(iPoster) Inheritability and Bifurcated Memberships among Japan’s Children of Immigrants

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Migration and Citizenship & Political Beliefs and Democratic Legitimacy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Migration & Citizenship

Abstract

In Japan, a latecomer migrant destination also experiencing demographic decline, the success of nativist parties in the 2025 House of Councillors election has renewed focus on immigration in national political debates. While the projected quadrupling of foreign-born workers over the coming decades portends the continued growth of those with immigrant roots as a share of Japan’s youth population, not all outsiders enjoy the same treatment or chances of being accepted as members. Due to Japan’s restrictive policies, more than half of young adult children of immigrants (COI) are projected lack Japanese citizenship, and a growing bifurcation may be emerging among COI based not only on race/nationality but also legal membership. Given the limited opportunities for political participation (an unfavorable dimension of Japan’s Migrant Integration Policy Index score), the political attitudes of those of immigrant-origin in Japan remain understudied. This paper examines migrant responses to the policy frameworks that determine the legal membership and, consequently, the potential for political participation among Japan’s COI through the lens of “inheritability,” which is defined as the bottom-up perception of integration governance policies. Based on over 50 interviews and an original survey dataset (N=519) of young adult COI from across Japan, it draws from the boundary-making approach to immigrant integration to demonstrate how legal membership may be emerging as a wedge issue that can politically divide those with one Japanese parent (so-called “hāfu/daburu/mikkusu”) from those with none (a growing share of COI), despite a shared history of stigmatization and marginality.

Author

• Ken Silverman, CUNY Graduate Center