Varieties of Public Attitudes toward Immigration: Evidence from Survey Experiments in Japan

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912921993552
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Frances M. Rosenbluth,Rieko Kage,Seiki Tanaka
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

2022, Vol. 75(1) 216 –230

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912921993552

Political Research Quarterly

© 2021 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912921993552

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Introduction

Attitudes toward immigration have played a potent role

in the electoral politics of rich democracies in recent

decades, creating an urgent need to understand these

views. According to some studies, citizens fear the dilu-

tion of prized cultural norms and values (Card, Dustmann,

and Preston 2012; Hainmueller and Hopkins 2015;

Newman et al. 2013; Sides and Citrin 2007a). Other stud-

ies point to economic considerations, such as the concern

that immigrants will drain the country’s welfare resources

(Burgoon and Rooduijn 2021; Dustmann and Preston

2006; Gerber et al. 2017; Hanson, Scheve, and Slaughter

2006; Mewes and Mau 2013) or that they will compete

for jobs (Goldstein and Peters 2014; Mayda 2006;

O’Rourke and Sinnott 2006; Scheve and Slaughter

2001a). But beyond the question of why citizens oppose

immigration, recent research also reports a considerable

degree of pro-immigrant sentiment across developed

democracies (Card, Dustmann, and Preston 2012;

Hainmueller and Hopkins 2015). We broaden the debate

to consider whether different segments of the citizenry

may approach the issue from different angles.

Drawing on original surveys conducted in Japan, we

demonstrate the importance of understanding both (1)

who cares about which kinds of immigrants and (2)

why they exhibit these preferences. Japan’s restrictive

immigration policy is generally taken to reflect public

distaste for outsiders, but we find that over 60 percent

of our respondents favor widening the doors to immi-

grants for economic or cultural reasons or both. Our

findings are consistent with recent research on other

developed democracies that show sizable pro-immi-

grant sentiment (Card, Dustmann, and Preston 2012;

Hainmueller and Hopkins 2015).

We excavate which factors shape whether individuals

value or oppose immigration on cultural and/or eco-

nomic grounds. As we would expect, education is associ-

ated with more open attitudes toward immigration, but

there are differences among educated people depending

on material or cultural circumstances. All else equal, cor-

porate managers are likely to favor immigration, but

only for economic reasons. People with foreign friends

(currently or in the past) are more likely to appreciate

immigrants for cultural reasons, compared with people

who have never had foreign friends. These are examples

of the more general phenomenon that attitudes often rest

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PRQXXX10.1177/1065912921993552Political Research QuarterlyKage et al.

research-article2021

1The University of Tokyo, Japan

2Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

3University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Rieko Kage, Department of Advanced Social and International

Studies, The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku Komaba 3-8-1,

153-8902 Tokyo, Japan.

Email: kage@waka.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Varieties of Public Attitudes toward

Immigration: Evidence from Survey

Experiments in Japan

Rieko Kage1, Frances M. Rosenbluth2,

and Seiki Tanaka3

Abstract

What factors shape attitudes toward immigration? Previous studies have typically debated whether citizens oppose

immigration more for economic or cultural reasons. We broaden this debate by exploring how different segments of

the citizenry feel about immigration. Our original surveys conducted in Japan reveal two separate axes along which

many citizens view immigration: (1) its cultural and economic effects, and (2) its positive and negative effects. Even

in Japan, whose relatively closed policy toward immigration is conventionally believed to reflect widespread public

intolerance of outsiders, over 60 percent of our respondents favor widening the doors to immigrants for economic

or cultural reasons or both.

Keywords

immigrants, anti-immigrant sentiment, survey experiments, Japan

Article