The Future Is Foreign

Women and Immigrants in Corporate Japan

Hilary J. Holbrow

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English

ILR Press
15 December 2025

Migration, immigration & emigration; Gender studies: women; Ethnic studies; Social theory; Population & demography

Japan is at the forefront of global population decline. The Future Is Foreign investigates how elite Japanese firms are responding to this unprecedented challenge. Hilary Holbrow argues that labor shortages push Japanese firms to hire more immigrants and women, and to ease excessive demands on all workers. At the same time, not all employees benefit equally.

Japanese women's enduring overrepresentation in low-status clerical roles reinforces gender biases that hold all women back. In contrast, the small but growing presence of white-collar Asian immigrant workers weakens the ethnic prejudices of their Japanese colleagues. Despite Japan's reputation for xenophobia, white-collar immigrant men disproportionally reap the dividends of Japan's shrinking population.

The Future Is Foreign sheds new light into the processes that perpetuate inequality in Japanese firms, and in organizations worldwide. While managers and policymakers often assume that increasing women and minorities' representation in leadership will erode prejudice, Holbrow reveals that the people we see when we ""look down"" the organizational hierarchy are more important to the social construction of bias than are the people we see when we ""look up.""

By: Hilary J. Holbrow
Imprint: ILR Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781501784354
ISBN 10: 1501784358
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 15 December 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Hilary J. Holbrow is Assistant Professor of Japanese Politics and Society at Indiana University Bloomington. She is an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo, and a member of the US-Japan Network for the Future.