Citizenship

by liberal japonicus

This short Japanese article has a lot to discuss and a translation is below

On the 17th, the Japan Restoration Party compiled recommendations on foreign policy.

A “total volume regulation” has been proposed, which will set a cap on the proportion of foreigners in Japan’s entire population and limit the acceptance of foreigners. They also called for stricter nationality examinations and the creation of a system for revoking naturalization. It will be submitted to Justice Minister Suzuki Keisuke on the 19th.

Specific numbers for the maximum acceptance limit were not included in the recommendations. Regarding this, Fujita Fumitake emphasized at a press conference that “it is necessary to keep the ratio at the lowest possible rate.”

The proposal also criticized the government’s response to accepting foreigners as “immigration policy without a national strategy.” They called for the establishment of a new minister in charge of foreign policy and restrictions on land acquisition for foreigners and foreign capital.

Now, the Japanese Restoration Party is one of those little knots of crazies that make Americans think parliamentary government is shot thru with fruits, nuts and flakes, and wonder why they can’t keep the crazy folks in the same big tent. So it’s not like there is a huge wave of Japanese wanting to take away citizenship. I feel like they just following in the wake of the West, seeing Trump try to stop birthright citizenship and Farage suggest he will trash leave to remain. The West often licenses what happens in other places.

There are some interesting wrinkles with Japanese citizenship, as it isn’t a standalone, but has an interaction with koseki, and if folks are interested, I can give more details in the comments. But I start with this to introduce this episode of The Rest is Politics, a podcast with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, where they talk with Austrian social scientist Gerald Knaus. Worth a listen.

One point that has me thinking is that Knaus notes that this wave of populist nationalism starts in France with le mouvement identitaire which, according to Wikipedia, starts in 2002. (here and here)

This article analyzes ideological and organizational characteristics of the pan-European youth movement, “Generation Identity” (GI), through a philosophical and historical lens. With a synoptic perspective on existing and original research, it outlines an analysis of key GI literature as well as its ideological influences, activist behavior, and media strategies. This research reveals that, like other twentieth and twenty-first century examples of neo-fascism, the movement is syncretic and attempts to legitimize its political aims through reference to historical quasi- and proto-fascist cases, in combination with popular left and right-wing political ideals. A reflection on GI’s activist behavior, on the other hand, demonstrates that the movement is relatively unique in the field of current far-right politics; particularly in the extent to which it draws practical inspiration from the tactics and propagandizing strategies of contemporary left-wing movements. GI’s online presence, including its leaders’ promotion of gamification, also illustrates its distinctive appeal to young, relatively affluent, countercultural and digitally literate populations. Finally, while in many respects GI is characteristic of the “European New Right” (ENR), the analysis finds that its spokespersons’ various promotion of capitalism and commodification, including through their advocacy of international trade and sale of merchandise, diverges from the anti-capitalist philosophizing of contemporary ENR thinkers. here

This discusses the ‘Europeanization’ of the GI (Generation Identity) movement. There’s lots of stuff to process, but one thought is Mark Twain’s ‘History doesn’t repeat itself , but it does rhyme.’ We tend to think of liberalism as progress, but 2 centuries ago, we had the idea of liberalism emerges from France and rolls across Europe and then the world and now, we have another movement coming out of France doing the same. If you buy into this (and I’m not sure if I do), the US isn’t some sort of leader in all this, but just a follower, walking in the steps of Europe. As Marx wrote:

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.