Entry Denied: Japan’s Border Restrictions in the Time of the COVID-19 Emergency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/dd.2021.2.06Keywords:
Japan, borders, migration policies, COVID-19, denial of entryAbstract
With the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic, Japan adopted controversial policies to contain the virus. Unlike many highly developed countries, it enacted strict policies banning entry through its borders to all non-
Japanese citizens regardless of their residency status. The further peculiarity is that these measures equalized low-skill and high-skill foreign workers, affecting them identically. Along with describing how the emergency has been handled in relation to foreign nationals, this article highlights how pre-existing socio-cultural dynamics of differentiation between “insiders” and “outsiders” have evolved in response to the pandemic.
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