User:Dmmowry/sandbox

This article will detail the lives of the hāfu people in Japan, delving further into those who have found fame either from their athletic performance, beauty, or celebrity status in another capacity. Additionally, it will compare and contrast the experiences of the hāfu in Japan with the Japanese-American experience in America.

Introduction: What is a hāfu?
Hāfu (literally “half” in English) is the Japanese term that describes a person who is of mixed race, namely half Japanese ethnicity and half non-Japanese ethnicity. Some state that hāfu takes on a negative connotation, suggesting that the person is incomplete, only one half of a whole, or that only Japanese ancestry is important. The term is associated with negative thoughts about mixed race people. As such, the community of mixed race people in Japan have also been known to use the word daburu, or “double” in English, which instead anchors on the idea that the person has two cultures to embrace and exhibit in their daily lives.

Homogeneity
The myth of cultural and racial homogeneity in Japan has prevailed for several generations. It is consistently pushed as fact by Japanese society, policy, and general discourse. The common misconception in Japan, believed by many, is that they live in a “consensus society” with “group harmony.” The idea is that the Japanese people as a whole have maintained a consistent and singular identity for centuries - lacking individuality, personality, and otherness.

Assimilation
The concept of homogeneity materializes in the form of assimilationist policies. Throughout Japanese history, any group that demonstrates “otherness” is forced by the Japanese population to assimilate - either through actual policy or through discrimination against the demonstrated exotic traits. For example, in the case of the Ainu, intermarriage between the Ainu and the Yamato race was strongly encouraged in an attempt to biologically assimilate the minority into the majority. This was not overly successful, though, as the prejudiced attitudes of the Yamato greatly prevented their intermarriage with the Ainu.

Passing
In general, minority groups wanted to retain their ethnic roots while living in Japan. However, given the rampant discrimination against these ethnic minorities, many of them gave into assimilationist policy. One of the most prominent examples of this is the Zainichi Koreans, who refused naturalization, but heavily “embraced” assimilation. Being that many Zainichi Koreans were born in Japan, were physically indistinguishable from the Japanese in general, and often spoke the Japanese language, they often chose to “pass” as Japanese. This means that on a day-to-day basis, they use a Japanese name, speak in Japanese, and refrain from demonstrating their Korean heritage openly. While it reinforced the false idea of homogeneity, it helped many Koreans to avoid the harsh discrimination that other marginalized groups faced. However, there were obstacles to this - like the koseki, or the family registry. The abuse of this documentation could expose the person’s Korean background, and thus lead back to the alienation of the Korean population in Japan.

Tabunka Kyōsei
On the other hand, tabunka kyōsei, translated to “multicultural coexistence” or “multicultural co-living” in English, is widely understood to represent the ability to build a community made up of ethnically and culturally different individuals. However, the policy has been criticized for its lack of true embrace of multiculturalism, and is said to resemble assimilation policies. It does little to nothing to actually incorporate multicultural ideals into Japanese society, but is a useful term to policymakers in suggesting that steps are being taken in the right direction. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC ) defines tabunka kyōsei flexibly, but their affiliated plan to teach non-Japanese speakers to learn the Japanese language emphasizes their ultimate aim to push further assimilation onto non-native speakers, which encompasses most ethnic minority groups.

Being hāfu in Japan
The hāfu people in Japan have faced similar discrimination to those belonging to other marginalized groups, such as the Ainu, Ryukuan, Buraku, Zainichi, and Okinawans. They do not fit the homogeneous mold that Japanese society expects all its residents to fit, and thus they face problems in the workplace, school, and government policies.

Military presence
The United States military presence in Japan, from the occupation post World War II and now the presence of the US Forces Japan (USFJ), but not necessarily Japanese citizenship, as Japan does not exercise birthright citizenship. Many children born into this situation struggle with their identity, as they were born in Japan, may or may not have Japanese citizenship, and may experience living in both Japan and America throughout their childhood. They often feel as though their environment defines them - to Americans, they are Japanese, but to the Japanese, they are American.

Maintaining roots as a minority
One of the biggest struggles for mixed race Japanese people is maintaining both their Japanese and non-Japanese heritage. According to a study done by Kyodo News analysts in 2014, just 3.4% of babies born in Japan in the year were hāfu (or <50% Japanese). As such, keeping up with their Japanese identity is not as difficult, as they are often forced into some level of assimilation as described above. However, in the same sense, being such a small minority being pushed further into integration makes remaining connected to their non-Japanese roots challenging.

For some, like the Japanese-Pakistani, this challenge went so far as parents separating themselves from their children to ensure their children grew up connected to their Pakistani roots. The parents may stay in Japan, where they were working, while the children went to stay with their extended family, learning the traditions of the Pakistani culture. While not all hāfu are open to such measures, most of them do strive to maintain sight of both, or more, of their ethnicities.

Famous hāfu in Japan
While the common hāfu in Japan face discrimination on the daily, those hāfu who represent the country in some other way are subject to even more scrutiny. Whether it be in fashion, sports, political standing, or entertainment, hāfu who have found themselves in the public eye have experienced even further struggles due to their mixed race heritage. They are often seen as “not Japanese enough” to represent the country on an international scale.

Models
According to Sayumi Gunji, an editorial director of Numero Tokyo, a fashion magazine in Japan, about 30-40% of models in Japan are hāfu. This is especially interesting in combination with the widely believed myth of homogeneity in Japan, as the very faces being plastered in magazines and on billboards show off the diversity of the country.

Rina Fukushi
Rina Fukushi is a young Filipina-Japanese model. She has struggled growing up biracial, being teased for her foreign looks in school. However, she feels that her different looks are what has made her successful as a model. Fukushi stands at just 5’9”, shorter than the average runway model - but she says that it keeps her in touch with her inner confidence and self. She is self assured, and has found in herself no shame, though it is constantly thrust upon her, for being both Japanese and Filipina whilst representing Japanese beauty. She also claims that both people and things that are “Japanese-ish” can be found as more appealing or charming.

Ariana Miyamoto
Ariana Miyamoto is a half African-American half Japanese pageant queen who was crowned the 2015 Miss Universe Japan title. She was not only a minority as a hāfu in such a feat, but also the first half-black woman to ever win such a contest. Much of her motivation in competing in these pageants is to hopefully bring more broad acceptance of mixed race people in Japan. She uses her celebrity platform as a means to communicate the need for change in Japan’s ideals. During her time visiting the United States, she found herself even more fond of her home in Japan, as she fit in even less with the American youth she met in public high school. Her sense of belonging to Japan became only stronger upon examining her non-Japanese roots. In her fame, she aims to “prove that Japanese don’t all have to look the same” and show the world that Japan is her home - no matter her looks or her blood, her heart is with Japan all the same.

Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka is one of, if not the most well-known hāfu athletes to compete on a world stage. She has won four Grand Slams, and was ranked in the top ten overall in Women’s singles from 2018 to 2021, peaking at number one in 2019. Despite her excellence on the court, she is not immune to the struggles of being hāfu. Upon being granted the honor of lighting the Tokyo 2020 cauldron, Osaka was met with backlash, most commentators complaining, “she is not purely Japanese”. However, Osaka does not let these remarks faze her, and continues to use her platform to speak out against discrimination, most notably taking to Twitter (now X) encouraging Japanese citizens to stand with the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020. Once again, she was faced with hateful comments about the movement being an “outsider issue” and was not taken seriously due to her “foreigner” status in the eyes of many Japanese.

Rui Hachimura
Alongside Osaka at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony was Rui Hachimura, a half Beninese and half Japanese professional basketball player. He was the first Japanese basketball player to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. He was chosen to be one of two flag bearers for Japan. Some say that institutionally, Japan’s consistent showcasing of particular celebrities in these sorts of fashions is a means of propaganda - providing diverse representations of themselves for a global audience to hide the racism within the country.

A typical experience
The typical hāfu experience is not far off from those who are not in the spotlight. They often share similar stories of discrimination in school, at work, or even just on the street. In a CNN World article about the hāfu experience, one interviewee states that she was asked about her background in an Uber, while another says he was bullied in school for his differences. In one more striking case, a Ghanaian-Japanese man mentions that he was asked to play into his looks by stereotyping black people on a televised broadcast. These “ordinary” citizens appreciate when influential hāfu, such as models, athletes, and actors, use their position for positive change. One woman says that although more needs to be done to improve the condition of the hāfu experience, talking openly about discrimination is a helpful step in attaining equality and respect.

White-passing
Just as in Japan, passing is a common way for mixed-race people to fit into society in the United States. While America prides itself on being a melting pot, in strong contrast to Japan’s belief of homogeneity, the majority of Americans are nonetheless white. When they are able to, and feel it will be in some way to their benefit, many Asian-White biracial people choose to pass as white to deter possibilities of discrimination and adhere to the pressures of maintaining monoracial identity. This is not only true for those of Japanese or Asian descent, but for those of non-white descent in general.

Forced assimilation during WWII
For many hāfu people in America today, a lot of their Japanese culture was lost by the forced assimilation of prior generations. The most prominent example of this is the impact of the Japanese internment camps from 1942-1945 during World War II. Being seen as a threat to the United States’ national security during the war, all people of Japanese descent, many of whom were United States citizens, were forced into the internment camps. These harsh conditions led to the forfeiture of not only human rights, but also of Japanese traditions, values, and other aspects that were frowned upon by the majority of Americans.

During this era, it was in the best interest of the Japanese, foreign born or not, to assimilate into American culture to the best of their ability. This meant letting go of their Japanese heritage all together or hiding it from the outside world to such an extent that it may as well have been sequestered. This was only back in the 1940’s - not only do many of the Japanese that survived the days of internment still live on today - but their children and grandchildren have borne the consequences in the form of few generational Japanese ties and high levels of integration

This is an opposite yet parallel circumstance from the hāfu residing in Japan. While those in Japan were forced to assimilate into Japanese cultural norms and abandon their non-Japanese roots, those in America were compelled to do just the opposite, pushing aside their Japanese heritage and adopting the American way of life.

Modern day struggles
As with anything, differences in experiences in America are associated greatly with differences in location. Generally, urban areas exhibit much greater diversity than their rural counterparts. For those living in rural areas, discrimination courses much more strongly through their daily lives.

For one such woman, Mieko Kuramoto, who grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, being a young Asian-American in the rural sector of the United States surely brought its challenges. She says that she was frequently confused with other Asian children, her name was consistently mispronounced, and other children were always asking her personal questions - her descent, her ability to speak Japanese, and her fluency in English were always up for discussion. Additionally, she says that upon finding her way to other Asian children, she still felt like an outsider for being “too Americanized” in comparison to her friends. This is very similar to the hāfu struggle in Japan, where the individual’s “Japanese-ness” is not enough for Japanese society but they are also too different to avoid hateful interactions with others.