Original
Imagined Integration: The Logics of Japanese Immigrant Integration Policy
Abstract
ABSTRACT As governments develop immigrant integration policies, they draw on and express conceptions about what successful integration looks like—what we call “imagined integration.” Yet this imagination likely displays variation that matters for implementation: integration policymaking is increasingly multilevel as it involves subnational layers of bureaucracy, and it may differ across national contexts which have distinct immigration experiences and political dynamics. In response, we trace the logics within Japan's approach to integrating a range of immigrants (“multicultural coexistence”) as its objectives pass through to subnational (prefectural) governments. As a major industrialized economy, Japan is instructive because its centrally organized approach to integration differs from Western cases, and yet its growing policy attention to integration typifies trends in neighboring Asian countries facing similar demographic and economic challenges. Through the first comprehensive content analysis of all available prefectural plans regarding multicultural coexistence ( N = 31 as of 2025), we identify how subnational policymakers conceive coexistence, its justification, and its successful achievement on paper. Our study contributes to better connections between empirical understanding of important policies affecting immigrants in a key world region, as well as to theorization about the ideational aspects of policymaking.
中文
想象的融合：日本移民融合政策的逻辑
摘要
摘要 随着各国政府制定移民融合政策，它们借鉴并表达关于何为成功融合的观念——我们称之为“想象的融合”。然而，这种想象很可能呈现出对政策实施具有重要影响的差异：移民融合政策制定日益呈现多层级特征，涉及次国家层面的官僚体系；并且，在不同国家语境中，由于移民经历与政治动态各异，这种想象也可能不同。为此，我们追踪日本在融合各类移民（“多文化共生”）路径中的逻辑，考察其目标如何传导至次国家（都道府县）政府。作为一个主要工业化经济体，日本具有启发意义：其集中组织的融合路径不同于西方案例，但其对融合日益增长的政策关注却体现了面临相似人口与经济挑战的周边亚洲国家的趋势。通过对所有可获得的关于多文化共生的都道府县计划（截至2025年 N = 31）进行首次全面内容分析，我们识别次国家政策制定者如何在文本中构想共生、其正当性依据以及成功实现的标志。本研究有助于更好地连接关于这一关键世界区域影响移民的重要政策的实证理解，并推进关于政策制定观念层面的理论化。
关键词
移民融合、想象的融合、日本、多文化共生、次国家政府、都道府县、政策制定、内容分析