Migration Justice, Social Class, and the Post-Multicultural Turn from the Case of Japan

How should migrants be treated from a justice perspective in the globalised migration age? Since the 1970s, multiculturalism had been dominant in migration justice, but after the 2000s it came under rapid criticism, leading to the declaration that "Multiculturalism is dead." Instead, the neoliberal and neo-nationalist treatment of migrants came to the fore in Western countries, emphasising migrants' skills and values in the labour market and social integration. Is this post-multicultural turn compatible with migration justice? To explore this question, this paper takes an East Asian country, Japan as a case study. For a long period, Japan was regarded a "no-immigration country" with few foreign residents such as Oldcomers, but it started to receive Newcomers in the 1980s. In the process, Japan has allowed only high-skilled migrants only to enter and stay in line with its immigration policy principle of "no admission of unskilled migrants". However, Japan has de facto accepted lower-skilled workers through the "side doors," such as technical trainees, and for the first time in its immigration history began to formally accept lower-skilled workers through the "specified skill" residence status. Japan then has decided to completely replace technical internships with "training for employment" in 2027. In this way, Japan changed its perception to admit lower-class migrants with less public antipathy. However, Japanese integration policy is rather weak and lacks multiculturalism. If Japan were to adopt the post-multicultural policies of Western countries, it would not be in line with migration justice. Rather, Japan should adopt multiculturalism for vulnerable lower-class immigrants, especially with respect for their cultures, identities and existence. This leads to a rethinking of migration justice in social class across the globe.