When it comes to minorities, there is a huge difference between America and Japan. In America, if you are born in America you are American. In America, if you go through the naturalization process you are American. One of the great things about America is that it is a collection of people from all over the world who can call themselves American. This is not the case in Japan.In Japan, you are only considered Japanese if you are of Japanese descent. No matter how long your family has lived in Japan you are not Japanese unless your genes are Japanese. I had first heard about this from my friend MyongFa about a year and a half ago. I was very confused as she told me that she was born in Japan but was Korean. She went to a Korean school and had a Korean passport. During my travels in Japan, I met many other Korean people. In fact, I hung out with Koreans in three different cities. All of the Koreans I met were the second or third generation born in Japan. However, none of them had a Japanese passport. Like me, a temporary worker in the country, they had to carry an ID card at all times.
Think about this for a second: In my family, I am the third generation born in America. All of my grandparents were the first generation born in the country with their parents having immigrated from different countries in Eastern Europe. I consider myself to be an America. My parents consider themselves to be Americans. My grandparents consider themselves to be Americans. All of us hold American passports -- or are eligible to hold American passports -- and all of us call ourselves American. However, if our situations were identical in Japan, none of us would hold Japanese passports and none of us would call ourselves Japanese.
The irony of this blog post -- and yes this is a big generalization -- is that the Japanese are in denial about themselves since the Japanese are ALL of either Korean or Chinese descent originally.
4 comments:
I'm not even Japanese but the last comment is a huge oversimplification of genetics and anthropology - and it screams as coming from the mouth of a proud korean or chinese himself with a superiority complex. all the more ironic when we're talking about the very real problem of japanese ignorance/racism.
japanese and koreans, etc. are very similar genetically but they have just as much of a claim to an original identity as anyone (I'm not saying you're disagreeing with this), but basically what I'm saying is we all came from africa anyway..so it's all moot.
this is no different from chinese claiming any part of vietnamese identity simply due to colonization or intermixing.
and koreans are just as racist as the japanese..omg
not to beat a dead horse but branching off of the same argument - the same koreans often will claim not only that japanese came genetically from koreans but that all their culture is learned from korea as well. the hilarity in all of this is that they are referring mostly to chinese-influenced culture. in other words, to some of these people - when koreans borow chinese culture and change and adapt it - it's still korean culture, but when japan does it all of a sudden it's nothing but a rip off - not an adaptation.
I believe korean, japanese, chinese cultures are all unique and culture that is borrowed and morphed often becomes totally different from its root source, despite an obvious chinese influence.. but I just find it hilarious when one of these borowers themselves accuses another borrower of the same thing they have done. the pot calling the kettle black.
There is no doubt that people from every country have their own unique culture and history. My point was really to point out the difference between having an ethnicity in America versus having one in Japan.
Thanks for the comments.
>if you go through the naturalization process you are American....you are not Japanese unless your genes are Japanese.
You can become a naturalized citizen in Japan too.
A number of people do it every year.
Immigrats to Japan can naturalize...and then their children, grandchildren, etc will be Japanese.
Many Koreans choose to keep their Korean citizenship.
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