを示唆している。