Why Japan Is Abandoning Its “Zero Immigration” Policy

Japan is facing an existential challenge - and its fight against it will change the country forever.

0:00 - Intro
0:56 - The Hermit Kingdom
05:00 - Sponsored Segment
06:15 - The Trap of Zero Immigration

Selected sources and further reading:

[takosdon]

I could see a future of foreigners who take these videos in stride, go to Japan become depressed due to the gap between ideals and reality and eventually criticize Japan. The Japanese people have always been, are and always will be a conservative people. It is best not to have excessive expectations.

[OpenBiolabsGuy]

If you want people to have more kids, don’t just throw money at them and say “we’ll pay you to have children!” You need work reforms that make more room for LIFE. Life can’t be about being a cog in a corporate machine until you’re too broken or worn down to function. You need to have a culture that focuses on family. Reasonable workdays, weekends, family sick leave, seasonal vacations that you can spend with your family. Time to go on a honeymoon vacation with your newly wed spouse. But no, the Japanese work culture is all-consuming.

[norihiro]

Never forget that being a tourist is not the same as living and working in a country.

[notmesuueman]

My wife decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to move to Japan because she wants the kids to grow up with somewhat similar values to hers and to me it wasn't an issue due to easier immigration policies. Got to see more of her family and better my Japanese skills. One thing was very commonly brought up whenever i had discussions with my brother in-law about kids was lack of time and how expensive it was. He would leave for work at 6am and come back 10pm if he wasn't out drinking with coworkers, he'd literally say that I was lucky to have a job outside of the country because of how flexible my schedules are, im basically in my kid's life 24/7 and he called that a rarity. The issue is work hours and even work enjoyment, he and his colleagues hate their work but cannot survive without it

[majora]

Japan needs to change its working conditions if they want to permanently attract foreign workers. As it stands their work culture demands that you practically sell your soul to a company, which means you have no life outside of your job or school. This is also a contributing factor to the decline in birthrates. People can't have babies if they don't have enough free time to pursue and develop relationships.

[greggvictorious]

I've been living in Japan for seven years and just had to renew my work via. There are so many more restrictions being enforced that I would say the opposite is true.

[neisanland]

open doors but heavily and carefully verify who passes, Japan is known for it's low crime and amazing services. it needs to remain like that.

[ChicagoRonin]

Just got back from a recent trip (my first in 30 years) and noticed a lot more foreign-born permanent residents living and working in Japan. And frankly, I felt like most people were nicer than i remembered. I went on a food tour in Osaka led by a British man who had emigrated to Japan and settled down with a Japanese wife and had two teenage daughters. An Australian couple on the tour asked me if I'd ever move to Japan. I replied I was hesitant because although I speak Japanese and was of Japanese ancestry, I'm not just American but half Korean. My tour guide chimed in and said that's becoming less of an issue, especially among younger generations. Left me with a lot to think about.

[OlliTechDE]

Live in Japan for four years now. Really love the country, the people, the environment etc. The most thing I enjoy is having my calm. Nobody is annoying or disturbing you, in a good way. You can just live your life and be happy with your things. You can stay forever or return after years, it's completely up to you. Japan is a very relaxed country to live once you got use to it.

[ssssssstssssssss]

Japan started changing the policy about 15 years ago. It’s not something that recent. The government cannot be too loud about it though because the people are nervous about immigration.

[raymondrogers]

The citizens of Japan should decide Japan's future for the benefit of the Japanese people. Outsiders should respect this and the Japanese people should not allow outside pressure to compromise its culture and dictate policies towards Japan.

[anzuchan]

The problem is, most jobs in Japan require capability to speak and read Japanese without so much conpensation. Unless you desire to work specifically in Japan for some reason, you'd rather learn English or something and go elsewhere. Although this monolingualism might have helped prevent serious brain drain from happening.

[TheNexCat]

I’ve been in Japan as a Tourist and this is a wonderful place. However, I’m not sure about relocating here as I heard of hard-working culture that scares me.

[SuperMichelePlay]

I am sad to hear that.
I'm Italian, immigration has made Italy worse. Degradation, insecurity, ethnic conflicts, struggles between mafias and gangs.
and the Italians continually accused of racism unjustly...
Mass immigration is a colonial system… on the contrary, where the natives are continually humiliated.

[abellyold]

The expectation to conform and behave strictly according to norms is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture of which an individual must have immense courage to be an unconventional maverick or act out of the norm.

[NoctLightCloud]

looking at the current protests going on in France, I can NOT recommend that path to Japan😅

[drifle]

As much as Japan opens to the world, the japanese society still has a closed mindset of receiving foreigners in their community. This has nothing to do with racism or any discrimination, it's just the culture is so kept intact that foreigners will almost have a very difficult time to integrate into one.

[sharrablackfire]

Saying Japan was more strict than North Korea is stupid hyperbole

[SolamenteTavo]

Yeah, I want to go to work and have kids in a country with a culture that expects me to spend like 14h at work or being seen as a lazy inmigrant

[CausallyExplained]

i want Japan to stay as it is. Europe is going downhill with all the immigration. As much as i want to live in Japan, i would still not want them to make it easy. Choose where you bring your people from and be very selective.