The Foreigner - Japan :: Surveys Speak the Mind (April 2004)

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Surveys Speak the Mind

by Lenee Beaulieu

After living here for nearly 6 years, I felt strange when I realized that Japan is not growing in its acceptance of non-Japanese, especially those within the country.

Everyday I pass by, stand by, indirectly or directly interact with hundreds of Japanese people. They all are so kind, so interested in "foreign things", so pert to try their hand at speaking English, the second language that I am sure they have studied for more years than I have at school. As a result, at the end of the day I think Japanese people are just darling – and then one morning, while reading an article in a well-known on-line English version Japanese newspaper, I thought I had been had – and understood the reasoning for my lack of realization.

According to the article published in a March edition of "The Japan Times ONLINE" titled "22% say foreigners' rights secondary to locals", several results of a government survey for the fiscal year 2002 are cited - results that started a fire in this foreigners' stomach.

First off it seems that more than one-fifth of this nation's people do not believe that non-Japanese nationals should expect to receive human rights protection equal to that of the Japanese. Compared to the same survey conducted in 1988, the percentage of Japanese whom feel this way has actually increased more than 2%. As of July 2003, the Japanese population was recorded as having 127,214,499 members. If we do the math, over the past 14 years the number of Japanese people against me being treated equal to them has increased by about 2,544,290.

The rest of the world is internationalizing – under this façade Japan is in actuality internalizing..

The survey goes on to state that a small percentage (around 3% or 3,816,435 people) of Japanese even went so far as to say that foreigners deserve to be at a disadvantage in Japan for the sole reason that they are not Japanese.

Now, I can understand that the hype being created by Japans' more ratings-driven than fact-driven media as it beefs up the numbers of crime incidences involving foreign nationals, stretches details, and irrationally speculates at motives, is affecting what people think. As this has been the subject of plenty an article, a non-biased breakdown of crime in the Japan Times found that the overall increase is accounted for by those crimes involving Japanese nationals.

Why is Japan not progressing with internationalization as expected? The results of this survey communicate to me the reason - loud and clear! Either Japan does not truly want to internationalize or it has mistaken internationalization to be simply the flamboyant use of European brand-name accessories, dating of English teachers, and a menu consisting mainly of various pastas at inner-city cafes.

For a country that is receiving recommendations (warnings) from the U.N. Convention regarding various forms of discrimination, I doubt that the setting up of a 'Xenophobic Homepage' by the Immigration Bureau to gather information on 'suspicious foreign nationals' via the national public's spying and reporting was a recommendable idea. Via this homepage, Japan has purposely set up a stage for the proliferation of suspicion, contempt and finally discrimination of non- Japanese.
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Internationalization involves equality of all nations' people wherever they may go. Survey results, government actions, and media coverage continue to prove that Japan is not embracing this concept in a manner that would lead to its successful download into society.

As it is, the superficial activity towards internationalization will most likely be recollected as only a 'boom'.