Chinese now country's no 1 minority: Japan

Chinese eclipsed Koreans as Japan's largest group of foreign residents last year, fuelled by an influx of workers and students, the government said today.

Chinese-speaking residents ― from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan ― accounted for 28.2 per cent of Japan's 2.15 million registered foreigners at the end of December, while Koreas dropped to 27.6 per cent.
As more Chinese have come to Japan, many Koreans ― often longtime residents of Japan ― have increasingly taken Japanese citizenship, said Koji Nakagawa, a spokesman at Japan's Immigration Bureau.
Koreans, many of them descendants of labourers brought to Japan during Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean peninsula, have long been the country's largest foreign group.

Japan does not grant citizenship automatically to people born on its territory, and many Koreans born in Japan have traditionally kept their North or South Korean passports.

But that tendency is eroding as the younger generation, many of whom do not speak Korean, have adopted Japanese citizenship. The older population of Koreans, meanwhile, has dwindled as they enter their 80s and 90s.
There were 606,889 Chinese residents and 593,489 Korean residents in Japan last year. Brazilians and Filipinos are Japan's third and fourth-largest foreign groups respectively. Americans accounted for just 2.4 per cent of foreign residents.

Foreign residents have been steadily increasing and now make up about 1.7 per cent of Japan's population of 127.8 million.

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So what Japanese think about this? Do they welcome this, or not?

Adulado said:

So what Japanese think about this? Do they welcome this, or not?

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Foreign residents are "foreigners", not Japanese nationals. They are coming to Japan for business, studying, entertainment, tourism, etc. After a legally allowed period pass, they will go back to their home countries.

IF not, they will be illegal migrants. That's it.

BTW, "qinese" means Chinese? or ?

That article says about the residents, not naturalized citizens. The temporary residents are not part of the electorate and won't be considered as a minority.

Japan does not have the immigration policy and it would be tedious process to go through (possibly through the spousal visa --> PR --> Naturalization). Usually, those immigrations are relatively well assimilated as they are married with Japanese citizen.

I was recently told by a Japanese friend of mine that the Japanese government has just let Chinese enter the country without a Visa. This is going to have a huge impact and the way the economy is going right now, living conditions in China for the poor are going to be worse than they are now. And Japan might also be a future haven for foreigners from many nationalities since they really need people.

Mauricio

maushan3 said:

I was recently told by a Japanese friend of mine that the Japanese government has just let Chinese enter the country without a Visa.

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Care to be a little more specific about this?

And Japan might also be a future haven for foreigners from many nationalities since they really need people.

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What Japan needs and what Japan lets in are two completely different things.

JerseyBoy said:

That article says about the residents, not naturalized citizens. The temporary residents are not part of the electorate and won't be considered as a minority.

Japan does not have the immigration policy and it would be tedious process to go through (possibly through the spousal visa --> PR --> Naturalization). Usually, those immigrations are relatively well assimilated as they are married with Japanese citizen.

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Not necessarily. I know more than a few gay people who naturalized with no Japanese spouse and no problem.

Adulado said:

So what Japanese think about this? Do they welcome this, or not?

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..............
If these chinese are like 石平、I welcome them.
http://www.seki-hei.com/
http://www.seki-hei.com/journal/200802_nipon.html

Excellent video Caster and thank you for posting it. For some reason I cannot explain, it made me teary-eyed. (What a wuss!)

Weather the Japanese welcome it or not is not the question. The fact is that any person born in any country should, by birth, be granted automatic citizenship even if their parents are foreigners and those that live there for an extended period, abide by the laws of their adopted country, learn the language and culture, work and pay taxes, and raise a family should be granted citizenship if they so desire. Anything else is pure discrimination and racism, plain and simple.

The US is also facing the same problem with the vast numbers of Mexicans residing here and not being welcome. Regardless of weather they are legal or not, the fact remains that they are here to stay.

Sooner or later Japan will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century when the importation of workers and easy residency is so commonplace these days regardless of their desire to remain a "pure race". Besides, they both have the same DNA anyway along with Koreans.

According to some studies there is no Japanese DNA per se as is described in this link, but is a combination of both Chinese and Korean DNA. Unfortunately, NHK, due to "copyright restrictions", had the video taken off of YouTube. I wonder why? Still it is an interesting read.

Excerpt:

The so-called Japanese are actually descendants of Koreans. 1. GENETICS It was scientifically proven by even JAPANESE SCIENTISTS at the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENETIC STUDIES in 1999 that 24% of the Japanese population has uniquely Korean DNA (genetic sequence), and 25% Chinese DNA, with the two making up the largest proportions. (However, this only explains the contemporary Japanese. That's why most international scholars conclude that at least until 1,500 years ago Japanese were over 90% Koreans for many geographical and historical reasons as explained below.) Both Koreans and Chinese have over 40% unique genetic sequences. However, there is no "Japanese DNA" whatsoever. Only 4% of the Japanese genetic sequence is unique (but unidentifiable), and it is still by far lower than that of Okinawans (16%) and Ainus (8%), who were never even considered "mainstream" Japanese. (For example, Okinawa became Japanese territory only in the late 19th century.)

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Could this be why my own wife, who is "100% Japanese" and with a more than 500 year history in Japan, is often mistaken for Korean by not only Korean and Chinese people (when we go to one their restaurants for example), but by Japanese people who don't know her true nationality here in the US?

There is a link somewhere here on JRef where one was asked to identify the nationality of the people in the photographs. Japanese, Korean, and Chinese were the choices and more than 90% of the respondents, including myself, failed.

The truth is you can't tell the difference in most cases and the Chinese and Koreans who want Japanese citizenship and have adopted Japan as their home should be granted citizenship. I believe it's about time.

In the same vein, I believe the Chinese and Koreans should also bring themselves into the 21st century and stop discriminating against the Japanese and leave the past where it belongs, in the past as most of those generations are long gone and dead.

Pachipro said:

According to some studies there is no Japanese DNA per se as is described,but is a combination of both Chinese and Korean DNA. Unfortunately, NHK, due to "copyright restrictions", had the video taken off of YouTube. I wonder why ? Still it is an interesting read.

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youtube is a playground for nationalist-bend individuals,people should take this information with a grain of salt.

there is a Japanese DNA,the indigenous Jomon accounts for nearly half of it.The Koreans and Chinese arrived at later time intervals.

surely,all East Asians are related.

Pachipro said:

Sooner or later Japan will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century when the importation of workers and easy residency is so commonplace these days regardless of their desire to remain a "pure race". Besides, they both have the same DNA anyway along with Koreans.

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Pachipro said:

In the same vein, I believe the Chinese and Koreans should also bring themselves into the 21st century and stop discriminating against the Japanese and leave the past where it belongs, in the past as most of those generations are long gone and dead.

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In a good case scenario, all 3 (Japanese, Chinese, Koreans) put their past behind them and live in harmony.

In an American/French/British case scenario, the extremists will continue the dead generation's (WW2-era) war, creating division and riots within society.

I am neither pro or anti importation of foreign workers but Japan lacks one thing that other countries have: race riots.

So the question as always for the international bankers and rich ruling elite is, does the profit gained from import workers offset and outweigh the rise in the disharmony in society?

Profit talks so Japan will definitely be "dragged, kicking and screaming"

In a good case scenario, all 3 (Japanese, Chinese, Koreans) put their past behind them and live in harmony.

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to live in harmony, it needs similar psyche each other.
it has nothing to do with past. the Chinese can understand it afterward.
other asian except korean can understand it, too
I dont worry about the chinese. there are many respectable chinese who became a Japanese
that is why i wellcome them, they can adopt the Japanese mentality.
btw
the chinese knows about the korean well .

Are Chinese residents now allowed to become Japanese citizens?

In college, one of my Japanese language instructors was a Chinese woman who had grown up in Japan. She told me privately one time that she and her family were not allowed to become Japanese citizens. She said she had been discriminated against, growing up in Japan, and insisted that Japanese were the most racist people in the world.

She was only working as a Japanese language teaching assistant to help pay for her graduate studies. It was obvious that she was quite bitter, hated Japanese people, and did not want to return to Japan.

I do hope things have changed regarding the status of Chinese people in Japan.

I bet that was 30 or 40 years,right ? USA was no more tolerate than Japan for its discriminatory practices toward minorities but things have changed for the better in the last 2 decades.

Also,you have to consider Japan's national law of citizenship which is based on " blood " not the place of birth.I think there was mandatory on adopting a Yamato surname,many Koreans and Chinese refused it on the basis of ethnic pride.

Taiwan-born actor Kaneshiro Takeshi ( 金城 武 ) endured ethnic prejudices growing up in Taiwan.There are 2 sides to every coin.

RolandtheHeadless said:

...
I do hope things have changed regarding the status of Chinese people in Japan.

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Sadaharu Oh, a greatest ball game player/manager, he was the first person who was awarded, People's Honor Award in Japan, even though he retains his ROC nationality.
Or Momofuku Ando, the great inventor of Instant Ramen Noodles, saving many lazy and hungry young people around the world, he returned to Taiwan after the WWII at first, but he came back and got naturalized to Japan.
And more...

The latest trend of Chinese in Japan I heard is...
If you are a Chinese married couple, one gets naturalized to Japan, but his/her partner retains their PRC nationality. I think it is a good portfolio based on their historical wisdom.

And I read today that an activist group of Chinese residents stood up, though the People's Daily does not clearly mention what they are for.

ﾂ催昶?愿ｺ窶ｰﾃ伉人窶堋ｪﾂ「窶ｰﾃ伉人ﾅｽQﾂ青ｭﾅｽx窶ｰ窶｡窶ｹﾂｦ窶ｰﾃｯﾂ」窶堙ｰﾂ静昶?板ｧ
Chinese residents established "Chinese Political Right Supporting Group"
在日華人が「華人参政支援協会」を設立

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It is no surprise. The Chinese race has flooded other Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand as the number one immigrant, also detained with a local nationality.

In Japan you need not get permanent residency to get citizenship. You can go directly from your work visa, etc. to citizenship.

Miyamoto Mushashi said:

It is no surprise. The Chinese race has flooded other Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand as the number one immigrant, also detained with a local nationality.

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Chinese and Indians will be all over the world, if not already. They have the numbers. My latest trip to japan confirmed this is true there too.