Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, who will be installed as a cardinal on Dec. 7, spoke to the Vatican new agency Fides about the present and future state of the country.
The archbishop said that “an aging society like Japan’s will not be able to survive,” pointing to the dangers of the country’s demographic winter.
Faced with this reality, he noted that the government “is hesitant to fully accept migrants” for fear of entering into territory never previously explored in Japan, a nation little accustomed to receiving migrants.
“Until now, Japan has been a remarkably homogeneous country. However, the reality is that without the presence of migrants, Japanese society cannot sustain itself. This is a fact. It’s true that migrants come in with different types of visas but, due to the reluctance of institutions, many of them are forced sooner or later to face bureaucratic problems related to their immigration status,” he said.
Kikuchi said that Japanese society often perceives migration as a “problem” and that even within the Church there is talk of the “immigrant problem.” The archbishop believes that this language reflects the “negative perception” of many Japanese about this reality.