Is Japan about to follow the countries of Western Europe and North America and morph into a full-blown multicultural society? Until recently that would have seemed an unlikely scenario, but the loosening of immigration controls recently proposed by the Japanese government could well lead to that outcome.
If Japan does copy the Western precedent without due attention to the problems, the result could be social and political conflict and heightened geopolitical risk. Without doubt, what it means to be Japanese would undergo significant change.
