Japan should open up to migrants—new PM

Published by rudy Date posted on November 15, 2009

SINGAPORE—Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Saturday said that his country, which is battling low birth rates and an aging population, should make itself more attractive to migrants.

Japan has some of the world’s strictest controls on immigration, and Hatoyama admitted that he was broaching a “sensitive issue.”

But he said that as well as introducing pro-family policies, Japan should attempt to encourage migrants to live and work there.

“I think Japan should also make itself a country attractive to people so that more and more people, including tourists, hope to visit Japan, hope to live and work in Japan,” he said on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit.

“I am not sure if I can call this ‘immigration policy,’ but what’s important is to create an environment that is friendly to people all around the world so that they voluntarily live in Japan,” he said.

Japan has relatively few resident foreigners, although in recent years it has cautiously opened up its job market to nurses and care workers from some Southeast Asian countries.

“First, we will improve support for child-rearing by offering cash allowances for families with children,” before thinking about immigration to address the country’s low birth rate, the premier said.

Japan’s population has been shrinking since 2005. Despite efforts to raise the birth rate, a woman’s average number of offspring now hovers around 1.3, well below the 2.07 needed to maintain the population.

Japan rejected the prospect of mass immigration under the conservative government led by the Liberal Democratic Party. Hatoyama’s center-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ousted them in September.

Some politicians have argued that an influx of immigrants would lead to lower wages for Japanese workers and a higher crime rate.

Hatoyama’s DPJ has not detailed its immigration policy. –Agence France-Presse

July 2025

Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar.  Reject Military!

#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

July


3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 Ju
ly – International Plastic Bag Free Day
 
5 July –
World Youth Skills Day 
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day 
17 July – World Day for
International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons 


Monthly Observances:

Schools Safety Month

Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month

Weekly Observances:

Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week

 

Daily Observances:

First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines

Categories

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.