Aging forum series I:
Is Japan Becoming a Multi-Ethnic Society?

Sponsored by:

The Asia Foundationand The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Time:

May 15 and 16, 2001

Place:

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Map

While other industrializied countries have opened their doors to foreign workers to offset shortfalls in the labor force due to population aging, Japan has been less than eager to transform itself into a multi-ethnic society. But having the most rapidly aging society in the industrialized world, can Japan hold out forever?

The Asia Foundation and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung jointly invite you to spend an evening exploring Japan's options with Dr. Apichai Shipper and Professor Dr. Rainer Geissler, two eminent researchers who have spent years looking closely at the challenges facing societies when they accept large or sudden inflows of foreign workers.

Harvard researcher Dr. Shipper reports that he found no shortage of Japanese volunteers willing to work on behalf of increasing numbers of illegal aliens in Japan. In fact, Dr. Shipper suggests that in relative terms the numbers of Japanese helping foreigners may be greater than the number of Americans or Europeans. But he adds that the reasons for such an outpouring of sympathy from some elements in Japanese society may be something of a reaction against Japan's stiff regulatory environment, which makes it difficult for foreigners to work legally in Japan.

But how does this picture of a sympathetic Japanese public jibe with xenophobic reports of "increasing crime by foreigners" in the Japanese media? Dr. Rainer Geissler of Siegen University has tracked statistics of criminal activity by foreigners as reported in Germany and has found that the method of counting assures that foreigners will always be found to commit more crimes than local citizens. It has been suggested that Japanese crime figures also work to the disadvantage of foreigners.