{"id":13670,"date":"2015-12-17T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T22:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13670"},"modified":"2015-12-18T13:20:33","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T23:20:33","slug":"jt-on-japans-brave-blossoms-rugby-team-imagining-a-japan-that-thinks-beyond-blood-and-binary-distinctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13670","title":{"rendered":"JT on Japan’s Brave Blossoms rugby team: “Imagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0One important item that Debito.org has been negligent in celebrating is the victories of the Japan “Brave Blossoms” multiethnic rugby team<\/a>. \u00a0They did very well, finishing ninth in the world rankings, even unexpectedly beating South Africa in a match, and part of that was claimed as being due to their multiethnic mix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An interesting think-piece (that says much of what Debito.org has been saying for decades, and it’s nice to see that others share that view in print) came out in the Japan Times last October. \u00a0I’ll excerpt bits below that are pertinent to the rugby issue. \u00a0Bear in mind, however, that rugby in Japan has been decried as being TOO foreign in the past<\/a>, and seen as a reason why Japan was losing (which was why the team was afterwards ethnically cleansed (see Embedded Racism p. 156<\/a>), albeit clearly temporarily). \u00a0Then, once Japan wins, those very same characteristics are claimed as the reason why. \u00a0It would be nice if someday people would just keep analysis on the level of the talents of individual players, but that’s pretty far off (what with the beating of nationalistic drums every Olympics<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Anyway, Debito.org (belatedly) congratulates the Brave Blossoms on a job well done, and wishes them well in the future. \u00a0Sport can have a positive effect too on social tolerance<\/a>. \u00a0As long as your teams wins, of course. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

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

Imagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions<\/strong>
\n BY J.J. O’DONOGHUE AND GAVAN PATRICK GRAY<\/strong>
\n The Japan Times, OCT 28, 2015 (excerpt)<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/10\/28\/voices\/imagining-japan-thinks-beyond-blood-binary-distinctions\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The recent heroics of Japan\u2019s team in the Rugby World Cup \u2014 three wins in the group stage, including the historic nail-biting victory over South Africa \u2014 pave the way for two potentially positive outcomes: a bright future for rugby on these islands, and, just maybe, a template to discuss identity and belonging in Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was obvious to anyone watching the Brave Blossoms\u2019 games that of the 31 players included in Japan\u2019s squad, some of the players did not appear \u2014 how should we put it? \u2014 typically Japanese. In fact, 11 players were born outside Japan \u2014 the same number, incidentally, as for the Welsh and Scottish teams. Under current rugby union rules, a player can be considered for selection for the national team if, amongst other considerations, they have lived in the country for three consecutive years.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But in 2015, how do we define \u201ctypically Japanese\u201d? Do we do so through blood, race and ethnicity? Or would we not be better off opening up the field, and, much like the vaunted rugby squad, considering new ideas, while relegating outdated terms and modes of thinking to the sin bin?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Consider Kotaro Matsushima, one of Japan\u2019s try scorers, born in South Africa to a Japanese mother and Zimbabwean father. He later attended Toin Gakuen High School in Yokohama. Matsushima, as well as being a big talent for Japan, is also what is known as a h\u0101fu, a word stemming from the English word \u201chalf.\u201d Generally \u201ch\u0101fu\u201d is a benign term, used to signify someone who is half-Japanese and half something else \u2014 in the case of our children, half-Irish. It\u2019s also, we would argue, an unfortunate term. […]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course there are problems to be overcome; tensions between groups, especially when stoked by self-serving political or media figures, need to be carefully handled, but most of these issues stem from native reactions to foreign arrivals rather than any inherent problem in the latter group.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Japan, the native role in such problems has been highlighted eloquently by Haruko Arimura, the former minister for women\u2019s empowerment. While arguing the government position that more female workers, rather than immigrants, is the better road to take, Arimura claimed that Japan\u2019s negative treatment of immigrants could create the kind of resentment against Japan that might lead one of them to decide to become an Islamic State suicide bomber.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Setting aside the inherent xenophobia in this comment and the clear fact that her government\u2019s security policy has vastly greater potential as a precursor to terrorist activity, Arimura offers a clear example of an expectation among Japanese people that attempts to assimilate immigrants into Japanese culture would create irreconcilable tensions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This represents a fundamental failure to recognize that truly multicultural societies do not demand assimilation, the very idea of which would rob immigrants of the vibrancy and freshness that makes them so vital to Japan\u2019s ability to reshape itself in coming decades. Instead, such communities recognize that a person\u2019s place in society, including their identity as a citizen, should be tied to more important factors than the degree to which they conform to such superficial elements as the appearance of the majority.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, in the afterglow of the national team\u2019s success in England, let\u2019s consider Japan\u2019s rugby team \u2014 a truly talented mix \u2014 as something we should embrace as a concept and a model of what Japan has the potential to become.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Full article at
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/10\/28\/voices\/imagining-japan-thinks-beyond-blood-binary-distinctions\/<\/a>
\nENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One important item that Debito.org has been negligent in celebrating is the victories of the Japan “Brave Blossoms” multiethnic rugby team. They did very well, finishing ninth in the world rankings, even unexpectedly beating South Africa in a match, and part of that was claimed as being due to their multiethnic mix.<\/p>\n

An interesting think-piece (that says much of what Debito.org has been saying for decades, and it’s nice to see that others share that view in print) came out in the Japan Times last October. I’ll excerpt bits below that are pertinent to the rugby issue. Bear in mind, however, that rugby in Japan has been decried as being TOO foreign in the past, and seen as a reason why Japan was losing (which was why the team was afterwards ethnically cleansed (see Embedded Racism p. 156), albeit clearly temporarily). Then, once Japan wins, those very same characteristics are claimed as the reason why. It would be nice if someday people would just keep analysis on the level of the talents of individual players, but that’s pretty far off (what with the beating of nationalistic drums every Olympics). <\/p>\n

Anyway, Debito.org (belatedly) congratulates the Brave Blossoms on a job well done, and wishes them well in the future. Sport can have a positive effect too on social tolerance. As long as your teams wins, of course.<\/p>\n

JT: The recent heroics of Japan\u2019s team in the Rugby World Cup \u2014 three wins in the group stage, including the historic nail-biting victory over South Africa \u2014 pave the way for two potentially positive outcomes: a bright future for rugby on these islands, and, just maybe, a template to discuss identity and belonging in Japan.<\/p>\n

It was obvious to anyone watching the Brave Blossoms\u2019 games that of the 31 players included in Japan\u2019s squad, some of the players did not appear \u2014 how should we put it? \u2014 typically Japanese. In fact, 11 players were born outside Japan \u2014 the same number, incidentally, as for the Welsh and Scottish teams. Under current rugby union rules, a player can be considered for selection for the national team if, amongst other considerations, they have lived in the country for three consecutive years. But in 2015, how do we define \u201ctypically Japanese\u201d? Do we do so through blood, race and ethnicity? Or would we not be better off opening up the field, and, much like the vaunted rugby squad, considering new ideas, while relegating outdated terms and modes of thinking to the sin bin?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,22,35,12,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-good-news","category-immigration-assimilation","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13670","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=13670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}