2023 Volume 5 Pages 32-
As the cross-border movement of labor accelerates the expansion of demographic and social diversity in Japan, its multicultural policies and programs related to immigration issues are prone to unceasing disputes. Situated within this site of contestation, the current work reframes and revisits the question about the government’s moves toward “multicultural coexistence” in relation to its underlying governance for including foreign migrants in society. Starting with a sketch of socio-demographic shifts driven by migration inflow, this article traces the evolution of Japan’s immigration-related policies from the 1980s to the 2010s. In particular, this article demonstrates how the development of immigration control policies regulating the expansion of de facto immigrant acceptance, together with the entrenchment of integration policies within the discourse of “multicultural coexistence,” constructs a governance framework that pivots around the politics of conditional inclusion by determining the scope and extent of inclusiveness it commits to. Based on the current examination and existing critiques of Japan’s immigration and “multicultural coexistence” policy, this article further provides an understanding of its governance model as a neoliberal construction of immigration inclusion and attempts to throw light on its positive sides concerning the potential for advancing a more inclusive society.
