Abstract
This essay challenges anti-historicist accounts that sever the link between the colonial past and present, replacing them with a more historically nuanced understanding of Japan’s immigration policies and their relation to ethno-racial inequality. Contrary to the dominant view that transnational immigration is new to Japan, this article shows that Japan already had a history of immigration in the early twentieth century, and this history generated a lasting impact on postwar immigration policies and their integration. While recognizing the impact of structural and individual factors, this essay underscores a path-dependent approach that demonstrates how colonial exclusion led to the formation of a durable structure of inequality against low skilled labor immigrants, and thus how such a colonial legacy has continued to limit the life chances and integration of subsequent immigrants in Japan since the 1980s.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this article
We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.
Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Bleich (2005), p. 189.
Bleich (2005), p.,189.
Bleich (2005), p., 174.
Tilly (1996), p. 709.
There are exceptions to this trend. For example, Morris-Suzuki has unraveled Japan’s immigration issues in the early postwar period (2006).
Competing national self-images existed in prewar Japan, but the hybrid image became dominant as Japan began its colonial invasion in Asia. See Oguma (1998) for the details.
This quote from p. 196, in Oguma (1998).
This discussion appeared as a special feature series of reflections on the first Alien Registration, published across three volumes of monthly journals circulated among the local governments and the Bureau of Immigration who handled all immigration related administration. This quote appeared on page 4 in the first volume of this featured series (Gaikokujin Toroku Jimu-kyokai Zenkoku Rengokai, ed. 1964). [ ] is added by author.
This passage is from page 76 in Yamanaka’s article (1996).
References
Befu, H. (2001). Hegemony of homogeneity: anthropological analysis of Nihonjinron. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
Bleich, E. (2005). The legacies of history? Colonization and immigrant integration in Britain and France. Theory and Society, 34(2), 171–195.
Freeman, G. P. (1979). Immigrant labor and racial conflict in industrial societies: the French and British experience 1945–1975. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gaikokujin Toroku Jimu-kyokai Zenkoku Rengokai, ed. (1964). Zadankai: Ano toji no Gaikokujin-toroku o kaerimite (I). Gaijin Toroku, 84, 1–8.
Joppke, C. (1999). Immigration and the nation-state: the United States, Germany, and Great Britain. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Kamm, H. (1977). Vietnam escapees wait in limbo as the world turns a deaf ear. New York Times. June 8.
Kim, T. (1997). Sengo Nihon seiji to Zainichi Chosenjin Mondai: SCAP no tai-Zainichi Chosenjin Seisaku 1945–1052. Tokyo: Keiso Shobo.
Mahoney, J. (2000). Path dependence in historical sociology. Theory and Society, 29(4), 507–548.
Mori, H. (1997). Immigration policy and foreign workers in Japan. New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc.
Morris-Suzuki, T. (2006a). Invisible immigrants: undocumented migration and border controls in early postwar Japan. The Journal of Japanese Studies, 32(1), 119–153.
Morris-Suzuki, T. (2006b). An act prejudicial to the occupational forces: migration controls and Korean residents in post-surrender Japan. Japanese Studies, 24(1), 5–28.
Nakajima, S. (2007). “Chian akka” to sukeipu-gohto to sareru gaikokujin. Keizai, 147, 77–83.
Nishinarita, Y. (1997). Zainichi Chosenjin no Sekai to Teikoku Hokai. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.
Oguma, E. (1998). Nihonjin no kyokai: Okinawa, Ainu, Taiwan, Chousen Shokuminchi-shihai kara Fukkoku-undo made. Tokyo: Shinyo-sha.
Onai, T. (2008). Gaikokujin no kodomo no kyoiku mondai: kako, genzai, mirai. Jurist, 1350, 38–44.
Onuma, Y. (1978). Shutsu nyukoku kanri-housei no seiritsu katei. In H. Terasawa et al. (Eds.), Kokusai hogaku no saikochiku (pp. 257–328). Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai.
Pempel, T. J. (2008). Learning to lose is for losers: Japanese LDP’s reform struggle. In E. Friedman & J. Wong (Eds.), Political transitions in dominant party systems: Learning to lose (pp. 109–126). London and New York: Routledge.
Sellek, Y. (2001). Migrant labour in Japan. New York: Palgrave.
Soysal, S. (1994). Limits of citizenship: migrants and postnational membership in Europe. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Tabuchi, H. (2009). Japan pays foreign workers to go home. April: New York Times. 22.
Tilly, C. (1996). What good is urban history? Journal of Urban History, 22(6), 702–719.
Tilly, C. (1998). Durable inequality. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tilly, C. (2005). Trust and rule. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tsuboi, Y. (2004). Aru Chosen Sotokufu Keikan Kanryo no Kaiso. Tokyo: Soshisha.
Tsuda, T. (1999). The permanence of “temporary” migration: the “structural embeddedness” of Japanese-Brazilian immigrant workers in Japan. The Journal of Asian Studies, 58(3), 687–722.
Tsutsui, K., & Shin, H. (2008). Global norms, local activism, and social movement outcomes: global human rights and resident Koreans in Japan. Social Problems, 55(3), 391–418.
Yamanaka, K. (1996). Return migration of Japanese-Brazilians to Japan: The Nikkeijin as Ethnic minority and political construct. Diaspora, 5(1), 65–97.
Yim, Y. (2007). Zainichi Korian kigyoka no keieikatsudo to nettowahku no tenbo. Ohara Shakai-mondai Kenkyujo Zasshi, 588, 44–60.
Zhou, M. (1997). Segmented assimilation: issues, controversies, and recent research on the new second generation. International Migration Review, 31(4), 975–1008.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Michael Hanagan for his helpful editorial feedback and Michael Schwartz, Daniel Levy, Kiyoteru Tsutusi, Harumi Befu, Ryoko Yamamoto, Jane Yamashiro, and Matthew Augustine for their insightful suggestions on earlier versions of this essay.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shin, H. Colonial legacy of ethno-racial inequality in Japan. Theor Soc 39, 327–342 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-010-9107-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-010-9107-3