Opinion

The New Multicultural Japan

by Kevin Burns

"...without non-Japanese, like plain white rice, Japan would not be as interesting a dish."

These days, it seems silly to hear the phrase "...we Japanese..." as if "Japanese," are so unique orout of the ordinary. Many Japanese are either married to a non-Japanese, have a sister that is, orknow someone who is. One percent of the population of Japan is now non-Japanese and growingevery year. One out of twenty-five marriages in Japan last year were between a Japanese and anon-Japanese. Many of these marriages result in children who are Japanese and share anotherculture. The die has been cast, Japan is changing faster than most people realize. At myEnglish school some of my students are studying English because they have a foreign fiance,they dream of marrying a foreigner or their sister has married a foreigner.

Koreans and Chinese account for the bulk of these multicultural numbers, but there are many peoplefrom all over the world here now, and the longer they stay, the more likely they are to marry a Japanese.Moreover, Japanese physically, will fit in nicely in all the other Asian nations. My wife was mistaken forbeing Thai, everywhere we went in Thailand. Many of my friends would fit in nicely in Shanghai, orKuala Lumpur, Singapore or Jakarta. Japanese after all are oriental people like most Asian people.Some Japanese want to fight this it seems, trying to state that they have unique physical characteristics,or pointing out that their clothes look different as if that matters very much. Some Japanese looklike their ancestors came from India, with a very roman nose and very brown skin. Others look likethe Phillipines was the home of their ancient kin, and still others must have a family lineage linking them to Koreaor China. Some of the Indians of South America have been discovered to have very similar DNA to Japanese.What's so unique? Japanese share more with the UK than any other nation. Both share a proud, long,yet tarnished history. Both cling to the concept of being different, with not much evidence to support it.Both are struggling to come to terms with the multicultural new millenium and need to look with aless prejudiced eye towards countries like Canada for guidance. Multiculturalism is the future.It isn't a crime ridden ghetto as many Japanese seem to imagine it. It is exciting and interesting,and will make Japan a different, yet better place.

If you go to Tokyo now, you will see non-Japanese everywhere. They may own and operate the restaurantyou eat in, be your friend's boss--my friend's boss at Johnson in Yokohama is an American. He mustmeet her everyday, and speak English. I think it's great that Japan is having to open up somuch. The foreign population here adds the spice to a very stable society, without foreigners,like white rice, Japan would be a very bland place. Foreigners often act like policemen and womenin Japan, pointing out to the rule breakers, that "...this area is non-smoking." Where mostJapanese will not raise a hand in protest, a foreigner will. Foreigners help to keep theharmony and shame the rule breakers. Foreigners will point out that your dogis making a lot of noise and bothering all the neighbours. They act for the good of alland some Japanese quite frankly need a wakeup call.

I digress, yet even the Yakuza are intimidated by foreigners (to some extent at least).That comes straight from a Yakuza I had the dubious pleasure of talking to once.Very few foreigners are ever bothered by the Yakuza. We are an unknown commodity tothese punch permed bullies. Not being able to function in society on their own, and needingthe safety of an organization like the Yamaguchi Gumi to do their bidding, they feel shame whenseeing foreigners thrive in their own country; when they themselves have not been able to function,without resorting to crime. Many foreigners are big people and walk around by themselves.Whereas the Yakuza and the bosozoku like them, rely on safety in numbers.On their own, they are weaklings and cannot make a living.

You still hear the phrase, "Gaijin ga ippai," (Literally: We are full of foreigners or It is full offoreigners.") occasionally, but this is usually not a negative statement. Sometimes Japaneseare still surprised, having stuck to their stereotype of their own country as being that of:"one people" for too long. While Japan is not America, it has grudginglybecome multicultural. But with that, growing pains are evident. Ultra-racist Tokyo Governor Ishiharais not recognized as such. Most Japanese people, not having experienced racism themselves, cannotunderstand when one of their own is being racist. Even when Ishihara called Chinese by the derogatory name,"sangogujin" this was sluffed off as he being old and out of touch with modern, polite termsfor Chinese people. Bull-tweety I say, the man is a writer, he is the last person to be out of touch with the Japaneselanguage. Ishihara was chastized severely by the Japanese press and for that I am thankful. I am happythat they recognized his dark side, which has no place in the modern, multicultural Japan.Ishihara went so far as to suggest that the military need be brought into Tokyo during a majorquake, as the foreigners might riot and loot the capital. Not wanting to rub salt into old wounds,I would like to mention that it was the Japanese who rioted and looted during the last BIGearthquake in Tokyo--The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. It was the Koreans who were thevictims of this mass uprising. A rumor caused some Japanese to attack Koreans. Hundreds ofKoreans were killed, their homes and businesses ransacked. Many went back to Korea after this massacre.I don't think Japanese would do this again against foreigners--witness the well behaved manner ofJapanese and foreigners in the aftermath of the Hanshin earthquake, yet people like Ishihara needto end their racism, especially when they occupy places of power; the Japanese need to recognize aracist when they hear one, not elect them to office in the first place,and need to know the truth about their own past. "All of this in good time my son."Ishihara is a dinosaur, and we all know what happened to them. I have them in my carand boy do they move me!

I imagine the above massacre in Yokohama will be news to some of our Japanese readers.Which is a shame! If you don't know your own history, what do you know?What we have now is based on the past, if you don't know your own past correctly, how can youjudge anything? How can you know when someone is a racist or not? All of the rules,prejudiced or otherwise were made in the past. You must know thine own history to know yourself.

Yet I am optimistic about Japan's future. Mori is gone! Hurray! Ishihara, as if knowing he must keephis prejudiced ideas to himself to survive is silent, hurray! Tanaka and Koizumi are in power,hurray! Both of them studied abroad and in doing that they are forever changed. The moreJapanese study and live abroad, learn a foreign language and make foreign friends, the furtherwe are from the old, stodgy Japan. The Japanese with foreign living experience are some of themost liberal and modern thinkers in the world. The growing non-Japanese populationincluding people like myself, and the children of bicultural marriages (like my own children),will forever change the face of Japan. One day, one of the completely bicultural childrenof Nippon will be prime minister and then I will know we have really arrived!

Nippon 2050: Invasion of the Beige Babies

by Kevin Burns

Tokyo, Japan

It was one of those hot, humidious Japanese July days. The air didn't move and Tokyo became the citymost closely resembling a giant sauna. The Japanese population had peaked at 130 million souls back in 2020;many of the young being of mixed Japanese and foreign blood. The face of Japan had changed due to the highnumber of international marriages in the early part of the 21st century and the continuing prevalence ofmixed marriages. With so many Japanese going abroad to do business and so many foreigners coming toJapan to do the same, romance naturally followed. As Japanese improved their English, communicationwas no longer an issue, and 50 hour a week salarymen were not as attractive to long suffering Japanese womenanymore. Some still went the traditional route and married the boy or girl next door, while others married their partners from Malaysia, Canada, China, France, Brazil and Nigeria to name but a few. Japan had become a country of "beige babies," as they were fondly dubbed by the press, as had much of the world. America and Canada had been moving in thatdirection for sometime and Japan was no longer as isolated as it had been in the days before Admiral Perry's"black ship."

This change wasn't a conscious decision, like so many issues in Japan, the government didn't do anything toact on it. "It just kind of happened," an ailing, 80 year old former Prime Minister Mori had stated in an AsahiShimbun interview. With zero growth in population, and dwindling domestic consumption, Japanesewere forced to send most of their factories abroad to take advantage of cheaper labour and other costs.For the first time, Japan placed in the top ten for clean air in the world. Toyota had led the way with hybrid cars in thelate 20th century and now all cars were either solar, hydrogen or nuclear powered. A safe form of nuclear propulsionhad been invented in 2017, and slowly these cars were coming online. Tokyo was no longer so smoggy.Few could imagine these great changes in the early part of the 21st century, but then again in 1919, who could haveimagined the coming to power of Adolf Hitler? Who could have imagined another world war right after World War 1?Who could have imagined the popularity of SMAP? Often huge changes are difficult to imagine, and makeone uncomfortable to think about.

With the huge increase in foreign born Japanese and children of mixed race, Japan was forced to join much of the world andenact laws preventing racial discrimination. Banning foreigners from bathouses in Otaru and banning Koreans born inJapan from joining golf clubs in Chiba had become a thing of the past. References to late Tokyo Governor Ishihara werereminders of a bureaucratically, racist past. Ishihara was no longer held in such high esteem as he had been in the earlypart of the century. He was now regarded as a political dinosaur and racist ideas like his were shouted down in theJapanese Diet, if they were even heard at all.

It was in this atmosphere that Sylvie Tanaka became Miss World. The mixed race Japanese people were some of themost beautiful in the world and Sylvie was no exception. She was smart, trilingual, and understood Asian and Westernculture. Due to many protests, the Miss World Pageant had become much more dependant upon how one presented oneself.You had to be a good speaker. You had to have something to say. You had to be well educated. Certainly beautyhelped, and Sylvie was gorgeous, but her speech entitled "Beige is Beautiful," was one of the most talked about of the year.The time was ripe for Sylvie's speech.

Finally, many of the tenets of the major religions were consistently being realized. People were mixing more, andwhat was in your heart became more important than the colour of your skin or the country of your ancestors.Religion started to do what it was supposed to do, bring people closer together and help to bring heaven on earth.Much of the latest research pointed to a reality far greater and richer than we had ever imagined. Einstein's theorums,much to his chagrin, pointed towards a much more chaotic and unpredictable world view: one where soul travel, psychicphenomenon, and the belief that we never die, might one day be proven by science. As people grew to realize that wemay never die, the people of the world felt more connected to each other, and Japan was no exception. "It was difficultfor Japanese to feel so unique since they may have been an American in another life."--stated political commentatorFujiko Suzuki in a Japan Times interview. Moreover, karma became a hot topic due to speculation that our soul lived on.People were much more conscious of how they acted towards others. Rudeness on the internet was nearly non-existent.Even Beat Takeshi an early 21st century comic, had stopped bopping people over the head with large felt hammers.

Tomodachi: Making Friends with Japanese

by Kevin Burns

 One of the toughest things you can ever do is leave your family and friends back home, to start all over again in a foreign country. It isn`t for the faint of heart! It will test you mentally and physically. You will learn a lot about yourself,your country of origin and the country you go to in the process.In the end it will all be worth it.

Writer Neal Stephenson referred to living in Asia as like stepping into one of the classic comic books, and perhaps that was why so many Westerners ended up settling here. I can relate.

Still much of Japan and Asia in general is very exotic. To me my wife is stillexotic even after 15 years of marriage. My children look exotic. My dinner looks exotic, especially if it moves! Low level forms of sea life, quivering on my plate are always exciting, and fun for the whole family!

I think we can all be comfortable and successful anywhere we want.Japan may seem unfathomable to you, but to me it is just home. I have two homes now--Japan and Canada, but really the world is myhome.

Wherever you live, I`m sure there are places or circumstances thatare special to you. For me, one of them is my tennis class. I haveknown some of the members for many years now.

Satoru has just had a baby girl! When I expressed surprise as heshowed me Takako`s photo withhis cell phone, he joked, "what, didn`t think I could do it?""No but viagra is miraculous," I should have replied. He is 48 so webug him about his age.I`m so happy for him.

It wasn`t long ago that we were all wearing black and going to hiswife`s funeral. She died of leukemia at 40, the age I am now.Masami`s sister was asked to donate bone marrow in a last ditcheffort to save her,but being a Jehovah Witness she refused to help her sister. That hasalways been one part of their religion I really don`t agree with.She was a good friend of my wife. My wife cried many tears for her,as did Satoru.For a few years he was not himself. I can`t imagine what it is liketo lose someone so close to you.

Yet today he has had a baby! He remarried a few years ago and now heis a pappa. It is funny how lifeworks out, or fate I would suggest. I think everything is meant tobe. It may seem terrible at the time,but in the end there is a reason. There I have revealed my buddhistbias to you. Satoru is such a greatguy that he promised to take care of his former wife`s parents, sohe and his new wife and baby, live withhis previous wife`s mother. I`m sure it all works out well. Japaneseare even surprised when I tell them this story.I can`t even imagine living with my current wife`s mother, thewildebeast! I hope she doesn`t read this!She`s probably grazing as we speak.

Takahashisan is a funny man! If he hadn`t gone into sales he couldhave been a comedian. There are a lot ofpeople like that. Often the funniest people you know, live rightnext door. Takahashi is one of them.He and I like to joke around with each other. Although he is almost50 and I am grudgingly 40, we act likeelementary school boys. The other day, while waiting for our turn toplay tennis, he put his head on myleg and pretended to sleep. I called for the tennis coach tocomplain that Takahashi was bugging me again.This seems to be our pattern. He will throw balls at me and hit mein the leg. I do the same. Seeing this itis hard to believe that I own a business and manage people. How oldare they? I`m sure people are thinking..He and I are still such kids, I think that is why our wives marriedus. I think when I am 80 I will still be a child in many ways. Don`tmean to brag! My wife`s friends tell her it must be hard raisingfour children (I am the third boy).

Hiroaki is an example of what a man should be to me. He is gentleyet strong. He is humorous and willingto laugh at himself. He is the worst player in our class but hecomes, has fun, and doesn`t seem to worryabout it. He always has something funny or good natured to say.About ten years ago he was worried hewas going to die. A doctor said he had cancer. After many more testsit was found that he was in good health.He quit smoking though, and still doesn`t smoke till this day. Myfather, a former doctor says the testsare so good now, they catch everything--from unimportant to lifethreatening. Often what theycatch can`t be explained but it won`t kill you. "What`s this on myarm?""We don`t know, but don`t worry about it!" Doctors don`t usually saythis, they will say "Nothing."And that`s what you pay them for.

Mr. Yamaki talks to me about bushido and the samurai spirit. He is60 and old enough to be my father.He has a teenaged daughter and his wife is 40. He lived inCalifornia for 6 months picking (and mostly eating)strawberries. He recently ran for the town council and lost. I wouldhave voted for him had I been given the chance. He tells me I shouldget my haircut at Mr. Osada`s barber shop. I think he means my hairis too long now. He also wants to get across to me that in Japanloyalty is very important.Mr. Osada is the team captain of our Tuesday tennis group, and bybeing a member of that group, I really owe it to him to have myhaircut there.

In Japan there are all of these reciprical relationships that aresometimes hard to understand in the West. A friend calls them thethree circles. In the first circle is your family, friends and co-workers. In the secondcircle are potential people you may have a relationship with at somepoint--neighbours, or other employees at the same company forexample. In the third group, are people you really don`t need togive a damnabout. Bang their head with your briefcase on the train "forgetabout it!" You don`t need to be polite or kind to these schmucks,you will never need them. You will never have a relationship withthem so why bother. That is the thinking here. That is why the rateof charity is so much lower in Japan than in the West. I won`t giveto them, because I don`t know them. Homeless people-- I could neverbe like that. Forget about it!

But if you are a member of the first circle, they will go to bat foryou. They will help you if in need. You are one of the group,congratulations! You belong! Be you black, brown, Korean orcaucasian, you are member of the first inner circle and you havemade it.

So if you need a haircut, you come to me, if I, or my mother, or myneighbour need English lessons, we go to you. "Do ya get it?"

"Yes I do. A little off the sides please. Can you cover up thatannoying grey?"

Times are tough now, I will get my hair cut at Mr. Osada`s.Hopefully I can gain a student or two through the relationship. I amstill small town Canadian, when I bang someone on the train I saysorry. Some Japanese do too, but often in Tokyo it gets ignored. Ihave been bodychecked and not heard a sorry. That`s big city Japanand sometimes small town Japan too if the relationship is one of thethird circle.

In the West we pride ourselves on how we treat the most patheticpeople. In Japan they don`t. It is allabout relationships and connections. If there is no relatioshipbetween you, you are on the outside lookingin. It is all the more tragic to be homeless in Japan. I flub mybackhand and send it into the net. I have gotto concentrate on tennis I tell myself.

Mr. Yamaki is another comedian. He frequently tries to embarrass mein front of my tennis mates.Unfortunately for me, he usually succeeds. I enjoy being the centreof attention though.As usual he speaks a very rapid dialect of Japanese I can`tunderstand and then asks me if I agree with what he just said. Ieither answer "yes I do," or "I don`t understand what the hell youaresaying," both always get a laugh. When I make a great shot, "Heyells out, samurai spirit!" or "Lasto Samurai!"--the Japanesepronunciation of the English name of the Ken Watanabe, and TomCruise movie. I wonder if I have ever lived here before? As a youngchild, I really wanted to go to Japan."Bushido," Mr. Yamaki yells before a big point for me. He was bornin China during the war. But emphasizes that he is Japanese.

Naoto takes another drag on his Lucky Strike. He is my tennisinstructor and philosopher. He is my friend. He`s a few years olderand wiser than I. He seems to hate his own country. At first I foundit refreshing that a Japanese could actually say something negativeabout Japan. It is rare to hear a Japanese put down Japan but hedoes so often. In fact that is almost all he does these days. Iworry that he is depressed. His mother died a fewyears ago and maybe that is still affecting him. Yet I remember hehas always put down Nippon. I myself have been criticized for beingtoo negative about this country at times, and ironically I findmyself defending my adopted homeland from my tennis coach! Life is acomedy! Never doubt it! In my case a comedy-drama starring moi!Japanese are rude, Naoto will start. He tells me the story of how aJapanese assumed he was Indonesian and banged on the back of hischair during a flight to Tokyo. Instead of politely asking Naoto toraise his economy class seat because it was driving his legs intothe cargo compartment, he chose instead to pound Naoto`s seat tosend the message. Naoto turned around and in perfect Japanesesaid, "What the f--- are you doing?" The man astonished said, "Ohyou are Japanese, sorry!" Naoto took this to mean that, if he hadknown the person in front was Japanese he would have been morepolite. I think he`s right. Some of the Japanese are like thatunfortunately. Asians are one rung lower than us elite Japanese folkis the feeling of some. But many Japanese are not like this I willadd.

You learn a lot about yourself and your own country by livingelsewhere. Japan is a good place to grow up. I am still working onthat. It is also a great place to live and work. Japan has given meso much. In spite of the complaints I have at times, I have much tobe thankful for. I better stop, Takahashisan has a ball in his hand,I had better defend myself!Ouch!

Advice on Making Friends in Japan:

Be proactive. You have come to a new country, you presumablyhave no friends in japan or few friends, so you will needto get out and make some new friends. Find some local clubs youwould like to join by visiting your local city hall and communitycentres. Ask them for the list of circles in your area. Japaneseclubs are usually refered to as "circle," pronounced in a Japanese way.

Making friends in Japan can be made easier by taking the initiative and putting out some ads yourself. Metropolis aTokyo magazine has a classifieds section and you can put somepersonal ads for friends, or a partner. You can also start a club. In my case I started a basketball club. Just put out anad and you will find others who are interested in the same thing.

Another option is Misti. Misti is a friendship registry. Youdescribe yourself and your interests and find others with thesame hobbies. It is all in Japanese so you may need a Japanesefriend to help you get set up. Both of the sites mentioned are free! Doing a search at yahoo.com or yahoo.co.jp should allow you to find the above mentioned sites. Good luck!

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Copyright @ Kevin Burns. All rights reserved

Shiro Kuma: More on the Staring Issue

  by P & C

Japan Living

It was the spring of 1973 and I had been dating a sweet young girl ( who I would later marry) that wasattending college in downtown Hiroshima. She was going home for the summer and invited me to come with her. Her family lived in a ruralvillage about 40 miles west. I arrived in early summer and quicklyfound work in the rice fields as a laborer. I lived in a hut behindthe barn. It took a while to grab the local dialect but I was gettingby. I was the only hakujin (white person) I saw that whole summer.

For the majority of folks in the village, I was the first white man they had ever seen. They would stop in the street and stare at me in amazement. As I walked around, kids would yell to there parents "Here he comes", their parents would come out of the house to watch me walk by. On one very hot and humid day while working in the fields I decided to take my shirt off. I was working with two older women and the middle aged owner of the farm. The two older women stared at me intensely for several reasons. First, I had violated a modesty code, I was notfully aware of, and secondly they were amazed by my body hair. Bothstarting pulling on the hair on my back and chest. They had neverseen such a hairy person before and were mesmerized. The farm ownercame over and labeled me "Shiro Kuma" . The name stuck. All thevillagers would yell to me " Shiro Kuma" as I walked around.

In mid-August at the Obon festival, the mayor of the village brought meup on a stage to formally introduce me to the village. He did not usemy real name (David, too hard to pronounce) but instead called meShiro Kuma. To this day, as I walk through the village, I am stillgreeted by this title. It has kinda grown on me. We live in theStates now. My children refer to me as Shiro Kuma when I correct them. If the shoe fits, wear it.

Where has the adventure gone?

by Marty Church 

On the Coming of English to Japan

While riding on the train the other night, trying in vain to crane my eyes over to discreetly look at my neighbors interesting Manga, I realized that I had something of a bone to pick with the JR Corporation. They have too many signs in English these days.

Anybody ridden the Yamanote line lately? Instead of just announcements in Japanese, they have the voice of a well known NHK instructor of English, politely intoning, “Next station, Ebisu. Please change here for the Hibiya line”. Where’s the challenge in that?

Now about this point, you are probably thinking that I have taken leave of my senses. How could increased use of English be anything but a positive development? Any thing that makes the stations easier to navigate, takes the fear out of missing ones’ stop and makes life easier on us poor foreigners has to be useful. Maybe…. However at the same time, it is taking some of the well earned sense of accomplishment away from those of us who have been here for a while.

I’ve spent a lot of yen, doing battle with the Japanese language, trying my best to learn it and overcome it. My Japanese spouse probably would tell you it is a wasted effort…My spoken Japanese is still quite simple and very child like. I’ve given up hoping I will ever sound natural. So much for my dream of replacing Pat-kun on NHK some day.

I can understand what other folks say to me reasonably well though. About a week ago I was able to understand fully when the train engineer came on the announcing system, and told all of us that, because some bonehead had run a train signal and caused an accident, I was going to get to spend an extra 20 minutes squished up between 3 drunk salary men. (And I still can’t see their Manga—damn the luck.). In spite of that, I was feeling pretty proud of my self. Like I had accomplished something. Something that just 5 years ago I never would have imagined I could do. I thought about it all the way home.

Many of us can remeber those first days we came to Japan. Huddled on the train, English train map in hand counting the stops and hoping we counted correctly. Of being afraid to fall asleep on the train, for fear of sleeping through our stop. And when we did, being gently prodded by the station person, informing us that , “OKyakusama, Sakuragicho shuten desu. Hayaku dete kudasai” – A truly ignoble end to a big night in Roppongi.

Or running up the platform and hopping on the train knowing it was going to Shinagawa, because all the trains on this platform go to Tokyo; the sign on the platform said so. Only to get that rude awakening when the train started rolling through unfamiliar scenes and the little voice came up to make our mistake complete --by saying, “ Tsugi wa Totuska de gozaimasu---You are now on the train to Atami” Oh the humanity!

However over time, those mistakes stopped happening. We learned certain key words like mamonaku (soon) and wasuremono nai yo ni, and Shuten ( terminus). We stopped being unsure and slowly but surely became seasoned Japan veterans. As my knowledge of the language grew I was ready to face down that surly Eki-in ( station employee) and buy my ticket on the Shindaisha(sleeper train). (Or as the first time I tried it….the neru densha….the lady at Shibuya station thought that was funny).

Because I think one of the real joys of living in Japan is the ability to overcome its challenges. To realize that it’s very different here than Europe and it’s a lot tougher to fake your way through language wise. At least in Spain you can sort of read the signs. Not here. To thrive in that environment and adapt, as you realize that you are not in Kansas anymore. This not just adapting an air of doing like the natives…..its full all out war with a world very different than the one Dorothy lived in.

So as time goes by, and we each win our own little victories of a “system” that our Japanese neighbors don’t think twice about because they grow up in it, confidence and a feeling of achieving something grows. At least it did for me. Now the folks at JR are depriving a whole new generation that feeling of frustration and accomplishment. As I said, while probably good in the long run, I weep for the new breed that will never have to experience it.

Now if they would just get the salary men to buy Manga in English……..