Japan granted asylum to less than 1 percent of refugees and asylum-seekers who applied in 2019, despite having the third-largest economy in the world. Germany, which has a similar GDP, took around 53 percent of refugees in the same year. Japan needs the labor and population growth that immigrants could offer. With an aging population and a rapidly decreasing workforce, classrooms in some rural parts of the country are empty and many farms are deserted.
Migration to Japan is rising, particularly from Southeast Asian countries battered by the climate crisis, but it still shuts its doors to those in need. Geographic isolation and hefty donations to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have long allowed Japan to evade international criticism for its restrictive immigration laws. It now faces mounting pressure from human rights organizations to offer refuge to more asylum-seekers and refugees—but instead, the Japanese parliament is considering new legislation to make its strict policies even stricter.
