Nihonjinron

Japan finds itself in a situation of stagnation that can only be turned around by massive economic revitalization. Because of the rapidly decreasing population the only answer to the problem would be immigration. To keep the economy steady at current rates over 300 000 immigrants would be required each year, and to keep it at 1995 levels over 500 000. Is Japan going to open up its borders and allow mass immigration? Not a fuck!










I do not think that everyone in Japan holds the exact same opinion on this (or any) issue, but I think I could safely say that 19¾ out of every 19 ½ Japanese given the chance to vote in a secret poll would be against the motion to allow (yes, I do realize it’s a mathematical anomaly). To many this would be the equivalent of putting a large bullet through the collective identity’s cranium, and in a truly stubborn, insane, almost admirably deluded fashion the nation would rather sink as itself than stay afloat as something else.

But why is it that the Japanese are so famous for keeping the rest of the world out, and is there anything that can be said in favour of hardened anti-immigration policies and staunch mono-culturalism? There are two sources from which the belief that Japan must be kept purely Japanese stem. The one is voodoo, the other, perhaps with some merit, is a response to observation of the outside world.

The voodoo view is something called日本人論 (Nihonjinron), which translates as Japanese people theories. It is a body of literature that has been around for centuries, and reached its peak during the 1960s and 1970s when Japan’s economic power was peaking. Nihonjinron focuses on the essential ‘differentness’ of the Japanese. As Japan is an island country separate from mainland Asia, and thus geographically and later during the 鎖国令 Sakoku, or closed country period enforceably isolated from the rest of the world, the inhabitants are of a select, differentiated blood line. Depending on the state of the nation Nihonjinron sways between a belief that the Japanese are inherently better than the rest of the world, and that they are unfortunately flawed. Although many modern Japanese may not have even heard of Nihonjinron, it is religious in nature, unquestioned and deeply rooted. It still holds major sway here. In modern Japan it is evidenced in two ways. Firstly it comes out in questions like, ‘In Japan teenagers want to be a part of the group, how about in your country?’ Essentially, a confusion or conflation of human nature and ‘Japanese nature’. Secondly, the lines between culture and genetics are blurred. So, for example, using chop-sticks, doing Japanese calligraphy, or learning Kanji would be considered essentially easier for someone of Japanese descent. ‘Don’t worry, even Japanese people struggle with that’ is a common phrase of encouragement when learning a ‘Japanese skill.’ So if the Nihojin and the other country people are so fundamentally different, then allowing hoards of the other people into the country would be a recipe for implosion and catastrophe.

Secondly there is the traditionally ethnically homogenous nature of the country. Some articles will say that Japan is no longer really an ethnically homogenous nation, but really, in practical day to day life, it is. In most of the modern ‘free world’ diversity is spoken about as an unquestioned good. But, I would argue that people are less in favour of diversity than they think. No one, for example, is in favour of moral diversity. Living next door to a paedophile or a man who likes to masturbate on his lawn, would get few people talking about the wonders of diversity. Native English speakers perhaps often forget that other people have had to learn their language in order to interact in a mixed society. Something as seemingly small as this can be a stressful and tiring process. Different understandings of practices and varied rankings of values, different claims over history, land, identity are all a real part of multi-cultural societies. In South Africa for example millions of manhours are spent dividing people into race and ethnic groups and formulating policies along these lines. We just need look at Russia to see the problems that arise from ethnic minorities wanting independence from the main state. Most of us who grew up in multi-ethnic societies would not trade the experience for anything. And in fact, this homogenous society sometimes seems like something from a sci-fi movie. But, coming from the other side, having known nothing else, the Japanese fear of multi-culturalism, although not excusable, is understandable.

So, what happens? In fifty years time Japan may well not be a place that foreigners will be easily attracted to. Today it still is. By the time the crisis is real, it will be too late to solve it. Ultimately, it seems that the island nation will choose to sink quietly (and yes slowly) into obscurity, eventually perhaps fading off the world stage. It would rather keep its ‘uniqueness’ than reinvigorate its economy. A hardened stubbornness perhaps, but then I always find that Japanese people are like that. Or is that just people?