2 - Multicultural Coexistence Policies of Local Governments in the Tokyo Metropolis: A Comparative Examination of Social Integration in Response to Growing Ethnic Diversity

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Since the early 1980s, Japan has used foreign workers to compensate for labour shortages in blue collar industries and other forms of employment deemed dirty, dangerous, and difficult (the 3Ds). Economic structural dependence on foreign workers has contributed to Japan's foreign resident population increasing to 2,186,121 in 2009, or 1.71 per cent of the total population (Figure 2.1).

According to the MOJ (2007) in its 2007 Immigration Control Report, increased migration to Japan can be attributed to six factors: (1) availability of Trainee Programmes; (2) special residency and opportunities for Nikkeijin (See Abella 1995, pp. 418–23; MOJ 1992, p. 12); (3) abundant jobs for foreign students and entertainers; (4) job opportunities for undocumented workers; (5) family reunion opportunities for those in international marriages; and (6) the ease with which foreigners can enter Japan and overstay their visas. This increase may be expected to continue as part of a comprehensive strategy to deal with the projected labour shortage (The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research 2006, p. 6). These state views on migration echo the views of neo-classical economic scholars that migration is a result of both macro-level pressures that compel or make migration possible, and the micro-level aspects of individual choice (Massey et al. 1993).

Employing the social integration metrics of structural integration, cultural integration, interactive integration and identificational integration, this chapter investigates the multicultural coexistence/social integration practices of two local governments in the Tokyo Metropolis (hereafter Tokyo): Shinjuku and Adachi. Its objective is to examine how local governments and ethnic communities contribute to the formation of local government-led social integration practices. Through understanding how ethnic communities influence social integration practices, local governments would be better able to mitigate the challenges of governing multiethnic municipalities, furthering the social integration of various ethnic groups while diminishing the inevitable frictions that arise when new ethnic groups settle in urban settings. Drawing on interviews with local government officials and primary documents collected during my doctoral studies in Tokyo (2004–08) and my tenure as the International Relations Coordinator in a local government in Tokyo (2001–04, 2005–06) this chapter investigates the different approaches that Adachi and Shinjuku take to the development of social integration policies.