03. Stereotypes and Discrimination in Japan - Sae Hashimoto

1. Starting Interests and Introduction

The election of President Trump is part of a trend that is growing around the world including, of course, in Japan. This development shows that many people have resented the political correctness that has protected refugees, Muslims (and sometimes also blacks, women and LGBT people). In Japan, the resentment is mainly for Chinese and Korean people. Looking at internet bulletin boards in Japan, there are many hate speeches against Chinese, Korean, left-wingers and sometimes to women. I think situations like this are occurring around the world. The people who discriminate against other ethnic groups seem to be using discrimination and stereotyping as an excuse for their today's failures.

I want to research the root of this evil and find a solution to this discrimination and stereotyping of minorities. I hope that people can live in an equal world where it doesn’t matter if they are men or women, Christian or Muslin, white or black. Mahatma Gandhi said “If you want to change the world start with yourself”. I believe that if each person thinks about each daily problem, it leads to improve the world.

I focused on media representations and stereotypes in Japan throughout the zemi this year. I sometimes think Japanese people are affected by “images” which are created by themselves. Some examples of common stereotypes in Japan are: “Japanese people are closer to Caucasian (白人) than any other Asian countries.”, “South Koreans living in Japan are evil”, or “Foreigner have a good style”, and of course, there are gender stereotypes too such as “White skin is a symbol of beautiful women”, or “Over 25 years old women are no more 'girl' (according to Shiseido commercial). I think these stereotypes are main cause of today’s hate spreading world. To learn various stereotypes leads me to get a solution for stereotyped people, I think. So, I choose this researching area. I researched media representation and fake news as first to see how people are stirred by fake and then I developed my research by researching gender stereotypes, hate speech, dual citizenship and half people in Japan.

2. The Impact of Media Representations: Mass Media and SNS

According to the University of Minnesota, "Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective." The parts of poster under indicated the same Disney heroines or 'Princesses' are represented differently in the United States and Japan.

Original poster represented Princess bravely and also it was included Prince (men). We can feel gender equality. On the other hand, Japanese poster represented Princess classy and girly. From these differences between America and Japan, I can say Japanese film company still stick past Disney Princess image and past women's image.

As another example of media representation, I take the case of 2nd World War. Nazis represented Jews as evil person and betrayers to defend Nazi massacre. Also, America depicted Japanese soldiers using violence against women to incite hate against Japan.

It is often assumed that the impact of media is big, so it is easy to make people believe these ideologies and value perspectives, to brainwash them or make audiences violent.

If the impact of the media is so huge, we would expect Japanese people to like Korean culture in the period around 2011, when the Japanese media broadcast much pro-Korean news and showed Korean culture. For example, Kara, Girl’s generation and Touhoushinki took part in “紅白歌合戦”. Behind this pro-Korean broadcasting, there was a demonstration against Fuji Television for broadcasting so much Korean culture.

One of the reason for the Fuji demonstration was “identity crisis”. Identity crisis means people are unsure of their role in life because of the collapse of the community and family. Such people seek a sense of belongings (“帰属意識”) and they are easy to connect “Nationalism”. Because nation is the best way to fill the loneliness. Also, 2011 is the year when the Greatest East Japan Earthquake and tsunami was occurred. Japanese people wanted to feel fellowship in those days. Then, we can say what we want, what we feel more freely than before because of the SNS. And we can connect easily the people whose thought close to each people. One of the reason of WWⅡ was feeding “hate” and we couldn’t head back but proceed further to making war. If that had happened modern age, that situations would have been worse because of SNS. So we should remember that things like that tragedy happens even if in modern age.

Not only Japan,but also other countries have fell into identity crisis, I think. For example, American last Presidential campaign was fought about race, Marine Le Pen advocated that France wouldn't accept immigrants no more and Neo-Nazis are revived. People who agree the nation take a harsh action to immigrants support right wing politicians by spreading Fake news.

3. Hate Speech, Dual Citizenship and 'Hafu' People

A. Hate Speech

The Oxford English Dictionary chose “post-truth” as a word of year, 2016. Post truth means that objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. This trend isn’t only occurring in Britain but also in Japan. Some Japanese netizen attacked South Koreans living in Japan in internet bulletin board by using information which people can’t judge whether true or false. For example, “school for South Koreans living in Japan is a terrorist organization.” However, in Japan, politicians have given a hate speech and spread fake news along with netizens. Makoto Sakurai who was a former head of zaitokukai also said, “I’ll destroy the terrorist organization known as a school for South Korean living in Japan!” during Tokyo gubernatorial election. His supporter must not check what he said was true. Also, Democratic Party (自民党) lawmaker, Masashi Mito tweeted that Korean committed robbery case which occurred in Fukuoka (福岡３．８億円強奪事件)(According Anti Racism Information Center) Their thoughts are shaped by stereotypes, prejudice and hatred, not fact.

Japanese government passed hate speech law last year (3, Jun 2016) and Osaka bar association gave a statementon hate speech this year (18, January 2017) to improve Japanese society. From these, I can say Japan is restricting hate speech. However, Japanese politician and Netizens are still giving hate speeches.

B. Dual Citizenship

Renho who was born between Taiwanese and Japanese parent. When Renho’s dual citizenship was revealed, netizens and politicians (Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party ※自民党、民進党) criticized Renho. According to Takashi Nagao who is a member of LDP, the citizenship is an evidence which country you support and which you share the fate when Japan come into the conflict. And Masaru Onodera who is the member of Liberal Democratic Party said, “I can’t trust the person who have a dual citizenship”, and some of them called her “spy of Taiwan.” (tweeted by Kimi Onoda who have American father and Japanese mother). Netizen also called Renho as a spy or betrayer (売国奴). Then, she was forced to disclose her family register to prove her status. Her disclosure will cause foreigner who live in Japan are forced to take their family register public. Although Democratic party which Renho was used to serve as a head is a liberal party, DP member used Renho’s dual citizenship scandal as an excuse for today’s failure and called her family register public. (President Abe also called her to do so.) And some members of the Japanese government and Netizens referred to the Australian political case to criticize Renho. It is true that Australian constitution has banned politician’s dual citizenship, but Japanese constitution hasn’t said so. Moreover, Renho didn’t get another citizenship on purpose.

This raises a question: If one of her citizenships had been a European country (e.g. British, Germany or France) instead of Taiwanese citizenship, would have Japanese people criticized her in the same way? Look at the cases of Kazuo Ishiguro and Kiko Mizuhara. When Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize of Literature, Japanese media announced it as if a “Japanese author” had won the prize but he isn’t Japanese. He was raised in England and renounced Japanese citizenship. If he had got citizenship of an Asian country (e.g. Korean, Taiwan or China), Japanese people would have reacted like “He is a betrayer”, or “He isn’t Japanese” as they did Renho and Japanese media wouldn’t have covered this news. From this, we can say Japanese people have a tendency which look up to Europeans, above all “Caucasian”.

This can also be seen in the case of Kiko Mizuhara who is an actress and fashion model in Japan. She was born between American father and Korean mother and raised in Japan. When she disclosed her birth, Japanese people criticized and attacked her because “she pretended Japanese people.” Many Japanese people like “half “celebrities, but some of them can’t accept “Korean half” even if she is a descendant of “Caucasian”.

C. Stereotypes and "Hafu" people

As I mentioned above, Japanese people tend to look up to Caucasians and they like White Japanese (白人ハーフ). The Japanese entertainment industry prepares special seats for hafu people . However, there are strange points when you look at hafu celebrities in Japan. Many half celebrities are women and White Japanese. Why? There are 4 possible reasons.

First, Japanese people associate foreigners with Caucasians. So, when Japanese people are asked “What do you envy foreigners?”, their answers go like these: “Foreigners have a good style.”, “I envy their hair colors”, or “Foreign baby is like a doll” (according to “What do you envy foreigners?” which is edited by Ask Japanese and posted on YouTube). Audiences reacted “Japanese people regarded foreigner as whites” to this video. And when women's magazines featured the way of doing half make up to make look like a 'half', it suggests the face of “White Japanese”.

Second, Japanese people regarded white skin is a symbol of beautiful women. When I researched gender stereotypes in Disney princess movies, I found many Japanese

women like “white” princesses. The ranking of Disney princess between America and Japan is opposite. Many Japanese like “white skin”. Around 80% men answered they liked “white skin” (according to LAURIER PRESS) because men tend to connect it with femininity. Also, many Japanese animation represent Japanese people to be like Caucasian. I’ve seen some foreigner discuss this question Mike: Where? What is the source?], why do Japanese characters look White? Maybe it is because they look up to Caucasians and envy their white skin.

Third, Japanese people look down on Asians, Africans and Middle Easterners. When Ariana Miyamoto who is African Japanese was selected as a represent of Miss Universe Japan (in 2015), people complained about it, because “she wasn’t Japanese enough” . If Miss Universe Japan had selected White Japanese as a representive, would they have responded like Ariana’s case?

White Japanese celebrities are popular in Japan, for example Ayami Nakajyou, Maggie and Akemi Darenogare. However, African Japanese celebrities are quite few, especially women. On the other hand, there are many African Japanese male celebrities in Japanese, for example Mandy Sekiguchi, Anthony and Jun Soezima. It may be because Japanese media industry don't care about male color of skin compared to female. It’s connected with not only racial problem but gender problem.

Fourth, Japanese people have regarded Europeans as sophisticated since Meiji era. Yukichi Fukuzawa said in his book (掌中萬國一覧-Shochu bankoku ichiran-) that “White is most beautiful race and most sophisticated in the world. ” (容貌も骨格も全て美しい。全ての人種の中で最も優れている。) This is what is called “Hakujin Complex” (白人コンプレックス). On the other hand, he described African as “lazy” and Colored people (黄色人種) as backward. Japanese people still may try to be like them [like Europeans?] and look down to other races though we are Asian.

And there is another question regarding half. Japanese people like White Japanese. However are they actually treated as Japanese people? Megumi Nishikura who is a film maker and has American father and Japanese mother said, “When I introduce myself, Japanese people ask me whether I’m married with Japanese. I always want to say 'I’m Japanese so, my family name is Nishikura'” . My friend who was born to a Japanese father and German mother said she often is talked to in English by Japanese people because they judge her by appearence. Media has treated half as a positive image, but in reality, many Japanese half have suffered from prejudice and stereotypes (according to the film “ハーフ” which created by Megumi Nishikura)

4. Conclusion

As I expected, current racial problems in Japan are seriously connected with discrimination and stereotypes. Because of these, fake news and hate speech may be created. I know when people look at something, they use their filter to do so. However, I think we need to take it away and probe the true nature of something. It’s time to stop judging Japanese or not by appearances or birth. President Abe said Japan was going to accept more immigrants by 2020. If he really meant to do, the number of foreigner and half people will increase. Japanese people have a tendency which they refuse to admit “non-Japanese people” as Japanese, for example, South Korean living in Japan. If they claim they are Japanese, I think they are Japanese. In the first place, what makes real Japanese people? Birth? Skin? Citizenship? Nobody can judge true Japanese people and I think the will to want to be Japanese make Japanese.

I wasn't able to find a way to prevent the stereotyping. However, I think the main reason for stereotyping is the media. Media have a huge impact . Hitler used media to tell how witty Jewish are to German during world war second. People used to accept information passively, but now they can offer information by themselves. Some of them, of course politicians use media to incite hate like Hitler. I feel history repeats itself. To stop repeating, we need to take current hate spreading trend and stereotypes seriously.

There is a solution to stop this situation but it is possessed an element of danger. It's restricting “SNS” .However, it has a possibility to violate of the right of Freedom speech. What do you think?

References

フェイクニュース特集あなたは被害者？加害者？,クローズアップ現代,2017,2,7