Japan needs to ease up on immigration laws

By Tokumasa Yamashita
UPI's Asia Online
Column: The Real Economy
Published: April 20, 2009

Tokyo, Japan — Japanese media last week focused a great deal of attention on Noriko Calderon, a 13-year-old Filipino girl born and raised in Japan, whose parents were being deported to the Philippines after authorities arrested them for their illegal entry into Japan. The fact that Japan is victimizing innocent taxpayers who have done nothing wrong other than their initial illegal entry brings into question the efficacy of Japan’s notoriously rigid immigration laws from both economic and human rights perspectives.

According to the press, Arlan Calderon, Noriko’s father, had been working for a construction company after he and his wife entered Japan using fake passports in the early 1990s. Noriko grew up attending regular Japanese school and never learned her parents’ native language. Japan is the only country she has ever known.

Noriko’s parents had been fighting Japan’s immigration laws for three years, arguing their case all the way to the nation’s High Court. They emphasized the fact that Arlan has a stable job and that Noriko only speaks Japanese. However, the family lost their case in the High Court, and Noriko’s parents were ordered to be deported back to the Philippines. As for Noriko, authorities allowed her to stay in Japan under a visa that needs to be renewed every year.

Activists claim that Japan’s harsh immigration laws violate human rights, accusing the nation of failing to abide by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention, which Japan signed and ratified in 1994, is an international treaty that requires states to ensure that all children benefit from special protection measures and assistance; have access to services such as education and healthcare; can develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential; grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding; and are informed about their rights.

Unlike the United States, Japan does not offer citizenship to those who are merely born in the country – at least one of the parents has to be a Japanese citizen in order for the child to claim Japanese citizenship. In the case of Noriko, many human rights activists argue that she should have been awarded Japanese citizenship rather than a visa that requires an annual reassessment.

The rigidness of Japan’s immigration laws does not make sense from an economic standpoint either. Japan’s fertility rate was 1.34 in 2007, one of the lowest in the world. With the country’s over-65 population at roughly 26 million, or about 20 percent of the total population, Japan’s aging society is known to be a growing problem. If the government is unable to get Japanese people to produce more children, it needs to rely on other sources – that is, immigrants.

It is estimated that at least 500 families are in a similar situation as Noriko’s family, and there are a lot more outside of Japan who have both the desire and potential to become dutiful taxpayers in Japan. Japan therefore needs to ease up on its immigration laws, allowing more foreigners to immigrate in order to counter the economic problems associated with its aging society.

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(Tokumasa Yamashita is an investment analyst at a U.S.-based real estate private equity firm in Tokyo. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, serving as vice-chair of communications for the institute’s Young Leaders Group steering committee. Mr. Yamashita received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ©Copyright Tokumasa Yamashita.)