Ideology or Racism: Historical Origin of Immigration Control Bureau in Postwar Japan

The immigration control system in Japan is notorious for its considerable discretion with regard to immigrants in Japan. Previous studies focus on international relations in post-war northeast Asia, citing the Cold War as the main reason for the enormous power of the Immigration Control Bureau. They argue that the Allied Powers allowed the Japanese Government to provide the immigration control system with a great deal of discretion and to foster a strong relationship with the police to protect Japan from the Communists and find the agents. However, such scholars merely present a hypothesis without really examining the process of the establishment of the Bureau. Therefore, this study verifies this hypothesis, aiming at clarifying the possible conditions of state sovereignty through concrete interactions and negotiations.

The negotiation process documented by the General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) and the Japanese Government indicate the following. (1) Discrepancy in the immigration control policy: For GHQ/SCAP, the immigration control policy in Japan was a part of the anti-communism strategy in the northeast Asia. However, the Japanese Government paid the most attention to the monitoring and controlling of the ethnic minority population, who at that time still held Japanese citizenship. (2) The process of recovering Japan’s sovereignty: The establishment of the Immigration Control Bureau was a step for both GHQ/SCAP and the Japanese Government toward recovering Japan’s sovereignty, which was why the immigration control system enjoyed considerable leeway in the treatment of immigrants as well as ethnic minorities in post-war Japan.