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영어

After peaking in 2004, Japan's population has been declining continuously since 2005. On the other hand, the foreigner registration index gradually increased, exceeding 2 million since 2005, and the tendency of foreigners to stay long-term and to settle down is increasing. Accordingly, the Japanese government began to reconsider its policy on foreigners, realizing that it is not in accordance with the current situation to deal with foreigners residing in Japan only from the perspective of ‘utilization’ or ‘management’ of foreign workers. In March 2006, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications officially began to use the expression “multicultural coexistence” and began to recognize foreigners as members of Japanese society. The Japanese government moved away from the perception that “foreigners = temporary existence” and began to take the view that foreign residents are also residents and local residents. Multicultural policy is characterized by a symbiosis that eliminates political, social, economic, and cultural inequalities and differences. However, despite the Japanese government's basic policy toward foreigners, the perception of the Japanese has not changed. While the Japanese government is implementing a multi-cultural policy towards foreigners, an unprecedented phenomenon of exclusion from foreigners is also occurring in Japanese society at the same time. A representative example is the activity of the Citizens' Association that does not allow special privileges in Japan. Therefore, in this study, the gap between Japan's perception of Zainichi Koreans and the policy of multicultural coexistence is very large, and the purpose of this study is to examine what should be prioritized for coexistence in Northeast Asia.