I’ll go ahead and say I’m not a big fan of this endeavor brought up in ‘Only immigrants can save Japan’ | The Japan Times Online.
I am definitely for the idea of allowing more immigrants into Japan and having some more cultural diversity, but the idea of immigrants “saving” anybody seems kind of strange. Japan needs an economic boost, sure, but I would not count on immigrants bringing that boost. Japan needs to change quite a few other things before it starts trying to bring in more people, such as the education system. A better educated populace would be infinitely more productive than bringing in more people to somehow boost the economy with more numbers.
Also, how is it that the whole idea of this sort of “population revolution,” as it were, doesn’t take into account that humans don’t like change. We are comfort creatures and the whole idea of replacing the known with the unknown tends to cause panic. People fear what they don’t understand. Even worse, forcing social change tends to incite violence.
How does Mr. Sakanaka think the Japanese people will handle this change? Does he really think that Japanese people are so tolerant?
I’ve lived in Itako for over a year and I still get the stares, the whispers, kids pointing, and all that. I can’t imagine what it would be like if there were suddenly more foreigners around without any warning. I’m not sure how my city would handle it, quite honestly.
However, I do like the idea of my students someday with friends from other countries. I want my half students not to bullied anymore, but instead accepted as just other student at school where the idea of “pure blood” doesn’t matter anymore. I would like to think that with some more exposure to more foreign people Japan could be a little more accepting of differences instead of constantly set to a rigid social structure.
Still, the rate that Mr. Sakanaka proposes appears too quick for Japanese people to get accustomed to such a flood of foreign people. What makes me even more nervous is that his last endeavor with the Brazilian population didn’t work out. It paints a very unpleasant picture in the possible near future in my opinion.
Living the Dream 