Japan's COVID entry bans on non-citizens

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately are the restrictions placed on re-entry to Japan for anyone other than citizens courtesy of COVID-19. Whilst I haven’t been directly impacted by this, I very well could have been. Initially when everything was blowing up with the coronavirus I contemplated heading back to Australia temporarily with my kids, which would have left my husband here in Japan alone. If we’d run with that option, we would have ended up separated for who knows how long.

I know plenty of expats here in Japan who are married to a Japanese spouse, but who aren’t citizens themselves - and many of those people have children. If any of those families had their non-citizen parent return to their country of origin as COVID escalated, they’d be separated from their family right now. I understand the need for strict border controls in the present climate - I’m definitely not arguing that. It’s the disparity between citizens and lawful permanent residents that doesn’t sit well with me. Nationals are required to complete a COVID test and quarantine upon return to Japan if they've been abroad - so logic says if that process can work for citizens, why not for permanent residents? If you’ve set up a life in Japan, you work in Japan, your home, your family, almost everything is in Japan, it’s a fault of the government in my opinion to keep people out. It creates an “us versus them” dynamic, and seems to further perpetuate the idea that it’s impossible to be seen as a true part of Japanese society unless you meet an impossible list of criteria.

An entry ban that allows Japanese passport holders but restricts lawful permanent residents has caused many expats to question life in Japan. Credit: hirotomo t / CC By SA 2.0

Even though no one I know personally has been affected by the restrictions, it has seen many of the expat families I know talking about it. Murmurs of “if this is how they treat permanent residents, how can we ever be comfortable living here long term?” seems to be the general gist of conversations. I have to say that I agree. I don’t know how I feel about spending more years of my life in a country that forever sees non-Japanese as outsiders. I have met people who have lived in Japan for 30+ years, and still are seen as foreigners. They speak the language perfectly. They have businesses here. Family here. Their children are Japanese nationals. Despite all of that, they’ll never be seen by Japan as truly Japanese - and there’s something that is deeply unsettling about that.

Perhaps the most insulting thing about the restrictions are the comments online from people who say “if you don’t like it, go back to where you came from”. Not every “expat” in Japan is here on a temporary basis - for many, life in Japan is a permanent thing, whether or not they hold the elusive Japanese passport.