PEOPLE

I
their way uninvited to Jqan, Of thcse, only thm have ken
accepted for what, with the Japanex genius for obfu~ation, is mis-
called 'permanent widenee',
Japan, the rich man of Asia, has survived both the actual arrival
on its shores of boat people - picked up usually not by the Jspaneac
vessels that art most numerous in the Swth Chins Sea, but ships
of other flags - and the worn of many western nmtions, Japan the
unique, the pure, the homogeneous, has prestrvtd itself from contamination
yet again, as it did in the nervous days after its long
seclusion was broken by Commodore Perry in 1854 and again, in
qdly uncertain times, when it was mupied after defeat in 1945,
It has succeeded thi~ time by the deft combin~tion of firmness,
the illusion of accepting some refugees under the specious 'permanent
residence' category, and generous contributions to the WHCR
that have deflected unfavourablc world opinion, Japan has already
given $35 million and, in accordance with ia promise at the Geneva
conference in July to pmy half the total spent by the UNHCR worldwide
on the refugm in 1979, it has budgeted another $15 million,
making r ton1 of about $50 million for 1979,
The three boat people accepted as 'permanent residents' were Huu
Loi Mai, a former south Vietnamese army officer, nnd his wife and
small daughter. By late Scptwnber 1979,1685 of the 2860 who had
reached Japan had already left, accepted for resettlement in other
countries. The United States accepted 1223, Canada 152, Norway
88, Belgium 61, Britain 46, Switzerland 42, Paraguay 31, France 22,
Holland I I, and Australia 9. This third-country resettlement scheme
of Japan's is unusual. France and Auseraiia, both very active in
rtwnling boat people, began refusing to accept refugees pas4 on
by Japan, in an efFm to make it change it^ exclusionary policies.
But almoat certainly Japan will not change, and the losers, he pawns
in this game of international mom1 one-upmanship, will be the refugees
themselves, including everal who already have close relatives
in France or Ausmlia - a condition that, in other circumstancts,
would ensure their acceptance for rcsettlcmmt. Few of the 1172
refugees who remain will wnle down like Mr Loi Mai and his small
family.
Shortly More the seven-member economic summit of industrial-
iztd nations in Tokyo on 28-29 June 1979, J a p announced that
it proposed to accept up to 500 boat people for sertlemtnt. The Japanese
have begun professing several hundred applicants abroad
under this proposal, but the nature of so-cdled 'permanent residcnce'
in Japan makes it a hollow affair. Japan already has a minority
population of about 600 000 people of Korean descent. Most we
born in Japan but are not Japanat, just 'permanent residents: These
Koreans and their children, as well as about 75 000 Chinese, are the
legacy of Japanese colonialism in Korea, Taiwan and China.
To apply for 'permanent residence' within the 500 quota, nvo
basic and highly panicular conditions have to be wtisficd. First, the
refugee must have wrne previous avaociation with Japan - either a
relative already living in Japan, experience of working for the Japanesc
embassy or a Japanese company in Vietnam, or experience of
living in Japan as a student or technical trainee. Second, the applicant
should have a job to go to in Japan, and a Japane~ sponsor.
Ninety-nine farnilits, a total of 357 people, haw applied for entry
under these conditions. By late September, twenty-two families, or
69 people, had been approved; the remaining seventy-seven families,
288 people, will probsbly make thcir way to Japan in due course.
'The Japanese government says that no applicant under this scheme
has bccn rejected, This is somewhat disingenuous. Besides the select
nincty-nine families, a great many refugces in camps in the Philippines
and South-East Asia (how many, the Japanese will not disclose)
expressed their desire to go to Japan, but were saved the pain
of refusal: they were simply not given the oppomnity to apply. In
most cases they lacked previous connections with Japan; their
chances of finding a job and a Japanese sponwr were therefore nil.
Refugees who have ken mcceprcd for 'permanent residence'seem
to have no illusion about the impermanence of their situation, They
are grateful for the breathing space that, by chance association with
Japan, thcy have been allowed. Most see their long-tern future not
in Japan but in resettlement in a third country or, perhaps in the
very long term, in their return to Vietnam.
Japan's exclusionary politics, whatever gloss is applied to them,
ltavc little room for humanitarian aitcria. The appcamnce of
heartlessness this givcs is P cause of much anguish among westerninfluenced
Japanese, but even such Japanese insist their country is
not racist. Their refusal to acccpt refugees is based simply on their