Is Japan prepared for an ethnically-diverse society? The volume examines the past and future trajectory of Japan's immigration and integration policies and related institutions, taking a cross-disciplinary approach in social sciences. The authors highlight critical issues and challenges that the nation is facing as a result of the government's inarticulate migrant-acceptance policy, e.g. in the fields of refugee policies, multicultural education and disaster protection. How can the situatio Is Japan prepared for an ethnically-diverse society? The volume examines the past and future trajectory of Japan's immigration and integration policies and related institutions, taking a cross-disciplinary approach in social sciences. The authors highlight critical issues and challenges that the nation is facing as a result of the government's n be improved? The book investigates the changes and initiatives needed to build a resilient policy regime for a liberal, pluralistic, and inclusive Japan. Japan, a long-time immigration laggard, is opening its gate to foreign workers, both skilled and less-skilled, to address its chronic labor shortage through legal and policy changes. Both government and society are awkwardly exploring "multicultural coexistence"-the harmony of Japanese nationals and others of foreign origin. Immigrant integration processes are raising manifold concerns, revealing challenges in terms of labor, welfare, education, culture, and human rights. Yet, the government has downplayed the nation's increasingly multicultural reality while support institutions remain ineffective. Japan's approach, heavily dependent on grassroots initiatives and goodwill, is clearly unsustainable. This co-authored volume examines the evolution of Japan's immigration and integration policies and their social outcomes from cross-disciplinary and multi-level perspectives. Researchers from the social sciences and humanities address crucial local and national issues that emerge from the matrix of "immigration and integration" such as refugee policies, deportation, multicultural education, disaster protection, and local activism.

The Japanese Empire and Latin America provides a comprehensive analysis of the complicated relationship between Japanese migration and capital exportation to Latin America and the rise and fall of the empire in the Asia-Pacific region. It explains how Japan’s presence influenced the cultures and societies of Latin American countries and also explores the role of Latin America in the evolution of Japanese expansion. Together, this collection of essays presents a new narrative of the Japanese experience in Latin America by excavating trans-Pacific perspectives that shed new light on the global significance of Japan’s colonialism and expansionism. The chapters cover a variety of topics, such as economic expansion, migration management, cross-border community making, the surge of pro-Japan propaganda in the Americas, the circulation of knowledge, and the representation of the "other" in Japanese and Latin American fictions. By focusing on both government action and individual experiences, the viewpoints examined create a complete analysis, including the roles the empire played in the process of settler identity formation in Latin America. While the colonialist and expansionist discourses in Japan set a stage for the beginning of Japanese migration to Latin America, it was the vibrant circulation of information between East Asia and the Americas that allowed the empire to stay at the center of the cultural life of communities on the other side of the globe. The empire left an enduring mark on Latin America that is hard to ignore. This volume explores long-neglected aspects of the Japanese global expansion; and thus, moves our understanding of the empire’s significance beyond Asia and rethinks its legacy in global history.