One of the most captive and resilient notions reified in post-war Japanese society is that Japan is a racially homogeneous island nation. This ethnonationalist ideology has contributed to the Japanese government’s resistance to immigration for decades. However, confronted with increasing demographic crises and skills shortages, Japan has been opening its door wider toward foreigners, making it a de facto immigrant society. This paper highlights two parallel processes in this development: the normalization of exceptions and the acceptance of differences. The first process is at the national government level, happening in the policy arena, and the second is more localized, involving a wide range of people, organizations, and local governments. Nonetheless, for Japan to transform into an immigrant society, two ideological barriers need to be overcome: One is the discourse of “no-immigration”, and the other is the identity-binary of “Japanese” versus “foreigner”. These two discourses exert influences on both policymaking and everyday life. The paper argues that where Japan is heading is very much contingent upon whether, when, and under what conditions such discourses will be abandoned.