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How Homogeneous Is Japan?

noahpinion.substack.com

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Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#31

Post by 5cents »

bjeds wrote: post #5

Not sure how interesting this is, but since the article mentions Scandinavia and "homogeneous society", that's not really true either. Unlike Japan, Sweden keeps track, not of "race" but country of origin for migrants or children of migrants. For Sweden, 36.5% of men aged 15-44 are either foreign born, or has at least one parent foreign born. This data is from the Statistics Sweden (SCB) for 2019. In this cohort, 62.…

For Norway, 2020, I think about 25% of the population where either foreign born or has at least one parent foreign born [1]

https://www.ssb.no/statbank/sq/10046114

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#32

Post by peteretep »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
DC-3 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To uproot racism, you need to rally your population behind common denominators and values. That's all very nice but how do you apply it to the situation where you have a minority group with little to no interest in integrating into the indigenous culture?

You make them do it anyway. It's interesting to note in this context that unlike most countries, China fully assimilated its Jewish population.

I think forcibly assimilating minorities and China are a hard sell to mention together in a sentence without also mentioning Uighurs and Tibetans

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#33

Post by CorrectHorseBat »

azernik wrote: post #16
CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #9

>The refusal to gather statistics on ethno-racial diversity is unusual Is this true? I don't understand why any country would want to open the box of pandora that is gathering statistics on ethno-racial diversity. I always thought countries like the USA and China were the exception.

Just off the top of my head for countries that also track ethnicity/race in government statistics: Belgium (because the Walloon/Fleming ethnic divide is so central to its politics), Germany (under the euphemism "migration background"), Russia, Israel, Lebanon... Ethnicity is an extremely important identity category, and if you want to manage that diversity you need information.

>Belgium (because the Walloon/Fleming ethnic divide is so central to its politics)

No we don't? Those divisions are entirely decided by the place where you live and for a few things in Brussels your language proficiency/the language you choose.

For the rest only (original) nationality and place of birth (and those of your parents) are taken into account for statistics.

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#34

Post by hn3333 »

Genetics is one thing, but Japan definitely did allow foreign culture into their mix. Just look at the movie "The Last Samurai" to see what I mean. I wonder if it's possible to put out a number for that.

As for my Country, as Europeans we are heavily influenced by Americans, who we completely seem to accept as our cultural leaders. How do the Japanese feel about them though?

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#35

Post by Cederfjard »

africanboy wrote: post #20
ThePadawan wrote: post #3

> If I told you that the U.S. was “93.3% American”, would you conclude that the U.S. is a homogeneous country? Because that’s exactly what everyone who cites the “98% Japanese” statistic is doing for Japan. ...yes? I find both those numbers insanely high, since the proportion of non-citizens here in Switzerland is 25% (country-wide) or 32% ([0], Zurich). And this doesn't exactly make the country a melting pot either.…

TL;DR: ethnicity is not citizenship Switzerland has never been homogeneous and the recent immigration to Switzerland is very different from regular immigration elsewhere. It is an exception in the west, mostly due to low taxation for rich people or political reasons. for the same reasons in Lichtenstein 33℅ of the population is non-citizen and not surprisingly in Monaco an astonishing 75℅ of the residents are foreign…

Sorry for the irrelevant comment, but I’ve never seen anyone use ℅ instead of % before. If it’s a typo, how did that happen?

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#36

Post by hogFeast »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
DC-3 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To uproot racism, you need to rally your population behind common denominators and values. That's all very nice but how do you apply it to the situation where you have a minority group with little to no interest in integrating into the indigenous culture?

You make them do it anyway. It's interesting to note in this context that unlike most countries, China fully assimilated its Jewish population.

True, I have heard they are assimilating their Muslim population very effectively too. They even have assimilation holiday camps, fun for all the family.

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#37

Post by peteretep »

55555 wrote: post #6

A lot of words in this article in order to make a very weak argument. I assume he started writing before he started researching. From wikipedia: > Chinese people in Japan are the largest foreign minorities in Japan. They comprise 0.64% of Japan's population. So the largest ethnic groups in japan which aren't Japanese all comprise a percentage of the population measured in tenths of a single percent, at the most. Now…

Author also kinda goes in a circle by saying “just because they’re more Asian doesn’t mean they’re Japanese!!” and then pointing out that Korean Japanese blend right in and nobody’s the wiser, but a half-black Japanese is a Big Freakin’ Deal there. It’s a weird and poorly argued article for sure

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#38

Post by b3kart »

andi999 wrote: post #30
paddez wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> About 2.2% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign citizens You've conflated "citizenship" with "ethnicity".

Normally that is a valid point, but for Japan there is an enormous overlap.

> enormous

How enormous? We wouldn’t need words like that if we looked at the right numbers.

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#39

Post by tpush »

ginko wrote: post #21
azernik wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just off the top of my head for countries that also track ethnicity/race in government statistics: Belgium (because the Walloon/Fleming ethnic divide is so central to its politics), Germany (under the euphemism "migration background"), Russia, Israel, Lebanon... Ethnicity is an extremely important identity category, and if you want to manage that diversity you need information.

>Germany (under the euphemism "migration background") That's very different from the US keeping track of race though. After a generation there's no way for the German government to tell the children from naturalized citizens from other German citizens.

> That's very different from the US keeping track of race though.

You'll also never see a German statistic even using the word "race" for humans beings.

Re: How Homogeneous Is Japan?

#40

Post by johncoltrane »

CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #9

>The refusal to gather statistics on ethno-racial diversity is unusual Is this true? I don't understand why any country would want to open the box of pandora that is gathering statistics on ethno-racial diversity. I always thought countries like the USA and China were the exception.

Here is one reason: basing policies on actual facts rather than dogma.
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