Product Review

In this penetrating study, Takashi Oka questions the traditional notion that Japan is a closed society, as it is perceived both at home and abroad. This report focuses on Japanese policy toward foreign workers and new social dynamics brought about by economic prosperity and demographic shifts. Oka explores the motivation that drives economic immigrants -from Latin America, the Middle East and all parts of Asia -- to Japan. He employs anecdotes to demonstrate the unique problems that each ethnic group must face, and the public debate that increasing social diversity demands. The author concludes with a discussion of the challenges that Japanese society and its government must confront and possible near and long-term measures that should be considered. Takashi Oka, a non-resident associate of the Carnegie Endowment, draws on forty years of experience as a foreign correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, Time magazine, Newsweek Japan, and The New York Times.