It’s horrendously cruel to make people choose between one nationality and another, and it makes it very difficult for people to plan their family lives effectively as regards taking care of elderly parents, etc.

Plus, the rule deprives Japan of a lot of citizens. Some other nationalities offer more flexibility and mobility – for example, any European citizenship offers you access to the whole of Europe. Pragmatically, it makes more sense to revoke Japanese citizenship, which only gives you access to Japan, rather than that of a European country, which gives you access to such a wide area.

“Perhaps I’d go to France or Italy and become a baker. Enjoy good cheese and wine, and beautiful women.”

That’s fine. The French would welcome you. The problem would be if you said something like “Perhaps I’d go to France or Italy and become a radical imam. Arouse anti-Western religious fervour, import sectarian hatred, impose my cultural values, and foment the overthrow of Western civilization”….

Perhaps Japan would be ok, the food isn’t for everyones liking. Too much fish for some people. And not everyone likes raw fish. And the language is difficult. Perhaps they’ll feel slightly insulted when on a few people move here.

Perhaps I’d go to France or Italy and become a baker. Enjoy good cheese and wine, and beautiful women.

Perhaps the poor in peru and bolivia will move down to argentina. The africans will run up to russia to try vodka. Who knows. I imagine half the Japanese will move to Hawaii…

Or perhaps once the borders are open, people will feel more patriotic to their own birth place and stay put.

What immigration control sets to do is stem what ultimately will be total chaos.

Truth hurts.

“Probably learning more about Britain would be a good thing for me but I could say the same of tens of other wealthy countries.”

But the the UK is one of the most important ones to learn about. Especially for an English-speaker and citizen of a former English colony.

I don’t try to keep myself in ignorance but to some extent I live a life of sweet blissful ignorance and I’m trying to keep it that way means my lifestyle.

Probably learning more about Britain would be a good thing for me but I could say the same of tens of other wealthy countries. Learning more about third world countries and their plights would be great for me but would undoubtedly bring out my guilty conscience and encourage me to to do something other than enjoying my life of relative comfort and ease.

It’s a small selfish world I live in and that world is also trying to keep it that way.

You mean the 70′s? How about the Reagan 80′s? OMG whatever decade do you mean? You don’t mean the 90′s, surely?

What crimes rates are you talking about, that have decreased? Homicide? Rape? Robbery? Drug-traffic? Human traffic?

There is a very big community of Spanish-speaking Peruvians in Japan in places like Gunma, so likewise language may not necessarily represent a problem. In the end the reason why Mexicans don’t emigrate to Japan probably just comes down to lack of cultural affinity.

Of course, affluent Mexicans have little interest in getting out of the country, except for shopping or studying abroad. They are way more interested in Europe than in the US anyway.

I don’t follow that statement – do you mean you try to keep yourself ignorant?

Thank goodness Japan doesn’t have the same land border problems as California, and other South Western U.S. states. But if Hatoyama is just going to open up the country and let the masses come on in legally it will be of little difference. So far he’s shown himself to be intelligent and reasonable so let’s just hope his foreigner friendly standpoint is also intelligent and reasonable.

I didn’t use Britain as an example as I’ve never been there and have absolutely no idea as to the situation of legal or illegal immigration there. It’s a small world I live in and I’m trying to keep it that way.

You must either be incredibly wealthy, have a college degree, or marry a Japanese women. Outside of those things, it is impossible for someone who wants to move their to actually do it.

Buck up? Do you even know what that means?
And what exactly do you mean by “Gaijin cards will occur”?

“Already California feels like an extremely over crowded place.”

Compared to the 1960s, perhaps it is. Compared to Japan…?

“If California is used as a concrete example”

Why use it? Japan does not share a land border with a third-world nation, and even the Zainichi Koreans aren’t as big a legal minority as legal Hispanics are in the US (esp since much of the SW was Mexican to start with). A better example would be Britain, especially before it joined the EU.

Well that went long ago, without any help from the Mexicans.

I think that the Japanese government shouldn’t be so hasty in allowing an influx of immigrants on the hope that they will pay into the Japanese taxation system and help fund the ever burdening aging population. If California is used as a concrete example it will be just the opposite. The immigrants will put a burden on the already fragile social welfare and medical system all the while sending their yen back to their families in their home country.

Looking at the standards of places like London, New York, Los Angeles, etc – those cities around the world we all know about, those with tremendous amounts of “immigration” and “melting pot” of many peoples –

You mean all those economically powerful cities where the crime rates have been steadily dropping and over the last few decades?

Yeah. Total Baghdad situations there. We better keep Japan safe from that nightmare.

Yeah, you sure don’t want those Mexicans in there ruining good anglo saxon cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. If you’re not careful, they’re probably going to take over your dominance in the taco industry at some point…

I do hope that legal immigration will get a little easier in the future, not just in Japan, but other countries as well. For example, a Japanese friend of mine wants to study and work in Germany, now he’s in trouble because of the visa which will expire soon and so maybe even needs to get back to Japan. That’s quite frustrating.

could be the title of the new Kevin Smith movie..

(The first settlers to arrive in California after the Native Americans were Spanish, and later Mexican. Spaniard Hernando de Soto, in 1541, was among the early European explorers to visit the territory, but it was a Frenchman, Henri de Tonti, who in 1686 founded the first permanent white settlement the Arkansas Post. Russia had some small settlements for the purpose of whaling and fur trapping in Northern California, but Russia didn’t attempt to colonize the area except in very isolated areas. Spanish priests were sent to California to covert the Indians to Christianity. Spain hoped to make the California native population into good Spaniards, loyal to Spain. Spain was becoming alarmed that the Russians and English were encroaching on lands claimed by Spain….)

As Hatoyama said, “Japan is not for the Japanese only.”

I would hate to see Japan get destroyed like that…”

Dude, London is a great city precisely because it is a melting pot. It’s a truly exciting place to live and work. And I wouldn’t look upon London as a destroyed city, architecturally or culturally. It’s a hip place, there’s lots going on, and people from all over the world are interacting with one another. It’s the bomb, yo!

It’s happening already. Have you ever been to Nishi-Azabu?

I am all for immigration everywhere, but country after country that have open borders have experienced nothing but headaches. Crime, balkanization, you name it.

I would hate to see Japan get destroyed like that, having to end up seeing these foreign people who go to Tokyo and “segregating” themselves into their own sector –

because that is what is going to happen, anyway, due to the “natural” feeling of belonging we as different people need.

There would end up more crime, hate-crimes, etc etc in Japan that Japan would just give up on itself. The Japanese people are like that – they give up.

Which is precisely why, when Hatoyama says all this, he just means “tourists” – sure, come and spend a few, but don’t overstay your welcome.

Sad, but true.

“My native California culture has been destroyed …”.

LOL. What tribe are you, Paiute, Tolowa, Washoe?

I think you’ll find the Europeans messed up “California cuture” way before the current influx of Mexicans.

If you think it is bad as an American citizen, try entering the country as a foreigner…. Okay, it’s not THAT bad, at least for a white guy like me, but the poor Chinese student next to me was being given a very hard time by the lunatic inspector – politeness was a totally alien concept to him. As far as Japanese immigration goes, the more I hear about other countries, supposedly open and welcoming ones, the better Japan’s system looks. The only thing I really want changed is the requirement to carry the gaijin card every time you set foot out your door.

I don’t think Japan is ever in danger of Mexican-style immigration, even assuming you are not referring to illegal immigration. Not only are there no land borders, but Korea is wealthy, and China is getting better, so the push factors – the imbalance between the two countries – are not as strong. There are other 3rd world countries, but the language barrier is far higher than for the US, and of less benefit to master.