Since the mid-1980s, Japan has become one of the major destinations for foreign migrant workers. Despite the recession, the number of overstayers has remained constant. This book explores the emergence of the social, economic, and political influences exerted by foreign migrants on Japanese society in the 1990s and explains how some of the components of sovereign power over immigration control have been reshaped under the influence of economic globalization. The author also questions whether Japan is already facing the same kind of problems of socio-cultural assimilation with which the United States and European countries have been struggling for some time. She analyses the struggle of a government that tries its best to preserve the image of a 'homogeneous' society within Japan, and investigates how 'homogeneity', whether as a 'myth' or 'reality', has been influenced by the presence of these imigrants, some of whom have become long-term settlers or 'social beings'.