I am opposed to the idea of bringing foreigners to Japan to supposedly sustain the nation's economic strength, whether it is done through policies that treat such people as ``immigrants'' or as ``foreign workers.''
This is because, as things stand in Japan today, such policy would be doomed to trigger harsh racial discrimination. In my view, no such immigration plan should be embarked upon without an environment supportive of equitable treatment for those who enter the country in its wake.
At present, for example, there is still troublesome discrimination against ethnic Korean residents in Japan. While conducting a survey of Brazilians of Japanese descent working in Japan, meanwhile, I encountered a worker who said he suffered a ruptured eardrum during a beating at the hands of his Japanese employer.
If Japan is unable to properly assimilate foreigners even when they are ethnic Japanese, what will occur upon the arrival of people who clearly differ in visual appearance and other fundamental ways?
In my own case, I was the target of discrimination when I lived in the United States as an elementary school student. Based on this personal experience, it is my judgment that discrimination grows more acute when a resident moves beyond the status as a "guest'' in the country, and attempts to learn the language and truly blend into local society.
...There is also the argument that foreign blood will help invigorate Japanese society. To that theory, I can only say that we Japanese owe it to ourselves to energize our own society without relying heavily on support from foreigners.
...Before our leaders rush down the road to a new and expanded immigration policy, we all need to take a good hard look at exactly where we stand as a nation and a people.