"Japanese" and "Non-Japanese": The Exclusivity in Categorizing People as "Japanese" An article discussing differences between legal definitions of Japanese nationality and ordinary Japanese people's common sense definitions of being Japanese, and suggesting that there are "eight degrees of Japaneseness and non-Japaneseness". By Yasunori Fukuoka, Saitama University, Japan, 1998. >>> More on Japanese citizenship >>>
Resisting the tide: Japan's struggle with foreigners is a struggle over identity This article discusses discourses about Japanese identity, particularly Nihonjinron and the idea of Japan as a monocultural, ethinically pure society, in relation to a number of issues, including relations with China and Korea and, particuarly, attitudes to foreign workers.Japan Times, Feb. 22, 2005.
The ideology of Japanese identity Review of "Multiethnic Japan', by John Lie. This review looks at the myth of monoethnicity in Japan which makes ethnic groups such as the Ainu, Okinawans, "burakumin," Koreans and Chinese, constituting some 4-6 million people out of a population of 125 million, invisible. Japan Times, Sept. 16, 2001.
Truth isn't everything by Dolores Martinez. No modern nation-state has held on to the myth of racial and cultural homogeneity longer than Japan. This is another review of "Multiethnic Japan" by John Lie". Times Higer Education, 10 May 2002.
Review of John Lie, Multiethnic Japan, by John B. Richards, Ethnic Studies Review, Summer, 2006.
Race, ethnicity and identity in Japan A narrative of homogeneity through the perspective of six minority groups. This si a review by Jeff Kingston of "Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity" (2nd edition), edited by Michael Weiner.Japan Times, April 19, 2009.
Views of Japanese Ethnic Identity Amongst Undergraduates in Hokkaido by Mark J. Hudson and Mami Aoyama. Most recent studies of Japan has emphasised an ideology of mono ethnic identity, that emphasises the racial distinctiveness and homogeneity of the Japanese and overlooks the presence of other ethnic groups. The article investigates whether Japanese undergraduates possess similar “nationalistic” beliefs that center on ideas of ethnic uniqueness and homogeneity. Japan Focus, May 22, 2006.
'Hafu' focuses on whole individual An article about a photographer and a sociologist collaborating on a project exploring half-Japanese identity. Japan Times, Feb. 28, 2009.
Half, bi or double? One family's trouble An article loooking at debates about whether to call children with one Japanese and one non-Japanese parent 'half', 'bi-cultural'/'bi-racial', or double. Japan Times, Jan 27, 2009. ***Get free access to Japan Times articles here***
The half, bi or double debate Following are some of the responses The Japan Times received on the issues raised in Kristy Kosaka's Jan. 27 Zeit Gist article headlined ""Half, bi or double: one family's trouble". Japan Times, Feb. 24, 2009. ***Get free access to Japan Times articles here***
Challenges for Multicultural Education in Japan by Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu This article focuses mainly on the challenge of ethnic minority children in the Japanese schools, how to teach about diversity in Japanese society, and the role of ethnic education to maintain the 'heritage' of ethnic minoroty students. It ends, though, with a section on "Redefining who and what is Japanese". New Horizons for Learning, March 2003.
"Resisting the tide: Japan's struggle with foreigners is a struggle over identity": This is a 2005 Japan Times article that starts "Social studies teacher Sho Sasaki is fiercely proud of his native Iwate's local heritage. Like many Japanese, he also, and quite self-consciously, calls himself a nationalist.So when Sasaki charged into the teachers' room at the high school where he works and loudly proclaimed his outrage at the Supreme Court's ruling on Iwate-born Korean health worker Chong Hyang Gyun..."
"Multi-ethnic Japan and the monoethnic myth" This is a 1993 paper by Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu that looks at (i) Japan's monoethnic myth, (ii) side effects of the monoethnic myth, (iii) education and multiethnic literature, and (iv) accepting reality and respecting diversity.