Despite domestic constitutional provisions and international treaty promises, Japan has no law against racial discrimination. Consequently, businesses around Japan display “Japanese Only” signs, denying entry to all 'foreigners' on sight. Employers and landlords routinely refuse jobs and apartments to foreign applicants. Japanese police racially profile 'foreign-looking' bystanders for invasive questioning on the street. Legislators, administrators, and pundits portray foreigners as a national security threat and call for their segregation and expulsion. Nevertheless, Japan’s government and media claim there is no discrimination by race in Japan, therefore no laws are necessary.How does Japan resolve the cognitive dissonance of racial discrimination being unconstitutional yet not illegal? Embedded Racism carefully untangles Japanese society’s complex narrative on race by analyzing two mutually-supportive levels of national identity maintenance. Starting with case studies of hundreds of individual “Japanese Only” businesses, it carefully analyzes the construction of Japanese identity through legal structures, statute enforcement, public policy, and media messages. It reveals how the concept of a “Japanese” has been racialized to the point where one must look “Japanese” to be treated as one.The product of a quarter-century of research and fieldwork by a scholar living in Japan as a naturalized Japanese citizen, Embedded Racism offers an unprecedented perspective on Japan’s deeply-entrenched, poorly-understood, and strenuously-unacknowledged discrimination as it affects people by physical appearance.

Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Politics & Social Sciences

Arudou, Debito

Social Sciences

Lexington Books

Despite domestic constitutional provisions and international treaty promises, Japan has no law against racial discrimination. Consequently, businesses around Japan display “Japanese Only” signs, denying entry to all 'foreigners' on sight. Employers and landlords routinely refuse jobs and apartments to foreign applicants. Japanese police racially profile 'foreign-looking' bystanders for invasive questioning on the street. Legislators, administrators, and pundits portray foreigners as a national security threat and call for their segregation and expulsion. Nevertheless, Japan’s government and media claim there is no discrimination by race in Japan, therefore no laws are necessary. How does Japan resolve the cognitive dissonance of racial discrimination being unconstitutional yet not illegal? Embedded Racism carefully untangles Japanese society’s complex narrative on race by analyzing two mutually-supportive levels of national identity maintenance. Starting with case studies of hundreds of individual “Japanese Only” businesses, it carefully analyzes the construction of Japanese identity through legal structures, statute enforcement, public policy, and media messages. It reveals how the concept of a “Japanese” has been racialized to the point where one must look “Japanese” to be treated as one. The product of a quarter-century of research and fieldwork by a scholar living in Japan as a naturalized Japanese citizen, Embedded Racism offers an unprecedented perspective on Japan’s deeply-entrenched, poorly-understood, and strenuously-unacknowledged discrimination as it affects people by physical appearance.

Embedded Racism: Japan’s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Despite domestic constitutional provisions and international treaty promises, Japan has no law against racial discrimination. Consequently, businesses around Japan display "Japanese Only" signs, denying entry to all 'foreigners' on sight. Employers and landlords routinely refuse jobs and apartments to foreign applicants. Japanese police racially profile "foreign-looking" bystanders for invasive questioning on the street. Legislators, administrators, and pundits portray foreigners as a national security threat and call for their segregation and expulsion. Nevertheless, Japan's government and media claim there is no discrimination by race in Japan, therefore no laws are necessary.How does Japan resolve the cognitive dissonance of racial discrimination being unconstitutional yet not illegal? Embedded Racism untangles Japan's complex narrative on race. Starting with case studies of hundreds of "Japanese Only" exclusionary businesses, it carefully analyzes the social construction of Japanese identity through laws, public policy, jurisprudence, and media messages. It reveals how the concept of a "Japanese" has been racialized to the point where one must look "Japanese" to have equal civil and human rights in Japan.Completely revised and updated for this Second Edition (including landmark events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Covid Pandemic, and the Carlos Ghosn Case), Embedded Racism is the product of three decades of research and fieldwork by a scholar living in Japan as a naturalized Japanese citizen. It offers a perspective into how Japan's entrenched, misunderstood, and deliberately overlooked racial discrimination not only undermines Japan's economic future but also emboldens white supremacists worldwide who see Japan as their template ethnostate.

This is a book for those who have come to Japan to stay for some period of time. It is not a book for the packaged tourist who will be in and out within a few days, but even such a tourist, when facing some unexpected and serious problem, would find help here. Bi-lingual so that both an English-speaking person and a Japanese will be able to communicate and understand.  Author Arudou is a 20-year resident of Japan and a naturalized Japanese citizen. He is also an activist who has personally and professionally confronted discrimination. Author Higuchi Akira is a certified Administrative Solicitor (gyousei shoshi) specializing in visa and business matters.  Contents: Chapter 1 - Arriving and Establishing Residency in Japan; Chapter 2 - Stabilizing Employment and Lifestyles; Chapter 3 - Starting a Business; Chapter 4 - What To Do If ... Resolving Problems; Chapter 5 - Retirement and Planning for the Future; Chapter 6 - Giving Something Back ... Developing Japan's Civil Society to Help Multiculturalism in Japan; Chapter 7 - Summarizing ... What You Should Do to Create Stronger Roots in Japanese Society.  It is Chapter 4, which accounts for nearly half of the book, that will be the key for most foreign residents. They have passed from newbies to more settled state, but they have not thoroughly mastered the art of coping with the unexpected problems that, in fact, must be expected.  (personal comment of this writer) My visa was expiring so I went to the consultation room at the visa office. There I was told that I was an illegal alien. I can't be, I protested, I own a house, a business. I'm married to a Japanese. Impossible, was the reply. You are illegal. I survived, but this book would have helped me had it been available in those days.

Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan (English and Japanese Edition)

Travel

Asia

Higuchi Akira

Japanese Only: The Otaru Hot Springs Case And Racial Discrimination In Japan

Akashi Shoten

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Arudou, Debito. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Arudou, Debito

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Arudou, Debito. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Embedded Racism: Japan's Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Embedded Racism: Japan’s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Embedded Racism: Japan’s Visible Minorities and Racial Discrimination

Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan (English and Japanese Edition)

Japanese Only: The Otaru Hot Springs Case And Racial Discrimination In Japan