Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Despite the common idea of Japan as a monoethnic territory, the country has a long history of foreign immigration: ‘oldcomers’, that arrived from former Japanese colonies, and a more recent phase of ‘newcomers’. Both have struggled to integrate into Japanese society, that has mainly endorsed policies of invisibilization of minorities and assimilation. This paper analyzes the possibilities and limitations of the rising notion of multicultural coexistence (tabunka kyousei), particularly in education. The term intends to highlight the diversity in Japan, not by othering multiculturalism, but by challenging the concept of ‘Japaneseness’ as homogeneity. We argue that Japanese schools promote equal treatment, disregarding the inequality in resources, needs, and background of students. Contrary to the notion of multicultural coexistence, schools rarely problematize inequality between “Japanese” and “foreigners,” often promoting superficial exchanges between the two. In addition, we argue that schools expect immigrant students to internalize Japanese culture and traditions, rather than developing their heritage language, and perpetuate the dichotomy between who is recognized as Japanese and who is not. The literature shows that those with integration profiles, where both the ethnic and host culture are included, present numerous benefits such as higher self-esteem and wellbeing, and maintaining and developing the heritage language can also foster the acquisition of the host language. Assimilation policies, however, may hinder students from developing these strategies. Finally, we highlight the possibilities of recent change of education policies that now place a bigger focus on the integration of immigrant students, specifically emphasizing the importance of cultural affirmation.