The Effect of People Crossing Borders: how to see the matter
Recently, the Government has been considering amending Japanese Immigrants Control and Refugee Recognition Act so as to accept the people crossing borders to make up for the rapid depopulation.
At one time, the concept of “Assimilation” is used to illustrate features that some ethnic groups or some individuals belonging to them are settled in the host society. Sarah E. Shimons defined “Assimilation” as the process of adjustment or accommodation that takes place by the contact of two different groups who has another cultural background. The concept of “Assimilation” thinks of the object of immigration as modification: the people from foreign countries transform into one substantially identical with the constituent members of the host society in spite of their original norms of their culture and identity. Thus, it has the premise that the host society has the homologousness itself, which has been criticized so far by many researchers.
On the other hand, “the Theory of Urban Ethnicity” is one of the major points discussed in Japan. Generally speaking, some problems about the people crossing borders ripple out in waves from the branch of labor. Then they face many difficulties and activate various strategies to deal with them. “The Theory of Urban Ethnicity” thinks that this process makes an effect on their unfixed identity and their settlement also has significant influence on the host society and other antecedent ethnic groups. In contrast to “Assimilation”, it says that all the members in the society change their cognition of heterogeneity, which gives birth to the way to coexistence. Accordingly, some aboriginal communities or relationships which have remained unconscious might be found after their immigration.
Up to here, I introduce two different approaches to the matter to you, and you may easily understand the concept of “Assimilation” is not adequate to see this issue. However, in my opinion, the same controversy will occur among the citizens. Whether you like it or not, there will be the influx of people crossing borders in Japan because of urgent necessity to substitute for falling population. Then we Japanese have gotten to revise an intuitive awareness.
