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MULTIETHNIC_JAPAN

                                             October 10, 2016

The book "Multi-Ethnic Japan" (2001) by
John Lie presents the thesis that the
common cliche that Japan is "ethnically
homogenous" is not really true.

If you just look at available stats, while
Japan is not as diverse as the United
States, it's nevertheless more diverse than
some other countries out there.

   "The estimated total of non-Japanese Japanese living in
   Japan in the 1990s is 4-6 million in a country of 125
   million people:
       Ainu (25,000-300,000),
       Burakumin (2-3 million),
       Okinawans (1.6 million),
       Koreans (200,000-1 million),
       Chinese (200,000),
       children of mixed ancestry (10,000-25,000), and
       foreigners (150,00-700,000)
   (for various estimates, see, inter alia, Ohashi 1971:7;
   Sugimoto 1997:171; Taira 1997:142).
   Although the proportion of ethnic minorities is lower
   than that of the United States, it is far from
   negligible and comparable to the 1992 figure in the
   United Kingdom (Mason 1995:35)."  (p.4)

                You have to love phrases like
                "non-Japanese Japanese".

                Lie talks about the "mainstream Japanese,
                Yamato people, or Japanese Japanese".



John Lie makes the point that because ethnicity is
actually a fuzzy concept, statistics concerning it
also must be somewhat fuzzy.

One issue: The number of people willing to identify
themselves as a certain ethnicity goes up as the
status of the ethnicity goes up.  When that
ethnicity is not favorably regarded, then many
people are inclined to try to pass as a member of
the mainstream instead.

And there are categories such as
"naturalized Koreans" that Japan
apparently doesn't track (or            "Because neither the Japanese census
won't provide data for?): stats         nor sociologists' surveys recognize
are not always available for some       ethnic diversity in Japan, we can
breakdowns that might seem very         only estimate the population of
relevant.                               non-Japanese Japanese.  Statistics--
                                        as neutral and objective as they may
                                        seem-- are stepped in political and
                                        social assumptions." (p.4)
      The common belief that
      Japan is "monoethnic"                         MULTIETHNIC_MEANING
      may blind us to evidence
      that it isn't.                                     LATIN_TASTE


   "It has become more difficult to deny the existence of
   ethnic others in Japan, but many people continue to
   insist that Japan is a monoethnic society.  The repeated
   appeal to rectify ethnic discrimination-- indeed, to
   recognize the very existence of ethnic diversity--
   encounters the shibboleth about Japanese mono-ethnicity.
   The ethnic minorities in Japan suffer twice; although
   teased mercilessly in schools and barred from many jobs,
   their existence is not recognized by the government
   (except as foreigners), most Japanese people, or, for
   that matter, by many Western Japanologists ... " (p.5)

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