I am in Tokyo.
Many foreigners
Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
51–60 of 285 posts
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#52So sad. Another ancient unique culture to be blended and homogenized into the global mass of undifferentiated Starbucks society. At least the megacorporations will get the cheap labor and undifferentiated consumers they want.
What is the alternative? All of the “developed” nations need immigration to prevent the social systems from completely falling apart. Our entire financial system is based on increasing population growth and the young paying to support the old. There aren’t enough young people. Without immigration, pensions, healthcare, social safety nets, property values… it all implodes. We go back to 1930 where old people just die…
They don't all implode, the paper value might implode, and the expectations probably have to change. That's pretty different. And honestly, imploding property prices would be quite helpful in solving the sub-replacement rate birth rate, as well as a host of other social problems.
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the alternative? All of the “developed” nations need immigration to prevent the social systems from completely falling apart. Our entire financial system is based on increasing population growth and the young paying to support the old. There aren’t enough young people. Without immigration, pensions, healthcare, social safety nets, property values… it all implodes. We go back to 1930 where old people just die…
And then the immigrants stay and get old and there is increased strain on the strained social systems. Most immigration systems in Europe assumed that the immigrants would go home once they have made some money. At some point it is going to implode anyway. The UK in the last 25 years has completely changed due to immigration and our health system is basically about to fall over, there are massive cultural tensions be…
Healthcare requires young, relatively healthy, people. It’s another system where the young pay for the old. The immigrants aren’t the immediate problem, they are the immediate solution. They may crowd the system, but they are also the ones funding it. Kick all young, relatively healthy, immigrants out and see how quickly healthcare collapses as the older people on fixed income try to find a way to balance the healthcare budget.
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#54So sad. Another ancient unique culture to be blended and homogenized into the global mass of undifferentiated Starbucks society. At least the megacorporations will get the cheap labor and undifferentiated consumers they want.
What is the alternative? All of the “developed” nations need immigration to prevent the social systems from completely falling apart. Our entire financial system is based on increasing population growth and the young paying to support the old. There aren’t enough young people. Without immigration, pensions, healthcare, social safety nets, property values… it all implodes. We go back to 1930 where old people just die…
So what happens when you have perpetual growth?
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#55> but it’s no longer quite right to call it homogeneous Are you sure? Japan is maybe 99% homogeneous? I live in central Tokyo and I can go on for days and days without seeing a foreigner! > it will inevitably introduce social strains Sadly, yes. I've observed this on few occasions.
Maybe many people you see are Asian foreigners (Chinese, Korean, Filipinos, etc) and you just don't realize it. I hear Chinese spoken on the streets all the time.
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#56Im conflicted about this - I enjoy the multicultural aspects of my own town (Seattle) but I also sympathise with this idea of having a home culture.
Is it really multiculturalism, in either Seattle or Japan? In multiculturalism, immigrants form enclaves that are durable and do not readily assimilate. That's not generally what happens in the US -- even second generation immigrant children speak English as a first language and are largely Americanized.
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Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#57The question of the origins of the Japanese peoples is a hotly debated issue. Jared Diamond (of Guns, Germs, and Steel fame) wrote an article on the subject in 1998:
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
>immigrants form enclaves that are durable and do not readily assimilate. That's not generally what happens in the US I’ve spent some time in Michigan or Minnesota and haven’t taken away the same conclusions. Maybe we could agree or disagree on “generally”.
I live in San Diego, 20 miles from the Mexican border. If you want to speak Spanish in Chula Vista or other immigrant enclaves, you'll find plenty of people who speak it. However, the number of second generation immigrants who speak Spanish exclusively is as far as I can tell, negligible. There are just too many benefits to assimilating. This isn't Quebec.
Speaking in support of the gp's point: Dearborn's community of Middle Easterners (more than just Muslims, also heavily Chaldean) speaks an awful lot of Arabic and not so much English. Similarly, the Chinese community in Ann Arbor is very insular and sticks heavily to Chinese over English.
This is not a normative statement to say that this is bad, but in this region there are immigrant groups that aren't assimilating as quickly or thoroughly as groups in other areas. Some of that is enforced temporary-ness in the case of the Chinese community in Ann Arbor, but some of it is the sheer size of the community in Dearborn -- the largest Muslim population in the Western world, not even mentioning the huge Chaldean group. (Might no longer be true after the recent refugee movement into Europe, but was true very recently.)
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is weird to hear: 1) stop having so many kids, it's bad for the Earth, and 2) we're not having enough kids, let's substitute with immigrants.
Perhaps some of those kids will become rocket scientists and help us get off this Earth and continue our relentless expansion and consumption off-world. Also, isn’t immigration a negation of 1)? The kids are already born, they’re just not in the same country. Sarcasm aside, there are two systemic problems at play. 1) is ecological, and 2) is economic. The second may be physically easier to solve- but it still require…
nope thats called being a liberal. in western countries no woman wants to make a kid. they just want to work. in africa were the values are still traditional in terms of family, that is the role of a woman.
Let's tackle the problem were it is. Western countries should make the babies as we live in societies where life is supposed to be easier. there should be financial penalties to the crazy growth of african/asian countries, education regarding contraception.
Re: Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the alternative? All of the “developed” nations need immigration to prevent the social systems from completely falling apart. Our entire financial system is based on increasing population growth and the young paying to support the old. There aren’t enough young people. Without immigration, pensions, healthcare, social safety nets, property values… it all implodes. We go back to 1930 where old people just die…
So what happens when you have perpetual growth?
I don’t know. Logan’s Run, maybe.