Want to read about activism and the rights of foreigners in Japan? The new book “Fighting for Foreigners: Immigration and Its Impact on Japanese Democracy” by USC professor Apichai Shipper sounds promising:

Shipper coins the term “associative activism” to describe how the presence of poorly treated immigrants has led Japanese citizens in recent years to push the local and national government to adopt new policies, thereby advancing social democracy in Japan.

Japan is now the only country in Asia to provide legal channels to permanent residency for illegal immigrants. Moreover, Japan is the only country in Asia to offer public education even to the children of illegal foreigners.

Nongovernmental organizations headed by Japanese citizens speaking on behalf of illegal immigrants have successfully pressured the government to adopt a plan to combat human trafficking, to grant certain overstayed foreigners “special residence permission” and to extend national health insurance to certain foreigners. Over a four-year period beginning in 2000, Japan granted permanent residence to more than 40,000 illegal immigrants.

“It is the new, and especially illegal, foreigners whose presence has reinvigorated Japanese activists and civil society,” Shipper said.

“These activists have forced government officials to reflect on Japan’s national identity and to negotiate a new social contract with citizens for all those who reside on their islands.”

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