Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9464369:


Robots! 10 3, 9:24am

I'm American, but I've lived in Japan for the last 30 years, and I tend to find characterizations of Japanese racism to be overblown. Does Japan have restrictive immigration policies? Certainly. But they are not so much race-based as they are aimed at preventing the creation of an unassimilated underclass. They do that by making sure that if you want to move here, you have a university level profession, are employed, and have Japanese associates who will vouch/sponsor you and be responsible for your behavior. That being said, even those restrictions have not stopped an underground economy from forming, but it has certainly kept it within tolerable limits. Another thing that keeps the immigrants at bay is there is no welfare net for them to tap into. Japan does have social welfare programs, but they are difficult to apply for, carefully supervised, and fraud is severely punished.