Reconsidering national identity in Japan : in search of social integration for co-ethnic Nikkeijin group

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on the recent challenge to Japanese national identity raised by co-ethnic Nikkeijin group who are migrating back to ethnic homeland Japan, and to analyze the reason why Nikkeijin are socio-politically marginalized while they are ethnically same as other Japanese. Japan has been considered most notably as ethnically homogeneous and culturally distinct nation-state, which asserts the congruence between race, ethnicity, and citizens. Given that the most important element that shapes Japanese national identity is common descent connected by blood, the presence of Nikkeijin in Japan and their systematic exclusion from the mainstream society confuses our existing view on Japanese national identity.
In order to inquire into this phenomenon, as a first step, I attempt to examine the process of identity formation in Japan to understand how the notion of ethnicity had taken its root. Through this process, I will make sure that the Japanese national identity primarily built on the notion of the descent or ethnicity has always been touted as a source for social cohesion of Japan, and it has been emphasized as a means to provide solidarity among the people. Then, I will proceed to show its contradictory phenomenon that can be observed in the case of Nikkeijin. In this process, first of all, I will show that the ethnic return migration is obviously initiated by the consideration on ethnicity exclusively, in order not to damage homogeneous thus harmonious society.
Secondly, I will analyze in detail how Nikkeijin is being socio-politically marginalized as they settle in the community. For this case study, I will delve into three aspects of discrimination, that is, social exclusion, discrimination from the labor market, and political exclusion. Through the in-depth case study, I will argue that, although Japanese national identity has been assumed to be developed around the notion of ethnic homogeneity or purity, however, there is something more than ethnicity are involved in the Japanese national identity. Existing theories and accounts on national identity has been focusing exclusively on the racial and ethnic dimension of national identity, however such account cannot fully explain current situation in Japan. Thus, this dissertation overall seeks to find out another dimension of Japanese national identity, and claims that ethnic-centered national identity should be re-examined in order to include different ethnic groups within the society and to promote social integration, while eliminating institutional discrimination perpetrated based on the ‘ethnicity’.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Table of Contents
• Ⅰ. Introduction....................................................1
• Ⅱ. Theoretical overview on National Identity...........13
• 1. Conceptual Approaches to Nation......................15
• (1) Ethnic and Civic types of Nation.....................15
• (2) Theoretical Approaches to National Identity: modernist and ethno-cultural approaches.............................................21
• 2. Formation of Ethnic-Centered Japanese National Identity...............................................................27
• (1) Defining ‘Self (uchi)’ and ‘Other (soto)’............27
• (2) Nihonjinron Discourse ..................................29
• Ⅲ. Nikkeijin Case Study…………………………………33
• 1. Ethnically-Motivated Return Migration.................36
• 2. Selective Acceptance based on the Preference for Co-ethnicity.............................................................41
• (1) Debates on Sakoku-Kaikoku..……………………43
• (2) Revision of Immigration Control Act in 1989......50
• 3. Exclusion of Nikkeijin.......................................56
• (1) Social Exclusion..........................................57
• (2) Discrimination from the Labor Market and Political Exclusion...........................................................62
• 4. Identity Transformation of Nikkeijin from the Discrimination.........67
• Ⅳ. Reconsidering Japanese National Identity and Promoting Social Integration...........................................................71
• 1. Critical Evaluation on the Japanese National Identity................................................................71
• 2. Promoting Social Integration through Political Identity................................................................75
• Ⅴ. Conclusion.....................................................78
• References..........................................................83