Younger Japanese are proving to be the most resistant to immigration, defying assumptions that generational change would produce greater cosmopolitanism.
A new survey found that 70 per cent of those aged 18 to 39 expressed safety concerns about foreign workers – higher than any other demographic.
This unexpected reversal reveals a generation grappling with anxieties that cut across conventional narratives of openness and globalisation.
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The study by the Yomiuri newspaper and Waseda University’s Institute for Advanced Social Studies, published on December 2, found that nearly 60 per cent of 2,004 respondents opposed accepting more foreign workers, up from 46 per cent last year.
Yet it was the youngest cohort that drove the shift amid stagnant wages, soaring housing costs and uncertainty about the future that have made safety and stability paramount concerns for those in Japan just entering adulthood.
The rapid increase in tourists and foreign residents has brought issues
Masako Kan, an international cultural consultant, explained that this generation was exposed daily to the effects of rapid tourism growth and increased foreign residency in Japan’s urban centres.