Review of Last week Being Japanese The NEC
Review of Last week Being Japanese: The N=E=C Equation/Model Ethnicity /race (appearance) 民族 Nationality/country (国家・国籍） 日本人 Language/Culture (ethnicity) （言語・文化） People put different weight on N, E, or C
The NEC (consensus/group) model of Japanese identity is the base of the genre of writing known as Nihonjinron is a popular form of cultural nationalism that stresses the superiority and positive aspects of Japan
Nihonjinron writings tend to stress two points… (集団主義) • Group orientation: Collectivism is the dominant cultural pattern which shapes behaviour. • Homogeneity: The Japanese are a uniform, homogeneous people (単一民族) which constitute a racially unified nation (単一民族国家） The underlying implication is that Japanese society is ‘uniquely’ unique
Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso again courts controversy with remarks about Japan's ethnic identity The former prime minister hailed Japan’s success in the Rugby World Cup last fall with a team featuring players from diverse backgrounds, before going on to make the remarks about Japan as a linguistically and ethnically homogenous nation.
Nihonjinron: Necessary or Unnecessary? A form of defence or protection against Western imperialist ‘Japan bashing’ that boosts confidence and pride? x OR A barrier to the proper understanding of Japan that encourages exclusion?
Do we Need Nihonjinron? Yes! (Advantages) Discover/reinforce identity Unify/solidarity as one nation (e. g. disasters/pandemics) Confidence as Japanese (positive points of being Japanese) Acceptance Resource for tourist of Diversity? campaigns: uniqueness of Japan=appeal to foreigners x No! (Disadvantages) Biased thinking/hard-fixed category (inflexible); xenophobic Barrier to globalization; inward-looking Prescriptive, narrow view of Reason for low how Japanese levelshould of behave; restrictive Migration? Ignores history and culture of minority groups: exclusionary Multicultural Japan? !?
Q. 1 Japan not (x) and is (y) to become so anytime soon. Homogeneous Japan is not a (z) GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 GROUP 4 x multicultural “” “” y unlikely “” “” z myth “” “”
Q. 2 Multicultural vs Multiculturalism • Multicultural: Demographic concept – Existence of diversity/ethnic minorities – All societies are to a greater or lesser extent multicultural! • Multiculturalism: Ideological concept – Existence of political ideology/policies such as promotion of minority culture, language support/signs, discrimination laws – Personified by Australia/Canada/US from the 1970 s
Q. 3 Illegals and Legals Increased or Decreased? Illegals Legals GROUP 1 Increase GROUP 2 50/50 Increase GROUP 3 Increase GROUP 4
Q. 3 a 不法残留者数の推移 （万人） 30 25 20 15 10 05 00 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019
Q. 3 a 不法残留者数の推移 （万人） 298, 646 30 25 20 15 74, 167 10 59, 061 05 00 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019
Q. 3 b 2009 2014 2018
Q. 3 b 2009 2, 829, 416 2014 2018
Q. 5 外国人労働者拡大 but not an immigration policy…
Homework for Next week • Read my paper about academic writing and write your impressions/opinions ( 感想文） in an email to me by Saturday • Next week you will introduce your feedback to the group so keep a copy handy!
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