Japan faces tough choice, says MM

JAPAN, facing economic and social problems partly due to its ageing population, could take a leaf out of Singapore's book, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

It could study how Singapore turned to foreign workers to boost its economy, he said.

Immigrants a solution to ageing population: MM

So when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was asked yesterday what Japan should do about it, he referred to Singapore's solution: be more open to immigration.

I felt kinda WEIRD and worried when I read these articles regarding MM Lee's proposal on Japan's ageing population. So let's take a look at Singapore's demographics and Japan's demographics.

Singapore/Statsics:
So as of Jun 2009, our population is 4.99 million, out of which 25% is non-residents and the remaining 75% residents (citizen + PR). So out of this 75% residents, we have 64% citizens and the remaning 11% PRs.

Japan:
As of March 2009, Japan's population is 127 million, of which 98.6% is native Japanese (which obviously mean they are citizens right?). So the remaining 1.4% consist of 0.6 million Koreans, 0.5 million Chinese (surprisingly, I always think that there are far more Chinese in Japan), and the remanings are other races.

So seriously, while I was reading the suggestions given by MM Lee, the following horrible images come to my mind:

1) Blangahs. You see a horde of blangahs seated around Shibuya(Tokyo) train station or perhaps below Tokyo Tower, and they can be there for hours eating peanuts or drinking beer.

2) Tiongs. Well, at least this isn't that obvious because they look the same, unless they start talking. But then again, from the way they dress, I guess it's kinda OBVIOUS that they are different from the relatively trendy Tokyoites.

3) Domestic maids. Well, instead of hanging around Orchard tower, maybe you see them in big groups at Roppongi or Shinjuku on a typical Sunday. which is their off-day. (And yes, it's very rare in Japan society to employ foreign domestic maids)

Seriously, one reason that makes Japan unique in my opinion, or probably like some other countries such as Korea, France or Germany is their high ethinically and linguistically homogenous society. I always prefer to live in a city(country) where everyone looks the the same, speaks one language, have their own traditions (i.e costumes, history) and stuff like that.

Of course, I won't deny that people in such homogenous countries admire people living in multi-racial countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Australia etc, and I do respect their own decisions.

But in Japan's case, the point that I wish to drive is that actively "importing" cheap labours to support the economy and perhaps reduce the burden of ageing population is definitely not the way to go. Can you imagine 10 years down the road, Japan has 80% native Japanese only and the remaining 20% are some other people. That will make the country looks really WEIRD!!

By saying all these, I'm not saying Japan should not open up to foreign labour. On a personal note, I hope to go there as well, and the country will not close its doors on me. After reading many articles on the Internet, there is no doubt that the country is slowly opening up to foreigners who want to migrate to Japan, but a mass inflow of foreigners is definitely a no-go for Japan, in my humble opinion. And I seriously dont want that to happen when I live there next time. If not, then I guess I will be indifferent towards living in S'pore or Japan, or places like Australia.