International/Domestic Immigration and the Question of Membership of Territorial Communities in Japan

Abstract

International immigration and domestic immigration are legally different, but they both result in immigrants joining existing communities. Ironically, the Japanese government has a more positive attitude about accepting foreign students into Japanese universities than do the local governments about accepting non-local students into their universities. In a time of important demographic changes in Japan, both at national and local levels, whether immigrants can become full members of existing communities will emerge as an important question related to community identity.