Refugee Law and Practice in Japan. By Osamu Arakaki.

Abstract

Refugee Law and Practice in Japan offers a balanced, yet critical appraisal of the refugee determination process, providing a comprehensive and perceptive analysis of a complex subject. By highlighting the manifold shortcomings of the process, it explains why Japan has the lowest refugee recognition rate of all democratic industrialized nations—in single figures for most of the 1980s and 1990s. Although Japan joined the United Nations in 1956 it did not become a party to the Refugee Convention until 1981. Prior to this, Japan's foreign and refugee policy was isolationist. This was reinforced by the fact that there were no mass movements of refugees either around or towards Japan until the arrival of the Vietnamese boat people in 1975. In a country which saw itself as ethnically, culturally and linguistically homogenous, the prospect of a mass immigration of refugees was alarming to the populace and the negative reaction of the Japanese government reflected that concern. Not only did Japan lack the political will to deal with the Indo-Chinese refugee crisis, it was also missing the legal and administrative structures to cope with the potential influx. Whilst offering substantial international financial aid, the government did not have the tools and political will to address the domestic recognition and settlement of the Indo-Chinese refugees. The intense international criticism and pressure exerted on Japan during this period resulted in its eventual ratification of a number of international human rights instruments including the Refugee Convention.