We keep hearing about the immigration crisis, and I reject the idea that there is one in any wealthy nation. All of these nations have falling birthrates, and all of them need young people. The crisis is that the Far Right is magnifying people's fears to gain power.
Also, the people saying "Don't let immigrants in, Japan!" are largely immigrants like me, already in Japan--often calling themselves expats (bc they think it sounds better than "immigrant"), and what they're really against is immigrants who aren't white.
The other common commenter on news stories about immigration are people who have only visited or maybe only dreamed of visiting Japan, and have this unrealistic vision of Japan as utopia. They weirdly want to "protect" Japan, and often say things like there should still be samurai...
And of course there are the Japanese commenters, but not so many under English-language news articles. The first two groups annoy me much more: the pick-me expats who want to pull the ladder up, and the racist Japanophiles who know very little about the reality of Japan.
Question: aren’t falling birth rates good? Less people, less strain on the environment.
Yes, but the economy is structured for increasing population. Too many retirees and not enough workers is leading to difficulties in Japan…just in time for me to retire in a few years. I’m already worried as a non-citizen I’ll be told “oops, no benefits for you.”
I think a lot of this preparatory. As the climate change deniers (who all know it is real, aside from Trump) as the planet warms people will be moving from the equatorial areas to the north and south. So I think some forces are acting defensively in advance to protect their interests.
Got a little distracted there midsentence, those deniers know people will be shifting en masse away from heat and rising oceans and chaotic weather so in anticipation create a crisis now to protect interests later.