International Symposium "International Comparison of Latecomer Nations of Immigration: Experiences of Spanish Social Integration Plan in the early 21st Century and Lessons for Japanese Policies"

Date：November 16 (Sat), 2019　　

Venue: East Campus, Room 2201, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo



* Japanese-English simultaneous translation provided



[STATEMENT OF PURPOSE]

The Revised Immigration Control Law of 2018 has clearly opened the door to a new era of de-facto immigration policies in Japan. Yet, a guiding principle has not been clearly articulated and we are yet to see a concrete image of the new system. The systems institutionalization is still ongoing within separate bureaucracies which have left a number of key issues unresolved. Now is the time to have a broad public discussion on policies for the reception and integration of immigrants. For this purpose, it is critical to re-examine Japans experiences of immigrant incorporation over the last 30 years, while at the same time putting the Japanese case in comparative perspective in order to learn from the experiences of other nations.

The Spanish case is strategically very important when compared to Japan. Originally a country of emigration Spain transformed itself into a country of immigration in the 1990s, and in the first decades of the 21st century received more than 4 million immigrants while the population continued to age. Spain is indeed a late-comer immigration country, but has been able to rapidly establish systematic policies for the social integration of immigrants and has seen relatively low levels of social conflict related to immigration. This was so even during the economic crisis, and can be attributed to these coherent policies. Therefore, we believe that a dialogue between Spanish and Japanese experts on migration can offer a valuable opportunity to rethink Japanese migration policies that are currently going through the process of institutionalization.

For this purpose, we have invited four distinguished scholars, three from Spain and one from the United States. Prof. Joaquin Arango has led the development of social integration policies in Spain at the national level since 2005. Dr. Amparo Gonzalez has been the leader of the EU wide research project TEMPER which questions the dichotomy distinguishing between temporal immigrants and permanent immigrants based upon multinational empirical research. Professor Gemma Pinyol is an important architect of intercultural policies as well as anti-racist social strategies in Spain. Professor Alejandro Portes, who is the leading scholar of immigration at the global level, will join the symposium to mediate the discussion between Japanese scholars and Spanish counterparts and will provide the keynote address.

This is the first attempt to have an exchange between Japan and Spain on this important issue of immigration. We hope this symposium will be the beginning of a bi-national dialogue on immigration issues going into the future.

By Akihiro Koido, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University Tokyo, Japan



[PROGRAMME]

10:00 -10:15 Opening ＊Moderator: Naoko Hashimoto (Hitotsubashi University)



Greetings by Akihiro Koido ( Hitotsubashi University)　



10:15-11:45 Keynote Speech 1　"Labor Migration and the World Economy: Spain and Japan Compared", Alejandro Portes（Princeton University / University of Miami）



Keynote Speech 2　 "Spain: an Uncommon Immigration and Integration Experience", Joaquín Arango （Professor of Sociology, Complutense University of Madrid）



11:45-13:00 Lunch break



13:00-14:40



SESSION 1　Spain：Inclusion of Migrant Workers and Intercultural Integration Policy

＊Moderator: Satoko Horii　(Akita International University)



1. "Contradictions and Obstacles in the Promotion of Temporary versus Permanent Migration in the EU,

with a Focus on the Recent Spanish Experience"

Amparo González-Ferrer （Senior Research Fellow, Spanish National Rese arch Council）



2. "Paths of Integration and Inclusion: the Spanish Experience from a Multigovernmental Perspective"

Gemma Pinyol-Jiménez （Associate Researcher, Pompeu Fabra University）



　＊Comments by Discussant:：Ruri Ito　(Tsuda University)



14:55-17：00 SESSION 2　Japan：New Labor Migration Created by Revised Immigration Control Law Act and Remaining Issues on Multicultural Symbiosis



1. "Overview: Development of de-facto Immigration Policy and Issues Unresolved", Akihiro Koido



2. "From Labor Shortage to Skill Challenges in the Age of Mobility: The Case of Japanese Construction Industry", Satomi Era (Seikei University)



3. "The Migrant Industry and Crisis in the Market for Care Labor: Multiplying Residency Statuses and the Structure of Vested Interests", Aya Sadamatsu　(Keisen University)



4. "Migration/integration policies in Japan from the point of view of "Nikkeijin": A focus on the Voluntary Return Program and the Visa for 4th generation descendants"

Angelo Akimitsu Ishi　(Musashi University)



　＊Comments by Discussant:：Alejandro Portes, Joaquín Arango



17:10-18:10 SESSION 3　Spain and Japan：From Comparison to A New Dialogue

Concluding remark



Organized by: The Society for Transnational Sociology

Co-Organized by: JSPS Kakenhi Project "Transformation of Multilayered Structure of Selective System for Immigrants/Refugees

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University



Partially funded by: JAPAN FOUNDATION, The Mitsubishi Foundation

Supported by: Japan Association for Migration Policy studies

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　



* Contact: trans_soci＠soc.hit-u.ac.jp

(Transnational sociology program, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University)



* For event details: http://www.soc.hit-u.ac.jp/~trans_soci/





**************************************
Naoko Hashimoto (MSt, LLM, PhD)

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Sciences

Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo

一橋大学大学院社会学研究科　准教授

Email: <naoko.hashimoto@r.hit-u.ac.jp>



Research Associate / Dissertation Supervisor

Refugee Law Initiative, University of London

ロンドン大学難民法イニシアチブ　修論指導員

https://rli.sas.ac.uk/about-us/research-affiliates/dr-naoko-hashimoto