Intelligence

Japanese divided on whether foreigners are good influence

The Japan Times Online

WASHINGTON (AP) The Japanese are evenly split over whether foreigners are a good influence on their society, according to an Associated Press poll on immigration attitudes.

Forty-four percent of respondents said immigrants are a good influence on their country -- but the exact same percentage called immigrants a bad influence, researchers said.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 Japanese residents, conducted from May 7 to 9, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents -- 74 percent -- said they believe foreigners take the jobs that Japanese nationals don't want. Fifty-eight percent said it is better for the country to have a variety of people with different religions, while 37 percent said a population that shares the same customs and traditions is better.

There are 2 million foreigners living in Japan -- a minuscule number in a country with 127 million people. The largest group are Koreans, many of them descendants of laborers taken there during Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

The second-largest group is from China, and the third group of immigrants is from Brazil, many of them descendants of Japanese immigrants.

Foreigners, particularly those from other countries in Asia or developing countries, face discrimination in employment and housing, and there have been incidents in which they have been barred from certain shops, bathhouses or bars.

Authorities and media reports suggest illegal aliens are behind a recent crime surge, but statistics show foreigners commit crimes at about the same rate as Japanese.

The Japan Times: May 27, 2004
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May 27, 2004 at 08:50 PM in Japan | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home