Race and Ethnic Relations in Contemporary Japan

Throughout history, Japanese society has placed a high value on the idea of its monoethnicity. The concept of one-nation -one-race had particularly strong weight during the years of heightened nationalistic sentiment prior to the Second World War, and was an effective tool for uniting the nation against wartime enemies. In contrast to the perceived virtues of monoethnicity, racial or ethnic heterogeneity was seen as a cause of social ills. The U.S., for example, was seen as a country that lacked harmony and societal strength. Today, the idea of monoethnicity is largely viewed as a "myth", and no longer has serious political or social meaning. In fact, after a long history of downplaying (if not denying) the existence of ethnic minorities, there is now renewed interest in examining race and ethnic relations in Japan. This chapter is devoted to the description of these ethnic groups and their role in Japanese society. Although a number of ethnic groups coexist in Japan, their numbers constitute only a tiny fraction of the Japanese population - at most 2.8 %. Yet while Japan may not be a monoethnic society, it is still relatively monoethnic, and remains ethnically homogeneous, at least in comparison to the industrialized nations of Europe and the U.S.