My concern with these rules is that they don’t seem likely to address the issues at hand, but they do legitimise a rising xenophobic sentiment.

From what I see, the main drivers of negative sentiment towards foreigners are poorly behaved tourists, investors developing land and municipal issues with short-term residents. Being stricter on long-term workers addresses none of these. I live in Hokkaido and travel to many rural parts of Japan for work, so my experience will differ from someone living in Tokyo. However, I feel the other issues are blown out of proportion to fan the flames.

Requiring permanent residents to maintain an above-average annual income (¥5.9 million) favours people who settle in Tokyo, where the average is ¥6.8 million, over Aomori, where it is ¥4.8 million. This works against using immigration to help repopulate rural areas.

But maybe they just want short-term workers? That seems fundamentally at odds with expecting immigrants to integrate and contribute to society. It is a commitment to learn the language, put down roots in a community and pay into social system. The benefits of which you only see years if not decades later. It’s difficult to expect that when your future in the country is deliberately temporary and uncertain.

I know people who have been here for decades and built businesses who may now have to leave. There was a good example in the news of a Nepalese restaurant that had been in business for over 10 years, whose owner was facing the possibility that his Business Manager visa wouldn’t be renewed under the new investment requirements. Someone who spends years building a business, paying taxes and serving the local community may be pushed out, while a wealthy overseas investor can drop some money into a property investment and get a visa without having paid any tax here. Who thought that one through?

It makes me feel that long-term residents are being targeted because we’re an easy target, rather than because these measures address the causes of the backlash. That erodes trust. The cost of my visa has gone up 10x while my income hasn’t changed; how can I trust they won’t add more arbitrary rules? Remember, this is the same LDP whose leader 10 years ago said, “Japan will become a country where permanent residency can be obtained at one of the fastest speeds in the world.” What changed?

  > foreigners are poorly behaved tourists, investors developing land and municipal issues with short-term residents