Outsiders in Disasters: Racism, Rumours, and Fiction in Post-3.11 Japan

Abstract

The 3.11 triple disasters occurred at a moment of increased anti-immigrant sentiment in Japan exemplified by the activities of the Zaitokukai, a particularly anti-Korean right-wing group. This xenophobic sentiment provided fertile ground for the spread of malicious racialized rumours blaming foreigners for an array of crimes in the aftermath of the disaster. This article considers the mechanisms through which post-disaster narratives, including rumours, can work to either reaffirm the boundaries or create an empathetic bridge. In addition to the rumours, the article explores Japan Sinks 2020 (Nihon chinbotsu 2020), an anime series about a multi-ethnic family encountering a major disaster, and Kawakami Hiromi’s ‘Gods 2011’ (‘Kamisama 2011’, available in translation as ‘God Bless You 2011’). These texts in a variety of media participate in what Michael Omi and Howard Winant (2015) term ‘racial projects’. Some portray foreigners as criminals and the others encourage a more welcoming attitude.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their insight and input into the various drafts of this article: Amy Bates, Kamaal Haque, Rachel DiNitto, Erik Love, and the anonymous reviewers. Errors that remain are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The English version of this document can be found at: https://www.npa.go.jp/news/other/earthquake2011/pdf/higaijokyo_e.pdf

² There is debate about the numbers of Koreans killed, but Yamada Shōji provides a detailed exploration of the question and concludes it was likely in the thousands (2003: 211).

³ See, for example, Ryūta Itagaki (2015) and Kowner and Befu (2015). See Robillard-Martel and Laurent (2020) for an exploration of the Zainichi Korean community through the racial formation theory of Omi and Winant.

⁴ See Oguma (2002), Robillard-Martel and Laurent (2020), Kowner and Befu (2015). One example is that of Zainichi Koreans, people descended from Koreans who remained in Japan without becoming citizens following the collapse of Japan’s empire. The Zainichi population remained somewhat invisible for many years because many Zainichi Koreans ‘pass’ as Japanese to avoid discrimination. Erin Aeran Chung (2010) writes that not only does the ‘the community’s social and political invisibility … pressure individual Koreans to pass as Japanese, but also it has enabled policy makers and the general population to ignore the community and the issues that it faces’ (58).

⁵ In 1989, Japan’s non-Japanese population numbered about 850,000 and primarily consisted of Zainichi Koreans (statistics from e-stat.go.jp).

⁶ Scholars such as Gill (2018), Smith (2018), and Higuchi (2016) have attributed the formation of the ACM to economics, political climate, and, of course, rising immigration itself.

⁷ The ‘special privileges’ that the Zaitokukai are concerned about include the right to be treated almost the same as Japanese when they return to the country and go through immigration, the ability to use a Japanese name, and the right not to be deported to a country they have never lived in (see Gill, 2018).

⁸ While it is true that certain crime organizations are associated with immigrant groups, immigration is not linked to crime generally speaking and rising immigration does not lead to a rise in crime. Several studies suggest that media representation is at least partly to blame for this false association (Fitzgerald, Curtis, & Corliss, 2012; Yamamoto, 2013).

⁹ For more on Manga kenkanryū, see Sakamoto and Allen (2007), Itagaki (2008), Liscutin (2009), and Raddatz (2012).

¹⁰ See also Yamano (2005): chapter 7, ‘Gaikokujin sanseiken no mondai’ (‘The problem of foreigner’s rights of participation in government’).

¹¹ Higuchi notes that the membership, or at least the number of registered people, grew from about 10,000 at the start of 2011 to 15,000 in 2016 (2016).

¹² This message was widespread enough to prompt prefectural authorities to officially refute it through news outlets and their website. The specific shelter was only open to nursing mothers and children and was closed by the time of the tweet.

¹³ See Nogami and Yoshida (2014) for an overview of research and a specific study after the 2011 disasters.

¹⁴ Initially, pandas were scheduled to be loaned to the zoo as a gesture of goodwill following the disaster, but diplomatic conflict over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island dispute halted the talks (see McDonald, 2012).

¹⁵ Kwak (2017) shows that about 85% of the people who heard rumours of foreigners committing crimes, be they in Sendai or Tokyo, still believed them when he conducted the survey five years later.

¹⁶ The hero dies in an almost kamikaze-like suicide mission in a submarine.

¹⁷ This character’s given name uses the character for country, likely intended to indicate his nationalism.

¹⁸ It is unclear who exactly Fukada is referring to, and there are many non-Japanese names in the credits, but other commentators from the ‘internet right’ on Twitter and elsewhere remarked on Choi’s participation and that of the ‘leftie’ Sakamoto Ryūichi, who did the theme song for the series, as reasons for or evidence of the supposed ideological slant of the series. Fukada and others were part of a Twitter debate that drew the attention of the mainstream news media as well (Fujita, 2020).

¹⁹ He does say that he would be just as happy representing Estonia, but still chooses to represent diasporic Japan.

²⁰ Although Ayumu appears to use the term kokka as ‘nation’, and the subtitles acknowledge this usage, the term is also used for ‘nation-state’ in Japanese.

²¹ The published translation is different here. ‘He sure wants people to like him, I thought, but then you probably have to do that if you’re a bear’ (2012: 48). Kawakami uses the word ‘yahari’ in the original Japanese, which indicates that the normative expectation of bears living in human society would be that they should be considerate of the impact their presence has on the majority community.

²² Studies in early childhood education note that children form ideas about racial and other differences and articulate them as they are trying to make sense of the world, but that adults are sometimes unprepared to correctly contextualize and guide those developing ideas (see for example Park, 2011).