Japan officially overhauls permanent residency rules | Hacker News Reader

Japan officially overhauls permanent residency rules

japantimes.co.jp

27 pointsmikhael15 comments

I've been working in Japan for three years. I've been paying taxes, paying pension, spending money in the local economy, learning Japanese, and participating in the local community.

During those three years, I was interested in the prospect of gaining permanent residency.

But given the amount of anti-foreigner laws being passed by the Japanese government, I don't see the point in trying to pursue living in a country where you have to walk on egg shells your entire life or risk being removed. This is in addition to only making around a $25,000 USD salary due to how weak the yen currently is.

I understand that this is the point of these laws; to dissuade foreigners from living in Japan. It's still disappointing. I know several other people in a similar position to mine.

This seems like a missed opportunity by the Japanese government to attract youthful foreigners who are interested in Japan and Japanese culture. Especially considering the declining Japanese population.

I've been here for 15 years, use Japanese for 90% of my work, have a child here AND permanent residency. And even I'm considering leaving Japan.

I can't imagine many people in their first few years, facing these changes, desiring the long term goal of PR now.

Your situation sounds much more serious than mine, having a child and PR already. I hope these recent changes get relaxed/revoked for your sake. I wish you luck!

Self-deportation is often the desired outcome and goal for new xenophobic immigration policies. Regardless of the years of service, tax money collected, bond to country, or contributions of those they seek to discriminate against.

Causing or enjoying the pain and suffering of immigrants is also the point, as oppose to more sensible and humane policies.

I've had permanent residency in Japan since 2001, and this new review system is significantly tougher than it was when I applied. There is a zero-tolerance approach to minor infractions (traffic violations, tax filings, national health insurance requirements), much higher fees, and an explicit income and pension requirement (the minimum annual income is actually pretty low, at something like 20,000 USD per year plus 5000 per additional family member). Had these rules applied 25 years ago, I probably would have been rejected due to a few parking or speeding tickets.

Doesn't Japan have a population crisis? Why are they making it more difficult to move there?

Many have argued that Japan has always been difficult and xenophobic towards foreigners, but this was a bit restrained by their population crisis (from ageing and low birth rates), which forced turning towards tourism (with pretend friendly) and immigration for additional tax money and to plug holes in certain shortages in various job markets. This money and taxes from immigrant labor and tourism (now with various price increases) is also used to prop up shortfalls in state budgets and to support the Japanese elderly.

With the rise of AI and robots becoming a strong possibility, it appears the more xenophobic elements of society are reasserting themselves and are convinced they can do away with or severely reduce the presence of "foreigners" for "purity" and other related homegrown eugenic ideologies. The US bases are a special situation, where the on going remilitarization and further constitutional changes are thought to be a remedy, based on very interesting conversations with those in the know.

The PR door looks to be left primarily open for graduates from elite universities (along with other countries looking to snatch away talent too), the relatively rich (pay to play), or "reluctantly" for those connected by marriage and/or children. Even in these cases, the unwelcome filter is to be turned on high.

Haven’t you heard? Robots are going to care for the huge portion of the Japanese population over the age of 65, which is currently 30% of the population. Yes, this is a real plan that the Japanese government has.

https://japantoday.com/category/tech/japan-biz-labor-scarce-...

Allowing foreigners in would disrupt the glorious harmony of Japan, so robots it is.

I hate saying this myself (I'm an immigrant from EU) but the vision that robots will be great enough to actually solve the problem in part is quite realistic imo, very realistically, in 10-20 years, humanoids will be everywhere and probably very competent, even more so than most humans (or at least "young" humans that are inexperienced in a general sense). It's sad, but it's viable.

I guess this is getting a bit into philosophy, but is it still even "Japan" if you replace the population with people from somewhere else?

Yes, definitionally, and ontologically.

Probably to avoid the perceived issues other places have run into. You can always attempt to reverse a population crisis peacefully--you cannot reverse a migration crisis in the same way or with favorable optics. So, better to get ahead of it.

The obvious: Only people with real intentions will attempt such process.

That automatically filters out, people with low IQ, and seeking to take advantage of the system.

Because a country has a population crisis, it should never mean open the gate for anyone. I mean, look at Europa atm, look at how beautiful is Europa as we speak after opening the gate from everybody.

Your question shouldn't even be asked, it is common sense.

It's just populist politics. Instead of solving the real problems, just distract people with a scapegoat.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49858810 [Japan moves to tighten rules for foreigners] (4 days ago, 666 comments, 206 points)

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