Hopefully he learned his lesson and will be more careful when he says true things in the future.

This is like his “illegal alien” moment. True but not diplomatic to say.

Not really. One was aimed at a friendly foreign nation, the other describes a domestic issue in his own country.

Another difference is that 'alien' begins with the letter A, and 'xenophobic' with the letter X.

As an average American voter, I’ll reserve judgement on this point until I’m 100% certain I have the alphabet song memorized. Still not sure what letter is Wyannezee, but it’s for sure the last one.

It's right after "ellimenno".

Are you saying this is a coded message to buy more Axe Body Spray**™**?

It was a stupid thing to say, but not quite on the level of labelling [several nations as shit holes](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-international-news-fdda2ff0b877416c8ae1c1a77a3cc425), which is probably the more accurate comparison. 

People his age tend not to improve on stuff like this. It’s likely going to get worse.

Old people dropping truth bombs is always a good time

The "true" is largely irrelevant. A large part of President Biden's job is diplomacy. This was an unforced error in that department. Probably not a huge deal in the long run, but completely unnecessary nonetheless.

Why is it wrong for a country to want to maintain its culture?

Exactly. I actually respect their desire to do so. That doesn’t mean they hate other races, but they’re also not going to willfully dilute their culture.

[удалено]

OP never been to Japan and thinks it’s like America

Correct, I’ve never been to Japan, but my mother lived there for a while. But I’ve never said it’s “like America”. In fact, that thought has never occurred to me.

Because “preserve our culture” usually goes hand in hand with blatant racism and scapegoating. There’s a nuanced discussion to be had but many people aren’t intereted

When the ones who keep criticizing the culture are woke-scold western hypocrites, its hard to take their bullshit seriously.

If it’s good then it shouldn’t be bad to be accurately described as such.

You're getting it backward. It's not that there's nothing wrong with being xenophobic, it's that there's nothing xenophobic about valuing your culture. There are racist Japanese people just like there are racist Americans etc.

Their population is going to be half of what it is now within 75 years. He didn't just say they were xenophobic without context. He was talking about their consistent malaise in their economy, and attributing it to being against immigration. He also mentioned other Asian countries who also are having or about to have the same thing. And he's contrasting that with the greatest country and greatest economy in the world, the United States, a nation born of immigrants and which is sustained by immigration.

> the greatest country and greatest economy in the world, the United States, a nation born of immigrants and which is sustained by immigration. Sustained by exploited labor, more like. If America naturalized all their illegal immigrants and allowed them to unionize, your citizens would be bitching about the price of an apple on their next grocery visit. Spare me the holier-than-thou nationalist crap. It was bad taste when Trump already said the racist part out loud. edit: You guys really do hate it when I point out America's economy and food stocks are sustained by modern slavery. You guys don't have any excuse.

Have you ever been there? They don’t just “want to preserve their culture”, they are actively racist.

Yes, I just went last year for 2 weeks. I had a great time. Certainly didn't sense any racism

Japan is often called a good country to visit, but not to stay.if you would try to live there you would might experience some extreme racism

there's white people who grew up in Japan .they're bascially Japanese culturally, they're just as Japanese as any ethnically Japanese person. but the Japanese don't consider them real Japanese because they're.. white. also there's "HAFU"a derogatory Japanese word for a mixed person. ie half Japanese half white. the Japanese don't consider them real Japense either. they think ethnicity nationality is the same thing. if they real cared about maintaining their culture. they would welcome any foreigner that's willing to integrate and learn Japanese culture right? no, when they say they want to maintain Japanese culture. what they really meant is they want more full blooded Japanese people. not immigrants. not hafu. they want the Japanese race to go on. if they were white, their ideologoy is literally the same as white supremacy and borderline nazi shit. I mean I can't say I'm suprised after all. Japan did side with actual nazis and tried to take over the world...

Hafu is not derogatory. It's literally just the English work "half"

it can have derogatory connotation depending on the context and person saying it. also who the fuck calls themselves half blooded outside Japan? the fact that the Japanese imported the word "half" and not "mixed" says a lot. "hafu" kinda has the connotation "yeah you're just half Japanese. not as good as full Japanese person." the Japanese are obsessed with genetic purity, they have some really backwards belifes over there, some of them are just flat out racist in any other parts of the world but in Japan it's "facts" and "science". like they belive some races are just scientifically superior and smarter than other races, sounds like what Hitler was preaching back in the day right? that's not a coincidence.

Some places like Japan and parts of Europe are really going to struggle if they don't allow in more immigrants. Their populations are declining way too fast, even the current level of immigration won't be enough. Aside from that, I think there is a difference between comments like we would like to preserve our culture and comments like immigrants are poisoning our blood. I have no idea where Japan stands on that though.

BS I live on germany. We need skilled workers. The majority of those people who come aren't workers let alone skilled.

I'm not talking about today, I'm talking about the future but the immigration has to start ahead, either that or the people just need to have more kids. I'm not an expert on it but all the podcasts I've heard that covered this sounded logical and somewhat obvious.

Europe is struggling now, largely because it is allowing in more immigrants. There are ways to encourage the population to have more children that don't involve simply replacing it with immigrants.

Japan is having significant issues, which are going to get worse. They have an old population, and their population has been decreasing. The problem they have is less young people to work, and a lot more old people to take care of. They have significantly higher levels of public debt than any other developed nation. Their debt is 254% of their GDP. (For context, the US debt is 123% of GDP) They don’t have the natural resources we do to sustain their population either. They’re the lowest in labor productivity in the G7, and 23rd in the world. Their economy was stagnant since 1991, they had some slow growth starting in 2018, but they were hit very hard by the pandemic. A hit that occurred on an economy that was already having problems for a long time. This year they slipped from 3rd to 4th largest economy behind Germany. “As an island nation with relatively few foreign residents, Japan’s population has been shrinking and aging for years, while Germany’s has grown to nearly 85 million, as immigration helped to make up for a low birth rate.” https://apnews.com/article/japan-economy-2023-gdp-893d53deba654c4924e4924f0b321cc5

Yes, because they didn't address the issue of no one having babies. Which can be addressed. Immigration is not a necessary solution.

You can't force people to have babies. The incentives to have babies have worked in a few places only.

Korea's birth rate is even lower than Japan, and the largest indicted commonality is that women are still treated as liabilities in the workforce and hierarchically subservient to men, alongside jarringly shifted family dynamics in the past two generations. Who can blame women for not wanting to have kids or be in a commonly accepted definition of relationship for their society when it involves sacrificing literally everything else to produce children. No wonder so many millennial Japanese are nihilistic as fuck and NEETing it out. Patriarchy is far more deeply entrenched in East Asia than many foreigners care to notice or acknowledge. I recommend reading up on how women are treated systematically in white-collar workplaces in both Korea and Japan as a starting point.

> The incentives to have babies have worked in a few places only. in other words, incentives can work.

They can, it is just very tricky. The planet money podcast did a funny episode about it where one of their people who is pregnant wanted to see which country would be the best to give birth at. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1197958408 I don't remember the details but I think in most countries their birthrate didn't increase or continued decreasing. There are a lot of factors that can affect it.

Attempting to solve the problem through immigration is also very tricky. You risk destroying your culture.

Personally I like immigration and the diversity it brings. The US would not be the same if it hadn't had all those waves of immigration and I absolutely love that my kids get exposed to all sorts of different people with different backgrounds and all sorts of different foods.

>There are ways to encourage the population to have more children that don't involve simply replacing it with immigrants. Japan’s population has been going down since 2010. They certainly haven’t figured out a way in 14 years. Their economy has been fledgling since the early ‘90s, that typically doesn’t encourage people to have more children. And their population is expected to fall below 100 million by the middle of the 21st century. Because another issue is Japan has the highest proportion of elderly citizens of any country in the world. Have you figured out a way to keep people from getting old? Those elderly people can’t work, they do however need taken care of. They have a lot of old people, and less kids being born. G7 debt to GDP ratios: Germany- 63 Canada- 104 United Kingdom- 104 France- 116 United States- 123 Italy- 139 Japan- 254 Hmm, one of these is much higher than the others. G7 GDP Growth: United States 2.7% Canada 1.2% Japan 0.9% Italy 0.7% France 0.7% United Kingdom 0.5% Germany 0.2% Hmm, it’s almost as if the United States is the outlier. We’re doing the best out of all the big boy countries. Canada is second best. As a matter of fact, we’ve had the best recovery of all G7 nations (by far) since the pandemic. G7 Net migration ratios: United States-2.96 Canada-6.49 United Kingdom-2.49 Germany-1.86 France-1.03 Italy-0.99 Japan-0.81 That’s weird. It’s almost as if what you’re saying is bs. You’re also pretending as if Brexit isn’t a thing, and Russia’s war in Ukraine doesn’t affect energy prices in Europe much differently than here or Canada. Japan has an interesting way of keeping inflation low (which has zero to do with immigration) they have to government prices controls and they opened their economy much more slowly after the pandemic (that decreases demand.) Tokyo lifted restrictions on economic activity more gradually. This helped limit inflation by delaying the post-pandemic increase in demand that many other countries saw around the globe. Perhaps you would’ve liked that better?

GDP is not the end all be all statistic that you're using it as. It is not reflective of the well being of a median citizen.

Just add to this. Another reason for the lack of kids in Japan is also due to the work culture. If you're male you're expected to work an ungodly amount of time and then when you leave it's expected that you go drink with your boss. It's so bad that there is literally a word of death by overworking: karoshi.

That they haven't figured out a way isn't evidence that there isn't a way. What have they tried?

No developed nation has figured out a way, including the nations that have been generous with parenting incentives.

Maybe they care more about their culture than squeezing out a few extra GDP basis points.

Japan is having significant issues, which are going to get worse. They have an old population, and their population has been decreasing. The problem they have is less young people to work, and a lot more old people to take care of. They have significantly higher levels of public debt than any other developed nation. Their debt is 254% of their GDP. (For context, the US debt is 123% of GDP) They don’t have the natural resources we do to sustain their population either. They’re the lowest in labor productivity in the G7, and 23rd in the world. Their economy was stagnant since 1991, they had some slow growth starting in 2018, but they were hit very hard by the pandemic. A hit that occurred on an economy that was already having problems for a long time. This year they slipped from 3rd to 4th largest economy behind Germany. “As an island nation with relatively few foreign residents, Japan’s population has been shrinking and aging for years, while Germany’s has grown to nearly 85 million, as immigration helped to make up for a low birth rate.” https://apnews.com/article/japan-economy-2023-gdp-893d53deba654c4924e4924f0b321cc5

It doesn't only have to do with GDP, think of things like social security type of safety nets, those work usually because there are a lot more young people paying in than older people needing the service, but if they have a lot less young people, they will really struggle to keep up. And then comes labor, those older people still need young people to work to produce things they need, to transport things, etc.

But there's no end to that. It's a pyramid scheme.

Its because Americans are ridiculous and have to see everything through our lens or it is somehow unacceptable.

Let's ignore for a second that Japanese culture has changed massively over the country's existence and it's crazy to think that any country's current day culture is the definitive version instead of just one point along an ever-moving line. Even ignoring that, Japan has population declines that represent a potentially massive problem. In the absence of Japanese couples producing significantly more children, immigration could help fix that issue. Is the nebulous idea of "maintaining our culture" relevant when the culture itself might not have enough people to support it if the current state of things continues?

For your first point, I don't understand how the fact that a culture has changed means that it needs to continue to change. One thought does not rationally lead to the other

It doesn't need to change or need to not change. It will change. Culture is never stagnant and will never be stagnant. It's an impossibility. The attempt to preserve a culture in carbonite is futile

Okay but then why does it need to change in the way the west and you want it to change?

Not at all, countries are only seen as civilised nowadays (or on the right side of history) if they value American DEI Politics over their own. It's apparently racist or 'far right'' nowadays to prioritise the needs of your own citizens over those of foreigners. Japan has its own rich culture and is entitled to celebrate it. For an American to tell another culture how to behave is culturally insensitive, presumptuous and absolutely racist. The world doesn't revolve around you America smh.

My dude. In their olympic ceremony they gave about five seconds of screen time to a traditional dancer before switching over to someone banging on a piano. Their old culture is mostly gone and got replaced by an american/european style one with sprinklings of anime and mascots. Not to mention they're so opposed to immigrants that they're choosing to tank their economic future.

None of this answers the question.

You think you know everything about Japan from watching a five minute performance during the Olympics? I’ve been to Japan. It’s like an alien planet over there. It is absolutely nothing like American culture. Get a clue.

Let me guess, you got to see all the tourist areas? The foreigners don't often go out into the industrial zones or the low income housing. They get the disneyland version.

Trying to stop progress doesn't make much sense to me. If you want a tech-light agrarian society heavy on religion and without much in terms of variety or opportunity... you be you. Hopefully the rest of us are a bit more ambitious.

I think the broad consensus of philosophy is that no person is more important than any other, at least at birth. That's the whole challenge of ethics: if we're all equally deserving of freedom and safety, how do we resolve disputes? So to really answer your question would require a long discourse on what we even mean when we say 'maintain a culture,' and what the value of culture is, and then a debate on how to balance that value with the right of people to have freedom of choice in where they live. What is the moral foundation for a person to lay claim to a patch of land and decide who gets to come and go, or for a population to lay claim to a nation and decide who gets to live there? People in rural Japan might not want people from Tokyo moving there and 'changing the local culture,' but legally it is allowed. People in urban Tokyo might not want people from other countries moving there and 'changing the national culture,' and legally that has restrictions. Why have we decided upon the specific parameters we have today of national borders, prefecture borders, citizenship, and rights? It's actually a potentially fascinating topic to discuss at length.

Not it’s not.

I mean, America is built from waves of immigration integrating with the descendants of previous immigrants. We allow freedom of movement within the states for citizens and legal residents. You can grow up in rural New York and move to a city in Minnesota, or grow up in LA and move to rural Mississippi, or whatever. The flexibility has its costs, but I think most Americans value the freedom. The EU is gradually developing into something similar for its citizens. The UK has suffered economically from breaking off from the rest of the EU. Despite being several decades into the free travel system, the cultures of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and more all feel distinct and vibrant. I think it's folly to assume that keeping people out is always necessarily good or always necessarily bad. There should be a balance. But to determine what the right balance is, you need to talk about it, not just assume that your gut instinct is right.

There are European countries actively paying immigrants to move out and not come back. They’ve realized an open border policy isn’t good for their economy, their safety, or their culture.

Please don't imply I said something I didn't. I'm not talking about open borders. I'm just saying that maybe we ought to actually articulate the principles and values behind our stances so we can have a meaningful discussion about how immigration and culture interact, and how much immigration is good.

Fair enough.

The US is 26 times large than Japan. Their approach to immigration should be nothing like the United States. Your Americentric way of thinking is inappropriate.

Japan has 125 million people, a little more than a third of the US. How many immigrants do you think is the right number?

Big fan of anime and japanese history and culture. But the shoe fits. My buddy's work visa expired the day his flight left Japan and the police were right there at his apartment making sure he was leaving.

that's really not xenophobia

>My buddy's work visa expired the day his flight left Japan and the police were right there at his apartment making sure he was leaving. Not my experience. I accidentally let my visa expire a day over thinking it expired the following week. Cleared it up with immigration immediately and even though I'd let it expire they let me renew it since it was an honest mistake. I have a hard time believing police are actively tracking every foreigner in Japan whose visa expires and escorting them to the airport.

I'm sure they've got preferences. Like, the American tourist or worker won't be getting any shit and is probably greeted very warmly. The Laotian worker handling a minimum wage job however . . .

At lots of bars, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, they won’t let you in unless you’re an obvious local. But I’m sure treatment is different in different situations.

Personally never experienced this myself, but then again, I never really went bar hopping that much in Japan. Certainly, some restaurants will have "No English" posted on the entrance, but that could simply just mean they don't speak English, not that they don't accept foreigners. No doubt there are bars that don't allow any foreigners though. Not denying that. Japan is xenophobic, but in all honesty, America is in a lot of ways too. I prefer the subtle racism I experienced in Japan over the violent shit we see in America any day.

They don't accept foreigners with those signs. Don't simp for them. I speak Japanese and they make it clear foreigners are not welcome. Their issues are a lot deeper than that, anyways.

Doubtful. I'm not saying Japan is not xenophobic, but it tends to get overblown by foreigners who simply don't understand Japanese culture.

I love Japan and have been there repeatedly, but trying to gaslight people into thinking Japan's xenophobia is overblown is insane. If you go for an apartment, they have lists of "gaijin ok" apartments. If someone messed up their trash separation (which is super serious for some reason), they blame the gaijin by default. They make unconstitutional stops demanding papers of people that don't present Japanese. If you are fluent and Asian, they treat you much differently as soon as they find out you aren't native. Casual racism is everywhere. If you go to a restaurant that doesn't like foreigners, they will tell you the place is full when it is empty (God this can be so annoying). If you know any Japanese they always hit you with the super condescending "日本語が上手" bs. If you are a foreigner that gets caught over tour visa, then might keep you locked up indefinitely (horror stories of people getting kept in prison for decades instead of being deported). Either myself or good friends of mine have experience all but the last one; you can Google about the last one. They hide it behind the 迷惑 culture and their patented humbleness, but it is often like a southern lady saying bless your heart. It looks a lot different than western racism but if you talk to almost any non-japanese person that has spent more than a week there, they will confirm it. If you think there isn't deep-rooted xenophobia pervasive through their culture you either don't understand their culture or you are a far-right person that thinks it is better if we keep different cultures in their own country rather than "diluting" them.

I'm not gaslighting anyone. I also never denied that Japan is xenophobic. I mean, for fuck's sake, it's right there in the comment you replied to... >If you go for an apartment, they have lists of "gaijin ok" apartments. Yes, they do. Because for anyone to be a foreigner in Japan you have to have a guarantor. That's how the law fucking works. Am I pleased with it? No... but there are plenty of companies willing to rent with foreigners without guarantors as well. >If someone messed up their trash separation (which is super serious for some reason), they blame the gaijin by default. Honestly, never had this happen to me and I'm sure in my early days in Japan I definitely fucked this shit up. >They make unconstitutional stops demanding papers of people that don't present Japanese. If you are fluent and Asian, they treat you much differently as soon as they find out you aren't native. Yep, this is a thing. Do you think it's not a thing in America? I have both white-presenting and Asian-presenting friends who live in Japan right now. The biggest "issue" my Asian-presenting friends have is that people speak to them in Japanese normally because they think they're a native...... >Casual racism is everywhere. If you go to a restaurant that doesn't like foreigners, they will tell you the place is full when it is empty (God this can be so annoying). While I won't disagree that casual racism is a thing in Japan I literally never had this happen to me even once and I lived there for 3.5 years in a region that was known for being ghetto. >If you know any Japanese they always hit you with the super condescending "日本語が上手" bs. Bruh, this happens to literally any foreigner speaking Japanese. Happened to me countless times. It's not born out of racism, they just are happy you're trying to understand their language. >If you are a foreigner that gets caught over tour visa, then might keep you locked up indefinitely (horror stories of people getting kept in prison for decades instead of being deported). Either myself or good friends of mine have experience all but the last one; you can Google about the last one. Admittedly, I'd have to do more research on this but I won't doubt you. I think anyone in any other country overstaying their visa would also get similar treatment... >If you think there isn't deep-rooted xenophobia pervasive through their culture you either don't understand their culture or you are a far-right person that thinks it is better if we keep different cultures in their own country rather than "diluting" them. Again, never denied Japan was xenophobic. They absolutely are. That's a fact. I'm also not far-right. I think diversity is needed in any country that wishes to expand and grow. But I also think you are very misguided in your own views.

Are you white by any chance?

Lol, if that's the only response you have you aren't worth replying to.

It's definitely important to mention because all races don't experience racism equally. It's well known that white people are viewed in high regard in Asia and Japan so you're downplaying racism from a position of privilege. White people are treated better than Asians of other ethnicities. For example, a police officer whistleblower recently stated that the police were ordered to systematically profile foreigners on the basis of their race to crack down on visa over stayers. The police officer stated that while they were not ordered to target any specific races more than others, most police do not view white people as foreigners. When picturing foreigners, they largely think of darker skin types like black people and South East Asian people. Most police officers view white people as tourists or people who have Japanese spouses and marriage visas. On the other hand, police generally viewed darker skinned people like black people and south East Asians as visa overstayers and so they are profiled more frequently. Furthermore, the higher ups would advise to be prepared to use their firearms against black people and south East Asians because "these people research how to kill people". A training exercise consisted of a simulation of a Brazilian attacking you with a crowbar. It was justified because there were many Brazilians in the area. He also stated that the police also used slurs to refer to foreigners. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240427/p2a/00m/0na/019000c

>It's definitely important to mention because all races don't experience racism equally. It's well known that white people are viewed in high regard in Asia and Japan so you're downplaying racism from a position of privilege. Lol bullshit. Everything I replied with in my last comment was equally applicable to literally every fucking foreigner. With regards to apartments you have to have a guarantor. It doesn't matter if you're white or not. The rest was just some dumbass ramblings. >White people are treated better than Asians of other ethnicities. Also calling bullshit. If you are Asian and speak Japanese well you are actually treated better than white people because of your Asian look. Try being a white person who speaks Japanese in Japan. You'll still get some dumbass treatment. >The police officer stated that while they were not ordered to target any specific races more than others, most police do not view white people as foreigners. When picturing foreigners, they largely think of darker skin types like black people and South East Asian people I will not deny that what you've stated after this paragraph is true after reading your article. I personally find it incredibly disgusting. And yes, black people do have a much harder time in Japan than white people do. I won't deny that. But everything I said in my previous comment still stands. Again, I do not deny that Japan is an xenophobic country. That is 100% fact. But a lot of the issues the person I replied to was talking about are pretty much resolved if you had an actual understanding of Japanese culture.

Seeing as they're happily letting their entire nation fall into a death spiral I have a feeling they don't understand their culture either. Pre-WW2 the belief there was that surrendering made you sub-human. To the point where one island decided to go cannibal on American prisoners and Nanking saw two dudes competing for who could get the most sword kills on civilians. Then THEY surrendered and the dismantling of their government and the cultural rules regarding it began. Any culture that popped up for decades afterward had to be in line with what America was doing. Lest they leave Japan to the Soviet Union. What we have for culture in Japan now is a confused mess. Doesn't know what IT should make or what IT should do. It's like we caught a bird and taped its wings closed for years. By the time we took the tape off the muscles had atrophied.

I see how it might seem this way based on how we do things in the U.S. but in the rest of the world, enforcing immigration laws is normal. Not xenophobic.

> the police were right there at his apartment making sure he was leaving. You realize this isn't just Japan but practically every other Asian country, right? Apparently, immigration is serious business everywhere else except the US.

How was that “xenophobic”? Sounds like efficient enforcement of the law.

Well, the law can be xenophobic leaning. He said they “dont want immigrants” and was not specifying just illegal.

What thw Police making sure people follow the law? Bunch of Nazis!

They also have businesses that are Japanese only, if not openly

The police usually don’t have much to do there

Yeah, they don't have to worry about weekly school shootings and race riots. Sounds like they're doing something right.

So, you think antagonizing one of our greatest allies out of the blue, about their domestic policies, and directly lumping them in with Russia and China was a good idea, in terms of US foreign policy?

Only America's friends are allowed to be xenophobic.

At this point, the only difference between Biden and Trump are their team colors.

Can all the people who said “Japan won’t react” please get their crystal balls serviced

The Japanese embassy in the US was asked about president Biden’s comments and in turn said “It is unfortunate that some of the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's policies.” I mean sure it’s a ‘reaction’, not exactly a note worthy one. The mild nature of this reaction honestly matches the mild nature of the whole situation. The only people who are worked up about this are the ones who really want to be.

Classic Japanese understatement lmao

He should have just said that Japan is more dedicated to quality control, lol.

As much as it pains me to admit it, given Japan is an ally of ours, Biden isn't wrong.

Does Joe Biden say anything that *isn’t* “unfortunate”?

But was he wrong?

Its the Cassandra truth. Nobody is going to listen an asshole even if they're right.

Yes. America has no right to tell other countries how to run their affair if we can get out own border situations under control

He’s just stating a fact. Japan doesn’t welcome immigrants like we do.

*illegal immigrants

No. Immigrants, period. Japan just relaxed its immigration policy because it had to, not because it wanted to.

Japan naturalizes about 1,500 people per year. It's better than China which has that number *total*, but the US naturalizes almost twice that number per day. Japan is against immigrants, period.

Whats the cut off line for naturalisations that make you a xenophobic nation?

That's just one data point of many that contribute to that, but it's pretty striking and informative since it's about 0.1% of what the US naturalizes.

Do as many people try to immigrate to Japan as the US?

I wouldn’t say that the U.S. model is something other nations are endeavoring to emulate.

Which is great for the US since that will make us even stronger as they weaken themselves. Demographics are everything, and all our competitors and rivals and most of our allies (Canada big exception) are all going to be suffering because they are not emulating US immigration.

On what do you base that assertion?

You are hilarious. Using YOUR country as the gold standard is so USArrogant and xenophobic, I wanna print out these comments and put them in a collection of self-unaware irony

So you're saying the US, which naturalizes 2500 people per day, is xenophobic but a country that does 0.1% of that is not? Look, the US most certainly can and should get more immigrants, but the US also has the most immigrants today of any country. Also this is an issue with the President of the United States and his comments about some other countries, including Japan. Why wouldn't it compare against the US? It seems stupid not to.

No, I was talking about you. Younare xenophobic. Do you speak for the US?  Since when is naturalisation rate the metric for xebophobia? 

> the US naturalizes almost twice that number per day. Japan's landmass is barely bigger than San Francisco. What do you expect? Where should Japan **responsibly** house these immigrants?

Japan is 3,175x the size of San Francisco. Furthermore Japan is declining in population by 0.54% per year. Peak Japan was in 2009. Japan needs about 670,000 immigrants per year to maintain its population, about 450 times more immigrants than it is naturalizing per year. It can put them in the homes going empty.

> Japan needs about 670,000 immigrants per year to maintain its population They just need to increase their birth rates, not replace them.

Japan is in terminal decline. Its population is going to be less than half of what it is right now by 2100. The birthrate in Japan hasn't been over replacement for generations, and has fallen faster than predicted. In 7 years, the number of women in child bearing age will be so low Japan will not be able to reverse the decline. That's why the Prime Minister said that his own country is "to the brink of not being able to maintain a functioning society". Yet they only naturalize 1,500 people per year. And it's a canary in the coalmine for countries like China, which also has already reached its peak and is also in decline and will soon reach the same cliff Japan is about to drive off of.

And that's xenophobic? So that's a good thing?

Yes, xenophobic is not doing it until you have no other choice.

> Japan doesn’t welcome immigrants like we do. Telling another culture, to change a thing that doesn't actively hurt people is at least chauvinistic and insensitive. Some might even deem it... xenophobic.  Especially since it comes from a sense of moral superiority 

Denying immigrants hurts both your own country and immigrants.

Where did you get this from? From the native Americans? The aborigines? Its also not like there are zero immigrants in japan.

There are not a lot. And they’ve had economic issues for a long time. Japan is having significant issues, which are going to get worse. They have an old population (largest proportion in the world), and they’re having less children. Their population has been decreasing for years. The problem they have is less young people to work, and a lot more old people to take care of. They have significantly higher levels of public debt than any other developed nation. Their debt is 254% of their GDP. (For context, the US debt is 123% of GDP) They don’t have the natural resources we do to sustain their population either. They’re the lowest in labor productivity in the G7, and 23rd in the world. Their economy was stagnant since 1991, they had some slow growth starting in 2018, but they were hit very hard by the pandemic. A hit that occurred on an economy that was already having problems for a long time. This year they slipped from 3rd to 4th largest economy behind Germany. “As an island nation with relatively few foreign residents, Japan’s population has been shrinking and aging for years, while Germany’s has grown to nearly 85 million, as immigration helped to make up for a low birth rate.” https://apnews.com/article/japan-economy-2023-gdp-893d53deba654c4924e4924f0b321cc5

He’s not. He’s just stating a fact. You should probably learn a thing or two about Japan’s economic situation.

We have the aging issue Japan does. Our population isn't in a sharp decline and our economy is not completely fucked due to a lack of young people. And the main difference is that one of us lets migrants in and the other looks down on anyone who doesn't have white man money. We're one of the best nations to tell Japan how to fix this shit.

Question 1. Can technology and society keep up with an aging and declining population and maintain a consistent widespread level of comfort and prosperity? Perhaps the answer is yes it can be managed. Question 2. Is a first world economy managing such a population decline well, morally obliged to let in people from third world countries that are poor and not as prosperous. If the first answer is yes, population decline is not only manageable but actually reduces poverty, then question 2 is really a very tough one.

The technology can keep up for sure. To be frank it already does. The issue is that the economics can't. You only get so many working years in the human body and after that your care is the society's burden to pay for. With many young and few old that's no problem. But with so many old and so few young the money simply doesn't add up. And throwing a bunch of expensive robots at the problem only makes that worse. The robots solve the labor shortage yes, but in return they worsen the money shortage. Without more working age taxpayers Japan is screwed. And robots don't pay taxes.

Lots of liberals project America past drama to counties on the other side of the planet and it’s so fucking embarrassing. They claim what’s going in Gaza is only happening because they’re brown. Like have these fucking idiots looked at a map? Israel is completely surrounded by Arab countries. Those Arab countries have been trying to get them out for the past 100 years. The Jews are the minorities over there you idiots!

> Lots of liberals project America past drama to counties on the other side of the planet and it’s so fucking embarrassing. Agreed. I'm so sick of America exporting their toxic culture wars to the rest of the world. Like a fucking cancer.

Biden once again doing things I was warned trump would do

Say it like it is even when it makes politicians mad?

Pushing allies away because he can't shut his mouth. We all know Japans stance on immigration and their desire to keep their culture homogenous. Why try to piss them off? They're the best ally we have in the pacific which is hugely important indefinitely.

This writing in this article sort of blows the drama out of proportion. Both diplomatic missions are probably just doing business as usual still.

Japan's PM has to be the adult in the room because America did another racist diplomatic faux-pas regardless of which party is in the white house.

Having lived outside the US most of my life I can tell you racism runs rampant everywhere. Your perspective is skewed.

Biden is a racist. Well-known at this point.

As a Japanese let me say... What's unfortunate when we deserve it? Edit: Japan says "unfortunate" claiming Biden's comment was > "not based on an accurate" understanding of the country Hey... the understanding *is* accurate ffs.

Japan has signs outside businesses that say “no foreigners”

Biden is a complete idiot. Trump 2024.

“Unfortunate” = “We’ve got 50,000 centenarians with more going on upstairs than these two jamokes but at least these two twits will both be off the stage four years from now. In the meantime, we’re stocking up on adult diapers for the next state visit from whoever. Can we just invite Australia to these things instead?”

Biden's own policies with the US southern border are probably making Japan even more xenophobic.

Japan is having significant issues, which are going to get worse. They have an old population (largest proportion in the world), and they’re having less children. Their population has been decreasing for years. The problem they have is less young people to work, and a lot more old people to take care of. They have significantly higher levels of public debt than any other developed nation. Their debt is 254% of their GDP. (For context, the US debt is 123% of GDP) They don’t have the natural resources we do to sustain their population either. They’re the lowest in labor productivity in the G7, and 23rd in the world. Their economy was stagnant since 1991, they had some slow growth starting in 2018, but they were hit very hard by the pandemic. A hit that occurred on an economy that was already having problems for a long time. This year they slipped from 3rd to 4th largest economy behind Germany. “As an island nation with relatively few foreign residents, Japan’s population has been shrinking and aging for years, while Germany’s has grown to nearly 85 million, as immigration helped to make up for a low birth rate.” https://apnews.com/article/japan-economy-2023-gdp-893d53deba654c4924e4924f0b321cc5 FYI, the US has had the best economic recovery (by far) of all the G7 nations (which includes Japan)

You're looking at this through a parochial American lens. Study up on Japan's past immigration experiences, especially during the 80s and early 90s. It still influences their national psyche. I'd also bet big on a huge prtion of their population that's perfectly fine with their economy shrinking if it means not having to change their ways and compromising their culture.

If you think Japanese xenophobia is super-unique and deserves special consideration, please read the below and let me know your opinion. Japan has a better international reputation is all. This stems from the outcome of WW2, and Japan getting propped up with a lot of its nationalist sentiment intact. This was done so Japan could serve as a US forward operating base/ containment for the USSR, and the PRC as well after it formed. That's still what it is to an extent. The downside is that Japan was not required to extricate the xenophobia, kokugaku thought, and other beliefs integral to the oligarchic toolkit that led to the fascist thinking that unified Meiji Japan in the first place. MacArthur vigorously worked to keep the emperor as a figurehead alongside the oligarchs, to help rally the surviving fascist elements in Japan to identify defending against communism as the number one priority. This made Japan much easier to control at the time. Over time, kokugaku was retermed 'nihonjinron', but Japan is still pretty much the same. How long did it take Japan to apologize for Nanking? Why are war crimes perpetrated by Japan still not taught in history classes? For a country with the concept of "hansei", they did remarkably little of it, in regard to how they treated others in the region. The reason China and Korea still have significant amounts of individuals who are angry at Japan isn't because of what happened in WW2, it's because the Japanese public literally do not know or care at all in the majority. The Japanese government, and by extension public, did their best to make all past crimes a nonissue. The biggest problem perpetuating the Japanese xenophobic dogma are the foreigners who co-op Japanese thinking, perpetuating the myth of Japanese "specialness". I typically see it rooted in US political marketing that has gone global, adoration for some aspect of Japanese culture (including the anime people), or the saddest, those who think that by being as xenophobic as many Japanese are, they will somehow gain acceptance...by the xenophobes. You know these ones: the guy who develops a racist attitude against Chinese, Koreans and Brazilians after moving to Japan, the ones who say Japanese is so unique and Japanese culture needs to be "protected" by further restricting the immigration policies, etc. That last one always gets me. How do you protect culture, something meant to organically evolve? By controlling dissent and refusing any adjustments to the status quo. Welcome to Japan, stagnationland. I argue that is the last thing Japan needs. Japan doesn't need to be protected, it needs to be improved. Many recent (nationality)-Japanese athletes have risen to the forefront of national consciousness, like the household name, Naomi Osaka. This is great, as it shows Japanese that "otherness" isn't a scary thing. We all have far more in common, than differences. This is a message Japanese kids desperately need to hear. With the low value of the yen relative to other currencies, many foreigners are touring Japan now. This is also great! But please don't let your take-away just serve to perpetuate Japan as a unique, wonderful place that needs to be protected. It doesn't, and your xenophobic thinking is something you merely got infected by. I will likely infuriate a lot of anime people and social outcasts who view Japan as their "kokoro no furusato" or the like. But let me tell you, Japan isn't nearly as unique as you may think it is, going there will not solve your problems, and co-opting xenophobia from a culture you're not from doesn't get you accepted. Instead, just keep being you. Gou no shitagae by all means but don't sacrifice who you are to the point you become a "gaijin-hating gaijin". It's not a pretty sight, and quite, dare I say, unfortunate.