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Question to the lifers in Japan... Will the demographic shift change Japan?

edogaijin

先輩
20 Feb 2014
145
4
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Debito and his ilk level some pretty harsh conclusions at Japan -- ranging from accusations of xenophobia, mono-culturalism and rampant nationalism. I don't speak enough Japanese to really know how "right" or "wrong" they are. A lot of long-term foreigners, including my friends in real life, say that Japan doesn't need foreigners and that Japan will and wants to stay mono-lingual and mono-cultural.

The concept of language being equated with culture and ethnicity is pretty much entirely lost on me. However, what I think we can all agree on are the cold numbers. Japan is a shrinking and aging nation. As the number of Japanese goes down, the number of foreigners as a % of the population is likely to increase.

Looking for opinions here, will the increase in foreigners and elderly change Japan? Is a cultural war under way, and if not is it inevitable? Right now race relations in Japan seem fairly tame compared to many countries, but will it stay this peaceful?
 
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