{"id":12487,"date":"2014-07-01T09:07:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T19:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12487"},"modified":"2014-07-05T15:17:22","modified_gmt":"2014-07-06T01:17:22","slug":"sneak-preview-japan-times-jbc-77-on-how-japans-inferiority-complexes-counterintuitively-inspire-anger-towards-nj-deemed-superior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12487","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC 77 July 3, 2014,”Complexes continue to color Japan’s ambivalent ties to the outside world”, modified version with links to sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. Thanks for putting my column once again in the Top 10 read articles for two days! \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito:<\/p>\n

\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

COMPLEXES CONTINUE TO COLOR JAPAN’S AMBIVALENT TIES TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

JAPAN TIMES JUST BE CAUSE COLUMN 77<\/strong>
\nPublished July 3, 2014, amended version from unanticipated edits with links to sources.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtesy\u00a0http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2014\/07\/02\/issues\/complexes-continue-color-japans-ambivalent-ties-outside-world\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hang around Japan long enough and you\u2019re bound to hear the refrain that the Japanese have an inferiority complex (rett\u014dkan) towards \u201cWesterners\u201d (\u014dbeijin).<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear, for example, that Japanese feel a sense of akogare (adoration) towards them, wishing Japanese too had longer legs, deeper noses, lighter and rounder eyes, lighter skin, etc. You\u2019ll see this reflected in Japan\u2019s advertising angles, beauty and whitening products, and cosmetic surgery. [Endnote 1]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This can be quite ingratiating and disarming to the (white) foreigners being flattered, who have doubtless heard complementary refrains in Western media about how the short, humble, stoic Japanese are so shy, self-deprecating and appreciative.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But people don\u2019t seem to realize that inferiority complexes have a dark side: They justify all kinds of crazy beliefs and behavior.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For example, Japan\u2019s pundits have already begun arguing that Japan\u2019s disappointing performance in the World Cup in Brazil was partly down to the fallacy that Japanese bodies are smaller and weaker than those of foreigners. Japan\u2019s sports leagues have long used this belief to justify limiting foreign players on teams \u2014 as if it somehow \u201cequalizes\u201d things.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This \u201cequalization\u201d is not limited to the infamous examples of baseball and sumo. The National Sports Festival (kokutai)<\/a>,[2] Japan\u2019s largest amateur athletic meeting,\u00a0bans almost all foreigners<\/a>. Japan\u2019s popular Ekiden footrace bans all foreigners from the first leg of the marathon, and from 2007 has capped foreign participants on teams at two (the logic being that the Ekiden would become \u201cdull\u201d (ky\u014dzame) without a Japanese winning).[3]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Who is a \u201cforeigner\u201d? It\u2019s not just a matter of citizenship: The Japan Sumo Association decided to count even naturalized Japanese citizens as \u201cforeign\u201d in 2010<\/a>, in clear violation of the Nationality Law. (Somebody, please sue!)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These limitations also apply to intellectual contests. Until 2006, Japan\u2019s national Takamado English Speech Contests\u00a0barred all people (including Japanese) with \u201cforeign ancestry\u201d<\/a>. This included non-English-speaking countries, the argument being that any foreign blood somehow injects an unfair linguistic advantage. (After 2006, Takamado provided a list of English-speaking countries whose descendants would continue to be ineligible.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is atrocious reasoning. But it is so hegemonic because of Japan\u2019s long history of race-based superiority studies.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1875, Yukichi Fukuzawa (the man gracing our \u00a510,000 note) wrote an influential treatise called \u201cAn Outline of a Theory of Civilization.\u201d Borrowing from Western eugenics, he reordered the world to correlate levels of civilization with skin color.[4]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

White-hued people were at the top, dark-skinned people at the bottom. Naturally for Fukuzawa, Asians were ranked just below whites. And, naturally, Japanese were the most \u201ccivilized\u201d of the Asians.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The West has largely moved on from this dangerous bunkum, thanks to the \u201cmaster race\u201d excesses of World War II and Nazi Germany\u2019s Final Solution. However, Japan\u2019s social sciences still largely ascribe to century-old social stratification systems that see race as a biological construct, and bloodlines and blood types as determinants of behavior<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So far, so Japanese Society 101. But the point I want to stress here is that inferiority complexes are counterintuitively counterproductive.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I say counterintuitive because they foster feelings not of humility towards people they admire, but of anger. Yes, anger.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Harvard University anthropologist Ayu Majima discusses this in her 2013 essay \u201cSkin Color Melancholy in Modern Japan.\u201d She talks about how the elites of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) (who would set Japan\u2019s nascent national narratives) felt a sense of \u201cdistance, inferiority and disjuncture towards the West.\u201d[5]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Distance was a big theme back then. Although Japan is of course geographically Asian, with deep historical connections to China, Fukuzawa and other Meiji Era elites advocated that Japan \u201cquit Asia and enter Europe\u201d (datsu-a ny\u016b-\u014d<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s what happened. Over several decades, Japan industrialized, militarized, colonized and adopted the fashions and trappings of \u201cWestern civilization.\u201d Japan sought recognition and acceptance from the West not as an inferior, but as a fellow world power. Japan wanted the sense of distance to disappear.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t happen. Japan\u2019s elites were shocked when the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) refused to include in its 1919 Covenant an anti-racial discrimination clause that Japan (yes!) had demanded. More shocking was when Japan was treated like a \u201ccolored,\u201d \u201cuncivilized\u201d nation under America\u2019s Asian Exclusion Act of 1924.[6]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is where the psychology of inferiority complexes is generally misunderstood. When people try this hard for validation and don\u2019t get it, it doesn\u2019t engender the passive humility and must-try-harder attitudes so often gushed about in the Western media regarding Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Majima argues, \u201cWhile an inferiority complex is generally regarded as a sense of inferiority towards oneself, it should rather be regarded as a sense of indignity and anger towards the lack of recognition of one\u2019s worth . . . for not being recognized, approved or admitted by the important \u2018other.\u2019 \u201c<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So instead you get isolation, loneliness, anxiety and scant sense of belonging. (I\u2019m sure you long-termers who feel unrecognized for all your efforts to \u201cfit in to Japan\u201d can relate to this.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How did Japan react to being rebuffed? Policymakers declared that Japan neither belonged to the East nor the West. It isolated itself.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Worse, according to Majima, \u201cJapan sought to identify itself through the unstable \u2018distance\u2019 between self and others as \u2018tradition.\u2019 \u201c<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, tradition. Lovely thing, that. It turns this angry mindset from a phase in Japan\u2019s history into part of its permanent self-image.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This feeling of isolation gave rise to Japan\u2019s \u201ccult of uniqueness,\u201d and it dominates Japan\u2019s self-image today, constantly vacillating between superiority and inferiority when dealing with foreigners. This \u201ctradition\u201d of ranking oneself in comparison with others, particularly in terms of degrees of civilization, has become ingrained as cultural habit and reflex.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why inferiority complexes are counterproductive for Japan\u2019s relationship to the outside world: They make it more difficult for \u201cforeigners\u201d to be seen and treated as individuals. Instead, they get thrust into the impossible role of national or cultural representative of a whole society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

They also make it more difficult for Japanese to be neutral towards foreigners. Rather, the default reflex is to see them in terms of comparative national development and civilization.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These complexes also interfere with constructive conversations. For if acceptance, recognition and superlative praise of Japan as a safe, peaceful, developed country are not forthcoming from the outsider, insult and anger almost inevitably ensue. After all, criticism of Japan besmirches its self-image as a civilized society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is especially true when it comes to issues of racial discrimination in Japan. Japanese society is loath to admit it ever happens here \u2014 because racial discrimination is not what \u201ccivilized\u201d societies do. I will discuss this in a future column.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

============================
\nDebito Arudou received his Ph.D. from Meiji Gakuin University in International Studies in April. Twitter: @arudoudebito. Just Be Cause appears on the first Thursday of the month. Your comments: community@japantimes.co.jp<\/em><\/p>\n

ENDNOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Ashikari, Mikiko. 2005. \u201cCultivating Japanese Whiteness: The \u2018Whitening\u2019 Cosmetics Boom and the Japanese Identity.\u201d Journal of Material Culture <\/em>10(1): 73-91.<\/p>\n

[2] References includeArudou Debito, \u201cA level playing field? National Sports Festival bars gaijin, and amateur leagues follow suit.\u201d Japan Times<\/em>, September 30, 2003; \u201cSumo shutout in Fukushima.\u201d Japan Times<\/em>, September 30, 2003; \u201cTop court upholds foreigner ban.\u201d Japan Times<\/em>, June 12, 2004. See also<\/em> Douglas Shukert\u2019s testimonial about his case at www.debito.org\/TheCommunity\/kokutaiproject.html<\/a>. Also, JASA\u2019s information on the Kokutai<\/em> is at www.japan-sports.or.jp\/kokutai\/<\/a>, in English at www.japan-sports.or.jp\/english<\/a> (which makes no mention of nationality requirements for participants).<\/p>\n

[3] Sources include \u201cForeign students can\u2019t start ekiden<\/em>.\u201d Asahi Shinbun<\/em>, May 24, 2007; \u201cLet\u2019s be fair, let Japanese win.\u201d Deutsche Press-Agentur, October 4, 2007. The official site for the High School Ekiden<\/em> is at www.koukouekiden.jp<\/a>. Restrictions on \u201cforeign exchange students\u201d are at www.koukouekiden.jp\/summary\/point.html<\/a> (items 5 and 6), and prior race results are at www39.atwiki.jp\/highschoolekiden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[4] Dilworth, David A. et al. trans<\/em>. 2009. Yukichi Fukuzawa: An Outline of a Theory of Civilization<\/em>. New York: Columbia University Press.<\/p>\n

[5] Majima, Ayu. 2013. \u201cSkin Color Melancholy in Modern Japan: Male Elites\u2019 Racial Experiences Abroad, 1880s-1950s.\u201d In Kowner, Rotem, and Walter Demel, eds., Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions<\/em>. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0Cf. <\/em>Lauren 1988; Kearney 1998; Dik\u00f6tter 2006.\u00a0 Even then, as Russell (in Weiner, ed. 2009:\u00a0 99) notes, \u201c[Japan\u2019s] rhetoric of racial equality left much to be desired, for not only did Japan\u2019s racial equality clause not question the right of League members to possess colonies (at the time Japan was also seeking [a new colony in China]) but its demand for \u2018fair and equal treatment\u2019 applied only to \u2018civilized nations\u2019 (bunmei koku<\/em>) and League member states \u2013 not to their colonies and subject peoples.\u00a0 Japan\u2019s ruling elites were less interested in securing equality for non-whites than in ensuring that Japan, as a sovereign nation and member of the League, would be afforded the same privileges as Western nations\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening paragraphs: Hang around Japan long enough and you\u2019re bound to hear the refrain that the Japanese have an inferiority complex (rett\u014dkan) towards \u201cWesterners\u201d (\u014dbeijin).<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear, for example, that Japanese feel a sense of akogare (adoration) towards them, wishing Japanese too had longer legs, deeper noses, lighter and rounder eyes, lighter skin, etc. You\u2019ll see this reflected in Japan\u2019s advertising angles, beauty and whitening products, and cosmetic surgery.<\/p>\n

This can be quite ingratiating and disarming to the (white) foreigners being flattered, who have doubtless heard complementary refrains in Western media about how the short, humble, stoic Japanese are so shy, self-deprecating and appreciative.<\/p>\n

But people don\u2019t seem to realize that inferiority complexes have a dark side: They justify all kinds of crazy beliefs and behavior…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,36,22,34,50,20,26,4,14,13,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-exclusionism","category-gaiatsu","category-history","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-media","category-shoe-on-the-other-foot-dept"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}