Invisable Immigrants: Undocumented Migration and Border Controls in Early Postwar Japan

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    Abstract

    The economic "bubble" of the 1980s is widely assumed to mark the start of large-scale immigration to postwar Japan. This article questions that assumption by examining the neglected topic of immigration to Japan in the decades immediately following the Pacific War. Though the scale of immigration to Japan in these decades is difficult to assess, there is good reason to believe that tens of thousands of "illegal" migrants (so-called mikk?sha) entered Japan, mainly from Korea, between 1946 and the 1970s. The article explores the experiences of these migrants and suggests that official responses to their presence had a lasting impact on Japan's migration and border control policies.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)119-153
    JournalJournal of Japanese Studies
    Volume32
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2006

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