Abstract
Japanese society has a history of differentiating between people by race, phenotype, and skin color, with more positive social conceit placed on lighter skin. While social “othering” and differentiation based upon racial characteristics happen in any society, in Japan, “different” often means “foreign” or “outsider,” and there are precedents where even Japanese of color are treated differently or unequally. This is a dangerous tendency, as Japan has no specific civic laws against racial discrimination or hate speech, meaning social disparagement or discrimination due to skin tone or phenotype in Japan may go unsanctioned. This chapter is an introduction to the complex treatment of race in Japan. It explores the historical expressions of “othering” between Japanese people before Japan opened to the outside world, then the development of a domestic social science that ranked “civilized peoples” by skin color, and finally introduces the process of modern public stereotyping of race and skin color through marketing and public announcements.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter will work under TheFreeDictionary definition of “race” as “a local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.” Available at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Race
- 2.
Based upon Japanese thesaurus results for the word gaikokujin at http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/外国人
- 3.
Both gaijin and gaikokujin mean “foreigner,” but the former “outside person” has a more racial component than the latter “outside country person” as it generally refers to non-Asians and is applied to people, including Japanese citizens such as this author, with differing skin color (Arudou 2008a, b). It is significant that gaijin was once deracinated and used to refer to Japanese.
- 4.
The classical definition of civilization is a society with a written language—as seen in the very word for “civilization” (bunmei) in Chinese and later Japanese, with characters meaning “clear script”—through which its history is recorded for posterity.
- 5.
Incidentally, despite China’s indelible influence on Japanese as a written language, Japan was ranked highest.
- 6.
A notably disparaging attitude toward Africans is seen in the statements by Nakajima Hiroshi, who commented in 1995 while heading the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), that some of his African staff members have poor English skills (Chronicle News Services 1995) (he retained his post due to pressure from the Japanese government as the largest donor to several UN African aid agencies) (Philips 2005, 607). There have also been inferences that Dr. Nakajima’s opposition to and interference with the WHO’s efforts toward AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa may reflect this bias (Hilts 1990; Limb 2004).
- 7.
The Japanese text and illustrations can be downloaded at http://www.debito.org/chibikurosanbo.html.
- 8.
Shina is an archaic word for China, seen as offensive by some Chinese.
- 9.
Kay’s major releases include C.L.L. Crystal Lover Light (2000), Almost Seventeen (2002), 4Real (2003), Natural (2003), Call me Miss… (2006), All Yours (2007), Color Change! (2008), Spin the Music (2010), Best of Crystal Kay (2009), ONE (Single, from Color Change!; alternative Pokemon edition) (2008).
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Arudou, D. (2013). An Introduction to Japanese Society’s Attitudes Toward Race and Skin Color. In: Hall, R. (eds) The Melanin Millennium. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_4
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