> especially from closer countries (Philipines, Thailand etc.) This is akin to grouping Mexico with other Latin American countries when discussing American imm

> especially from closer countries (Philipines, Thailand etc.) This is akin to grouping Mexico with other Latin American countries when discussing American immigration. The situation is fundamentally on a country by country basis, rather than geographical proximity. What struck out to me is mentioning Thailand. There is literally 9x Vietnamese immigrants in Japan than Thai. Even Nepal is twice as many Thai. Then there’s Brazil. Meanwhile, Taiwan, despite having the proximity and cultural/social/political ties to Japan (I was at a Japanese island where I can literally see Taiwan’s mountain) is only the 10th. It’s not a matter of difference in socioeconomic development either. The top two immigrant countries to Japan is Korea and China. Proximity is a weak correlation. The commonality here is that these are Asian countries.