Issues & Views:Japan for the Japanese

November 3, 2003

Fighting the good fight

Japan for the Japanese

Well, of course. Do to Japan what's being done to the U.S. and all Western countries. Inundate them with alien immigrants and multiculturalize their society. But the Japanese aren't buying it. So far.

For years, the Japanese have listened to claims that, like all other developed countries, their nation too must face the reality of a dwindling birthrate and an aging native population, which spells the inevitable need for fresh supplies of workers. We all know that the worker shortage has been solved in the West by the importation of millions upon millions of legal and illegal foreigners. But, oh, those stubborn Japanese! They don't seem to relish the prospect of watching their land transformed and repopulated, and, according to the United Nations, they're not being very cooperative.

The New York Times describes the "insular" Japanese as "resisting" immigration, and offers some advice. Japan faces economic catastrophe, the argument goes, if it does not import at least 17 million new immigrants by 2050, therefore, the nation must drop its aversion to foreigners, in order to "restore demographic equilibrium." Cultural equilibrium, however, matters nothing to the newspaper correctly tagged as the Mother of Multiculturalism. In July, the Times' Howard French, in a three-part series on Japan, "Can Japan Change?," wrote of a nation "with deeply conservative notions about ethnic purity."

Writing for Vdare.com, Jared Taylor, editor of American Renaissance, chides the Third World dominated UN, that eagerly publishes reports "about how the West is withering away and can save itself only with immigration." Taylor, who was born in Japan, offers some observations:

Most Japanese are determined to find solutions that do not involve importing foreigners because they are deeply attached to their ancient, subtle culture. They believe that only native-born Japanese can understand or maintain it. ...
Before the Second World War, Japan ruled Korea and Taiwan, and brought over a number of colonial subjects to work in Japan. Today, the second- and third-generation descendents of these workers -- who speak fluent Japanese and are physically indistinguishable from Japanese -- are not Japanese citizens. ...
Japanese who visit the United States are appalled by what they find here: ethnic politics, bilingual education, ballot papers in Chinese, racial preferences, interpreters in hospitals and courtrooms, jail-house race riots, foreign criminal gangs, etc. They wonder if millions of aging American whites can really count on blacks and browns to pay for their retirement. They have seen diversity in action, and they want none of it. ...
The mostly Chinese networks that sprang up to handle the human traffic have branched out. Japan, which for generations considered itself the safest place on earth, is in the middle of a crime wave. From 1998 to 2002, robbery was up 104 percent, car theft 75 percent, purse snatching 48 percent, and burglary 42 percent. A general index of six serious crimes was up 75 percent. ... The politically incorrect Japanese are not shy about who's to blame. The media routinely run stories like "Number of Foreigners Arrested Jumps 13 Percent."
Nor is Japan entirely free of the let's-all-hold hands sentimentality of Western liberals. Lefty academics write earnest editorials about globalization, and the need for Japanese to open their hearts to foreigners. There are even a few fledgling advocacy groups for immigrants that try to make sure illegals get their wages before they are deported. ...
Although such sentiments have been run out of respectable society in America, the Japanese actually like their country the way it is. They intend to keep Japan for the Japanese.