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An American woguy is faced with a choice: to remain with her circle of relatives in Japan or to return indefinitely to her home country to be with her father after the sudden death of her mother. A Sri Lankan boy and his new father were forced to navigate the coronavirus pandemic without a job after being denied readmission after going to his home country to care for their newborn baby. back to Japan before a scheduled date.
Japan is ready to withdraw its border control measures, however, across the country, the ban on access to foreign citizens amid the pandemic is having a lasting effect on the lives of people who have spent years or even decades, settling in this country. and left them feeling trapped in any aspect of the border.
Suffering with an aging population, Japan has in recent years sought to attract foreign skills, from academics to highly skilled professionals, through its self-proclaimed omotenashi (spirit of hospitality).
But in its recent resolution to limit access to legal citizens who have made sacrifices to pursue careers, seek higher education, and begin a circle of relatives in the country, Japan has necessarily treated its non-Japanese citizens as second-class individuals. The damaging resolution, especially now in times of crisis, has begun to cause negative attitudes towards others hoping to settle in Japan and undermines any positivity towards non-Japanese citizens who have long regarded the country as their home.
Over the past few months, I have largely watched government movements affecting foreign nationals and reported on the effect of those policies on the non-Japanese community. I have heard dozens of stories from other people desperate for the prospect of seeing loved ones in poor health or mourning the loss of their friends or circle of relatives from abroad.
The access ban introduced on 3 April was intended to be “a transitional measure to curb the spread of viral transmissions in Japan” and has since been updated until July 24 to cover around 150 countries and regions.
But six months after the outbreak began, thousands of legal citizens remain stranded or trapped in posts in Japan without the right to return home once they are gone, due to access restrictions. On August 5, Japan opened its borders to grant access to singles. Permission for academics and painters holding visas who had left the country before their destinations were added to the non-access list, albeit under strict procedures, adding the presentation of the result. A PCR check performed within 3 days of your flight to Japan. The country has also begun to welcome others deemed “necessary to help revitalize the Japanese economy. “
The isolation of legal foreign citizens for months and the government’s patience to ignore their fate has provoked prejudice and a wave of hostility towards foreigners among some Japanese citizens, with developing calls on social media calling for a ban on access for all non-Japanese. in position for the time being.
In reaction to my reports, other people have commented and sent me messages implying that Japanese citizens have stricter hygiene criteria, claiming that there are “poor hygiene criteria in many countries where hand washing is not standard. ” those made through error-prone Finance Minister Taro Aso, who this year linked the country’s low death rate to Japan’s “higher cultural standards” compared to other countries.
“I do not agree with the view that visa holders living in Japan on a long-term basis are allowed to return to the country,” said one Japanese in one of the messages. He based his claim on comments through others who were unaware of regulations that require Londoners to wear a mask when traveling on the city subway and the unfounded hypothesis that in some communities “foreigners don’t wash their hands. “The guy did not recognize, however, that non-Japanese citizens are more sensitive to Japanese customs than tourists and have a tendency to adhere to them.
But the plight of the Japanese overseas network and calls for an equivalent remedy have gone almost unnoticed in Japan with few reports on the stage in the Japanese media, which have instead chosen to focus much of their politics on the economy. Confronted over the foreign network in the Japanese-language media, it would have possibly helped to strengthen the government’s position and give many non-Japanese the feeling of being foreigners who do not hold any office here.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the disorders facing foreign authorities are the inhabitants affected by the July 22 access ban. Until then, neither Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga nor Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi had discussed the importance of reinstating those who have the legal right to live in Japan and returning to the country is an urgent matter.
“Most likely, priority will be given to other people who will help the Japanese economy to recover,” Motegi said at his regular press meetings in May. Since then, he has continuously emphasized the economic benefits of resuming travel between Japan and other economies.
Ministries of foreign affairs and justice, which oversee access procedures as a component of the country’s pandemic response, said poor screening capacity at airports is one of the main reasons for the restrictions. strict in the access of foreigners. These excuses are not convincing given that the non-Japanese network represents only 2% of the country’s population.
Japanese citizens returning from abroad should only undergo PCR testing upon arrival and are asked to isolate themselves for 14 days without any sanction for refusing to do so, a stark contrast to the remedy of foreign citizens, although since March reports have shown that several Japanese citizens from abroad tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival.
This second-class remedy has left many non-Japanese residents, especially those who built their lives there a long time ago, wondering whether the government will ever recognize its contribution to the country’s economy.
Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven to even prohibit its long-term permanent citizens from returning to their homes and livelihoods amid the pandemic. Other evolved economies, on the other hand, have secured an equivalent long-term remedy. citizens and foreign citizens.
The Japanese government has not yet specified when it will allow its non-Japanese citizens to travel abroad without risking not being able to return. Thousands of people abroad waiting for new visas to enter Japan are also unable to plan their future.
At the end of August, thousands of people are still unable to return to Japan, left without access to coronavirus tests reserved in their country for COVID-19 patients or performed in another bureaucracy than PCR tests in Japan.
Annamaria Macurikova, a 27-year-old Slovak student at a Tokyo university, is looking to make arrangements to return to Japan, where she spent six years studying, which has prompted her to move here. But for her, the last months of confrontations with the government, with the bureaucracy conquering humanity, have been full of painful memories and sleepless nights that left her with a bad taste in her mouth, which forced her to replace her brain after its installation. in Japan.
“He may come back if one of his relatives dies,” he said, mentioning a Justice Department official when he called to verify his scenario a few months ago. She said the words that still echoed in her head and hit her. downtown when she lost her grandmother a few weeks ago.
“It hurts me tremendously and I never will,” Macurikova wrote in a message to the Japan Times in Japanese.
He left Japan on March 3 to spend his spring break with his loved ones, knowing that this could be the last chance to see some members of his family circle, in poor health and not worthy of making the long trip. to Japan. She has continually asked government officials if she can return, to no avail. For officials, neither the parents in poor health in her home country nor her years in the country, as well as a Japanese fiancé waiting for her in Japan, were sufficient explanation to grant her permission to return home.
“Not that this delight made me hate Japan and its culture. But I just can’t spend the rest of my life in a country that treats its legal citizens like random tourists, ”he said.
Some 90,000 more people who left the country before Japan imposed a ban on their fate were denied access to Japan for months, suffering to control their spending in Japan and other overseas spending.
The access ban has affected not only non-Japanese residents, but also the operation of businesses, educational establishments and others with them. On Monday, business foyer teams from Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom called on the Japanese government to lift restrictions, emphasizing that the policy “can only deter foreign nationals and corporations for which they paint from making an investment in Japan. “
Maintaining the gap between foreign nationals of Japan and Japanese citizens can exacerbate racial divisions and the feeling of alienation of non-Japanese citizens from the society they have so wanted to be a part of.
In the coming months, Japan will face the challenge of regaining the weakened trust of the non-Japanese network undermined by the government to respond to the growing complaint of unequal treatment.
Any pandemic requires planning and preparation, and in this crisis, Japan has failed to secure its foreign citizens a position in society by especially denying those living here in the long term the fundamental right of access. to their livelihoods.
Japan’s access ban is likely to have a lasting effect across the foreign community, causing some of its members to leave the country in which they had invested their entire lives, a move that can end their decades of contribution and have an effect on.
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