This week, Japan’s government announced that the country’s Japanese population had fallen below 120 million for the first time in over four decades. It marks the 17th straight year of decline, and the steepest drop on record, in both raw numbers and as a rate. The only reason Japan’s overall population isn’t shrinking even faster is the very foreign residents the right wants gone.
At the same time, Japan’s foreign population rose above 4 million for the first time ever. That’s not a coincidence. As the country’s population both shrinks and ages, industries such as transportation and care are becoming essential components of Japan’s economy. In some cities, foreign students working part-time comprise over 50 percent of convenience store staff.
This might seem like a strange time to demonize the foreign laborers your country needs to keep its economy moving. But, hey, no one ever said racists were smart.
We’ve documented how Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s government continues to crack down on law-abiding foreigners for no good reason whatsoever. The latest proposed change would set income requirements for permanent residency higher than the average Japanese salary.
Despite these moves, however, Takaichi’s government insists it’s still seeking “coexistence” (共生; kyōsei) with foreigners. It’s a line she’s touted since arriving in office.
And it has Japan’s online far right fuming.
This is nothing new in Japan. The country’s far right has often gone past the limits of even the most extreme imperialistic policies of the ruling power. The difference is that today’s far right could eventually get its way. And if it does, it’ll doom the country’s economy.
Did Takaichi betray her “zero base”?
A recent X post by Sankei Shimbun, a major right-leaning newspaper, shows what Japan’s first female prime minister is up against. The story quoted Takaichi as saying, despite the recent visa and PR changes, she doesn’t want Japan to look “unfriendly to foreigners.”
Right-wingers instantly lit into her. They said that Takaichi was betraying her promise to re-examine policies towards foreigners “from zero base” (ゼロベース), meaning that every law and provision would be revisited.
Even though she’s since gone on to enact most of her promises, her one-time supporters aren’t happy about all this “coexistence” nonsense. They expected a halt and a reduction, not the continuation of the status quo that her words imply.
But this wasn’t the first time Takaichi drew the xenophobic right’s ire.
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