A closer look at Sino-Centrism. Ethno-Centrism and Xenophobia
Standing next to the clock in the middle of a bustling train station with thousands of faces rushing around. "The Clock", a well-known and popular place for local residence or visitors to meet loved ones, business associates and, like myself, the anticipated arrival of a friend. I had been standing next to the clock for about fifteen minutes alongside many others, also eager to meet a familiar face. Then three police officers approached me and positioned themselves so that one was in front and the others on either side, clearly offensive posturing when encountering a possible threat. The large officer standing directly in front of me asks, "Do you have identification?" This question forced my body weight to my heels; the directness and unforgiving tone startled me. I pulled my identification from my wallet and presented it to the questioning officer. Naturally, I thought that it must have been a case of mistaken identity; I had done nothing wrong; I was standing alongside many others who were doing exactly the same as me. The many faces in the crowd turned to look at the three officers questioning me. Feelings of humiliation crept into my heart as I felt the eyes of the crowd stopping to stare at the spectacle. "Do you live here? Are you visiting? Why are you here?" They pressed on. "Yes... yes I do. Why have you stopped me?" I asked. No answers, the three then began to speak quietly among themselves, which served to further isolate and intimidate me. "Could you please tell me what I have done wrong?" I forced my question into the air between us. The officer to my left replies, "The station is vulnerable to attack, so we have to stop some people. At this point I realized that I was singled out because of my face. I was different, and my difference was to be feared. The police officer's message to the public was loud and clear. "Don't worry everyone, we have this 'one' under control."
I am not a dark skinned, dark haired or brown-eyed man. I am what is considered in the West, Europe and North America, as to be a majority race, the politically correct term coined in Canada is “Visual Majority”. “Canadian concept defined in The Employment Equity Act of 1986.” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe. But in Japan I am not called or considered to be a “Visual Minority.” “Canadian concept defined in The Employment Equity Act of 1986.” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe, Rather in Asian countries a light skinned man is considered to be someone who does not belong, and while Western cultures are making steps to eliminate ethnocentric ideology Japan in particular is still very far behind in equality. I find this to be disturbing considering Japan is not only a member of the “Global 8” but is also an active member of the United Nations. As mentioned earlier I am not considered to be a “Visual Minority” “Canadian concept defined in The Employment Equity Act of 1986.”” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe. In Japan but rather a gaijin.
The word “gaijin” singles people out, it is not just a word like black or white, Canadian or Chinese. Rather its simply means ‘outsider’ in a very generic way, and yet it is only used for white people. It would seem that it is designed to marginalize people beyond the margins into a kind of void: someone who simply does not belong, here there or anywhere. The original usage of the word was to indicate an enemy or an indefinable threat, a spy or someone who lurked in the shadows. The word gaijin was first used in the early part of the 13th century and was used to mean enemy spies. The term is recorded in The Tale of the Heike, written in the early part of the 13th century. “Gather the soldiers where there are no gaijin.” The Tale of the Heike. While this term was originally used to refer to other Japanese, it was clearly intended to imply untrustworthy people who demonstrate a threat. And now in today’s post 9-11 world of fear the meaning is creeping back into the minds of many Japanese.
In Canada, to use a term like ‘outsider’ would be a clear demonstration of xenophobia, which implies “Intense dislike or fear of strangers, who may be identified as outsiders or foreigners to the community, society or national identity. It may result in practices such as rejection and exclusion.” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe. In Canada if the member of the majority race is to use such a term as outsider, the act would be viewed as intolerant and vulgar. Further more if this term was used in official capacity, such as law enforcement or education, legal ramifications would follow the user of the offensive word. In Canada the use of the term “visible minority was adopted to avoid typecasting and xenophobic tendencies to guarantee fair employment and living standard to all citizens, a Canadian concept defined in The Employment Equity Act of 1986:” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe. It has been suggested by United Nations that Japan still has a problem with xenophobia. It is this problem that is preventing many foreign nationals from achieving the same status and protection under the law as full-blooded Japanese. Officially Japan has adopted some of the fundamental principles of racial tolerance put forth by the United Nations, but practically, this is hardly implemented. It is still common for foreign residents to be denied entry into some restaurants, bars, nightclubs and housing based on being gaijin. I personally have be denied entry into some bars and while looking for an apartment I was frequently told time and time again, “Gaijin dame” (No foreigners). When I approached the local ward office about this issue I was told, “That is too bad, perhaps your country is more comfortable for you.”
Not all the racism is so direct sometimes it is hidden and intended to look polite, but this is often even more insidious. Often foreigners in Japan are called gaijin as though it is their name; in fact many Japanese people will often refer to gaijin as Gaijin-san (Mr. or Ms. Outsider). In Canada, people would avoid calling someone an outsider, especially if that word was in reference to a race. And I personally can’t imagine calling an Asian Mr. Chink or Mrs. Jap as though this is their alternate name or correct way to refer to them. In fact I would expect most Canadians to be mortified if we saw such behaviour from a white person to a visual minority. This is not to say that racism does not occur in Canada indeed it does. However, even the racists would not go as far to assume that the minority’s name is Mr. or Mrs. (demeaning definition). And when racism takes place ‘we’ as the Canadian society stand up to it and take offence. Such as the recent and disgusting actions of bouncers at some of the nightclubs in Calgary, Alberta, who refused entry to black Canadians, as reported by Global News Calgary. “Racism In Night Clubs In Calgary, Alberta.” Youtube.com, 2006.
In the beginning I thought I may have been going about this the wrong way, that maybe it is my fault some how, but then I found that gaijin across Japan are all talking about the same issues and problems. Web sites and forums are popping up through the World Wide Web, regarding the same problems of racism and racial stereotyping. New acronyms are being invented in Japanese gaijin culture, such acronyms as W.W.G. (Walking While Gaijin). This is in reference to Japanese police targeting and stopping foreigners without probable cause, even though this is against Japan’s constitution. In many ways this reminders of stories from Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks that I heard during my youth growing up in the Southern United States of America. (Under construction)
Japanese say that Japan is not an intolerant nation but rather multiculturalism is simply not found on the islands. This is because Japan was closed off from the world only until recently due to self imposed isolation. “During the ‘Edo period’ which ran from 1603 to 1868, the Japanese islands were almost totally isolated from the rest of the world (with the exception of Dejima, an artificial island of Nagasaki which was the international trading port with Dutch merchants stationed).” Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe. This seems like a fine argument at first. Yes Japan was closed for three hundred years and only opened itself to the outside world about 150 years ago. However, Canada has been a country for about the same amount of time. While Canada has a stained history of intolerance as well, manly towards First Nations, Chinese railroad workers. Chinese-Canadian Genealogy. And Canada’s Japanese Interment Camps during World War II. Japanese Internment Camps. While these incidence of racism are stains on our history, Canada has come a long way with much thanks to prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s Bill-C-93 (1988); The Multiculturalism policy. This act became law across Canada in 1982 and became Bill-C-93 in 1988. However at about the same time in 1986, Yasuhiro Nakasone prime minister of Japan said, “Japanese were on average more intelligent than Americans because blacks and other nonwhites dragged down the U.S. score.” Than again in 1988, adding insult to injury, ruling-party heavyweight Michio Watanabe publicly remarked that, “African-Americans were by nature predisposed to reneging on debts.” Japantimes.co.jp. 13 April 2006.
Some Japanese people argue that gaijin is simply the abbreviated form of Gaikokujin or gaikoku no hito (person from an outside country). “This word is part and parcel of the general reinforcement of Japan's uniqueness--the (only us) Japanese caste system--which relegates the rest of the world to second-class status in the eyes of beholders.” Debito, Arudou. I, however, disagree with why this word should be tolerated or even acceptable. After all Jap is an abbreviated form of the word Japanese and this is not deemed appropriate or acceptable, in or out of Japan and yet Japanese people feel very free to use the word gaijin outside of Japan when visiting foreign nations, despite the fact that they themselves are the outsider. This again reinforces my theory that racism is not just a white problem and Asians are just as capable of extreme Sino-Centrism. Jap is an offensive term to most Japanese because on its usage during the War of the Pacific. (World War II) and its use for the enemy people who are not to be trusted or were crazed suicide bombers. However, the usage of the word gaijin is rarely ever criticized despite the similar origins. Gaijin is literally translated into (outsider) and original usage, as mentioned earlier, was to depict an enemy or enemy spy. Yet when Japanese people are criticized for this the answer is almost always the same. “We don’t mean anything by it is just a short form of the word gaikokujin” Gaikokujin, does in fact translate into (foreign national). However, this is not the case at all for the latter gaijin in fact these two words stem from separate origins. Dr Tamamura argues that “many people think that gaijin is just a shortened form of gaikokujin. Historically, gaijin, meant anybody who was not in your in-group; Somebody who didn't belong or was not from your village, etc.” Tamamura. It is important to note that Japan was at war with itself at this time, and people from an outside group were immediately treated as a threat and often killed. “However, if we look at this dictionary from Meiji 42 (1910), we see that already there is an entry for gaikoku-jin, which means an extra-national, and also gai-jin, which now suddenly also means gai-koku-jin. So somehow the root meaning of outsider got appended only onto a person who came from outside Japan.” Tamamura. Dr. Tamamura has clearly demonstrated that while the two words are of similar meaning, they have originated from two different sources and ultimately different meanings. This proves that the word gaijin is intended to embody prejudice undertones. The fact that so little thought is going into uses of the word is more offensive, and most certainly would not be tolerated here in Canada.
While in Japan I often felt isolated and alienated, I thought that if I speak Japanese more fluently these feelings and situations of alienation would subside and the country and its people would open up to me. I thought there must be a way in. I studied nightly devouring textbooks and collecting dictionaries. I would throw myself into the culture at every opportunity, taking the local trains rather than high-speed trains, avoiding places frequented by other foreigners. I recall riding the train on a Saturday afternoon, when another gaijin boarded. I immediately moved to another car of the train so I would not feel compelled to speak to this fair skinned gentleman. I knew that he may be lonely and might want to speak English to me. I thought if I move to another car, I would be able to attract less attention to myself as a foreigner and stay relatively hidden in the crowd. I feared that if was to speak English to him that I might become content in speaking English all of the time and I would start spending all my time hanging out with other X-pats. If I was to move to another car, I would be able to attract less attention to myself and keep a lower profile rather than immersing myself into Japanese culture. At some level, I thought that if I was only to stay around Japanese people, I would in a sense, become like a Japanese person. At one point years later I caught my reflection in the window, while riding the night train home from work, and suddenly I was shocked to notice that I was a gaijin, that in fact I did look different. My first feeling was of shame and loneliness; I realized why I was different and this saddened me, because I knew I was up against something that I could not change. In sense I was trying to become an Uncle Tom, if I dare apply such a term to a white man. After all, I wanted to be accepted into the group. While growing up in Canada and America I noticed how so many of my friends, particularly Asian Canadian friends, had seemed to have been able to blend into Canadian culture almost seamlessly. I wanted to achieve that to the same level; I hoped to be able to feel as comfortable in Japan as I did in Canada. But still, there was that word, that feeling, those stares from people all around me each and every day and let me not forget the occasional police harassment. After a while I switched camps, I became jaded, defensive and almost militant, much like black Americans and other visual minorities. I became proud of my difference and wore it with honor. After all, I had the mannerisms, the language and body gestures of my hosts, but I was different. In many respects Japan looks like this grand party where everyone can relate to one another on some unspoken level. I wanted to belong in much the same way.
Personally I often felt that people in Japan use the word to single gaijin out. I felt as though it wasn’t enough that I looked different but I need to feel as though I didn’t belong, and they didn’t really want us there for long. In fact, many of the foreign nationals I knew felt this way. Often, when I boarded the train or entered a café people around me felt the need to turn whatever conversation they were having into a conversation about the differences between Japanese and gaijin. These conversations are spoken loudly and without regard for the foreigner who they are talking about. One of the most common stereotypes in Japan is that foreigners cannot understand the language; in fact most Japanese are only too quick to tell gaijin how difficult Japanese is such assumptions are yet another avenue to alienating the foreigner. One of the reasons for this is that many people in Japan assume foreigners are simply incapable of learning Japanese. It is thought that Japanese is so special and sophisticated language that no one other than Japanese could be smart enough to understand it. Perhaps this is a reasonable assumption, when considering, many of Japan’s gaijin do not speak Japanese, most of them are English Teachers in their mid 20s to early 30s who only intend on staying for a short time. Furthermore, unlike Canada or the U.S. there is little if not any encouragement for foreign nationals to speak Japanese or participate in the society.
In Canada, where multiculturalism is encouraged and to become a Canadian learning one of the official languages at a competent level is a must. In fact Japan is one of the most difficult countries to immigrate to and all non-Japanese or non-full-blooded Japanese must carry an (Alien Registration Card) at all times despite whether they were born and raised in Japan. This is probably due to the transient nature of many white people in Japan. These temporary residents are not encouraged to learn Japanese and in some case forbidden by their companies. I heard of one disturbing story from a teacher at the Queen’s University School of English who taught English in Japan for six months. She told me that her company forbid her from learning Japanese. Initially, I found this to be absurd until I learned that government sponsored international Japanese schools for children of Japanese expatriates living outside of Japan will only keep the same teacher on staff for no more than three years. Apparently, the unwritten rule is that if the Japanese lives outside of Japan for too long he or she will lose their Japanese-ness. As well, the government sponsored JET (Japan English Teachers) Programme will only grant non-Japanese staff contracts to the maximum of three years. After the individual has worked up to three years a new contract will never be reissued. Again the assumption is that the teacher will be too familiar with Japan and will no longer be a fresh English speaker. In other words, the spirit of the person’s origins will be polluted. Considering many expatriates have married Japanese or want to live in Japan for many years, such discrimination can make it very hard to earn a descent living and to be treated as an equal. Rather gaijin are seen as temporary visitors even after living in Japan for over thirty years or being born in Japan. People of Korean heritage but born in Japan are still identified as “Koreans living abroad” by the Japanese government and thus are required to carry alien registration cards.
This is not to say that minorities in Canada are free of prejudice, like in Japan but to much less degree some of Canada’s immigrants have suffered racism due to their accents. Where the British accents are acceptable among the general Canadian public the African English accent on the other hand seems to be a major hurdle in finding employment and equality for some new immigrants. “English is a major barrier because it is the major language of communication. The accent which is part of the language, my accent is very heavy… when you don’t have their own accent, they don’t want to accept you” "What Colour Is Your English?." While Creese, Gillian and Ngene gave no comparison to African men or children living in Canada and any prejudice attitudes that they may be experiencing as well, I still find the comparison to the acceptance of English speaking Japanese youth to be rather interesting. Creese, Ngene and Kambere are talking about prejudice attitudes directed towards African women who have a less than common accent when speaking English. It is interesting that Japanese children are feeling rejected from their society for speaking English too clearly, while new immigrants to Canada with strong accents are feeling marginalized for not having English that is clear enough.
Dr. Miyamoto describes bullying towards Japanese children who speak English too well and as a result were bullied and abused. Miyamoto describes a conversation with some mothers of school children who explained to him that when Japanese “Children come back from overseas they have to try as hard as they can to speak English poorly at school.” Straitjacket Society, An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan. The fear that these children have is that the group will attack, ridicule and isolate them. The idea of being different in Japan can easily have disastrous consequences. While this may seem like simple schoolyard bullying, it is in fact far more insidious and dangerous. Dr. Miyamoto, describes an incident of targeting the outsider that had disastrous consequences.
“After retuning to Japan, I heard of a shocking incident involving a ‘mock funeral.’ At a certain elementary school, one little boy was made the frequent target of bullying . One day, the class decided to try a new prank: they would all act as if their classmate had actually died. A large square card was passed around for people to write condolences on, which they all did. The mock funeral engendered intense media attention for two reasons: first, because the victim committed suicide shortly there-after, and second, because the boy’s homeroom teacher had a hand in the ‘funeral’ arrangements.” Miyamoto,Straitjacket Society, An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan.
Gaijin Hanzai is a Magazine on sale in Japan that gives extensive case studies on foreign criminality, full colour pictures depicting crime as something committed by foreign individuals and these criminals’ nationalities are never Japanese. The magazine is blatantly biased with photos of mixed-nationality scenes the Japanese faces blurred out however the gaijin faces are mostly left intact, regardless of privacy concerns. The editor claimed it necessary for "the illustrative power of the image", so readers could "recognize [the criminal] as gaijin.” Guardian Unlimited. 2 February 2007. February 2007.This, however, “amounts to targeting foreigners because they look foreign, even if they are bystanders in a scene and not the suspected miscreants.” Japan focus, An Asian Pacific e-Journal. The magazine is entirely designed to spread hate and fear of foreigners in Japan; in fact the Japan Times news articles featured in 2006 that indicated that crimes involving foreigners is actually dropping. The Japan Times, 9 February 2007. Despite such statistics being published to the public it seems that sensational high gloss photo magazines featuring a few foreigners committing crime has much larger impact on society as a whole.
One Sunday morning while riding the train with hiking gear adorned, I met some fellow hikers; as we talked about the hike that awaited us, an elderly gentleman came to my face and said very confidently in his comment, “Foreigners I scary and dangerous.” I looked to my fellow hikers for assurance or protection from this comment but found them unwilling to speak up or protect me. And while this may seem like an individual case of one man’s intolerance and xenophobia, problems of Japanese-Sino-Centrism and Alienation are in fact growing and these incidents of intolerance are even becoming more prevalent in law enforcement as well. Recently, the Japanese police arrested a Japanese woman on suspicion of violating the immigration law; apparently she did not look Japanese enough. “The police had judged that the unemployed woman, 28, was not Japanese because she looked like a foreigner and that she carried an envelope written in Portuguese. The woman told the officer that she was Japanese, but had no identification to prove this, When the woman's mother was originally shown a photo of her daughter, she did not recognize her. The woman was later released after the mother finally recognized her later.” Japantimes.co.jp. 1 March 2006. Once again, it is very unlikely to find such blatant abuses of power and blinding racism in Canada. I have noticed at least within the University environment, students of various racial backgrounds would come to the aid of a visual minority who is being isolated or bullied by someone of a visual majority. Unlike Canada for many Japanese children and adults, hiding differences is a matter of survival. As well many Japanese and often unwilling to step in and help another person for fear of reprisal. This concept is taught to people in Japan starting at a young age with proverbs and not so gentle nudges. ‘The Nail that sticks up will only be pounded down.’ And the newest one in my vocabulary “A wise hawk hides his talons.” Straitjacket Society, An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan.This is designed to let the different individual know that they are not more powerful than the group and should not try to show strength independently.
When my fellow hikers did not come to my aid I realized that this was clear statement there is a larger and more powerful group at hand that is in support of this bold man’s ideology and not to my well being as human being. But, what is to be said for the visible minority, we who cannot hide our differences? While reading the Japan Times Online Newspaper I stumbled across a rather disturbing case of bully behaviour that sent chills down my spine. A lawsuit has recently caught media attention in Japan due to the brutal nature of the bullying. I would like to refer to this as a crime however the offending party has not been arrested or charged; Rather only six months of suspension from work was issued. “A 46-year-old male teacher repeatedly told the boy, whose great-grandfather is an American, to commit suicide, saying such things as: ‘Your blood is filthy, jump from your condominium and die,’ and ‘Haven't you died yet? Make sure you do today.’ The teacher has since been suspended from work.” In Canada or in most of the world such acts committed by a teacher would be considered illegal and an arrest would be made; not only is this a clear demonstration of power abuse, but is also clearly child abuse. “The teacher injured the boy on several occasions by making the boy choose from five forms of punishment, when it came time to go home the boy’s nose was pinched so hard that it usually bled.” japantimes.co.jp. 9 October 2003. For many Japanese, the willingness to stand up against social injustice or move independently is far to intimidating; to stand against social injustice is to stand against the society as a whole. “Many Japanese students will not oppose bullies when a weaker student is being hurt. Even if they know that bullying is wrong, they are not willing to stand up for their beliefs, because they are afraid of speaking out individually without a group consensus to back them up.” The Japanese Mind, Understanding contemporary Japanese Culture. So while the other hikers may have been aware of this gentleman’s racial attack on me, the thought of standing up to him was too difficult. The fear of rocking the boat was equal to the fear of being attached physically or psychologically by the society as whole.
Subtle psychological isolation is constant, “Can you use a knife and fork?” To ask such a question is considered offensive, demeaning and to suggest that the other is uncivilized. Questioning someone’s level of civility would be rude anywhere. And yet the same type of question was asked of me constantly. After a while this limited topic of conversation wore thin and made it difficult to make friends of substance, even people I had known for years and knew that I had lived in Japan for at least a few years, would ask, “ Can you use Chopsticks?” Or would feel the need to let my differences be the dominant topic of almost every conversation. Just as in Canada, young children are expected to be able to use a knife and fork. To ask an adult if they are competent at a task that is mastered by children under the age of three or four would be clearly insulting and to suggest that the listener is primitive or childish. Such questions are clearly designed to segregate the minority person and reinforce the idea that the outsider is primitive.
Racism, xenophobia and prejudice are all basically from the same root and that root is fear and lack of understanding. To assume that racism and oppression are the result of Western or white society is absurd; history has shown that this is entirely not the case. In the West little is known about a Paleolithic race of Caucasians known as the Ainu, who inhabited the northern most Islands of Japan who have almost been wiped out by genocide and thinning bloodlines from sexual slavery for many centuries. “Confucianism beliefs in barbarians were heavily prevalent prior to and including the Tokugawa era. Outsiders were deemed as polluted, in the Japanese mind, as those relegated to the buraku (others). Race, Resistance and the Ainu of Japan. Even today, the term for gaijin has a negative and racialized connotation in contrast with the racially pure homogenous Japanese. The Myth of Japanese Uniqueness. However, the term barbarian applied equally among any “ethnicity,” and hence equally to Ainu as well as to Dutch. However, the Dutch eventually became a gateway to Western thought, whereas the mere humanity of the Ainu became increasingly dismissed. Yellow Man’s Burden: Ainu Subjugation and the Development of Racist Ideology in Japan. This type of persecution sounds very similar to the takeover tactics of colonization and the taking of Aboriginal land the Caucasians became so well known for in North America and Australia.
I am not suggesting that one group has done worse than the other or that we should all play the (Blame Game); rather, all people regardless of ethnic origins should be aware that racism is a problem of human beings and to suggest that one group is more racist than another is not only limited in scope but is racist in itself. This is not to say that white people (when visible minorities) should retaliate in the face of oppression nor do I suggest that other minority groups should retaliate either. For Canadians the use of Alien Registration Cards is unethical and we choose ethics over fear and intolerance. That as long as we continue to show the world that strength is to admit past wrongs and take action to correct them is right, that to mistake kindness for weakness, is proof of enfeeblement. So as Canadians “ "Ethics and the New War." Writing Analytically with readings.
- Aldwinckle, Christopher. A.K.A. Debito, Arudou. ““GAIJIN" VS "GAIKOKUJIN" IS GAIJIN A RACIST WORD? I ARGUE YES.” http://www.debito.org/kumegaijinissue.html. 30 August 2002. 30 August 2002
