LIOTTA: No, but something “must give.” The easiest answer is that Japan must allow migrant workers to become citizens and assimilate into Japanese society. This simple solution is precisely what Japan refuses to opt for.
Japanese culture -- indeed her civilization -- draws from the very essence of, if we could use this term, “Japan-ness.”
To open Japan to a myriad of ethnicities and identities -- the very realities that make the United States the most sought after place for migrants in the world. The U.S. -- warts and all -- is the place of a thousand voices. Japan is not.
Yet Japan, perhaps more than any other state on the face of the earth, remains the most innovative and creative of societies. As an economic geographer and a demographer -- I can say this with certainty.