You did not mention citizenship in your post. Japan does not allow dual citizenship (there are some grey zones here, however). The bar to apply for citizenship, however, can actually be lower than the bar for permanent residency in some cases. As for how many people give up their citizenship to naturalize, I can’t be bothered to look right now. I personally know one person who did and have heard from others.
Being a temp worker who can be kicked out at any time would not imply you’re wanted there - so it’s kind of a given. Even if we factor residency into it, you’re looking at 3% of the population being non-Japanese.
Japan is famously xenophobic, just because you’re allowed to work there doesn’t change that. You’ve been there a decade, do the locals consider you Japanese?
I mean, that’s the way immigration works in most countries around the world for average people. I don’t have to like it, but I will have PR next year.
Yeah, last I looked between 2.5 and 3 percent are non-Japanese with about .5 of that being non-Asian.
I don’t care whether the locals consider me Japanese or not; that’s not an important thing for me. My relationship with my neighbors is fine. My wife’s family loves me and we get along very well. People in my neighborhood will strike up conversation when they see me out gardening. That’s fine for me. I don’t aspire to “be Japanese” and I don’t know what that even means. I aspire to be part of my community.
Does Japan have its issues? Absolutely. Are there policies that disproportionately affect foreigners? Unfortunately, yes (though things have been slowly improving in my decade here, on the whole). However, none of this is particularly unique to Japan, either.
You did not mention citizenship in your post. Japan does not allow dual citizenship (there are some grey zones here, however). The bar to apply for citizenship, however, can actually be lower than the bar for permanent residency in some cases. As for how many people give up their citizenship to naturalize, I can’t be bothered to look right now. I personally know one person who did and have heard from others.
Being a temp worker who can be kicked out at any time would not imply you’re wanted there - so it’s kind of a given. Even if we factor residency into it, you’re looking at 3% of the population being non-Japanese.
Japan is famously xenophobic, just because you’re allowed to work there doesn’t change that. You’ve been there a decade, do the locals consider you Japanese?
I mean, that’s the way immigration works in most countries around the world for average people. I don’t have to like it, but I will have PR next year.
Yeah, last I looked between 2.5 and 3 percent are non-Japanese with about .5 of that being non-Asian.
I don’t care whether the locals consider me Japanese or not; that’s not an important thing for me. My relationship with my neighbors is fine. My wife’s family loves me and we get along very well. People in my neighborhood will strike up conversation when they see me out gardening. That’s fine for me. I don’t aspire to “be Japanese” and I don’t know what that even means. I aspire to be part of my community.
Does Japan have its issues? Absolutely. Are there policies that disproportionately affect foreigners? Unfortunately, yes (though things have been slowly improving in my decade here, on the whole). However, none of this is particularly unique to Japan, either.