There is a tradition that has us accustomed with at the beginning of each year. And every year we punctually follow the bitter exchange of arguments between Japan and the UN. The numbers change, the arguments change, but same the topic: Japan pragmatically explains that it does not need, it does not want, it is not interested in taking “refugees” within its borders.
In 2015 Japan accepted 27 asylum seekers out of 7,586 applications. In 2014, it granted refugee status to 11 people, out of 5,000 applicants.
In 2016 the UN managed to wrest the promise that Japan would accept more “refugees” and so Japan, like as if we were in a Zen history for educational purposes, accepted 1 refugee more than the year before, rejecting more than 99 percent of refugees. Justice Ministry said it accepted 28 asylum seekers in answer of the 27 accepted the previous year.
This year Japan seems to have lost its “Zen spirit”, and instead of making promises that it only keeps in a hilarious way, this year it speaks in a more Western, clearer and more direct way: they are not interested in welcoming any muslim “refugee”.
Japan’s prime minister said on July 2017 that his nation needs to attend to its own demographic challenges posed by falling birth rates and an aging population before opening its doors to refugees.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the U.N. General Assembly that Japan is ramping up assistance in response to the exodus of refugees to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.
He said Japan will provide $1.5 billion in emergency aid for refugees and for stabilization of communities facing upheaval. But speaking to reporters he poured cold water on the idea of Japan opening its doors to those fleeing. “I would say that before accepting immigrants or refugees we need to have more activities by women, by elderly people and we must raise the native birth rate. There are many things that we should do before accepting immigrants”.
Source: Jews News
More to read: Japan accepted 27 asylum seeker in 2015