The Emphasis on Ethnic Homogeneity and Japanese and Danish Immigration Policy

Abstract

This essay compares the Japanese emphasis on ethnic homogeneity in immigration policy with its counterpart inDenmark. Japan’s lack of integration policy stands out against the backdrop of Denmark’s elaborate civic integrationpolicy. A key reason for this contrast is the criterion that Japan is for the Japanese, and one has to be ethnically andculturally Japanese to be Japanese. Nihonjinron, a discourse on Japanese cultural uniqueness, has providedammunition for this. Denmark, on the other hand, is in principle open to those who adopt Danish values. Japan needsa strong integration policy as the number of immigrants increase. Until now, its emphasis on ethnic homogeneity hasled Japan to see immigrants as outsiders and to exclude them. Denmark, on the other hand, is willing to includeimmigrants on equal terms, on the condition that they adopt Danish values.