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The birthrate in Japan is at an all-time low, far below the rate needed to maintain the population. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research has predicted that Japan could lose 20 million people by 2050. If that isn’t bad enough, Japan also has one of the most rapidly graying populations in the world. Four out of 10 Japanese could be over the age of 60 by the middle of this century, and there may not be enough people of working age to support them. Many people argue that mass immigration is the only way to defuse a ticking demographic time-bomb. 

Unlike in most other developed nations, the number of foreign residents in Japan is extremely low — just over 2 million people or 1.56 percent of the population. By way of comparison, in the U.S., foreign-born residents make up almost 12 percent of the population, and in the U.K. around 8 percent. 

[Tokyo suburb] Nishi-Kasai’s Indian immigrants…tell of difficulties settling in Japan. One fundamental issue is language, as many IT workers have limited Japanese skills. While perhaps not an obstacle in their working life, it can cause problems outside the office.

“The doctors here are not that fluent in English,” says Suhas Sambhus, an IT specialist. Another problem is housing. High deposits and nonreturnable “key-money” costs are daunting for new arrivals. Many landlords are also reluctant to lease to foreigners. Consequently, most of Nishi-Kasai’s Indian population lives in large, government-owned apartment complexes.

But perhaps most fundamental of all is the issue of social acceptance. Manish Prabhune puts it bluntly: “There are only two nationalities in Japan: Japanese and foreigner.” Long-term residents of various nationalities struggle to find a place in Japan. Relatively few of Nishi-Kasai’s community choose to stay long-term.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070116zg.html

Two state-run immigration centers where foreigners who have violated the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law are detained until they are deported failed to have a full-time doctor on staff despite ministerial requirements, it has been learned.

As adequate medical treatment and health care for the detainees is stipulated in a Justice Ministry ordinance, a full-time doctor is required to be stationed at the centers’ clinics.

However, the West Japan Immigration Center in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, has not had a full-time doctor for about five months since the last doctor resigned on Aug. 1, according to the Immigration Bureau.

The Omura Immigration Center has not had a full-time doctor for about two years since a clinic chief dispatched from a local university resigned at the end of 2004.

Full-time doctors shoulder such responsibilities as preventing the spread of infectious diseases and instructing nurses and other staff.

Maintaining adequate medical and health services at detention facilities of any kind is also stipulated in the U.N. Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment adopted at the General Assembly in 1988. Therefore, the government may face criticism from abroad over the centers’ lack of full-time doctors.

Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty International Japan said: “The central government hasn’t fulfilled its responsibility to ensure adequate medical services at the centers. It’s required to have a budget for two full-time in-house doctors at each facility.”

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061222TDY02004.htm

Japan’s population started declining in 2005, but in contrast, registered foreigners soared to a record high 2.01 million, a leap from 1.36 million a decade ago and accounting for 1.57 percent of the nation’s total population.

As baby boomers born between 1947 to 1949 start to retire this year, getting more foreign nationals into the workforce and into communities is increasingly becoming a hot topic for the government and businesses.

Foreigners are becoming increasingly visible, particularly Chinese people, the largest-growing ethnic segment.

They are not just part of the labor force but are also the brains behind many new jobs, technologies and services. They also bridge the two major trading partners, and more are increasingly considering Japan their home and are finding opportunities to succeed here.

Koreans still comprise the largest ethnic minority in terms of special permanent residency. In 2005, this group, including those in Japan before the war and their descendants, numbered some 598,000. Statistically, however, their numbers are declining yearly as the elderly pass away and younger Koreans opt to become Japanese citizens.

Other ethnic groups are steadily on the rise, a flow that started around the early 1990s when the country opened its doors to more foreigners to cover a labor shortage. Prominent among them are Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese descent, but Chinese account for the most, at 519,000, or 25 percent of all registered aliens.

In addition to being long-term residents, entertainers or spouses of Japanese, Chinese like most Brazilians, Peruvians and Filipinos hold status at various levels.

In 2005, some 89,000 were registered as exchange students, 14,700 as engineers and 40,500 as trainees, while 2,500 came as university professors and 1,380 as investors.

Many meanwhile work in industries that depend on them — students employed as part-timers in restaurants, convenience stores and supermarkets, and trainees providing labor in industries ranging from textiles to fisheries to agriculture. An increasing number of small companies also want foreign information technology engineers to run their businesses.

The most notable demographic trend, though, is the rise in permanent residents. This status is generally conferred on foreigners who have “contributed to Japan” for at least five to 10 years. While the number is up for most nationalities, Chinese top the list again. More than 106,000 registered as permanent residents last year, nearly twice the figure of five years ago.

The 1998 deregulation of permanent residency criteria helped expedite the rise, the Justice Ministry said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070103f1.html

The number of visas for entertainers issued by Japan is estimated to have fallen by more than 70% from a peak of 140,000 in 2004 to 40,000 this year on tougher visa requirements, according to data made available by the Foreign Ministry on Thursday. The government issues such visas to singers, dancers and other foreign artists willing to work in Japan.

The tougher requirements include a minimum of two years’ experience as an artist, and certification of personal identity and special education records during visa issuance procedures. The number of entertainer visas is expected to decline for Filipinos from 85,000 to less than 10,000 this year, for Chinese from 8,500 to less than 5,000 and for Russians from 6,000 to 3,000, according to the ministry’s data.

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/394757

For years, people like Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara have been up in arms about rising crime rates among foreigners and juveniles in Japan, but one of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s public safety experts has come out to say the claims are groundless, according to Sunday Mainichi (12/31).

Ishihara and his ilk have long laid the blame on foreigners for a perceived worsening of public safety standards that has allowed the powers that be to strengthen and crack down on non-Japanese and teens.

But Hiroshi Kubo, the former head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Emergency Public Safety Task Force, says they’ve got it all wrong.

“Put simply, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s public safety policy involves telling people that public safety standards have worsened and police groups need strengthening to protect the capital’s residents,” Kubo tells Sunday Mainichi. “But I’ve realized there’s something unnatural about this ‘worsening.'” 

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20061221p2g00m0dm003000c.html