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Japan traditionally sees itself as a very homogeneous society
For many Japanese, racism against black people has long been considered something that happens in the US like Europe, not at home.
But when the death of George Floyd in the US provoked a wave of protests, demanding that Black Lives Matter, people in Japan also participated.
The protests and marches in big cities sparked a debate about racism in the country, and whether enough was being done to confront and change things.
‘Paper cuts to racism’
In June, public broadcaster NHK aired a segment to explain to Japanese audiences what was happening in the US, with protests over the death of George Floyd.
The report, in a news show aimed at younger audiences, contained an animated video depicting Protestants as grotesque stereotypes, deeply imbued with racist images: caricatures with exaggerated muscles and angry faces, and with looters in the background.
The reaction was largely negative – the US embassy called the segment “offensive and insensitive”.
One particular vocal critic was Baye McNeil, an African-American teacher, author, columnist, and longtime resident of Japan.
He tweeted that it was an “offensive racist comment” and it was time for Japan to stop the “lame excuses” about treating black problems.
NHK later apologized to him, and after the widespread attention the McNeil articles received, invited him to discuss the issue.
He soon found himself giving an interview to the entire NHK staff, which he said was an “extremely interesting” experience.
“There were a lot of great questions that showed that a lot of people didn’t know there were problems with black spot or white washing. It was really important that someone came in and could explain it.”
Mr McNeil has praised and criticized the country in which he has lived for 16 years. He says that people in his immediate environment of friends and students have been very hospitable and open – and are often curious and receptive to learning about his outward-looking view of the Japanese experience.
At the same time, he points to a level of daily casual racism that he experiences.
“I’m safer here than in the US, no question,” he says. “I have not experienced police brutality as you would in the US, but there are paper cuts of racism every day and they add up. If you are different on a daily basis, you mean that you some heavy things are still alive. “
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Ariana Miyamoto was considered by some non-Japanese enough to be Miss Japan
It’s an experience he says is no different from that of the many so-called “hafu”, people who are biracial – with one parent from Japan and one from another ethnic group. And it wrongly proves the idea that there is just one general type of xenophobia, equally targeted at all non-Japanese groups in the country.
“Non-Japanese people have a different experience depending on where they are mixed up with,” Mr McNeil explains. “Those who are mixed with whites are the ones who get the modeling contracts and are put on a pedestal – but it’s a very different story if you’re half Korean or half black.”
For example, when a half-black Japanese woman was crowned Miss Japan in 2015, she was considered in online comments to be indecent to represent the country.
Tennis champion Naomi Osaka has a Japanese mother and a Haitian father. In an advertising campaign, her skin was made lighter and comedians made a joke that she might need to get some bleach to change her skin color.
Osaka itself has been very vocal against racism both in Japan and in the US. This week, she withdrew from a top US tournament in protest of police violence against black people in the US, after which the entire match day was postponed.
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Commentators joked Naomi Osaka needed some bleach for her skin
“All of these are examples that show that perhaps the Japanese public is not quite ready to embrace their biracial population,” Mr McNeil said.
Official statistics actually count biracial citizens just like Japanese, he points out, and reinforces how people see their country as largely homogeneous, unaware that many of their neighbors do not fit so easily.
John Russell, a professor of anthropology at Gifu University, told the BBC that anti-black racism was reflected in “a vast wealth of images that permeate Japanese society”.
Japan had been largely closed to foreigners for most of its history, but when the United States forced Japan to open up to international trade in the 19th century, the U.S. military mission treated its Japanese hosts to a minstrel show. : a set of sketches and musical performances by white crew members in blackface.
Jumping to the 1930s and Tokyo’s nightlife included vaudeville shows by Japanese actors in black. In fact, one of the most famous comedians, Enomoto Kenichi, as Enoken, used blackface in several cases in the 1920s and 30s.
“It’s actually a tradition that goes back almost as much as in the United States,” says Mr. Russell. Although on a smaller scale than in the US and without American social memory, the stereotypical image of black people has always been there, he explains.
Social media has helped to challenge some perceptions in conventional media, he says, but that is “a mixed bag”.
“It has both increased the conversation about racism, but also elevates racism itself, and creates a platform where vitriol can come to the surface.” The abuse that Naomi Osaka gets online, for example, is a case in point.
“I hope the situation changes,” he said. “But I manipulate whatever optimism I have with an amount of caution.”
‘Change is still a long way off’
“Discussion about racism is taboo. But it’s the 21st century and we need to talk about these things,” said Mutsuko Betchaku, who took one of McNeil’s lessons.
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Despite a growing awareness, change is likely to take time
While she feels that many people around her share the same level of awareness, “there are others who do not even want to think about it, or those who are completely unaware of it – people who feel it has nothing to do with them. “
She says she herself was aware of racism against black people before the events of recent months, but that racism is normally only discussed in relation to xenophobia against Chinese and Koreans.
Fellow student Hitomi Hideshima agrees: “I also knew for a long time that there is special discrimination against Chinese and Koreans in Japan.”
Both say that the information that average Japanese people get about the media problem is very superficial, without depth, background and history.
“The Japanese media presented Black Lives Matter as just an American issue,” Ms Hideshima said. And while recent events may have caused a beginning of change, optimism is somewhat subdued.
“There may be a slight change in consciousness now, but visible change is still a long way off.”
