About a month ago, one big sports news hit the front page of the newspapers. The news was about Yu Darvish who is one of the greatest baseball players in Japan, and probably in the world too. The news said he would go and challenge his ability in Major League Baseball in the States. In those news, most media mentioned him as “Nihon no e-su (Japanese Ace)” meaning that he is a young talented pitcher who represents Japanese pro-baseball league. But I felt somewhat awkward with the use of “Japanese.” As everyone knows, he is half-Japanese half-Iranian. How could people call him “Japanese” without any questions?

What I mean here is not that I want to differentiate him from other Japanese because of his ethnic background. The question is that why he is Japanese when other hafu people are often said they are not. What let him deserve that title which many hafu people have to live without?

I think the answer is very simple: we want anything favorable to us. Darvish is a distinguished pitcher who received offers from several famous Major League teams. His ability is good enough for giving him the status as a member of Japanese society. As long as the person shares any Japanese blood (even if not “fully” Japanese) AND has a special ability that we Japanese are proud of, then he deserves the title of “Japanese.” Because, everyone wants heroes from their own community.

But, think about it for a second. Was he Japanese before he became famous? In his mind, yes – but not by people around him. He had a hard time being called “different.” Hafu are often not given the title of “Japanese.” They have to make an all-out effort to earn the title which full-Japanese people are born with, even if they were born and have grown up in Japan.

Isn’t it ridiculous? Whether hafu or fully-Japanese, we share the country we were born and have grown up in. Why do only fully-Japanese have a right to push the other out, based on their blood? Are we entitled to any authority to decide to let not-fully-Japanese people in, as soon as s/he becomes a hero? The answer is, of course, “No.” None of us has such thing. We, fully-Japanese, have to realize the fact that we are so selfish and have misunderstood that it is us who determine whether to let the person with unique blood (in addition to Japanese) in or out. We now should open up that heavy door to enter the Japanese society to anyone who is willing to come in. Difference is nothing to be afraid of, rather, is a spice to add excitement and fun in life.

by Shiomi Maeda

Reference: http://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20111231_78286.html

In Japan, people have a lot of different images of black people. Many people, especially the older generation, have the images of them as the slave, the savage, the buffoon, and the GI as John Russell claims in his book “日本人の黒人観(Japanese People’s Images of Black People)”. And some people in the younger generation think black people are cool. They listen to Hip-hop, R&B, and Reggae, and watch many black celebrities and athletes on TV.

I went to New York during the winter vacation, and that was the very first time for me to get to know black people personally. Although I went to high school in the US as an exchange student, I had never had any black friends because where I was living was a pretty much white community and I went to a private Catholic high school in which I don’t think there were any black students. Before going to New York, I had the both images of black people as scary and cool. I don’t remember why, but my friends and I decided to stay at a hostel in Brooklyn. On the first day, we got scared as hell because more than 80% of people we saw there were black. But as time went by, we realized black people were nice. Whenever we asked them for help, they helped us. And the guy who was staying at the same hostel with us was super nice. So now my negative images of black people are totally gone.

But how can we, Japanese people, get rid of negative stereotypes against black people? To me, it was to have a talk with them and get to know them personally. I was lucky to have the opportunity to go to New York, and to be able to speak English. However, not so many people have that opportunity and not all Japanese people speak English. Furthermore, there are not that many black people in Japan, so people don’t have many opportunities to get to know them here either. Japanese people tend to create negative images against things they don’t know very much. I think “ちびくろサンボ(The Story of Little Black Sambo)” is a good way to introduce black people to the Japanese society. When we watched a video of Little Black Sambo in class, I didn’t feel it was offensive or gives children negative images of black people. What you see when you are a child has huge impact on your life. Although I have heard that even a three-year-old child notices differences of skin tones, I don’t think children will have prejudice or feel barriers against people of different skin tones if they grow up having positive images of them. When it comes to racism, people usually don’t really know about people who they hate. Getting to know people of different races will increase understanding among races. And I think The Story of Little Black Sambo is a good beginning of knowing black people.

by Haruka Kono

One of my high school friends is Zainichi Korean, and she is now studying in Canada. While I was in New York for Christmas and New Year’s Eve and Day, she was also staying there, so we went out for dinner together. At the dinner, I told her I had been studying about Zainichi Korean people, and asked for her opinions.

She said she used to want to get naturalized as Japanese because that makes it easier to live in Japan. She has seen in reality some discrimination against Zainichi Korean people. For example, her brother when he was in high school got fired from his part time job just because he was Zainichi Korean. However, now she doesn’t want to be naturalized in Japan, and wants to keep Korean nationality because that’s her identity and that is where her family is from. Even though she knows almost nothing about Korea and speaks Korean very little, she is 100% Korean. I totally understand.

Although I had focused on the feeling of Zainichi Korean people as above, she told me her biggest worry is who is going to protect her if something happens to her while she is in Canada or somewhere else besides Japan and South Korea. I was kind of surprised because I had never even thought about that. I had taken for granted the Japanese government would protect and take care of me even outside of Japan. The Constitution of the Republic of Korea says in Article 2 “It shall be the duty of the state to protect citizens residing abroad as prescribed by Act.” Since she has a South Korean passport, the South Korean government is responsible for her safety. However, I have heard a story about a Zainichi Korean girl who lost her passport while she was in Paris, France. Because she did not speak Korean, French, or English, it took a very long process until the Korean Embassy in Paris issued a new passport to her.

I think that will increase legal protection for Zainichi Korean people if they get Japanese nationality. Professor Moorehead was saying in our class, because the US has “-“ culture, you can also have your identity as something else besides American, like Japanese-American, Italian-American, and Indian-American, but in Japan on the other hand, if you are Japanese, you’re just Japanese. If you are Zainichi Korean and get Japanese nationality, you can’t identify yourself as Korean any more. Although I thought that was right when I heard that, now I don’t think that’s true. Even Japanese-American, Italian-American, or Indian-American has only one nationality of American. I don’t think Zainichi Korean people have to throw away their identities as Korean just because they get Japanese nationality. In this world today, states are responsible for their own citizens. Nationality shows the state is responsible for you. So I think people should have nationality from countries they were born and raised in, they feel most comfortable to live in, and they can rely on. I’m sure it is much more complicated, but to me, nationality is legal protection, and identity is who you think you are.

by Haruka Kono

Zainichi is now one part of Japan. Not like as past, the Zainichi`s status changed a lot in decades. The reasons for that, we can raise high popularity of Kpop singers, actor and actresses recently. Korean culture became poplar in Japan and those affected Japanese change their images to Korean. Compare to the past, now some of Japanese admire Korean and visits Korea tons of times. Not only that Korean entertainment movement, the real Zainichi success in Japan affected many to take a look at the situation of Zainichi. Not only to Japanese but also Korean as well. Here I want to discuss two successful Zainichi, Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank;the biggest mobile phone industry, and Chungsung, Lee; soccer player.

Masayoshi Son is now inevitable character when we discuss Japan`s economy. Outstanding planning and design for advertisement made successful development of Softbank. Many books are sold which tells the stories of Masayoshi. He is 3^rd generation Zainichi. His grandfather compulsory moved to Japan. Like the other Zainichi, Masayoshi also bullied from other Japanese children. However, his father always told his son, Masayoshi, that he could do anything and he is the best. This great education made him strong and leads him to study abroad in USA. He then, it was the first time in his lifetime which he faced equal society. In the USA, all the people are treated same and they were estimated by their abilities not their nationalities. In the circumstance, Masayoshi can concentrate on studying IT and economy, which lead the one of the top company in Japan

Chunsung Lee, is also the Zainichi. Unlike Masayoshi, he has faced more discrimination. That was because he raised as he is Korean, he endured every tackles of Japanese. However, when he could enter Korean team, Korean pointed him as Japanese as using the word “Chokbari”; the bad word used in Korea when criticizing Japanese. He then shocked from the reality. What he had believed to be his country did not welcome him. He was in the other words, homeless. He belonged nowhere. Now, he came back to Japan.

Those two successful people tell us that why Japan and Korean cannot catch up USA and lack of knowledge among Zainichi. In reality, Korean does not handle about Zainichi problem in children education. Sometimes media focus them, however sooner or later they are forgettable. It is a very sad reality. Therefore, there is no way but more Zainichi to learn and successful and become inevitable characters in Japan like those two, who have very influential on every movement and saying.

son jungwee -http://100.naver.com/100.nhn?docid=777197

by. Sujin Kim

Since the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, a lot of Koreans came to Japan for economical reasons or came by force for hard labor. Now, the number of Korean residents in Japan (in general they are called Zainichi) is expected to reach 60 million. They live in Japanese society as members of society while adopting Japanese culture. However, even though most are second or third-generation Korean Japanese, born and raised in Japan, discrimination is still a factor they have to live with. There are many difficulties that Korean Japanese face now. However, I especially want to focus on the ethnic schools for Japanese Koreans.

After Korea was divided, two ethnic groups, the pro-North Korean residents’ league (Chongryon) and the Korean residents union, were established. Now, there are about 140 ethnic schools of Chongryon and all of 4 of Korean schools of the Korean residents union. The reason that the ethnic school is prevalent is related to the history of Korean Japanese. Because North Korea tried to send an aid fund and award a scholarship every year to the ethnic school, the front of the classrooms were covered with the portrait of the North Korean leader in gratitude for what North Korea had done. However, recently a wind of change is blowing through the ethnic school. In 2002, the portraits were removed from the classrooms. Now they do not need to follow the policy of North Korea through the liberalization of Chongryon. In addition, 60 percent of students have Korean nationality. Although the ethnic school received financial aid in the beginning, those who all the while established and made the school better were Korean Japanese regardless of nationality. In other words, the school is a very valuable asset to them, not to North Korea. This also has great significance in supporting Korean Japanese spiritually and helping to preserve the identity of Korean Japanese society. However, despite the importance of the school, lately student enrollment has decreased rapidly.

Many Korean Japanese do not want their children to go to the ethnic school in today’s fast-paced social conditions because of a thoroughly pro-North Korean education. Also, it is a problem that students cannot have their academic courses accredited in Japan. They usually experience discrimination during their entrance examinations and in finding a job. As well as these, some of students have been faced with ordeals such as having their uniforms torn by rabid right-wing fanatics ever since North Korea recognized kidnapping Japanese during late 1970s and early 1980s. For these reasons, Korean Japanese are worried that their children might not adapt to Japanese society well if they send their children to the ethnic school. Also, they do not want to send their children to the Korean school because the Korean school has been recognized strongly as the school for sojourning employee’s children. Therefore, a lot of them decide to send their children to an ordinary Japanese school. This has lead to the decrease in student enrollment. Now there are lots of problems trying to manage the ethnic school as it faces a rapid decrease in students. If this situation continues, these schools will have to close in the end. Thus, in order for these schools to be maintained, they must change into schools that Korean Japanese parents can trust and want to send their children to.

The ethnic school is important to the link that holds Korean Japanese and in keeping their identity. Also it plays an important role in forming the future of Korean Japanese society. However, because of ideology education and worries that they may not able to adjust to society, parents are reluctant to send their children to the ethnic school. The only way for the school to survive is for that the school to bring Korean Japanese together, regardless of nationality, and to be accepted as a regular school in Japanese society. Many Korean Japanese still feel that they do not belong to Japanese society, and this can make them feel frustrated about their lives. I wish that the schools would help and support Korean Japanese, not only in receiving recognition from Japanese society but also in preserving their Korean Japanese identities.

Sources:

在日本朝鮮人総聯合会 (http://www.chongryon.com/index.html)

MINDAN (http://www.mindan.org/eng/)

Although the history of black people is complicated and there are many negative images of them in the world, in Japan, people usually think that as the past thing. In the past, they were controlled by the Western countries as slaves. People in the U.S., mainly, strongly care about those history of discrimination, and some people who is called racist do not think good about them.

Black people are famous in many fields these days. I think one of the broadest place for them is music. The music which created with black people such as Jazz, Blues, and Hip-hop is called Black Music, and it is spread all over the world to listen and play. The Blues music is known as the roots of Jazz and Rock ‘n Roll. In late of 19 century, this music was created from spiritual music. Those facts are enough for those music to be known as black music.

For my situation, sometimes I was studying the history of black people at school, and have seen what was going on in the past. Actually, most of those were negative images. On the other hand, those images we see on entertainment contents are positive images of black people. Especially, I love listening to or play the music with instruments. Many Japanese try to play instruments like black people do, because they are so good at it usually. This is positive image of black people, and that could be said in sports. All of people who is in those fields are kind of trying to be like black people. I am one of those, to be a really good player. So, the important thing is black people are seen with cool images in Japan, and it means that we are respecting black people.

As we learned in the class lecture, some of images of black people are sometimes likely to images that racists think of. The movie we saw in the class that is “ufu and mufu” would be counted into it. We do not have strong images that black people are living in a forest and playing with animals all day long, but it is actually in the product.

I think that Japanese people are seeing black people with a mixed image. One is to see black people with images that we see on TV or the internet, which is positive images. Another one is to see them with the knowledge that we learned at school as history and which is not that negative, and it is for the basis. Just for the foundation, Japanese people know how black people lived in the past days. However, of course, we do know how they are living these days, too. I think that those became the materials to mix and create the new image of black people.

As the conclusion, I do not think Japanese people are not racists. People do not look them down, and even they respect black people as a longing. Japanese people think that the history is the history, and for now, they have their identity.

Source: History of Black Music ( http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~zip2000/bs-history.htm)

by Junsuke Fujino