Dear Japan: Zainichi Image is Not your PR weapon!

Journal Entry: January 27, 2005

By the 21st century, the zainichi have been the tanakara botamochi (public relations jackpot) for the Japanese government as it tries to appeal this fresh, open-minded, civilized and cosmopolitan image of themselves to the international community.

Conscious of their “homongenous” public, the state must have quietly unleashed a newly crafted self-image of the “international japan” around the time “internationalism” was the national buzzword of the new century. To transform its self-image from one of a secluded island(s) nation often hostile to foreigners whose mere presence threaten japan’s proudly professed ‘homogeneity,’ to that of a diverse and vibrant country that recognizes and welcomes their non-japanese neighbors into the very fabric of society is, quite frankly, an astonishing a breakthrough as the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly. With what tools and evidence could japan actually convince the world that it now embraced diversity within its borders? All the while they ran a tight ship waving a Hinomaru on the masthead, out to protect the superiority and ‘purity’ of the blood of the ethnic nationals, and more specifically, the elites and their license to rule - the Imperial ideology-inspired system and values that give rise to its legitimacy?

By now, the zainichi from the colonial-era are mostly third, fourth, or even fifth generation in japan. With each generation, life has become easier and easier. Zainichi artists, filmmakers, authors and all types of culture-makers have been making renowned contributions in their respective fields in japan, breaking down the prevailing stereotypes of zainichi being untrustworthy and plain dangerous as criminals and rapists, if not downright sub-human altogether.

But there could not have been a more secure vehicle to execute japan’s public-image agenda as the very ‘minorities’ themselves, who by virtue of their exclusion from citizenship are bestowed the alien identity. In other words, being a zainichi in japan is in itself a qualification to be identified as living proof of diversity and internationalism in an otherwise homogenous japan. It is clearly a case of tokenism at work, but the implication must not be undermined for the transnational social justice solidarity amidst the tightening US-Japan collaboration for a global capitalist spree with capital and weapons in arms.

If you want to preserve your culture, take it to market! The only criteria is to eliminate any implication of injustice in the very existence of ‘zainichi’ fromyour zainichi product, whether it be a movie, collection of poems, or an art piece. The consumer market is not interested in purchasing reminders of complicity in any injustice. Rather, a feel-good cultural commodity in Japanese possession can further foster the reaffirmation that japan is now “catching up to the U.S. and the international standard” of embracing tolerance. Never mind systemic apartheid still in place. After all, that sort of reform is up to the politicians!