Japan is opening up to immigration – but is it welcoming immigrants?

Japan is opening up to immigration – but is it welcoming immigrants?

For hundreds of years, Japan was notorious for being closed off to foreigners.But over the past decade the country has been forced to start opening up to immigration, in need of foreign workers to plug the labour shortages caused by its plummeting birth rates and ageing population.Now, Japan is increasingly struggling to accommodate the newcomers – in particular, the growing population of Muslims. 'A tatami welcome mat' The "yokoso" (welcome) si…