Momus on the Problem of Having a Bi-racial Child in japan

[Marked Trail]

Is he that pirate looking mother fucker who sits on the floor? Wanker.

Damn, I thought you were kidding.



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Momus has made MP3s of his out of print Creation records available for download here:
http://imomus.livejournal.com/419757.html

[Greji]

".....don't get hung up on the fact that the reason they don't expect us to be like them is that they think they are special...."

The problem with that Slim is that a whole lot of them think they are and it's not just the guys in the sound trucks. This you can find this in the language and it's usage, from the way they use the simple "ware ware," to the constant use of "nihonjin wa chigau" type of statements.

All countries have their identifiers and status quo beliefs, but Japan had almost 400 years of solitary rule that completely caste, as well as identified each person's position in the scheme of things. i.e. as to which cog in the wheel they occupied. While they have been long released from that caste system, a lot remains in the thinking and even culture. There is a lot of security offered for an individual to have a social norm he can simply follow as what "ware ware" are supposed to do for any given incident in life. Some people cannot operate in the free vacuum you have. However, having a so called "norm" to follow gives a lot of these people the feeling of superiority, if only because they are performing their role as a cog to the letter.

We can only observe this phenomenon in Japan. We cannot participate in it, or change it. Our children that are half are an entirely different matter in their ability to approach these roles in life and this becomes apparent with each new generation of "halves."

[kino]

He isn't interested in making the whole world into something resembling america or western europe, as most of you here seem interested in doing.

I take it you see "half" children as making the world less Japanese. That is a strange position to take, but have at it.

Honestly, I don't understand this fixation with "Japanese" as an identity anyways and that is perhaps owing to the fact that I've never really had a strong "American" identity. Even stranger to me is the notion that someone's Japaneseness is defined by the very small set of inherited genes that determine our outward appearance, and less by human experience, behavior, and values.

It is also amusing to see you (on Momus' behalf) decry a Japan that might resemble America or Western Europe. Have you been to Japan lately? Say, in the past two centuries? The Japanese eat western food, wear western clothes, enjoy western styles of music, have western marriages, even practice religions predominantly associated with western heritage. At the same time, it has retained many facets of its own unique culture, values, and traditions and incorporated them into modern life.

That is what I love about the place (well, that and the language) - the merging of the old and new. Or maybe by Western, you just meant white anglo-saxon?

If one chooses to be one of the 1% (and all of you have chosen of your own free will), is it really acceptable to expect the 99% to change in anyway to accommodate you and the other tiny minority? It always seemed such a silly concept to me.

Seems like a red herring since no one is asking for any special accommodation.

[hundefar]

You can have your own definition if you'd like, but I'm of the opinion that the Japanese get to decide who is Japanese. Japan is culturally more homogenous than most other countries. Yes, you can find exceptions (ainu, okinawa, minor cultural differences in different parts of the country, differences amongst individuals as to their preferences that are on the level of "taste" and not deep culture, etc.), but that no more upsets the idea that Japan is damn near culturally homogenous than the existence of gaijin upset the fact that Japan is damn near all "Japanese".

My goal in life has been to be left alone to live as I see fit. I can't demand that and yet go around sticking my nose into other people's business, now can I?

It is not my own definition. This is what some Japanese believe too. There is no consensus on the matter, you know So when you say the Japanese should decide..which Japanese are you talking about? the uyoku? Somebody else?

Even among Japanese, there are some times huge cultural and linguistic differences. Therefore I would say that Japan is a multicultural society, and the idea of Japan as homogenous is a myth. I understand that you don't agree with this, I just thought I'd make my point entirely clear.

BTW, of course you can have an opinion on whether national myths are true or not. Stuff like that is really everyone's business. You aren't intruding at all.

[6810]

It is not my own definition. This is what some Japanese believe too. There is no consensus on the matter, you know So when you say the Japanese should decide..which Japanese are you talking about? the uyoku? Somebody else?

Even among Japanese, there are some times huge cultural and linguistic differences. Therefore I would say that Japan is a multicultural society, and the idea of Japan as homogenous is a myth. I understand that you don't agree with this, I just thought I'd make my point entirely clear.

BTW, of course you can have an opinion on whether national myths are true or not. Stuff like that is really everyone's business. You aren't intruding at all.

Word. Everytime I hear someone say "Japanese people..." (whether they be Jp or otherwise) I reach for my... not sure, perhaps it's just bile...

That shit flies for a while, and I've said it a million times, once you start to understand, speak, read and write the local Japanese, there is no homogenous Japan anymore. If people are basing their perceptions on eikaiwa customers, they need to widen their social net a bit.

[Mulboyne]

Japan would certainly look and feel very different if it had a foreign population of, say, 5% rather than the 1.74%. What seems strange to me is the idea that "more immigration" somehow equates to "more Western". It won't be Westerners in the vanguard any of such increase: on current immigration patterns it will be Chinese, Indonesians, Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indians, Bangladeshis etc. That's a cocktail of immigrants with no real counterpart anywhere in the West and the difference will be even sharper because the host nation is Asian.

[Mulboyne]

Momus has clarified his views when accused of being anti-miscegenation.

I think I've been pretty clear on that topic. I champion an emerging "third culture" in which Japanese and Westerners hybridize, especially culturally. When they do that biologically, though, you have to bear in mind that a person is different from a multimedia art installation. A person is not a statement about your beliefs, or a missile to shoot across the bows of someone else's perceived racism. A person is going to have to fit into a society as it is, not as you would wish it to be.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the thing that makes hybridisation such a good thing -- the merging of separate flavours -- is also the thing that potentially undermines it. Sure, something is gained by hybridisation, but something is lost too.

This is the context in which one couple may make the decision -- hopefully without being condemned by those who decided differently -- not to bring up a hafu kid in Japan.

...What amused me was that people were talking about the-child-we'd-decided-not-to-have as if he were an existing entity, a poor non-had hafu standing there weeping profusely at our lack of faith in him! Like the emotional blackmail of pro-lifers taken even further. "This cancelled pre-foetus is a person too! God loves this non-conceived nondividual!"

[Mulboyne]

I see someone has quoted kino's comment here on FG that: "Unlike Momus, I'm certainly not prepared to give deference to the opinions of a bunch of racist, ultra-rightwing crackpots when making such important decisions. My main problem with Momus' statements is that he is giving indirect support to the people who believe that Japanese society should remain homogenously Japanese."

Momus replies:

And my main problem with that quote is that this (presumably) foreigner in Japan is dismissing the views of not only my girlfriend but most Japanese people as if they were something extremist, something to be fought with human canon-fodder (in the form of new humans who are genetically different from them). There's a kind of Settler mentality to this which I find deeply disturbing. Is the Japanese interest in blood and relatedness (which stretches from lex sanguinis to kids asking each other what their blood type is) really something you can dismiss with a phrase like "ultra-rightwing crackpots"? If so, why are you even in a country whose basic premises you disagree with so fundamentally, and whose social contract you find so distasteful and misguided?

[kino]

And my main problem with that quote is that this (presumably) foreigner in Japan is dismissing the views of not only my girlfriend but most Japanese people as if they were something extremist, something to be fought with human canon-fodder (in the form of new humans who are genetically different from them). There's a kind of Settler mentality to this which I find deeply disturbing. Is the Japanese interest in blood and relatedness (which stretches from lex sanguinis to kids asking each other what their blood type is) really something you can dismiss with a phrase like "ultra-rightwing crackpots"? If so, why are you even in a country whose basic premises you disagree with so fundamentally, and whose social contract you find so distasteful and misguided?

I am dismissing your views to the extent that I disagree with them. I hope that doesn't offend you, but if it does, I don't really care (welcome to the Internet!). Also, I would never be so hubristic to think that my views are representative of "most Japanese people", as you apparently do.

First, let us get one thing straight right off the bat, anyone who would harass your child, discriminate against them, or otherwise make their lives miserable for not being pure Japanese is a bigot who does not deserve to have their views on anything respected.

You were the one who said that you would not be comfortable raising your "hafu" child in Japan because they would have to overcome the disadvantage of being "hafu" in a society that handicaps and discriminates against them. My only point is I think that is a silly reason not to have *your* child here and that you are being deferent to the opinions of people who don't deserve our respect.

I also think it is surprising that you have such a low opinion of Japanese people to think that they would be so unwelcoming towards your children that having some random Japanese man's sperm father them is preferable. If I really believed the problem of xenophobia and racism to be that bad here, not only would I not raise my child here, but I would leave myself.

You are also implying that those of us who do choose to raise a "hafu" in Japan are irresponsible parents and are only doing it for selfish culture warrior type reasons (see both the original statement and your follow-up to me - i.e. settler mentality, human canon-fodder). Like we are disease carries, viruses perhaps, smuggling our deadly genetic material into a pristine garden. There is a much more urgent reason as to why I want a child by my wife and that is because I love her (as I am sure you love your girlfriend). It just so happens that the child will be "hafu". Try not too make such a big deal of it, or you'll become part of the problem.

If so, why are you even in a country whose basic premises you disagree with so fundamentally, and whose social contract you find so distasteful and misguided?

I have no idea what you are talking about here as you never define what you mean by "basic premise" or "social contract".

[omae mona]

It doesn't matter if Momus has a half-Japanese child or an adopted "fully Japanese" child (whatever that means). Either way, his child will face discrimination because the kid's father is an asshole foreigner who speaks no Japanese, looks like he is homeless, and wears an eye patch. In fact, the discrimination will probably be worse if he adopts, because it will be obvious the kid's father is not the biological father.

The above is what the neighbors will be talking about. Nobody cares what the kid looks like.

If he wants to reduce discrimination his kid faces, he should do something about his own appearance, learn to speak the language, participate in activities with his kid like other fathers, and lose the attitude.

Momus' girlfriend doesn't know shit about living in her own country.

[Mulboyne]

I am dismissing your views to the extent that...

Kino, I'm sure you know, but in case you don't, there's no guarantee that Momus is paying attention to this thread - I have only posted his comments here as a topic for discussion - so if you want to be sure he sees them you you probably ought to cross-post them on his blog.

[maraboutslim]

Glad to see Momus' own words becoming the focus here. I was getting tired playing the devil's hairstyle, err...i mean, devil's advocate.