Subsidizing Japanese National Identity through Immigration Policy: Nikkeijin and Applications of Teiju-sha Status

Abstract

This study began by questioning the characteristics of the borderline that separates Japanese from non-Japanese is and investigated the nature of Nikkeijin（日系人）, or non-Japanese people of Japanese descent, as people who exist between the identities of Japanese and non-Japanese. Then the study found that the visa status, Teiju-sha status which is given to Nikkeijin targets not only Nikkejin but also other foreigners, such as refugees. The main concern of this study is the Teiju-sha status. The immigration control after the World War II is characterized by Immigration Control Order which intended to make a homogeneous nation and controlled the entrance and activities of foreigners severely. When the Immigration Control Order was revised into the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, however, Japanese government began to accept Indochinese refugees, complete foreigners without any ties to Japan or Japanese people, to settle down in Japan. The new trend of relaxing immigration restrictions to let foreigners gain legal status in Japan was reflected in the amendment of the Immigration Control Act in 1990. In the amendment, Japanese government created Teiju-sha status and solved multiple foreigner groups settlement problems which became big issues from the second half of 1980s at once. The target group of Teiju-sha status which includes Nikkeijin, Japanese orphans in China, Koreans and Taiwanese people living in Japan and Indochinese refugees were mainly those who were Japanese before the war but suddenly became non-Japanese in the post war time. It is considered that Teiju-sha status has the purpose to control these residents by keeping tabs on them to be able to trace them while allowing them to legally settle down in Japan. The Teiju-sha status given to Nikkeijin and the nature of this status reveals that the Japanese governments understood them as essentially in the same category as other foreigners. South Korean government, on the other hand, saw overseas Koreans as the same Korean people, and thus created the visa status, People of Korean Heritage. On the contrary, even though Japanese government decided to accept Nikkeijin considering the biological and cultural relations existing between Japanese people and Nikkeijin, it did not understand Nikkeijin as the same Japanese people. Therefore, Japanese government categorized Nikkeijin as those who were excluded from the category of Japanese people, and put Nikkeijin in the target group of Teiju-sha status with other foreigners. It is considered that because of these underlying understanding and the resulting manner of acceptance, Teiju-sha status and the accepted Nikkeijin did not exercise recognizable influence on defining the border between who is Japanese or not. In other words, these changes did not rewrite the definition of who belongs under the category of Japanese people.