As refugee crisis grows in Europe, Japan wonders how much it should help

By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff

09.11.15

Migrants walk on a railway track toward a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Roszke, Hungary, Sept. 10, 2015. Leaders of the
United Nations refugee agency have warned that Hungary faces a bigger wave of 42,000 asylum seekers in the next 10 days and will
need international help to provide shelter on its border. Photo: AP/Muhammed Muheisen

TOKYO, Japan When Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, visited Egypt, he pledged $200 million to help
refugees fleeing the Islamic State extremist group. "We are going to provide assistance for refugees and
displaced persons from Iraq and Syria," he said.
Now, as a flood of refugees flows into Europe, many people are wondering why rich Middle Eastern nations
and the United States are not doing more to help. Some in Japan are also wondering if their country should be
doing more than giving money.
After all, Japan has not offered to resettle any refugees from Syria, according to Amnesty International. The
Japan Association for Refugees, however, says three people were accepted as refugees in 2013.
Either way, there have been growing calls here for a different policy.

Accept More Refugees, Newspaper Says

"There are things Japan can do," the Mainichi Shimbun Japanese newspaper wrote in an editorial on Tuesday.
The paper added that the Japanese government could more actively support countries that take in Syrian
refugees, especially Turkey and Jordan.
Japan is called "a country with a closed door for refugees," the paper said. "We should change this closed nature
and consider accepting refugees from conflict zones proactively. Figuring out how to tackle this humanitarian
crisis is not an issue only for Europe."

Yasunori Kawakami is a former Middle East correspondent for Asahi Shimbun, another Japanese newspaper.
Kawakami has been encouraging the Japanese to open their doors and their minds to Syrian refugees.
Kawakami now is a freelance writer in Egypt.
Japan can't solve the problem, he said. However, it can help ease the despair felt by some Middle East youth.
"The root of this despair comes from them feeling completely isolated. The world is turning their back on them.
Is it OK for Japan to continue to turn its back on them too?" he asked.

Children Compared To Anime Characters

In another tweet, he spoke about Syrian children who had drowned trying to get across the Mediterranean Sea.
Kawakami said they were just Arab versions of Chibi Maruko-chan and Kureyon Shin-chan. These are Japanese
anime characters who are also popular in the Middle East.
"Japan needs to sympathize with those children who became refugees," he wrote. "Japan has been asking for
empathy for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after all," he said. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were
largely destroyed by atomic bombs at the end of World War II.
According to the Amnesty report, Japan is far from the only wealthy country that does not take in refugees from
Syria. Russia, Singapore and South Korea were also in the zero resettlement club.
But Japan now prides itself on being a good global citizen. Last year Japan gave $181.6 million to the United
Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees. Only the United States gave more.

Japan Gives Money But Keeps People Out

When it comes to putting its mouth where its money is, Japan is not doing well. It accepted just 11 asylumseekers out of a record 5,000 applications last year, according to Ministry of Justice. Japan accepts just 0.2
percent of refugees. This is one of the lowest rates among wealthy nations.
Immigration lawyer Shogo Watanabe called these numbers "shameful."
Japanese journalist Harada Kazuyoshi wrote about the problem on Nippon.com. He said that "Japan has done
less than any other large democracy" to reduce the crisis by taking in refugees.
Immigration is a touchy issue in Japan. People whose families came from outside Japan often remain outsiders
even if they've lived here for decades and speak perfect Japanese. That makes it a hard place for refugees to
settle into.

Newcomers Could Boost Japan's Population

But Japan also faces a population crisis one that could be significantly eased by the arrival of new people.
Japan has rapidly aging population and an extremely low birth rate. It is getting smaller and older each year.
Japan's government estimates that the country's population will shrink from the current 127 million to 95
million by 2050. By that stage, 40 percent of Japanese will be over the age of 65. Who's going to pay for their
retirement and their healthcare?

And it's not as if Japan does not have the space. There are about 8 million empty homes in Japan already, as the
population shrinks and people move to the cities.
But many in Japan consider the Syrian refugee crisis to be far away, and Europe's responsibility.
"I'm against accepting Syrian refugees," Nobuo Ikeda wrote on Twitter. He is a teacher at Aoyama Gakuin
University who runs Agora Web, an online opinion website.
Some are opposed to Japan taking in refugees on economic grounds. Although the Japanese economy appears to
be improving, it is growing slowly and people remain nervous.
Tomoaki Ueda, a Twitter user from Kyoto, wrote that the government would have to spend a lot of money on
refugees. "And refugees need language and other help, so they'd be a big burden on Japanese people. That's why
it's a problem."
Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2015 Washington Post All rights reserved.
Article courtesy of: https://www.newsela.com/articles/japan-refugees/id/11953/