# Summer internship / Long-term perspective in Japan



## ozengineer (May 19, 2014)

Hi all,

Japan doesn't seem like a very popular destination for Westerners, which I guess is part of the reason that makes it so attractive for me. So, I am not sure if anyone here can give me guidance, however, I will try my luck anyway.

About myself. I am a 26-year-old European citizen currently doing degree studies in Economics in Shanghai, China. Before that, I have lived in Australia for a period of two years. Currently, I am thinking about places where I would like to stay after my studies, perhaps even permanently settle down. Being interested in the region of Asia-Pacific, aside from Australia, my second (or given the possibilty, maybe even the first) option would be Japan. I am truly infatuated by this island nation, its food, culture, language, traditions... everything.

Now I know that Japan isn't the easiest destination for Westerns to migrate. However, I am wondering does anyone have suggestions, tips or hints even how would a white man safely infiltrate into Japanese society that seems both culturally and politically relatively closed for all the foreigners? Right now I am more curious about summer internship kind of stuff- are there any paid internships for foreigners? Paying in mind longer future, what kind of job and living prospects would a foreigner with economics education have in Japan? Any suggestions? I have considered doing my PhD in Japan, but I am not sure how this would play in my advantage.

If all goes well, I am more than happy to learn Japanese, dedicate myself to this country and contribute to it. Right now, however, it all seems very distant and frankly very difficult, considering Japan's wish to keep itself to Japanese, which as a European (Europe is on the brink of collapse due to migration) I appreciate and understand.

Cheers for any helpful responses!


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

ozengineer said:


> (Europe is on the brink of collapse due to migration)


Well no, not actually. Rather the opposite. Western Europe's population would collapse _without_ inward migration because Europe's birth rate is so low. Right now the developed countries with significant inward migration are doing _better_ economically than other developed countries. The United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden are good examples -- all have relatively higher inward migration rates, and all are doing comparatively well economically.

Those facts aside, have you looked into the JET Program and its sister programs?


----------



## ozengineer (May 19, 2014)

We could debate a lot on whether mass immigration in form of hundreds of thousands of unidentifiable, largely uneducated and culturally distant people are a good thing for Europe or not. In my opinion, it is not sustainable to have such a large influx of migrants, if the dominant culture is unable to absorb and cope with them. Moreover, it is not sustainable for the future of Syria (although, some recent reports claim that only 30% of migrants are from Syria).

The most disturbing fact about all this, however, is that EU is ignoring laws - asylum laws as well as the basic principles of any sovereign country, this concerns having territory and borders. The US and Canada? Multicultural since the beginning. Sweden? An absolute failure in terms of migration politics. Lived there for 1.5 years. Nice place turned into a state of misery, with even grimmer future. Australia? Excellent example of good migration politics, with an highly selective skilled migration system as well as effective 'illegal-immigrants-go-back' policy.

Anyway, sorry for the off-topic. I am a bit passionate about these topics, for economic implications of migration and demographic economics (especially economics of minorities) are my main areas of interest. Thanks for introducting me to JET Programme, I shall check it out!  Any other comments concerning internship and making a future in Japan would be highly appreciated too!


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Yet the simple fact remains that countries with comparatively higher rates of inward migration are economically outperforming their developed economy peers, often substantially so. As another point of comparison, the United States has much higher internal labor mobility than the European Union, and, as it happens, the United States has a much stronger economy than that of the European Union.

It's also a simple fact that if a country's birth rate is below replacement rate and there is zero inward migration then a population will shrink. That's just basic math. I've also just described Japan. Germany's birth rate has recently fallen even below Japan's, but Germany has inward migration, so Germany isn't suffering a population crash and demographic crisis.

Are these particular points really debatable? I don't think so.


----------

