Insular Japan Needs, but Resists, Immigration (original) (raw)
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- July 24, 2003
With their tidy suburban home here, a late-model Toyota in the driveway and two school-age children whose Japanese is indistinguishable from any native's, Akio Nakashima and his wife, Yoshie, are the perfect immigrants.
Though Vietnamese by origin, as fellow Asians they would be hard to pick out in a crowd. Through years of diligent study they have mastered this country's difficult language. They even adopted Japanese names.
Outside the workplace, though, in 21 years in this country, where they arrived as boat people in 1982, the Nakashimas have never managed to make friends. Even that is a petty concern compared with the worry that troubles their sleep.
''As far as my life goes, it doesn't matter if I am Vietnamese or Japanese,'' said Mr. Nakashima, 36, an engineer at a tire factory. ''My biggest worry is prejudice and discrimination against my children. We pay the same taxes as anyone else, but will our children be able to work for a big company, or get jobs as civil servants?''
Many economists and demographers here and abroad say Japan's success or failure in addressing the concerns of immigrants like the Nakashimas will go a long way toward determining whether this country remains an economic powerhouse or whether its population shrivels and the slow fade of its economy turns into a rout.
Japan is at the leading edge of a phenomenon that is beginning to strike many advanced countries: rapidly aging populations and dwindling fertility. The size of this country's work force peaked in 1998 and has since entered a decline that experts expect to accelerate.
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