ABSTRACT
Officially, Japan is not a country of immigration. 1 In reality, however, Japan has developed its own version of multicultural policy idea called tabunka kyōsei to accommodate the diversity of ethnic and immigrant groups. The idea of tabunka kyōsei or “multicultural coexistence” seems to have won the ground in public discourse over a decade. What has come to be widely shared in the meantime is not only the “multicultural coexistence” discourse but also the awareness of Japan as a gap society (kakusa shakai). At this juncture, a question arises. (A) Is there any impact of the gap society on public discussion on immigrants?
