The Empowerment of Local Citizenship in 21st Century Japan: The Bottom-up Process Ensuring Substantial Rights for Newcomer Immigrantsand the Kōbe Case Study

This paper focuses on the local integration of newcomer immigrants in Japan over the last years, basing its assumptions on a tangible example as the Kōbe case study. An introductory historical analysis illustrates what have been the most important steps shaping the Japanese immigration policy as it is today, thus facilitating the understanding of what are its highlights. Substantial differences appear among what has been perpetrated by the central level by one side and the local level by the other regarding immigration policies, either by governmental and non-governmental institutions; as discussed, these discrepancies are to be traced down to historical, but also political and social factors. The thesis of this work aims to show that at the local level, the combination of local government, NGOs and NPOs’ efforts have resulted in outcomes which patently differentiate from the national stance directories, ensuring substantial rights for newcomer immigrants in the last decade Japan.