Immigration

If you are not Japanese and you want to move here, it's not so easy. Firstly, Japan is a group of islands, thus you can not just walk in like someone might walk into America from Mexico. To legally live here, you must get a proper VISA.

You have several options. If you already have a job with a company based in Japan, there is paperwork to fill out, but you will generally be allowed to enter and live here. As for me, I am here based on being married to a Japanese citizen.

Even so, I could not simply enter. It was first required that I be sponsored by a Japanese person who has a job. The paperwork required that my sponsor states I have good character and that they show proof of their employment. It is not my impression that the sponsor is actually on the hook to make good on any debts I incur. As my wife and I had been living in America prior to moving here, she did not have a job here when I arrived and thus could not be a sponsor. Some other relative of her's kindly offered to be the sponsor. I believe America used to have a system like this.

After 3 years, if I have a good record (no legal or financial problems), I will be eligible for permanent resident status.

In America, I suppose there are welfare bums who sneak in to take advantage of the system. That probably accounts for much of the influx of immigrants, especially illegal ones. It is my understanding that many illegal immigrants snuck in from Mexico to earn cash during the housing boom via the construction trade. Now that there is a bust, many of those people have gone back to their home country.

The welfare state is quite beneficial to politicians in America. Democrats get votes and power by increasing the welfare rolls, while Republicans get their bread buttered by businesses who hire cheap immigrant labor. It seems as if Japanese officials prefer having an immigration policy that helps the country maintain its cultural heritage. Seems like that might have been a good decision, don't you think so?