Time for Japan to embrace multiculturalism

Interesting commentary on Japanese society in the context of its aging demographics:

There is an immediate assumption, then, that foreigners are impediments to the smooth functioning of Japanese society — not barbarians, exactly, but a hassle to deal with. Hidenori Sakanaka, the head of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, said that a social revolution is necessary, in which Japan is reconceived as a multiethnic nation, in order to save it from aging into obsolescence. Such a dramatic shift in the self-conception of the Japanese people would be, he admits, painful.

But a move toward pluralism is essential if Japan is to avoid drastic economic downscaling and social stagnation. It’s time to take the first step and prove that hate speech is indeed unacceptable, and that there will be no room for racism in a changing Japan.

Time for Japan to embrace multiculturalism | Al Jazeera America.