Japan's Quiet Reckoning with Fringe Xenophobia and Immigration Anxiety

Latent anti-foreigner sentiments must be tackled alongside concerns over the economy and employment.

- Lim Tai Wei

The issue of foreigners in Japan was a hot topic in Sunday's Upper House election. It was a race where the populist right-wing Sanseito party, running on a Japan First agenda, emerged as one of the biggest winners with 14 more seats. The lead-up to the election saw mass media fuel discussion of the controversial issue of foreigners.

But xenophobia did not win. Parties in favor of immigration, like the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, maintained their 38 seats in the Upper House election.

The results are unsurprising. Surveys by the major news dailies in Japan show foreigners were not a topmost concern. "Economy and employment" was the top issue voters wanted addressed, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey published on July 11, with "consumption tax," "pension and healthcare" coming in second and third. Even national broadcaster NHK indicated that "policies on foreign residents" was ranked a distant seventh on the list of voters' concerns.

Nonetheless, pre-empting fringe attempts to attribute blame on foreigners for social ills and avoiding such narratives seeping into the mainstream must remain a priority for Japanese leaders. Such concerns are perceived by some observers as particularly heightened among the fringe far-right and disgruntled conservatives in a post-Shinzo Abe Japan.

The worry among mainstream Japan is that populist politicians in Japan may emulate the rise of the far-right populist movements in the West (like Reform UK, AfD in Germany, or the MAGA movement in the United States) at a time when Japan needs migrants to cope with its declining population and labor force.

A LID ON ANTI-FOREIGNER SENTIMENTS