From USC
Immigration Nation Japan?: Immigration Policy, Immigrant Integration, and The Future of Multiethnic Japan
USC Hosts Major Symposium on Friday, April 25
Featuring a keynote speech by Hidenori Sakanaka, former director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau and current director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture will be hosting a groundbreaking symposium to explore the future of Japan's immigration policy on April 25, 2014 at USC’s Ronald Tutor Campus Center.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Japanese government’s initiatives in this area during the past several months augurs a new era for Japan as Tokyo readies itself to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games.
Policy experts and scholars will debate Japan’s future as an immigration nation, including the challenges of immigrant integration.
Japan's declining population demographics has recently been increasingly recognized as not only an issue that affects the future of Japan's workforce, but its taxation, pension, and health care futures.
As Japan contemplates a more open immigration policy to address this imbalance, this symposium features the foremost experts on a Japanese-style immigration policy who will discuss how the world’s third largest economy will contend with the challenges of opening up a nation historically disinclined towards a robust immigration population.
Friday, April 25, 2014, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Ronald Tutor Campus Center, Room 351/352, University of Southern California
RSVP to cjrc@dornsife.usc.edu. Refreshments and lunch will be served.
SCHEDULE:
9:00 AM - Welcome by Duncan Williams, USC
9:10 AM - Keynote Speech and Q&A with Hidenori Sakanaka
Hidenori Sakanaka, former Justice Ministry official, director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, and currently the Director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute (JIPI)
10:30 AM - Coffee Break
10:45 AM - SESSION I - Discourses of Multicultural Migrant Nations: Japan and the U.S.
“Japan as a Multicultural Migrant Nation? Globalisation and Japan's Dilemma over Opening Up or Closing In”
Chris Burgess, Tsuda College
“Growing Old or Going Foreign? Immigration Policy and Discourse in an Era of Demographic Decline”
Glenda Roberts, Waseda University
“U.S. Immigration Policy: Historical Legacies and Current Challenges”
Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, USC
12:30 PM - Lunch Break
1:30 PM - SESSION II - Migrant Mobilities and Immobilities: Citizenship and Labor
“The Indentured Mobility of Migrant Workers”
Rhacel Salazar Parrenas, USC
“Reconsidering Citizenship Policy on Migrants in Japan”
Hideki Tarumoto, Hokkaido University
“From Mono to Dual Nationality: Reshaping the Legal Boundaries of Citizenship in Korea and Japan”
Naeyun Lee, University of Chicago
3:15 PM - Coffee Break
3:30 PM - SESSION III - Immigrant Integration Strategies: Japan, Hong Kong, Korea
“Migration and Migrant Integration Policies in Japan and Hong Kong: The Consequences of Cultural/Service-Based Economic Migrant Integration Policies”
Stephen R. Nagy, International Christian University
“Damunhwa vs. Tabunka: Civil Society Actors and Construction of Multiculturalism in South Korea and Japan”
Nora Hui-Jung Kim, University of Mary Washington
4:45 PM - Final Discussion
This event is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan, Los Angeles; the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration; the USC Korean Studies Institute; the USC Department of Sociology; and the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture's "Critical Mixed-Race Studies: A Transpacific Approach" Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminars Series
