This chapter offers a historical evolution of globalization and its impact on Japanese society. It shows how Japan positions itself in face of geopolitical dynamics and geoeconomic ties and on how globalization has reshaped the ideology, national identity, and politics of the country. The changes and challenges in terms of economic interactions, political tensions, and ideological positioning of Japan as an ethnic-nationalistic nation-state in globalization processes have fundamentally influenced the recent shifts in Japanese immigration policies, demographic structures, immigrant integration, and international educational and academic mobility to and within Japan.