Japan: Century 21 - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 348

soccer tournament, the Japanese media was filled with
warnings from police and political leaders that more
prisons would have to be built to house the “hooligans”
and that hospitals should prepare for an overflow in
births nine months later. As it turned out, the “hooligan”
problem never materialized and there was no spike in
births.

Japanesemigrant communities in Peru and Brazil.
Hamamatsu' s economy relies on vehicle manufac-
turing in factories including Honda, Yamaha, and
Suzuki.
Recognizing that the city would lose its eco-
nomic base without new residents, it set out to get
foreign workers. Officials assumed that these ethnic
Japanese would blend easily into society . But the
Spanish and Portuguese-speaking immigrants are
more Peruvian and Brazilian than they are Japan-
ese. Now there are a number of Spanish and
Portuguese newspapers, schools, and community
centers. City officials now recognize immigrant
holidays, often using them to launch political
campaigns.

Tiger's Transformation

THE FADING OF AGRICUL TURAL JAPAN
In 1920, 51 percent of Japan' s labor force was in agri-
culture. Now less than 4 percent is farming. About 90
percent of these individuals are part-time farmers
who earn most of their income from non-farm activi-
ties. In fact, much of the farm work is done by women
and older people; men work other jobs, and young
people, who are not interested in farming, move to
the cities.
Agriculture accounts for a mere 13 percent of the
land area and farms are very small, averaging 4 acres
(1.6 ha). Farms in the United States average 500 acres
(200 ha). Since agriculture competes with other activi-
ties for level land, farmland is very expensive. While
there are some terraces, most cropping is done along
flat, alluvial plains and in valley bottoms. Climatic fac-
tors and limited space call for intensive land use. The
growing season varies from 260 days a year in Kyushu to
150 days in Hokkaido. The northern limit for double-
cropping is 37

One of the most hotly debated topics in Japan is
whether or not to relax the nation' s strict controls on
foreign immigration and allow more foreigners to enter.
In comparison to other countries, Japan' is population is
almost entirely ethnically homogeneous, with non-
Japanese accounting for less than five percent of the
population.
Foreign immigration would diversify the country , as
well as help change the age structure of the population
by bringing in younger people of childbearing age.
Moreover, immigrants are said to be helpful to the econ-
omy by providing candidates for difficult, dirty , and
dangerous (three words beginning with a “k” sound
in Japanese) work that most Japanese avoid. The result
would be more taxpayers to provide financial support to
Japan' s aging society by paying in to the increasingly
stressed social security system. However, Japan is not
used to hosting immigrants, and anti-foreigner feelings
are common.
Immigrants from developing countries in Southeast
Asia and Africa face an extra amount of discrimination
although it is they that do the unpopular “3K” jobs in the
country . “Japan for the Japanese” is a popular attitude. In
many cities one sees signs at the doors of bars, bath-
houses, and pachinko (Japanese pinball) parlors that
read “Japanese only .”
Many Japanese unfairly associate increasing social
problems in their country such as crime and sexually
transmitted diseases with the presence of foreigners.
When foreign visitors came to Japan in bigger numbers
than usual in the summer of 2002 for the World Cup

N. latitude.
There are two types of agricultural fields in Japan:
irrigated rice-fields called tambo and non-irrigated
fields called hatake . Hatake are used primarily to grow
vegetables. The primary crop is rice, planted in sum-
mer. Rice is rotated with wheat or barley in the double-
cropping zone. T Tea and fruit such as apples grow on hill
slopes.
Much of Japan' is agriculture is market gardening :
producing vegetables and poultry products for the vast
urban market. For this purpose, greenhouse agriculture
is very important and organic farming is on the increase.
Nevertheless, agriculture is highly mechanized and
chemical fertilizers and pesticides remain widely used
(Figure 12-9). In fact, Japan uses more chemicals per
unit of land than any other country . Consequently , crop
yields are very high, with rice yields three times the aver-
age Asian yield.