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Abstract
This study examines whether support for multiculturalism is compatible with an ethno-national identity in Japan. Multiculturalism discourses have centred on the issue of how to treat cultural diversity within a society. In Japan, the concept of multiculturalism has become popular over the past decade. However, some researchers think that the Japanese maintain their privileged position by essentialising cultural differences in the name of multiculturalism. My study therefore investigates the relationship between ethno-national identity, the endorsement of multiculturalism and supportive attitudes toward the equal rights of ethnic minorities by employing Japanese data from an international public-opinion survey. It was found that ethno-national identity has positive effects on the endorsement of multiculturalism, while having negative effects on the endorsement of equal rights between ethnic majorities and ethnic minorities. This means that the Japanese do not regard multiculturalism as antithetical to the maintenance of ethnic homogeneity within a ‘nation’; rather, the endorsement of multiculturalism stems from belief in the uniqueness of ‘Japaneseness’. The theoretical and political implications of this study's results are discussed.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks go to Mikael Hjerm (Umeå University) and Chris Burgess (Tsuda College) for their critical suggestions. I also wish to thank the anonymous JEMS reviewers for their comments, from which the article has substantially benefitted.
Notes
1. Multiculturalism has several dimensions ranging from demographic reality to ideology (Kato Citation1997). This paper focuses on multiculturalism as an ideal state or a national consensus, referring to the rights of ethnic minorities. It is true that local governments or volunteer associations deal with the various needs of ethnic minorities. However, these acts are disregarded if there is no clear ideal or national consensus (Kato Citation1997: 15). In addition, multiculturalism represents not only the rights of ethnic minorities but also those of women, gays and people with disabilities etc. (Kymlicka Citation2002: 373).
2. The Japanese people have not always believed this myth. During their imperial period, Japanese intellectuals described Japan as a multi-ethnic country (Oguma Citation1995).
3. A nation has various definitions. Some researchers use it as a cultural community separated from the state (Connor Citation1978; Kymlicka Citation1995). However, in my study, the term ‘nation’ indicates a cultural community composed of a population within the state; for example, Canadians, Australians or Americans.
4. More specifically, since 1991 they have been categorised by the status of ‘special permanent resident’, which guarantees permanent residency without renewal.
5. In addition to these legal foreign nationals, more than 110,000 illegal foreign nationals were estimated to live in Japan in 2009 (Immigration Bureau of Japan Citation2009).
6. The data utilised in this paper were documented and made available by the Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung in Cologne. The data for the ISSP were collected by independent institutions in each country (for further details, see the principal investigators in the study description schemes). Neither the original data collectors nor the Zentralarchiv bear any responsibility for the analysis or conclusions presented in this paper.
7. In addition, it is true that it would be preferable to have included several items in the above variables, as done in previous research by Arends-Tóth and Van De Vijver (Citation2003) or Verkuyten and Brug (Citation2004). However, this item, or at least similar items, was included in previous research as a part of the indicators (e.g. Hjerm Citation2000; Verkuyten and Brug Citation2004). Hence, the use of this item is appropriate in my study, given its research question and data.
8. The reliability score of these items is not very high (Cronbach's α=0.644); however, results of confirmatory factor analysis prove that these items are able to compose one factor (χ2=8.750, p>0.1, CFI=0.995, RMSEA=0.028).
9. This indicator has a potential problem—the meaning of ‘same rights’ is obscure. Citizens have a broad range of rights, from basic human rights—such as the right to education and the right to social security—to more expanded rights, such as the right to vote. The survey which Matsutani et al. (Citation2005) conducted in Kochi Prefecture shows that over 65 per cent of respondents were positive toward granting voting rights to foreign nationals in local elections. When compared to my result, the term ‘same rights’ seems to be perceived as ‘broader rights’. Even if my results obtained were affected by the respondents’ assumption of which rights are being referred to, the most important point with respect to my research objectives is how the endorsement of multiculturalism relates to the endorsement of the right to equality. Thus, the above statements are considered appropriate because they refer to equality.
10. The Japanese translation for the indicator of multiculturalism clearly referred to the cultural rights of immigrants as well as other ethnic minorities, since the original statement was: ‘Foreigners and ethnic minorities living in Japan should be given government assistance to preserve their customs and traditions’.
11. In the present study, the ages of the respondents range from 16 to 89 years. Gender is a binary variable (male=1; female=0). Educational level is indicated by how many years the respondents attended full-time education. Occupation is divided into four categories: non-manual worker, manual worker, unemployed, and ‘not in labour market’.
12. Most Japanese people do not practise any religion. In my dataset, 60.2 per cent of respondents (641) answered that they do not have any religious belief. This non-religiosity might affect the hypothesis that Japanese people do not regard religion as a criterion for being Japanese.
13. All correlations between socio-demographic variables are set out in the model.
14. Gender has a significant effect on the endorsement of multiculturalism in the full model. However, this effect becomes insignificant in the trimmed model and is therefore excluded.