How can they be terrified of change, when their economy is at the cutting edge of several fields, and the dramatic changes of automation that they embraced and developed?
Or do you mean that there is one particular sort of change they don't want? The way that, say, environmentalists are "terrified of change" when they oppose climate change and deforestation?
> their government
Just their government? The Japanese people themselves demand mass immigration?
It's obvious that there's a distinction between technological change and social/cultural change.
Japanese strike me as very conservative when it comes to social/cultural shifts. Compare it to Taiwan, for example, and there is a big difference (to be fair, Taiwan probably has less cultural history to begin with).
Yet they refuse to change some social/cultural values. What makes this a phobia worth pathologizing, instead of a legitimate preference deserving of respect?
For example, when Kashmir decried being stripped of autonomy [1], were they also just being phobic and terrified of change?
[1] Kashmir’s new status could bring demographic change, drawing comparisons to the West Bank - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...
As far as I can tell, folks are just commenting on how this affects their demographics and ability to scale social services in the coming decades as their tax base shrinks. That's a real problem.
I don't see how you read any other intent.
In general, "xenophobia" is a frequent accusation against those that don't want mass immigration.
"If you're scared, negative, or don't love something -- you're wrong!" NPC's are tiresome. It would be nice to peacefully separate from them into different states... they can do their nonsense over there in their own state.