Special issue

Japan and the UK are long-established  countries of immigration. Although having different histories, their  experiences as colonial powers have shaped their hostile attitudes towards  migration alongside a need for migrant labour and negative public attitudes  towards migrants. This paper sets the context to the Special Issue by examining  the migration and diversification histories and scholarships of Japan and the  UK. It identifies common themes and divergences and reviews the key features  that shape processes underpinning the emergence of superdiversity:  super-mobility, and the scale, speed and spread of diversification.

The article draws on qualitative  data on the experiences of Central-East European (CEE) migrants in the UK and  Japan to unpack how whiteness is constructed in relation to different  histories and patterns of immigration. The article shows how CEE migrants  benefit from being perceived as implicitly white and as Western ‘foreigners’  in Japan, yet their whiteness represents a form of enduring exclusion from  ethno-nationalist Japanese society. In contrast, changing political contexts  and internal European hierarchies of whiteness in the UK contribute to CEE  migrants’ ambiguous position in an increasingly anti-migrant society.

In global cities such as London  and Tokyo, there are neighbourhoods where ethnic, religious, cultural and  other forms of diversity associated with migration are commonplace and others  where migrants are regarded as unusual or even out-of-place. In both types of contexts, migrant-run eateries  are spaces in which people of various backgrounds interact. This comparative  paper is based on findings from two ethnographic neighbourhood studies in  West Tokyo and East London.

Using Japanese and Britishlongitudinal data, this study firstly compares and contrasts howimmigrant-share in an environment affects anti-immigrant sentiment in Japan andGreat Britain. Secondly, it explores two potential drivers of heterogeneity inthe impact of immigration: the perceived financial situation, and views towardsgovernment’s role in supporting vulnerable populations. Finally, applyingfixed-effects panel data modelling shows that increasing immigration harms attitudestowards immigrants. Furthermore, these negative effects are stronger for thosewho perceive their financial situation as worse and those who lean further tothe left on the role of government.

The article shifts the focus  from policies aimed at attracting and selecting foreign labourers to measures  intended to retain them. Drawing on research with EU migrants in Japan and  the UK, this contribution highlights how staying may occur after a period of  mobility, rather than only being relevant to those who never left their home  region. The paper develops a new conceptual framework, which helps identify  different dimensions that shape migrant staying as a temporal process.

There is an urgent need to  expand the scale and scope of refugee resettlement schemes, yet country  approaches to resettlement vary markedly, and there is little cross-country  learning from approaches and refugee experiences. In Japan, resettlement  focuses on economic self-sufficiency through employment, whereas the UK  provides social connections to facilitate integration through Community  Sponsorship volunteers. This article explores the strengths and short-comings  of each approach and examines how refugee resettlement programmes  prioritising different integration domains might influence refugee  experiences of integration more widely.

Most research on international  retirement migration has focused on the Western context and the motivations  and lifestyle choices of migrants when they are healthy. Instead, this paper  explores how British retirees in Spain and Japanese retirees in Malaysia  respond to declining health and increasing care needs through bricolage as  they begin to ‘age in place’.  We focus  on two key types of bricolage behaviour: ‘within-system bricolage’ undertaken  by migrants to help them access and navigate existing health and care  systems, and ‘added-to-system bricolage’ that is enacted to fill gaps in  health and care provision.

The article examines the migrationinfrastructures and pathways through which migrants move into, through and outof irregular status in Japan and the UK and how these infrastructures uniquelyshape their migrant experiences of irregularity at key stages of theirmigration projects.We develop a three-pronged analysis of theinfrastructures of irregularity, focusing on infrastructures of entry,settlement and exit, casting a comparative light on the mechanisms that produceprecarious and expendable migrant lives in relation to access to labour andlabour conditions, access and quality of housing and law enforcement, and howmigrants adapt, cope, resist or eventually are overpowered by them.

Japan and the UK appear  to have few commonalities in terms of their history of and approach to  migration law and policy. However, strong similarities in their contemporary  approaches can be detected. This article draws out the similarities and  differences of migration law and policy in Japan and the UK via their  respective legislative structures and policy trajectories on highly skilled  migration. The article argues that Japan and the UK promote a market-driven  model which enables highly skilled migration to be ‘sold’ to publics believed  to be hostile to increased migration. Yet, the rapid changes in policy and  revising of applicable rules often prevent the successful recruitment of  highly skilled migrants to both countries.