Social security and foreign nationals in Japan

Abstract

Abstract Being the only Asian member of the club of industrialized countries like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and G7 Summit and still an ethnically homogeneous country, Japan has developed an extensive network of social security schemes against a variety of historical, social, economic and political backgrounds. The internationalization of the Japanese economy, increased cross-boarder movements of people and changes in international political climate have begun to inject an international dimension into the Japanese social security system over the past two decades or so. It was in this context that Japan began to review the status of foreign residents in the social security provisions. This paper attempts to clarify the status of foreign nationals in Japan, legal and illegal alike, under the Japanese social security system while outlining the recent population movements into Japan and the stale of foreigners in Japan, the implications of population movement on the Japanese social security system, and Japan's social security policy dilemmas in translating the principle of equal treatment of foreign nationals into practice.