Tabunka Kyōsei without immigration policy: The role of centers for international exchange and their challenges

Japan today faces several demographic-related challenges: population decline, an aging population, and a declining workforce. One of the proposed solutions to these challenges is to allow more foreign workers into Japan. However, this move is being organized without the implementation of blanket immigration and integration policies. Despite ongoing resistance in political and societal fields toward the creation of an explicit immigration policy, there is currently a prototype of an integration policy introduced by the Japanese government in 2006 – tabunka kyōsei (multicultural community building) – aimed at the social integration of foreign residents into Japanese communities. This article focuses on issues related to immigration and integration policies in Japan and how a lack of both challenges integration initiatives on the local level through centers for international exchange (kokusai kōryū sentā). We examine the issues behind immigration and integration in Japan and the role of these centers. Our analysis includes a review of immigration and integration programs in Japan to identify the gap between those and actual needs, with a focus on the role of the centers for international exchange. We then analyze the centers themselves, discussing how they apply government policy and resources; the current state of the centers; and foreign residents’ participation in the activities of such centers. In sum, we review the current state of foreigners’ integration in Japan and analyze the role the centers for international exchange play in incorporating them into the society and economy.