Manga sparks new wave of Chinese immigration to Japan
One million Chinese will be living in Japan by next year, according to some estimates, driven by families enrolling their children in academies linked to Japan’s animation industry, where the best talents are offered the possibility of permanent residence. About 70 per cent of foreign students today come from mainland China, but distrust is growing towards them.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – With the easing of visa requirements, the number of Chinese immigrants in Japan continues to rise and it is estimated that by 2026 the number will exceed one million, driven by a singular factor, manga and the animation industry.
Kyoto University of Arts is one of Japan's leading art institutions and has attracted many Chinese students in recent years. According to Nikkei Asia, the number of Chinese students in Japan's leading art schools has increased significantly in recent years, and now make up 70 per cent of the total number of international students.
This is closely linked to obtaining permanent residency in Japan. By attending these schools, Chinese students can obtain the qualification of “highly skilled talents,” by virtue of which they could obtain permanent residency in Japan for their parents as well.
This disguised immigration channel opened in 2017, when the Japanese government reduced the number of years to be eligible for permanent residency and – simultaneously – with the "Cool Japan" initiative promoted the development of popular culture industries, implementing preferential measures for foreigners working in related sectors.
The trend eventually spread from the big cities to the most remote areas of Japan, those that are depopulating due to the country’s demographic crisis caused by fewer births and the shift to large metropolitan areas.
In rural Japan, schools suffer from declining enrolment, and Chinese families are trying to take advantage of this opportunity.
Chen Lifu, a Taiwanese scholar who was formerly a researcher at Waseda University's Asia-Pacific Research Center, told Radio Free Asia that the wave of Chinese immigration to Japan began in the Deng Xiaoping era, when China was generally poor and migrants were willing to travel to remote rural areas in Hokkaido to work in farming.
During the Hu Jintao era, Chinese people moved to big cities to buy property and invest.
After Xi Jinping's rise to power, internal control became increasingly strict, and the policy of common prosperity frightened the middle class, who feared that their life savings might be wasted. So the idea of investing abroad turned into a real desire to "make money" abroad.
After Xi Jinping imposed the national security law in 2019 to crack down on protests in Hong Kong, many mainland migrants picked Japan as their destination of choice rather than the former British colony and Macau.
This is having repercussions in Japanese society, with many political parties expressing concerns about Chinese penetration and possible repercussions on local culture.
Suspicions have been triggered by historical wounds that have shaped relations between the two countries and by new fears related to the growth of Chinese military power in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
This was compounded by recent tensions created by China’s campaign against the release of Fukushima waters, only recently lessened with the agreement on the resumption of exports of Japanese fish products to China.
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24/10/2018 13:24
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