Japan's atavistic racism

[Maciamo]

Japan Times : Atavistic racism: greatest impediment

Atavistic racism: greatest impediment

Racism, alas, exists in all societies. In Western Europe, racism is practiced by fringe minority social groups -- such as attacks by German skinheads against immigrant Turkish workers -- or as a reaction against the liberalism and the openness of mainstream society -- such as voter support for Jean-Marie Le Pen in France.

In the United States, even though the White House is now inhabited by what many consider a very rightwing president, there are blacks in his Cabinet and his rebuke to Trent Lott, the Republican senator from Mississippi, cost him his job as majority leader.

Japan has not reached this stage. Japan is an outlier; from the racism viewpoint, it is a pariah state. Racism lies in the very fabric of Japanese society; it is still at its primitive, visceral and atavistic stage. It is so ingrained that Japanese often appear totally bewildered when told they are racist. Being racist and being Japanese are so intertwined that racism is not seen as a form of deviance, but as normal. So Japanese racism is rarely expressed in vituperatively violent form. It is passive, intrinsic, underlying general social behavior. Barring foreigners from joining golf clubs, for example.

Let me skip a few decades back and recount two stories that occurred in Oxford when I was there in the late 1960s. Oxford landladies were notorious for not renting rooms to nonwhites. One of the students at my college, a Ghanaian -- who has since become a prominent official at the United Nations (not Kofi Annan!) -- kept being told over the phone that rooms were available, only to be turned down when he arrived at the door.

...

The Oxford landladies and my friend's parents did not see themselves as racists. They would not be the kind to go out and burn crosses or engage in the skinhead pastime of "Paki-bashing" (beating up Pakistanis). They were caught in the social warp of the time. Like most Japanese today, their racism was one of exclusion due to suspicion of the unknown.

[Maciamo]

In other countries belonging to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, "multinational corporations" are increasingly multicultural, one of the reasons why (even among French firms!) English is more and more becoming the corporate language. And the multiculturalism of French multinationals is what allows a hitherto parochial French firm like Renault to hire such a brilliant corporate leader as Carlos Ghosn, a Brazilian of Lebanese extraction.

But go to the headquarters of any Japanese firm, even supposedly highly international ones such as Sony, and you will find generally exclusively, sometimes simply overwhelmingly, Japanese at all levels, especially senior levels, of the hierarchy, and no foreigners. Indeed, the founder of Sony, Akio Morita, considered it completely normal that he should coauthor a book with the avowed racist Shintaro Ishihara, the present governor of Tokyo.

So true one more time ! I also feel that the Japanese take advantage of other (Western) countries under cover of extreme politeness and cultural differences. American or European companies in Japan engage mainly Japanese people (or at least half) and even send them to work in the mother country. Japanese company do exactly the opposite. They send their own staff to fill all the important (managment) positions in their branches abroad. To illustrate this, I know a Japanese working for Mizuho Bank (the world's largest bank) and who spent some time in their London branch; he told me he that all the staff there was Japanese.

This is even more accentuated when we compare the proportion and size of Japanese companies in Europe and America (Sony, Hitachi, Toyota, Honda, Nintendo, etc.) with the actual foreign presence in Japan - except a few American securities and computer companies, thanks to the post-war special status of the US, not much.

So it seems to me that Japan can just establish any major car or hi-tech factory in Europe and the US, keeping it as much a Japanese affair as possible, but on the other hand refuses to let Western companies do the same in Japan (it has been changing sa little recently, on condition that foreign firms have a partnership or a holding with a Japanese one, or just acquire one like Renault did with Nissan). They happily work abroad or for foreign companies in Japan, but don't let foreigner do the same with them.

I wonder how other countries have been allowing this. Japan is making much more money selling its TV's, videos and cars in Europe than Europe is doing exporting a few Vuitton bags or some English marmelade to Japan (which are overpriced because they can only be imported at high cost, unlike Japanese cars made in Europe). Japan got a great deal with Western nations in this system and that may well answer to the Japanese "economic miracle" of the 1950's to 80's, when Japan had an overwhelmingly excedentary balance of payments. After all, they might well have won WWII to cut such an interesting deal. Not that I would like to change everything radically now, as it could sink Japan for good, but I believe that Japan has achieved its economic success thanks to the underlying racism in mentalities, that has preserved it from foreign infiltration and kept all its money in Japanese hands while it was exporting much more than it imported. Very cunning indeed, if not underhand.

[cstaylor]

The answer is right before you: Japan will cease to exist as a country without immigration. According to U.N. statistics, Japan will either need to jettison the overwhelming elderly population, or import a large amount of foreign labor.

But then again, who knows?

[Maciamo]

I sincerely doubt Japan's problem is its aging population or rising unemployement. These are minor things, otherwise it'd mean that most European countries (especially Germany or France) are in even greater trouble (higher unemployement and Germany's pop. is already decreasing while Japan's still grows 1%/year, more than most EU countries). The unemployement might also be higher in the US because of its different system of counting who has a job (if you work 1h/month, you're employed !).

[tokyojoe]

The answer is right before you: Japan will cease to exist as a country without immigration. According to U.N. statistics, Japan will either need to jettison the overwhelming elderly population, or import a large amount of foreign labor.

But then again, who knows?

Then again there is the `atom boy` solution: robots!!

[cstaylor]

So, how will Japan support all of it's old people? America was able to shore up some of the Social Security (which Bush threw away with his tax cuts) by taxing H1-B visa holders on social security even though they are ineligible to collect it.

Japan has a relatively more difficult time attracting foreign talent, so I don't think it can do the same thing.

[ramchop]

So, how will Japan support all of it's old people? America was able to shore up some of the Social Security (which Bush threw away with his tax cuts) by taxing H1-B visa holders on social security even though they are ineligible to collect it.

Japan has a relatively more difficult time attracting foreign talent, so I don't think it can do the same thing.

Off on a tangent, but I'd just like to say what a wonderful social security system Japan has. I got what I thought was a bill in the mail for 40,000yen. Panicked I rushed into work to ask for a translation. It appears that due to having 2 sprogs I'm getting a benefit.

Getting money from the govt. without even applying for it! (that'd never happen at home). Now I almost feel guilty for not paying tax.

[Maciamo]

Japan has a relatively more difficult time attracting foreign talent, so I don't think it can do the same thing.

Are you kidding, I see them everyday on TV shows.