The United Nations recently sent a pointed message to Japan, telling them that the U.N. expected them to pitch in and do more to take in refugees as many EU nations have done. Why would they be concerned about that? Because Japan’s total contribution to the effort thus far in 2017 has been to take in… three.

Yes, that’s not a typo. They took three refugees. Last year the figure was vastly higher at… 28.

Japan’s Prime Minister looked over the request like a responsible leader and formulated an answer which he announced to the Japanese Parliament yesterday. In short, the United Nation can go pack sand. (Voice of Europe)

Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, told his parliament on Monday that he has “no intention” of accepting more migrants.

During his debate he said that foreign nationals will only be permitted “where they are truly needed” to “keep Japan’s economy and infrastructure sustainable”.

A week ago the United Nations refugee agency urged Japan to accept more refugees after it became clear the country had only accepted 3 refugees in the first half of 2017. Last year Japan accepted 28 refugees in 12 months.

When you consider all of the angry debates which continue to rage in the United States over how much immigration is the right amount, the vetting of refugees from terror-plagued areas and questions of “nationalism” it might be worth looking at some of our allies. In particular, we can draw comparisons between the truly “open border” societies of Europe and places like Japan.

Japan is traditionally an example of the extreme limits of nationalism when it comes to their cultural identity and how they compartmentalize their society. Refusing to accept a flood of Syrian refugees isn’t some aberration for the Japanese. They aren’t keen on absorbing any other cultures. Their population is still estimated to be 98% pure, native-born people of Japanese stock. They love welcoming in tourists and foreign industries because of all the revenue that generates, but those people are still visitors. They are outsiders. They are not Japanese.

It’s possible for a foreigner to become a Japanese citizen, but it’s exceedingly rare. The Japanese don’t even like native-born residents who have multiple citizenship claims, with a law in place which forces them to pick one or the other by their early 20s or forfeit their citizenship.

They’re also notoriously tight-knit when it comes to the “purity” of the race. Marrying outside of the Japanese gene pool is still very much frowned upon. These are traditions that the Japanese have held onto since long before they first encountered westerners. If you transplanted these attitudes to most western societies they’d be considered incredibly racist. But that’s just how their people operate.

You can decide for yourself if the two facts are related, but Japan is also one of the countries which have had exactly zero Islamic terror attacks. In fact, they don’t tend to have terror attacks of any kind fomented by outside forces. Yes, they see their share of similar trouble at times, but it’s caused by dissident forces inside their own nation.

Something to ponder, anyway.