Read this fascinating account of this Afghan refugee in Japan.....

[Lipton64]

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/feature/459

Apparently the Japanese are still a very xenophobic society with regards to immigrants.(or in the very least they have a very strong desire to maintain their ethnic identity)

This ethnic-Hazara Afghan cook runs a small Afghan restaurant in Tokyo and it seems as though he's literally one in a million in terms of Afghan refugees. So few of them get here to the United States or to the west. I don't know why Japan treated this man so bad but it seems like there may still be a little underlying anti-Muslim feeling there. This bothers me a lot because I'm a huge Japanophile and anime/manga fan. I only hope with time that they can work out their racial/ethnic issues and stop the discrimination.

It should be noted though that Japan has an aging population and needs foreign workers to help do many of the jobs that the Japanese simply are too old to do. And I'm talking about simple labor jobs like trash-collection, crop-picking, stocking jobs that require heavy lifting, etc.

It seems as though fairly soon Tokyo may have its fair share of ethnic neighborhoods like most metropolises already do on this planet.

From what I've read there are only a few nations on the map that are overly-eager to accept immigrants and refugess - New Zealand and Canada. Canada of course has its nativist elements but I don't see how their economy could survive without the primarily Asian immigrant lower-class workforce. Or of course here in our country with our ever-expanding hispanic/latino lower-class workforce who do everything from construction to burger flipping to cleaning hotel rooms. Fuck, even the guy who cleans the toilets at my workplace is an illegal!! We like the labor but we don't like to admit the baggage that comes with it.

I think we as modern democracies should not only embrace foreigners but we need to incorporate them into our culture as well. The same can be said of this poor Afghan. I only wish Japan would accept more of them that apply for refugee status. The same being for those Kurds who sadly were returned to their homelands.(I'm talking about several Kurdish refugees who have been sent away by the Japanese authorities because they do not like to take in Kurdish refugees.

This is also an interesting story because it tells the story of a refugee in a non-Western 1st world economy and the idea of tolerance and acceptance in that sort of culture.

[pitohui]

1. i have relatives who have lived in japan a v. long time

yes, japan wishes to retain its racial identity, as is their right

they welcome only highly skilled immigrants, as just makes good sense for any nation

we would rather put our own in prison and bring in illegal immigrants to work for slave wages, i suppose that is our right, but i'm damned if i see how it makes us any better than japan

want to move to japan? develop a skill that is wanted and needed, japan offers a high level of social services such as medical and retirement, don't expect them to welcome every skill-free toilet cleaner on the globe

you make the call but life is about choices, resources are limited, and when you decide that you'd rather import cheap toilet cleaners than pay native workers a decent wage, well, it comes with a cost

the ruling class who will get health care anyway can afford to weep for the illegal immigrant toilet cleaner, i'll weep for the people actually born here who will die 30 years early because they can't get medical care

canada is way under-populated, the usa is over-populated, you are comparing apples and oranges -- and even at that, you try immigrating to canada, you just try, it is not so easy as you fantasize, there is total age discrimination

[brer cat]

2. If the guy who cleans your toilets is illegal...

have you reported your company?