This article attempts to investigate the legacies of colonisation on integration policies in Japan through a comparison with France, against the backdrop of the problematisation of the “foreigner problem” in today’s Japanese political discourse. It proposes that certain similarities are revealed while scrutinising and comparing the integration policies targeting former colonies of France and Japan respectively. It intends to contribute to the understanding of the Japanese integration model, which has not been officially endorsed by the Japanese government, unlike many European countries. It examines and compares general philosophies, public political discourse and relevant immigration policies that France and Japan released to rule their colonies and to integrate immigrants from their colonies in the post-war era. The first and second section of this article are dedicated to present the colonial histories in brief and the corresponding integration policies adopted by France and Japan respectively. Based on the abovementioned analysis, the third section utilise the framework of historical institutionalism to examine the relations between the colonial past and the integration present.

Authors:
Yongqing Zhang, Ritsumeikan University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Yongqing Zhang is a Ph.D. student of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University. Her research interests include migration policy and multiculturalism. She is working a paper on the comparison of integration policies between France and Japan.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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