I'm an immigrant, but where I am there is little anti-immigrant fervor...

[Yollam]

And I'm an immigrant in supposedly "xenophobic" Japan (like the US can throw any stones in that arena). But there is a very crucial difference between the immigration situation here and in the states, and why it's a much bigger problem there than here. Is it because Japan is an Island and doesn't share a border with a third world country? Well, that makes a difference, but there are millions in hunger and deprivation in N. Korea, which is a short boat ride from here, and there are quite a few of them escaping to China. There are also many in the Philippines and SE Asia who would love to work for relatively high wages here in Japan, and would certainly pay the plane fare to get here.

So why are there relatively few illegals here when there are so many in the states? In Japan, the VAST MAJORITY of BUSINESS OWNERS OBEY THE GODDAMN LAW AND DON'T HIRE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LEGAL TO WORK. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. End of freaking story.

If I didn't have a working visa or permanent residence, I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FIND A JOB ANYWHERE IN TOWN. PERIOD.

So why the hell is the knee-jerk reaction of so many Americans to blame the poor shlubs who trek thousands of miles up to the states to try to make a little better living, when it is the unscrupulous WHITE, OFTEN REPUBLICAN business owners who create the market for illegal labor by INSISTING ON HIRING THEM FOR SUBMINIMUM WAGES?


When are Americans going to freaking catch on to who the REAL culprit is and demand enforcement where it will COUNT?

:banghead:

[Jackpine Radical]

1. US immigration law actually helps the employers of illegals.

It makes it impossible for the illegals to go whining to the gov't about subminimum wages or slave-labor conditions. Bitch & you get sent back.

Edit: Stupid typo

[Yollam]

2. kick

nt

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Because the intent of the people promoting this "issue" is PRECISELY to

feed off their followers' simplistic racist xenophobic hatred. Which is a lot easier than coming up with "uncomfortable" solutions like fining rich company owners millions, or throwing them in jail.

[redherring]

4. Isn't Japan more xenophobic than America?

I read somewhere that there are some places in Japan that are for "Japanese only". Many of them have also never seen blacks before except on tv and so act really weird in front of blacks.

[Yollam]

5. There are some backwaters where they would balk at foreigners entering...

And they act weird in front of any visibly non-Japanese, but usually in a rather fawning, awestruck manner, not hateful.

Sometimes they are terrified at a foreigner entering an establishment, because they don't speak English and assume that the foreigner speaks no Japanese.

There are some very specific port towns where they have had trouble with Russian sailors coming into bars and starting fights, so they are less friendly there, but usually, if you show that you can speak the language and behave civilly, they are quite accepting in 99% of places, especially in cities.

But again, that's mostly a product of being unfamiliar with foreigners and shocked at seeing them " in real life" than it is of any anti-foreign fervor. For the most part, they are very friendly to foreigners, and know a lot more about the US and Europe than most Americans know about Japan.

As a rule, hatemongering of any kind just isn't that common here.

And don't fool yourself that that doesn't happen in the US. When we traveled through deep rural Georgia a couple years ago, My Japanese wife and mixed kids were stared, no, GLARED at by all the all-white people in the fast-food joints. It wasn't until we made it to Asheville, NC that I felt at ease.

[Yollam]

6. By the way, when married to a Japanese...

...the immigration process is MUCH easier here. I just went down to the Immigration office, paid a $35 fee, and 2 weeks later, I got a 3-year visa. If I want a permanent resident card, it will be $70.

I had to spend hundreds of dollars and go to the US embassy all the way in Tokyo to do my wife's visa paperwork, and the fees were over $300. It took six months to finally get the computerized "green card", and when we finally did get it, they had MISSPELLED her name! It took almost a year for us to get the replacement! No wonder people in the states are avoiding the legal process. If it's that bad for the spouse of a US citizen, imagine how it must be for regular immigrants!