Resumen de Japan as a host country: attitudes toward migrants

Ayako Shikama

• Over the past decade, foreign residents in Japan increased by a factor of 2.5. How does this influx of non-Japanese nationals affect Japanese society? This article investigates the influence of recent immigration on community attitudes toward foreigners as well as Japanese notions of identity. The results of an empirical questionnaire study are reported. Special attention is paid to the role of re-migrants, that is, South Americans of Japanese descent, the so-called Nikkeijin, who ‘‘returned’’ to Japan. It is shown that attitude research instruments can be fruitfully applied to the analysis of Japan’s changing linguistic composition and self-understanding.