Japan Faces Hard Questions on Immigration

Japan Faces Hard Questions on Immigration

The facts about Japan’s demographics and their impact on the economy are clear. According to the Committee for Japan’s Future, a government task force, Japan’s total labor force will decline to 55 million by 2060, even with the elderly working to age 70. Furthermore, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan projects that an elderly population that teeters on 40 percent of the total population will heavily burden the remaining workforce. These labor shortages will result in decreased economic dynamism, a smaller tax base and emasculate Japan’s ability to promote its national interests both domestically and internationally.
Currently, Japan’s labor shortages are not being felt equally across the economy. Labor shortages are more acutely experienced in particular sectors such as construction, transportation, commerce and the services sector for several reasons.
Dealing with the much greater challenge of Japan’s demographic implosion will require an immigration strategy with Japanese characteristics that has appropriate and robust integration policies to maximize the human capital that comes to Japan but also minimizes intercultural and interethnic friction in a country with little ethnic and cultural diversity in mainstream society.
-www.japantimes.co.jp, 4 October 2016

Commentary: Population explosion is a term no longer used in Japan and in many other successful, industrial nations. Japan apparently has two major problems: 1) they are super-rich as a nation, listed in the CIA Factbook in fourth place when it comes to exports; 2) they lead the world in life expectancy, which stands at about 85 years. Thus, the much dreaded word, immigration—particularly since in recent years millions have risked their lives to reach the shores of Europe—seems to be a positive answer.
What does immigration do? It brings people from other countries with different cultures and languages, whose children and grandchildren will be productive citizens of the country. They contribute much toward global unity. That will and must come about according to prophetic Scripture.