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Land minister retracts statements about a “homogeneous” Japan

nakayama

Land minister Nariaki Nakayama made a few remarks to the media yesterday, but after realizing that some of the things he said could be offensive, he retracted his statements. Included among them was a statement about the “homogeneous” nature of Japan:

In referring to the government’s policy to attract foreign tourists to Japan, Nakayama, 65, called Japan “ethnically homogeneous,” a description that drew protests in 1986 from the Ainu indigenous people, who live mainly in Japan, when then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone made a similar remark.

“Japan is very introverted, or what may be called ethnically homogenous, or rather it tends to be inward-looking because it seldom has (exchanges) with the world,” Nakayama said.

Update: He has resigned! Offending the Ainu may have been a contributing factor, but his call for the abolition of the left-wing Japan Teachers’ Union probably did the most damage.

18 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - September 26, 2008 at 8:35 am

Categories: Discrimination, Foreigners in Japan Tags: homogeneous Japan

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

“Japan is very introverted, or what may be called ethnically homogenous, or rather it tends to be inward-looking because it seldom has (exchanges) with the world.”

I don’t think his original statement is even that bad. I’m thinking he used いわゆる in his original statement? He didn’t state as a fact that the country is homogeneous, but said it is referred to as such, which is correct – Western media often makes that comment, because compared with the West, that is how it appears to be, subjectively.

It was very forward thinking of him to retract his statement, though.
Carl

I am confused.

He retracted comments he made earlier in the day because those comments received criticism in 1986.

How is that possible?

doinkies

I think that since he knew that those types of comments had offended people before, he decided to quickly apologize before anyone could get offended again.

I agree with Alex, though. He was just saying that Japan is referred to as being ethnically homogeneous, and not saying “Japan is homogeneous” as a fact like Nakasone did in 1986. There’s always people out there who would take his comment the wrong way, though, and see it as the same as Nakasone’s statement.

lala

“Japan is very introverted, or what may be called ethnically homogenous, or rather it tends to be inward-looking because it seldom has (exchanges) with the world.”

Is the original “Sakoku” still in place, or is it the new one?
onceuponatime

oh yes, and the ainu, the okinawans, the koreans, people like me who have married a japanese and have had children from that marriage. VERY HOMOGENEOUS.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Is it diverse enough to be called “heterogeneous”? Not at all. It’s closer to homogeneous, although not in the strictest sense of the term, which is why it is sometimes referred to as homogeneous, not only by the Japanese themselves, but especially by Western media, regardless of the validity of the claim. (They report on perception, not technicality)
ダビ

Compared to most other countries, yes, that’s very homogenous. Since he wasn’t in any way implying that Japan _should_ be as homogenous as possible, or that ainu or korean descendants are any less Japanese than anyone else, I don’t see any problem whatsoever with his statement.

lmshea

He should not have to resign.

99% of the other homogenious people in Japan think exactly the same thing.

It was just his unlucky day to be sober and be the designated speaker in front of a microphone, both at the same time.
leitmotiv

Money comment from Nakayama, just preceeding the bit about homogeneity:

“Definitely, (Japanese) do not like or desire foreigners.”

……such baseless slander! He must be drinking the Debito kool-aid.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080927a2.html Bruce Smith

Wow ! And he’s the Minister for Tourism ! Incredible !

Monami

I think Ainu people feel offended by the comment because they are still discriminated against. I also think that his comment about Japan being introverted is too modest.
Anti-Immigration

Japan, Korea, etc maybe considered “homogeneous”, but I don’t have a problem with it. U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, Australia, Malayasia, Singapore, England, France, South Africa, etc. maybe be melting pots, salad bowls, or whatever, but I agree with countries that don’t accept immigrants regardless of whatever reason. There are too many social problems when people with different cultures live together. People don’t integrate, follow social order, etc. Too complex. Japan, Korea, or whatever country is fine the way it is. Don’t worry about other people’s country. Work on making your own country better.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Also, we shouldn’t speak with foreigners for fear that they may corrupt our national ideals. And they smell funny, too.

Very forward-thinking!
Luke

“Japan, Korea, etc maybe considered “homogeneous”, but I don’t have a problem with it. U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, Australia, Malayasia, Singapore, England, France, South Africa, etc. maybe be melting pots, salad bowls, or whatever, but I agree with countries that don’t accept immigrants regardless of whatever reason. There are too many social problems when people with different cultures live together. People don’t integrate, follow social order, etc. Too complex. Japan, Korea, or whatever country is fine the way it is. Don’t worry about other people’s country. Work on making your own country better.”

But Japan IS multicultural, the 4 main races in Japan are:
Yamato
Okinawans
Ainu
Koreans

http://www.japaneconomynews.com/ Ken

There are too many social problems when people with different cultures live together. People don’t integrate, follow social order, etc.

I’m confused by this. Do you mean that crime rates are higher in countries that have higher immigration rates? What statistical evidence of such people not following social order is there in the scientific community? Please cite peer-reviewed research.
peepee

Japan’s foremost nationalist,Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, wrote in 1968, for example, that Japan was effectively a homogenous country that had maintained an “absolutely original culture” for centuries.

In Ishihara’s 1994 book “No-to-ieru Asia” (“Asia that can say no”), however, he described the perception of Japan as an ethnically homogeneous country as absurd, stating that Japan is a mixture of “all the ethnic groups in Asia.”

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

And then in 2000 he blamed crimes on foreigners, and claimed that if there were any sort of emergency it would be foreigners who did most of the damage from causing civil disorder.

In 1990 he said the events of Nanjing were fiction.

In 2001 he said that women who live after their reproduction functions stop working are “committing a sin”.

In 2004 he said that French is not qualified as an international language because it was a language in which nobody could count.

I think Ishihara has some deep issues that he needs to take care of after he resigns (as soon as possible).

Nena

Some clarifications:

Ainu and okinawans have largely been intermixed with japanese for centuries, and there are no pure “breed” left.

Korean Zainichi are not japanese citizens (most don’t want to even if it is easier for them to get naturalized) and don’t see themselves as Japanese (neither do the Japanese).

They would be like, 4 or 5th generations mexicans that would not want to take US citizenship but want schools in Spanish and the same voting rights as citizens and access to government employment while remaining foreign nationals, but as far as i know there are no country on earth that gives absolute equal rights to non citizens. I am sure American readers of this blog would be outraged at the situation if it was the US, but find it acceptable For Japan to bow down.

I guess most of the commenters here are from the English speaking countries that were never nation states to begin with but countries based on immigration like the US, canada, New Zealand and Australia don’t really understand how the concepts of citizenship and ethnicity differs. In short: you can get Japanese citizenship but you’ll never become Japanese.

As someone living in continental Europe I can tell you multiculturalism cannot work within a nation state, simply because it leads to inter ethnics distrust, tension then violence until one group takes over and annihilates the others.
That’s much of what happened throughought History.

Land minister retracts statements about a “homogeneous” Japan

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