Western immigrants in japan

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Title The title of this research proposal is; investigation into the current trend of Japanese immigration.
Introduction
The wave of globalization has been associated with an increase in cross-border relocations for goods, capital and human resources. The movement of people however in the post-world war attracted the attention of most of the industrialized nations of the west. Terrorist attacks of September 2011 initiated the review of immigration laws. Studies show that most of the industrialized states which tend to receive the highest number of immigrants are currently in the process of revising their demographic structures. They are characterized by an aging and shrinking population with consequences being evident in their work force. UNPD report of 2000 regarding replacement migration in the industrialized nations shows vividly the replacement is important to maintain the level of employed to that of the unemployed (Coleman, 2000). Japan being amongst fastest industrialized nations of the world is reported to experience high number of immigrants from the western countries. If demographic factors such as fertility and retirement age are not revised, the country will need a high labor immigration to maintain its workforce. Its political leaders are however reluctant in embracing measures to open doors for such immigrants. The country still continues to bar the entry of foreigners in the country through comprehensive screening, work permits and visa regulations. Although immigration seems economically needed in the country lack of political will still remain a stumbling block. This research proposal focuses at how japan addresses the current immigration trend in the light of the demographic characteristics.
Research questions
Central
The main question that will be analyzed in this research is: what is the current situation of western immigrants in japan?
Guiding
Three guiding questions will narrow this research. These are: * What can be done to improve the current situation of western immigrants in japan? * Is Japan prepared for the current influx of western immigrants into the country? * What specific policy changes can be proposed to improve the accommodation of minority immigrants into the country?
Conceptual framework Since the central objective of anticipated research is to examine the current trend of western immigrants such as Argentinean and Mexican immigrants, the research would employ both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Qualitative approach will seek to analyze the efficiency of the country to adopt the current situation while quantitative approach will assess the trend over time. It is expected that through these approaches, important themes will develop to explore the main research question and pave way to possibilities to handle the current trend.

Japanese current immigration policies Various changes are notable with the country’s immigration policies; to begin with, the initial alien registration card has been replaced by the resident card (Oishi, 2012). Initially, one had his or her own visa in his passport meaning that the alien card would be updated anytime the visa was renewed or changed. However, since July 2012 the immigration department issues a resident card, all marital status changes need to be reported to the immigration offices and individuals are required to report departures and arrivals. Secondly, re-entry permit has been abolished for those re-entering the country within 12 months. The country has also embraced preferential treatment for highly skilled foreign professionals who wish to enter the country.
Context of the research Since 1880s, western immigration has experienced heated debates in all the industrialized nations of the globe. In Japan, the rising influx of immigrants from African countries and some of the western countries has received a lot of resistance from the political leaders. The shrinking population size associated with declining birth rates and low immigration rates has exposed the nation to the risk of low labor force despite its thriving economic growth and development. The July 2012 immigration policy changes have however helped to remedy the declining labor force (Hing, 2012). The rising western immigration into the country is also linked to word liberalization trends. Japan over the last two decades has been on the forefront to encourage the free flow of goods and human resources in and out of its economic territories.

Empirical literature According to Sakanaka, immigration is the only measure to save Japan. Sakanaka a former director (Tokyo immigration bureau) recommends an influx of 10 million immigrants for the next 50 years (Kondo, 2002). The director bases his argument on the falling population size and shrinking labor supply. The homogeneous nature of the state has been cited as one of the stumbling blocks to western immigration onto the country. Education minister in 2007 quoted Japan as “extremely homogeneous” with this quote backed by Shinzo Abe the prime minister. These quotes clearly imply that bringing in foreigners may interfere with overwhelming cooperation and unity existing in the country. This has led to recognition of foreigners as criminals.
The present study The anticipated research will take a unique direction from those previously undertaken. Through investigating the current trend of western immigrants in Japan and how the country’s demographic trend necessities an increased immigration rate (Henriksen, 2002). The research will focus on the need of high immigration rate in the context of the country’s demographic characteristics which are best known. Reviews of literature on this topic clearly indicate that no other research has taken this direction before either in the country or elsewhere.
Method
Research design In order to increase the validity and accuracy of data as well as the research findings, questionnaires will be administered to wide range of Japanese as well as the foreigners. Case studies relating to the topic will also be conducted in five different provinces in Japan. Case studies enable researchers to familiarize with data in the context of its setting (Merriam, 1998). In the context of this research, the economy of any country depends largely on the size and quality of its labor force. Immigration barriers may be a challenge not only to the individual immigrants but also to the economy of the receiving nation as well. Therefore, in order to clearly understand the need to allow immigration in Japan, it will be important to obtain different views from all over the state.
Every province as a study site will be approached separately. Boundaries of the studies will be clearly defined and marked as the provinces themselves. Despite the overwhelming impacts that the political leaders have to immigration, only natives and foreigners will be examined during this research. To safeguard the integrity of data obtained from various sites, each set will be analyzed in the context of its origin. Inter-case analysis will be conducted once individual analysis is concluded. Wide sources of data will be used ranging from interviews, historical demographic records, and church records among others.
Participants
Foreigners from different western nations will be interviewed from every study site in an attempt to maximize the reliability of the samples collected. It is expected that a minimum of ten foreigners will be interviewed with hopes that native Japanese will be included as well. Gender equality will also be highly considered in collection of data.
Data collection Three stages will be involved in the process of data collection. The first stage will entail collection of data from case provinces relating to number of foreigners that are reported per year, their origin, and the pull factors. The second stage will involve interviewing the participants of the research. Interviews will be conducted by different individuals to increase the reliability of data collected and minimize chances of biasness. Ethical considerations will be taken into account during the interview process. The consent of the participants will also be sought before the interview with the researchers explaining clearly the intentions behind the interview. Structured interview schedules will be used to ease the process and minimize duplication. Finally, once the original data has been analyzed and themes developed, a focus group interview will be undertaken in every site to affirm or dispute the themes. Individual participants previously interviewed will take part.
Data analysis Miles and Huberman model of data analysis will be used to guide the researcher as to how the data will be manipulated (Langeheine, 1996). The four phase of this model will be covered as follows:
Data collection: As discussed in the data collection section, data for the research will be gathered through historical demographic sources and demographic statistics.
Data display: Data relating to foreign immigrants will be tabulated inform of tables and graphs to facilitate formation of conclusions about the trend at a glance.
Coding: Codes will be in both the left and the right margins in different colors to facilitate visual representation of the data. Continuous display of the data in form of spreadsheets will guide a more detailed analysis.
Conclusions: Conclusions will be validated by a comparison of data analysis over the various stages including the original raw data and affirming the relevance of the assumptions.

Limitations and delimitations Since five provinces will be studied, the outcomes from their studies are considered generalizable to the country and other industrialized states. Moreover, despite the five provinces selected for this study, the central theme of this research is to explore the current trend of immigration of the country as a whole. Regarding the choice of participants, it is vivid that, self-voluntaries will have strong opinions about the issue.
Ethical considerations The confidentiality and integrity of the participants will be highly upheld. Findings and notes will be kept in locks at the researchers premises. Permission will be sought from the participants and the administrative authorities before participants are interviewed. The reliability and accessibility of the provinces will be highly considered.

References
Coleman, D. A. (2000, October). Who's afraid of low support ratios? a UK response to the UN Population Division report on'Replacement Migration'. In United Nations ‘Expert Group’meeting.
Henriksen, E. (2002). A demographic explanation of US and Japanese current account behavior. Unpublished manuscript, Carnegie Mellon University, 1-30.
Hing, B. O. (2012). Defining America: Through Immigration Policy. Temple University Press.
Kondo, A. (2002). The development of immigration policy in Japan. Asian and Pacific migration journal, 11(4), 415-436.
Langeheine, R., Pannekoek, J., & Van de Pol, F. (1996). Bootstrapping goodness-of-fit measures in categorical data analysis. Sociological Methods & Research, 24(4), 492-516.
Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. Revised and Expanded from" Case Study Research in Education.". Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Oishi, N. (2012). The limits of immigration policies: The challenges of highly skilled migration in Japan. American Behavioral Scientist, 0002764212441787.