Ethnic issues in Japan

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Amongst the major industrialized countries, Japan is one of the most ethnically homogenous. Some consider this the main reason for the social and political stability of Japan. However, there are accusations of a "deep and profound" racism in the country, especially regarding ethnic Korean and Chinese residents in Japan.[Japan racism 'deep and profound' BBC]

Background

Only about 1.5% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign nationals. According to 2003 data from the Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows[link]:

Nationality	Number	Percentage
North and South Korea	613,791	32.1%
China	462,396	24.1%
Brazil	274,700	14.3%
Philippines	185,237	9.7%
Peru	53,649	2.8%
United States	47,836	2.5%
Others	277,421	14.5%
Total	1,915,030	100%

The above statistic does not include about 50,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan and illegal immigrants. Moreover, the statistics do not reflect minority groups who are Japanese citizens such the Ainu (an aboriginal people primarily living in Hokkaido) the Ryukyuan (who may or may not be considered ethnically Japanese) and the Burakumin (whose distinction is not ethnicity, but class - based on a caste system which originates from the Tokugawa era).

Japanese Minorities

The four largest minority groups residing in Japan are the Zainichi Koreans, the Ainu, the Ryukyuan, and the Burakumin. There are also a number of smaller ethnic communities in Japan with a much shorter history.

Korean people

Zainichi (resident in Japan) Koreans are permanent residents of Japan, but hold North or South Korean citizenship. Korea was a part of the Japanese Empire between 1910 and 1945, and many Koreans migrated or were forcibly brought to Japan before and during World War II. A number of Korean immigrants also came to the country during the Korean War. They often use Japanese names to avoid discrimination and live their lives as if they were Japanese. This is in contrast with the Chinese living in Japan, who generally use their Chinese names and openly form Chinatown communities.

Because of their citizenship and legal status, many Zainichi are relegated to low-paying jobs. After World War II, the Korean community in Japan was split between allegiance to capitalist South Korea (Mindan) and communist North Korea (Chongryon). South Koreans in Japan are called Zainichi Kankokujin (在日韓国人), while North Koreans are called Zainichi Chosenjin (在日朝鮮人).

Japanese law does not allow dual citizenship, and until the 1980s required adoption of a Japanese name for citizenship. Partially for this reason, Japanese nationality is still equated with Japanese ethnicity. For some Zainichi, especially the Zainichi North Koreans, becoming a Japanese citizen is regarded as giving up being Korean. Very few Zainichi keep their Korean family names after obtaining citizenship because they see no point in asserting Korean identity once they become "Japanese".

Ainu

The Ainu are an ethnic group mainly living in Hokkaido. The Tokugawa Shogunate tried to develop Hokkaido to counter Russia's growing influence in the Far East, but mostly left the place for the native Ainu. Then the Meiji government started development programs, increasingly aimed at assimilating the Ainu, outlawing Ainu language and restricting them to farming on government-provided plots. Many of the Ainu were also used in slave-like conditions by the Japanese fishing industry. As the Japanese government encouraged immigration of ethnic Japanese to populate Hokkaido, the Ainu became increasingly marginalised in their own land.

At present, fewer than 20,000 Ainu are considered racially distinct. Most, if not all, of the Ainu in Japan are of mixed ancestry. Many customs and traditions of the Ainu have been lost, abandoned, or annihilated, and the Ainu language is no longer in daily use.

Only recently have the Ainu started to become aware of international aboriginal rights movements. Thus, as of late, some schools in Hokkaido have been established to preserve and revive the Ainu culture.

Ryukyuan people

The Ryukyuan people had a country until 1879 when the islands was officially annexed by Japan as Okinawa prefecture.

Whether Okinawans are Japanese or not is debated throughout Japan. The Okinawan language is unintelligible to many Japanese people, but linguistically believed to be a distant dialect of the Japanese language. This is because even within the four main islands of Japan, different regions may speak local dialects that are unintelligible to other regions.

Culturally, Okinawa is much closer to southern China and Southeast Asia reflecting its long history of trade with these regions. However, because of the standard use of Japanese in schools, television, and all print media in Okinawa, these cultural differences are often glossed over in Japanese society. Consequently, many Japanese consider Okinawans to be Japanese, sometimes ignoring their distinct cultural and historical heritage in insensitive ways.

Some Okinawans intensely resent what they perceive to be second-class treatment from the Japanese government, especially in regard to friction with the United States military presence in Okinawa.

Burakumin

The Burakumin are a social minority group with no distinct ethnicity from other Japanese. Rather, their status is derived from policy introduced in the Edo period, when the government designated butchers, leather workers, executioners, and others as eta (filth) or hinin (non-persons) and imposed various restrictions on their lives, including the clothes they were allowed to wear and areas they were allowed to visit. The Meiji Restoration abolished these caste-like restrictions. However, those having eta or hinin status were registered as shin-heimin (new commoners) which allowed social and economic discrimination against them to continue to this day.

After the war, shin-heimin registration as well as other differential registration was abolished. However, at the time, family registry (koseki) in Japan was tied to the location of original (i.e. ancestral) registration. This meant that one's burakumin background could be revealed easily before marriage or when applying for employment. A law prohibiting the transfer of koseki was amended during the 1980s, so it is now possible for burakumin to avoid discrimination simply by changing the location of their koseki.

Municipal rubbish collection, sewage cleaning, and cremation—jobs which Japanese associate with filth—have historically been performed by people with a burakumin background. Discrimination is still an issue for kaihou seisaku (liberation policy) in the local municipalities. Unlike other minority groups, however, the burakumin are decidedly integrationist due to the lack of a distinct cultural heritage.

Other groups

Other foreigners in Japan, particularly those from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, are often called Gaikokujin or Gaijin. The first noticeable influx of foreigners occurred in the 1980s, when the Japanese government adopted a policy to give scholarships to large numbers of foreign students to study at Japanese universities. In addition, as the Japanese economy grew quickly in the 1980s, a sizeable number of Westerners began coming to Japan. Many found jobs as English conversation teachers, but others were employed in various professional fields such as finance and business. Although some have become permanent residents or even naturalized citizens, they are generally perceived as short-term visitors and treated as outsiders to Japanese society.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the Keidanren business lobbying organization advocated a policy of allowing South Americans of Japanese ancestry (mainly Brazilians and Peruvians) to work in Japan, as Japan's industries faced a major labor shortage. Although this policy has been decelerated in recent years, many of these individuals continue to live in Japan, some in ethnic enclaves near their workplaces. Many people from Asia (particularly Vietnam and the Philippines) and the Middle East (particularly Iran) also entered Japan (often illegally) during this time, making foreigners as a group a more visible minority in Japan. Those foreigners are called Rainichi ("coming to Japan") in contrast to Zainichi ("in Japan").

The main concerns of the latter groups are often related to their legal status, a public perception of criminal activity, and general discrimination associated with being non-Japanese.

Ethnic Issues

Government Policy

Because of the small number of minorities in Japan, laws regarding ethnic matters receive low priority in the legislative process. Still, in 1997, "Ainu cultural revival" legislation was passed which replaced the former "Hokkaido ex-Aboriginal Protection" legislation that had devastating effects on the Ainu in the past.

Article 14 of the Constitution of Japan states that all citizens are equal under the law, and they cannot be discriminated against politically, economically, or socially on the basis of race, belief, sex, or social or other background. However, this clause does not apply to discrimination committed by private individuals or establishments or legal discrimination based on citizenship. Hate speech is not a criminal offense, but insulting, such as calling someone "fool!", is a minor civil offense resulting in monetary compensation (which is often lower than the cost of going through the judicial process). Japan does not have human rights legislation which enforces or penalises discriminatory activities committed by citizens, businesses, or non-governmental organisations. The country does not have specific hate crime laws. Racism and hate-motivated offenses that include assault, vandalism, and robbery are prosecuted as regular crimes.

Attempts have been made in the Diet to enact human rights legislation. In 2002, a draft was submitted to the House of Representatives, but did not reach a vote. Had the law passed, it would have set up a Human Rights Commission to investigate, name and shame, or financially penalise discriminatory practices as well as hate speech committed by private citizens or establishments. Though the anti-discrimination clause raised little objection, the anti-hate speech clause received very hostile reception from Japanese media, including liberals who saw it as a potential threat to the freedom of speech and publication. In 2005, the ruling coalition government attempted to resubmit a revised version of the draft which somewhat limited the application of hate speech clause, but it still failed to reach a consensus within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Another issue which is often debated, but has not received much legislative attention is whether to allow permanent residents to vote in local legislatures. Zainichi organisations affiliated with North Korea are against this initiative, while Zainichi organisations affiliated with South Korea support it.

Finally, there is debate about altering requirements for work permits to foreigners. Currently, the Japanese government does not issue work permits unless it can be demonstrated that the person has certain skills which cannot be provided by locals.

Illegal Immigrants and Crimes

Similar to other countries, many foreigners come to Japan to work, sometimes entering the country legally, and sometimes overstaying the term of their tourist/entry visa. Their employment tends to be concentrated in areas where most Japanese are not able to or no longer wish to work. Consequently, accusations of foreigners stealing jobs are not often heard in Japan. Because of the Japanese perception of illegal status and the difficulty non-Japanese face finding secure employment, however, some foreigners resort to criminal activity. The media sensationally reports these crimes as a foreigner crime wave, often emphasizing the large number of foreigners (usually Chinese) arrested.

According to National Police Authority record in 2002, however, 16,212 foreigners were caught committing 34,746 crimes, over half of which turned out to be visa violations (residing/working in Japan without a valid visa). The statistics show that 12,667 cases (36.5%) and 6,487 individuals (40.0%) were Chinese, 5,272 cases (15.72%) and 1,186 individuals (7.3%) were Brazilian, and 2,815 cases (8.1%) and 1,738 individuals (10.7%) were Korean. The total number of crimes committed in the same year by Japanese was 546,934 cases.

Within these statistics, Japanese committed 6,925 violent crimes, of which 2,531 were arson or rape, while foreigners committed 323 violent crimes, but only 42 cases are classified as arson or rape. Foreigners, however, were more likely to commit crimes in groups. About 61.5% of crimes committed by foreigners had one or more accomplice, while only 18.6% of crimes committed by Japanese were in groups.

These statistics show that while foreigners only make up ~1.5% of Japan's population, the were responsible for ~6% of Japan's crimes in 2002.

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