Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-ks5gx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-22T09:30:10.836Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Migrant-support NGOs and the Challenge to the Discourse on Foreign Criminality in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Ryoko Yamamoto
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Migrant-support activists have comprised a major voice to contest the state-endorsed narrative that presents migrants as a crime threat to Japanese society. This paper investigates the discursive and organizational construction of their challenge against this discourse. It argues that the autonomy and expertise of migrant-support NGOs enable them to challenge the state and create the basis for their modest yet significant political impact.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 9 , September 2007 , e10
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2007

References

Diene, Doudou. 2006. “Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, DouDou Diene, on His Misssion to Japan (3-11 July 2005), Annex.” United Nations, Geneva.Google Scholar
Gaikokujin Sabetsu Watch Network. 2004. “Gaikokujin Hoimo: Chian Akka no Sukepu Goto [Foreigner Encircling Net: Scapegoat for “Worsening Security”].” Tokyo: Gendai Jinbunsha.Google Scholar
Garon, Sheldon. 1997. Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keisatsucho. 2003. Heisei 15 nen Keisatsu Hakusho [2003 Police White Paper]. Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
Pekkanen, Robert. 2003. “Molding Japanese Civil Society: State-Structured Incentives and the Patterning of Civil Society.” Pp. 116–134 in The State of Civil Society in Japan, edited by Schwartz, F. and Pharr, S.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pekkanen, Robert. 2006. Japan's Dual Civil Society: Members without Advocates. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Glenda S. 2003. “NGO Support for Migrant Labor in Japan.” Pp. 275–300 in Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society, edited by Douglass, M. and Roberts, G. S.. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Shipper, Apichai W. 2004. “The Impact of the NPO Law on Foreigners Support Group in Japan.” The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Shipper, Apichai W. 2005. “Criminals or Victims?: The Politics of Illegal Foreigners in Japan” Journal of Japanese Studies 31:299–327.Google Scholar
Shipper, Apichai W. 2006. “Foreigners and Civil Society in Japan.” Pacific Affairs 79:269–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torii, Ippei. 2004. “Meru deno Johouketsuke o Chushi Saseyo [Let's Make Them Stop Accepting Information via Internet].” Migrants’ Net 67:1.Google Scholar
Wolferen, Karel van. 1989. The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar