|
 |
     |
International Migration News - Volume #8 | |
 | |
|
Japan: No Local Voting
There are about 635,000 ethnic Koreans who are permanent residents of Japan, born in Korea or the children of Koreans brought to Japan during Japan's 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula between 1910 to 1945. In May 2000, the three-party governing coalition submitted a bill granting long-term Korean residents local voting rights even if they elect not to become Japanese citizens, but in December 2000, the bill was killed. In 1995, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that Japan's 3,302 local and regional governments could grant foreigners local voting rights without violating the constitution, and 15 percent have done so. By contrast, Peru's ex-president, Alberto Fujimori, was born in Peru to Japanese parents. He has never lived in Japan, but is a Japanese national because he was registered on his parent's family register in their home town. Fujimori resigned in November 2000 while he was in Japan, and Japan in December 2000 decided that Fujimori is a Japanese citizen because his mother registered him with the Japanese consulate in Peru after he was born; Fujimori is also a Peruvian citizen because he was born in Peru. Fujimori said that he will not give up his Peruvian citizenship, despite a Japanese ban on dual nationality. Japan has no extradition treaty with Peru and Fujimori says he will not return to Peru to stand trial because the Peruvian government cannot guarantee his safety. The Japanese government has asked the Peruvian government to increase security for the Japanese embassy and for Japanese nationals in Peru. Fujimori's son Hiro lives in Japan, as do his sister and brother-in-law, Peru's ambassador to Japan. Foreigners. There were 207,093 foreign workers in Japan in June 2000, including 48 percent from Latin America; 27 percent from East Asia; and 11 percent from Southeast Asia. A junior high teacher was fired after being found guilty of entering into a sham marriage with an illegal migrant from South Korea. The teacher was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The number of foreign students in Japan reached about 64,000 in 2000, up 15 percent over 1999 levels, according to the Japanese Education Ministry. Half were Chinese and 20 percent were Koreans. The growth is attributed to an increase in scholarship money, stipends given to students going to Japan on their own expense and simplified immigration procedures. The University of Tokyo has the most overseas students among Japanese universities, 1,939. In the 1980s, the ministry set a target of having 100,000 foreign students in Japan by the beginning of the 21st century. Amnesty International reported that, between 1994 and 1997, only one of the 516 foreign asylum seekers was granted refugee status in Japan. Japan's GDP is $4.4 trillion, while its pension fund liabilities are about $7 trillion. A recent financial report emphasized that a combination of the lowest birth rate of any developed nation, almost no immigration and one of the longest-living populations means that Japan will have to restructure its retirement promises.
'Teacher canned for bogus
marriage," Mainichi Daily News, December 21, 2000. | |
| |
|