Immigration and Quality of Life in Ageing Societies

How Attractive for Migrants are Japan and Germany?

Aeneas Zi Wang, Aimi Muranaka, Florian Coulmas, Aeneas Zi Wang, Aimi Muranaka, Florian Coulmas

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781040109182
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This edited book argues that a new perspective on immigration is needed. As many advanced economies are ageing, and their populations stagnate or decline, immigrants are increasingly required to fill in the gaps left behind by shrinking workforces. Against this backdrop, the outdated view that it is – and can only be – a privilege for immigrants to move temporarily from less to more developed economies needs a rethink. In particular, questions about how attractive a host destination can be for immigrants; not just in economic, but also in social, political, linguistic, and cultural terms should be raised.

Considering in detail the situation in Japan and Germany – Japan where there are hardly any convenience stores without foreign employees, Germany where retirement homes would no longer function without foreign nursing staff – the book analyses migration to these two countries in different aspects such as education, training, and labour market participation, and policies and actions on the part of the state and policymakers in rendering moving to and living in these countries worthwhile.

Bringing together leading scholars active in diverse aspects of migration in Japan and Germany, this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars with an interest in immigration issues in these two countries specifically, and Europe and Asia more broadly.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Attractive immigrants or attractive for immigrants? Two ageing societies and migration
• 2. Immigration-related language policy in Germany
• 3. Multi-language service as omotenashi and tatemae: Japanese local governments’ challenges and limitations
• 4. Does easy language promote integration? Japanese and German perspectives
• 5. The gravitation of “authentic” arts: Field-specific logics of visual art and music students’ mobility
• 6. The myth of Vietnamese IT and engineering professionals being “shin-nichi”. Their short-term participation in the Japanese labour market
• 7. Spurwechsel in German migration policy
• 8. Promised (Deutsch)land? West Germany’s attractiveness as a migration destination for the Greeks in the 1960s
• 9. Changes and continuity in Japan’s deportation regime
• 10. Japan’s Technical Intern Training Programme as transnational total institution: Between exploitation and functionality
• 11. Coming to terms with a changing reality
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects