Immigration and Citizenship in Japan

This book investigates democratic inclusion in Japan, the only advanced industrial democracy with a fourth-generation immigrant problem.

Erin Aeran Chung (Author)

9781107637627, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2014

222 pages, 3 b/w illus. 6 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.35 kg

'Through her detailed study, Chung shows that immigration, nationality, and citizenship are political issues which involve not only the legal position of Japan's former colonial subjects but also the social context in which all people live their lives.' Ronni Alexander, Japanese Journal of Political Science

Japan is currently the only advanced industrial democracy with a fourth-generation immigrant problem. As other industrialized countries face the challenges of incorporating post-war immigrants, Japan continues to struggle with the incorporation of pre-war immigrants and their descendants. Whereas others have focused on international norms, domestic institutions, and recent immigration, this book argues that contemporary immigration and citizenship politics in Japan reflect the strategic interaction between state efforts to control immigration and grassroots movements by multi-generational Korean resident activists to gain rights and recognition specifically as permanently settled foreign residents of Japan. Based on in-depth interviews and fieldwork conducted in Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Osaka, this book aims to further our understanding of democratic inclusion in Japan by analyzing how those who are formally excluded from the political process voice their interests and what factors contribute to the effective representation of those interests in public debate and policy.

Introduction
1. Is Japan an outlier? Cross-national patterns of immigrant incorporation and noncitizen political engagement
2. Constructing citizenship and non-citizenship in postwar Japan
3. Negotiating Korean identity in Japan
4. Citizenship as political strategy
5. Destination Japan: global shifts, local transformations
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Migration, immigration & emigration [JFFN]