Although the number of foreign workers is steadily expanded, there is only the immigration policy in Japan currently. It means Japan doesn’t have an integration policy yet. Many foreign workers show a tendency to settle down in Japan, and it’s demanded that Japan changes many policies in relations to the immigrant’s living situations. In this context, this paper focuses on the concept of Tabunka kyōsei (multicultural coexistence). It is a distinctive expression in Japan and used mostly by the local government approaching the issues. The terminology and the guidelines are, however, not clearly defined.

In the case of European countries, policies with a keyword “integration” have made progress under each social background. I intend to clarify similarities and differences between Tabunka kyōsei and integration, based on the actual cases by comparison.

Furthermore, I examine the question of why the term “integration” hasn’t been accepted in Japan. In order to make it possible, the cases of the “oldcomers” from Korea (immigrants by Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910) and the “newcomers” from South America (immigrants of Japanese descent) are studied in detail. It is revealed that Japanese society still considers them foreigners.

Finally, I conclude that Tabunka kyōsei concept lacks consideration of basic human rights and the indicators; such as cultural capital and economic capital. Therefore it has a limit in operation.