The Politics of Immigrant Incorporation Policies in Korea and Japan

Over the past two decades Korea and Japan have experienced a rapid inflow of foreign population into their homogeneous societies. Despite their many similarities in immigration control policies, Korea and Japan have differed in their politics of immigrant incorporation. Korea's central government has instituted policies that favor female marriage migrants and children of international marriages, while Japan's local governments have initiated policies for a wide range of foreign residents in their communities. I argue that the different boundaries of citizenship for specific groups of the foreign population, created and reinforced by the state, explain variations in the politics of immigrant incorporation policies in the two countries.