It’s very simple, Japan will go back into pre-Meiji era isolation before it raises immigration. The rest of the debt, and money problems are just numbers to be moved around as needed.
You just hit the nail right on the head. People talking about the dismal state of the Japanese economy really need to take a look at the average Japanese shopping center. I was at Kichijoji (West Tokyo) on Sunday to pick up a new heater for the apartment — every shop is full, every restaurant is packed, teeming is the word commonly used, and it fits.
What makes Japanese debt different than that of any other country is a combination of “wari wari nihongin” (we are all Japanese) and the realization that the largest percentage of debt is owed to other Japanese — who have no expectation that it will ever be paid back.
Like most long term foreigners living in Japan, I had to jump through a sizable number of hoops to get my visa. It wasn’t automatic 25 years ago, and it still isn’t. I just renewed for another three year visa last October. Japan will accept foreigners who have trades and skills they need, with restrictions on a lot of things, but mostly with the full understanding that you the foreigner are a guest, and better be a well-behaved guest, or you will leave.
There is no intention of changing those rules. However, since there are no freebies for the immigrants who go arrive here, it is not a popular destination in any case. There is certainly no, nor will there ever be, a “guest worker” program like Europe’s. Japan saw long ago what untrammeled immigration did to the EU, what it is doing to the US, and they do not want any part of that.