{"id":13436,"date":"2015-08-01T12:01:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T22:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13436"},"modified":"2018-02-28T16:52:41","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T02:52:41","slug":"my-next-japan-times-jbc-column-90-claiming-the-right-to-be-japanese-and-more-out-aug-3-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13436","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC 90: “Claiming the right to be Japanese AND more”, Aug 3, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting to\u00a0my next Japan Times JBC Column 90, disputing the discourse that\u00a0people 1) have to “look Japanese” in order to be “Japanese”, and 2) cannot be Japanese AND something else (such as a different nationality, “race”, or ethnicity). \u00a0I make\u00a0the case that many things such as these, once ascribed from birth, are now a matter of personal choice — and that person must claim it (in the face of constant identity policing) in order to own it.<\/p>\n

As noted in the column, this think piece is grounded in a debate I had earlier this month regarding an incident with a bank teller in Canada who expressed incredulity at me having a Japanese passport<\/a>. \u00a0Thanks for making it the most-read article on the JT Online for two days\u00a0again this month. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

PS: \u00a0Sneak preview of the article’s illustration, by Adam Pasion:<\/p>\n

\"DebitoJT0803151\"<\/a><\/p>\n

JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
\n\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Claiming the right to be Japanese AND more<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/strong>
\n JUST BE CAUSE column 90 for the Japan Times Community Page<\/strong>
\nAugust 3, 2015<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/08\/02\/issues\/claiming-right-japanese\/\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA Japanese passport? You don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I get this all the time. Understandably: Most people don\u2019t expect a Caucasian to have Japanese citizenship.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a shame they so carelessly articulate their surprise. No matter where I go, a natural curiosity about my background soon turns into vocalized judgment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an unusual name. Where are you from?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n Me: \u201cJapan\u201d (or, \u201cBorn in the U.S., lived in Japan,\u201d if I\u2019m feeling chatty).<\/em><\/strong>
\n Their most common response: \u201cBut you don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Or Customs and Immigration at any border: \u201cWhat\u2019s with the Japanese passport?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n \u201cI\u2019m a naturalized Japanese citizen.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n Again, \u201cYou don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d (That\u2019s the milder reaction. In Jamaica, officials took my passport around the office for a laugh. In the U.S., they rendered me to secondary for a few hours of waiting and inquisition until I missed my next flight. Seriously.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trying to dodge these questions by saying \u201cIt\u2019s a long story\u201d often doesn\u2019t cut it. (American official: \u201cOh? We\u2019ve got time.\u201d) Having to school everyone about my background on a daily basis gets tiring, and biting my lip through many an intrusive and sometimes humiliating experience leaves psychological \u201ctriggers\u201d<\/a>\u00a0after a while.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I realized that last month on vacation in Canada, when a bank teller asked for my ID. Passport presented, out it popped: \u201cIt\u2019s funny you have a Japanese passport. You don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d I snapped back: \u201cLet\u2019s not go there. Lose the racism and complete the transaction.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Afterwards, I asked the teller (an Asian gentleman), \u201cHow would you like it if you produced a Canadian passport and I said, \u2018That\u2019s funny; you don\u2019t look Canadian\u2019?\u201d He said, not much, and apologized.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a few important details to this story I don\u2019t have space for (see www.debito.org\/?p=13381<\/a>), but the conclusion was that the manager sent the teller home for the day (a surprise to me, as I never asked for any sanction) and then invited me to his office for a chat.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI understand your frustration,\u201d said the manager, \u201cbecause I am Metis.\u201d He was referring to his official minority status in Canada as a descendent of First Nation aboriginals and colonial settlers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI hate it when people I\u2019m doing business with tell me that I don\u2019t \u2018look Metis,\u2019 even after I show my status card.\u201d He said that this kind of behavior was unacceptable at his bank, and in Canada.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Refreshed by this experience, I blogged and Facebooked about this no-nonsense zero tolerance. And then the topic blew up in my face.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some readers wrote in to say I had overreacted. Instead of jumping straight to \u201cracism,\u201d I could have defused things with a quick explanation of my background or a joke.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Others said that I was defying common sense. A white guy with a Japanese passport expecting no surprise? Unreasonable. (Surprise I do expect. Vocalizing that surprise in a professional setting and calling a customer\u2019s identity \u201cfunny\u201d is problematic.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The critics that really got my goat were those that expressed disgust at my acting so \u201cun-Japanese\u201d (as in, not avoiding conflict) and went on say that, to them, I no longer qualified as a Japanese. (I unfriended them because that\u2019s pretty thoughtless. By their logic, I could murder somebody and still qualify, since some Japanese do murder.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most interesting argument accused me of exercising my \u201cwhite privilege\u201d: \u201cYou get to be white and Japanese? You\u2019ve taken this too far!\u201d I had victimized the Asian teller because I had the power in this relationship as a white in Canada\u2019s white-dominated society. (The critic\u2019s thoughtful essay and my answer are archived at www.debito.org\/?p=13404<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the record, I don\u2019t doubt the existence of white privilege. (You can even find an example on our Community pages: Gregory Clark\u2019s Dec. 4, 2014 \u201cKick out the touts who rule Roppongi<\/a>\u201d Foreign Agenda column.) I acknowledge that I have received advantageous treatment worldwide due to my lighter skin color and white background.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the two of us parted paths at the point where the critic said I could not be \u201cwhite and Japanese.\u201d I do not believe that they are mutually exclusive. (Neither does Japan: In apartheid South Africa, Japan successfully lobbied to be Japanese and \u201chonorary whites\u201d.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m Japanese and white because I earned it \u2014 through decades of study and self-education, acculturation, living and contributing to Japanese society, dedication and sacrifice (including my American citizenship and even my very name), and close scrutiny by the Japanese government of my \u201cJapaneseness\u201d in ways not seen in other countries\u2019 naturalization processes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am certifiably Japanese because the Japanese government says I am, and they gave me a tough test to prove it. I am not Japanese but white. I\u2019m claiming the \u201cand.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So why write a column about this? After all, I got myself onto this sticky wicket by naturalizing into a country with few \u201cnon-Asian-looking\u201d citizens.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Because this goes beyond me. What about the people who didn\u2019t have a choice \u2014 like our Japanese kids?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be an issue. They are Japanese children, full stop. And they can be something else yet 100 percent Japanese. It\u2019s not a zero-sum game. (That\u2019s why I am not a fan of the term h\u0101fu.) I say claim the \u201cand.\u201d For them.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mountains out of molehills? OK, how will you react the 100th time (or the fifth time in a day) that you hear, \u201cOh, what cute gaijin kids!\u201d Will you stand idly by when people openly doubt your kids\u2019 identity as they grow up and risk being denied equal opportunities in society?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re fully formed adults \u2014 we can take these sucker punches \u2014 but kids need someone in their corner, pushing for their right to be diverse yet belong.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The push must happen until the point where the surprise is switched around \u2014 into shock at someone daring to imply that a citizen or resident with a surprising background is not a \u201creal\u201d or \u201cnormal\u201d member of society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Admittedly, careless comments from individuals are not something you can immediately fix, but alienating attitudes about people\u2019s identities should not be expressed in a corporate or official capacity. To anyone. Anywhere. That\u2019s where the push starts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong: People can think what they like. But if they articulate thoughts inaccurate, unkind or alienating about us or the people we care for, we should reserve the right to push back accordingly \u2014 and not succumb to the majoritarian identity policing that goes on everywhere.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But let\u2019s come down from ideals and return to the bank counter. The main issue there was not the law of averages determining \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201ctriggers\u201d or \u201cprivilege.\u201d It was one of self-identification.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pause for a second and take stock of where things are going these days: Somebody can self-identify as Japanese and African-American, and represent Japan at the Miss Universe contest (like Ariana Miyamoto<\/a>). Or be male and then female or vice versa<\/a> (like Caitlyn Jenner, Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox and Lana Wachowsky). Or be LGBT and married. Or, like Rachel Dolezal<\/a>, be white and \u201cculturally black\u201d enough to head a chapter of America\u2019s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A future is emerging where the major social statuses assigned us from birth \u2014 e.g., gender, \u201crace,\u201d nationality, even ethnicity \u2014 are breaking down. They can be a matter of personal choice.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good thing. With the unprecedented porosity of international borders nowadays, the notion of a \u201cnormal\u201d person is ever eroding. That\u2019s why I believe that anyone should be allowed to shape, control and, yes, claim their own identity.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, you might think that Japan, the island society, is unaffected by these trends. I would disagree. As I describe in my forthcoming book, \u201cEmbedded Racism: Japan\u2019s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination<\/a>,\u201d the pressure of Japan\u2019s aging demographics is unrelenting. If Japan cannot get over the conceit of having to \u201clook Japanese\u201d to be treated as one, then it cannot make \u201cnew Japanese,\u201d and the country will continue to sink into an insolvent economic abyss.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, if our Japanese kids cannot self-identify, hundreds of thousands of them (eventually millions, as people continue mixing) will spend their lives having their identities policed back into being \u201cforeign,\u201d not fitting in when they should be welcomed for all their potential as individuals with more worldly insights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s knock off the identity policing. Stop telling people who they are. Let them tell us. Let them claim the \u201cand.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Debito\u2019s 20-year-old historical archive of life and human rights in Japan is at www.debito.org. Twitter @arudoudebito. Just Be Cause appears in print on the first Monday Community Page of the month. Your comments and story ideas: community@japantimes.co.jp<\/p>\n

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

Here’s my next Japan Times JBC Column 90, disputing the discourse that people 1) have to “look Japanese” in order to be “Japanese”, and 2) cannot be Japanese AND something else (such as a different nationality, “race”, or ethnicity). I make the case that many things such as these, once ascribed from birth, are now a matter of personal choice — and that person must claim it (in the face of constant identity policing) in order to own it.<\/p>\n

=============================
\nJBC: \u201cA Japanese passport? You don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d I get this all the time. Understandably: Most people don\u2019t expect a Caucasian to have Japanese citizenship.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a shame they so carelessly articulate their surprise. No matter where I go, a natural curiosity about my background soon turns into vocalized judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an unusual name. Where are you from?\u201d
\nMe: \u201cJapan\u201d (or, \u201cBorn in the U.S., lived in Japan,\u201d if I\u2019m feeling chatty).
\nTheir most common response: \u201cBut you don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or Customs and Immigration at any border: \u201cWhat\u2019s with the Japanese passport?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m a naturalized Japanese citizen.\u201d
\nAgain, \u201cYou don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d (That\u2019s the milder reaction. In Jamaica, officials took my passport around the office for a laugh. In the U.S., they rendered me to secondary for a few hours of waiting and inquisition until I missed my next flight. Seriously.)<\/p>\n

Trying to dodge these questions by saying \u201cIt\u2019s a long story\u201d often doesn\u2019t cut it. (American official: \u201cOh? We\u2019ve got time.\u201d) Having to school everyone about my background on a daily basis gets tiring, and biting my lip through many an intrusive and sometimes humiliating experience leaves psychological \u201ctriggers\u201d after a while.<\/p>\n

I realized that last month on vacation in Canada, when a bank teller asked for my ID. Passport presented, out it popped: \u201cIt\u2019s funny you have a Japanese passport. You don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d I snapped back: \u201cLet\u2019s not go there. Lose the racism and complete the transaction.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,18,36,22,19,34,5,12,56,48,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-education","category-exclusionism","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-nj-legacies","category-shoe-on-the-other-foot-dept","category-unsustainable-japanese-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436","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=13436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14907,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions\/14907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}