Help (Not) Wanted: Immigration Politics in Japan

Why has Japan’s immigration policy remained so restrictive, especially in light of economic, demographic, and international political forces that are pushing Japan to admit more immigrants? Michael Strausz answered this question by drawing on insights from nearly two years of intensive field research in Japan. In addition to answering this question by outlining the central argument of his 2019 book, Help (Not) Wanted: Immigration Politics in Japan, this presentation provided context to recent developments in Japanese immigration policy – particularly the December 2018 decision to admit more than 300,000 low skilled foreign laborers as well as the immigration policy response to the COVID pandemic.

Speaker Bio: 
Michael Strausz is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of Asian Studies at Texas Christian University. He earned his PhD from the University of Washington. He is currently editing a collection of essays by an interdisciplinary group of scholars tentatively titled “The Past and Future of Immigration in Japan” which aims to put recent immigration reforms into context. His book Help (Not) Wanted: Immigration Politics in Japan was published in 2019 with SUNY Press.