Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between different types of immigration policies and modes of politics in Japan. It focuses on two policy streams: one targeting highly skilled workers and one that has effectively become a policy for low-skilled workers. It examines how migration types, policy features, and political mobilization interact. Based on a qualitative study, the research revisits Freeman's (1995) concept of "client politics” in the context of contemporary immigration politics. It argues that immigration policy has evolved over recent decades, moving away from a coherent grand design and incorporating multiples dimensions. The findings suggest that high-skilled and low-skilled migration policies in Japan emerge from different assumptions about workers and are based on distinctive flows. In the context of Japan, high-skilled migration is linked to long-term national goals such as competitiveness and innovation, while low-skilled migration is driven by short-term local needs. These perspectives create policies with different features, which in turn generate varying costs, benefits, and political mobilization. The findings reveal two distinct modes of politics —despite some similarities due to a shared institutional and ideational context— that are captured through the concepts of “entrepreneurial-elite politics” and “clientelist-based interest politics” respectively.