Fighting for Foreigners: Immigration and Its Impact on Japanese Democracy (review)

[ 173 ] policymaker’s library • select books published in 2008 Fighting for Foreigners: Immigration and Its Impact on Japanese Democracy Apichai W. Shipper Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008 • 232 pp. This book explores the mechanism of how ordinary citizens and citizen groups aid immigrants in Japan, and draws implications for democratic innovation in contemporary Japan. main argument Unskilled foreign workers in present-day Japan face a range of hardships: existing government programs provide little support, legal foreigners generally avoid providing aid to their illegal counterparts, and the media often negatively portray illegal workers, thereby reinforcing popular suspicion and fear of foreigners (as occurs in several other industrialized democracies). OrdinaryJapanesecitizens,however,haveformednumerouslocalassociations aimed at assisting illegal foreign workers. Owing to such initiatives, Japan has achieved a surprisingly high degree of humanitarianism and civility in its accommodation of foreign workers, including illegal ones. policy implications • In comparison to the culture and politics of the U.S., Japanese culture and politics have historically been less than accommodating to foreigners. However, the fact that Japanese citizens have established most of the foreigner advocacy NGOs in Japan challenges the understanding of Japan as being “homogeneous,” “isolated,” and “suspicious of outsiders,” and offers a unique perspective on Japanese attitudes toward foreign workers. • Whereas conventional wisdom assumes that foreign workers and racial differences weaken both labor organizations and democratic ideals, this book finds that the influx of foreigners into Japan has stimulated democratic innovation—e.g., public discussion, political participation of marginalized groups, and institutional experimentation—in a search for a more just and humane treatment of foreigners in the host country. Most surprising is that it has been illegal foreigners who appear to have made the most institutional contributions to democratic multiculturalism in Japan. ...