Making Irregular Migrants Vulnerable: A Tangle of Biopolitics and Morals in Japan

This paper examines the changes in the irregular migrants’ situation in Japan and argues that the securitization of migrants has led to highlight the effects of sovereignty, which makes irregular migrants vulnerable.

Giorgio Agamben (1998) theorized that biopolitics, as a function of sovereignty, operates to define the included and the excluded, the latter of which is called “bare life.” Some studies regard irregular migrants who are legally excluded as living a contemporary “bare life.” However, other studies have criticized Agamben’s argument that emphasizes legal criteria in arguing biopolitics in the geopolitical and historical contexts. Following these studies, this study explores the case of irregular migrants in Japan.

Irregular migrants began to attract broad public attention in the late 1980s. Generally, Japanese citizens did not initially have negative attitudes toward them. Despite their lack of legal status, they were included in society according to various criteria such as the moral economy of society or international norms behind the labor shortage and Japan’s self-recognition as a major power at the time.

However, since around the turn of the century, reactions to irregular migrants have dramatically changed. Their presence has been linked to security issues, and they have come to be regarded as “criminals.” Immigration authorities collaborated with the police in launching a large-scale crackdown, which endangered the daily lives of irregular migrants. At the same time, however, the legalization of irregular migrants was promoted based on moral values. At present, sovereignty, connected with moral values, mainly defines the included and the excluded among irregular migrants.

Thus, changes in the situation of irregular migrants in the last two decades in Japan show that the substantial effects of sovereignty can vary over time and according to the circumstances in which it operates.