The following is from Ms. Akari Iiyama’s column in Themis, a monthly subscription magazine that arrived at our home on September 1.
As mentioned, Ms. Iiyama is an up-and-coming female scholar who has appeared like a comet in public discourse.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but also for people around the world.
Emphasis in the text other than the headline is mine.

Nikkei Shimbun – Blowing the economic growth drum with “foreign workers” is a fallacy of the “nation.”
The number of foreigners has increased by 290,000 in one year.　
The number of Japanese is decreasing.　
According to the Current Population Survey released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on July 26, the number of Japanese people decreased by 800,523 from the previous year to 122,423,038.
The decline was the largest since the survey began in 1968.
The total population decreased by 510,000 during the past year, but a breakdown shows that while the number of Japanese people fell by 800,000, the number of foreigners increased by 290,000.
The Nikkei Shimbun reported this under the headline “Japanese Decline for First Time in All Prefectures, Supported by 2.99 Million Foreigners.”
The opening paragraph of the article reads as follows.　
“In Japan, where the population continues to decline, the weight of foreigners is increasing.
As of January 1, 2023, the Japanese population decreased for the first time since the 1973 survey in all prefectures. With its high birth rate, Okinawa also experienced a decline for the first time. The foreign population has increased to a record 2.99 million, supporting Japan’s economy and society.”　
So, according to Nikkei, foreigners are now supporting our country, Japan, from the bottom up.
The Nikkei goes on to say that “coexistence with foreigners who wish to demonstrate their abilities in Japan is indispensable to keep the economy and society moving and growing” and that “the number of foreign workers needed to achieve the government’s growth scenario in 40 years is nearly four times the number needed in 20 years, 6.74 million,” and that “the situation will not change as the population under 15 years old shrinks and it is urgent to secure workers for the future.”
The Nikkei folds its opinion in such a way.
Nikkei’s argument is straightforward.
The number of Japanese is decreasing and will continue to decline, so we should fill the shortage by bringing in more and more foreigners.　
However, this is highly questionable.
If the number of Japanese is reduced, the percentage will be reduced if foreigners make up for it.
If the number of people who cannot speak Japanese and do not share Japanese common sense increases, Japanese society will naturally change.
The changes will not necessarily be positive.　
Many examples of societal transformation following mass immigration can be found in European countries.
According to the latest data released by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) in March 2011, first-generation immigrants account for 10.3%, second-generation immigrants for 10.9%, and third-generation immigrants for 10.2% of France’s total population of 67.6 million.
Immigrants and immigrants of immigrant descent already account for one-third of the population. 
The data also show that half of first-generation immigrants are of African descent, about 40% of children between the ages of 0 and 4 are of immigrant descent, about 30% have been non-European for three generations, and 10% of the total population is Muslim.　
In France, which accepts about 400,000 immigrants each year, some are concerned about this significant demographic shift, calling it the “Great Replacement,” Those who promote further immigration say that calling it so is discrimination and unfounded fear.
It is the latter who has the political power.　

Not taught that “the earth is round?”　
The effects of the Great Displacement have reached every aspect of society.
In a book titled “Ces petits renoncements qui tuent (A small renunciation kills a person),” published in France in 2010, a teacher anonymously accuses Islamist ideology of infiltrating French educational settings.　
In geography classes, you cannot teach that the earth is round.
According to a Muslim student, Islam teaches that the earth is flat.
If the teacher dares to teach that the earth is round, they are putting the fleet in danger.
Similarly, they say teaching the theory of evolution in biology classes is also fraught with danger.　
In a 20-year poll, 74% of French Muslims under the age of 25 said they would prefer Islamic law to the laws of the French Republic.
This percentage is 42% for those aged 25 to 34 and 25% for those aged 35 and older.
Islamic and French legal provisions, including freedom, equality, and rights, are fundamentally contradictory in many respects.　
The reality that the younger generation, the French born in France, tends to hold Islamic values as absolute betrays optimism that immigrants will adjust to their host country over time, generation after generation.
A sense of national belonging and a spirit of law-abiding citizenship is not automatically acquired by being born in a country and having a nationality of that country.
France has more than 750 restricted areas, or so-called “no-go zones,” where violent incidents such as looting, arson, and fights occur frequently, but police rarely crack down on them.
The “lawless zone,” where the rule of French law does not apply, is expanding.　
According to Nikkei, 10.2% of Japan’s total population will be foreigners by 2067.
The current situation in France, where immigrants account for 30% of the population, is the near future of Japan.　
Accepting foreigners will bring both benefits and disadvantages.
Some foreigners may have no desire to contribute to Japan in the first place, and those who have come to contribute to Japan may lose their jobs and work ethic.
Even those who initially contributed to Japan may become dependent on Japanese welfare due to aging or illness.
Even if they do not, they will surely age and die someday.　

Muslims Seek Burial Cemeteries　
Some foreigners, like Muslims, try to follow the practice of their religious doctrine of mandatory burial on the ground.
In some cases, such as in Hiji Town, Oita Prefecture, there have already been long-standing conflicts between Muslims and local residents who demand the construction of burial cemeteries.
More than 90% of Indonesian workers accepted in Japan today are Muslim.　
Accepting foreigners will positively affect the Japanese economy as “cheap labor” for a time.
However, in the long run, accepting foreigners will incur various costs, and the disadvantages incurred by the general public will be immeasurable, including worsening public safety, lowering the level of public education, regional fragmentation, and wage reductions.　
Although these should be obvious from the examples of Europe, Nikkei ignores the negative aspects of accepting foreigners and repeats that accepting foreigners will lead to growth anyway.
It proves that what is important to them are corporations and capitalists who want “cheap labor” and that they do not care about the general public.