0.4%. That is how many non-ethnic Japanese folks there were in Japan in 2023 according to: https://www.japannihon.com/how-racially-diverse-is-japan/.
It would be safe to say that ethnic Japanese is the dominant ethnic group in that country. It would be also safe to say that Japanese culture is the dominant culture in Japan. Please listen carefully: a dominant culture is not the same thing as a dominating culture. A dominant culture simply describes numbers – it is raw statistical analysis. A dominating culture describes how the culture dominates i.e. rules over and controls the less dominant culture.
From 1946 to 1990 in South Africa, the percentage of Black population increased from 68.6% to 76% . The percentage of White population declined from 20% to 13% (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12321499/)’. Under the apartheid system, blacks were the dominant culture, but whites were the dominating culture. Much injustice to the blacks occurred during that time.
White culture dominance ended when Nelson Mandela finally walked free on February 11, 1990, and negotiations to end apartheid formally began that year. These negotiations lasted for four years, ending with the election of Mandela as president. In 1996, the country initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in an attempt to reckon with the gross human rights violations during apartheid. Since then, much injustice to the whites at the hands of the black regime has happened.
Does this make the distinction clear? I hope so, because I must press forward.
Throughout the history of humans on the planet, there has a been a consistent pattern of behavior called tribalism. Tribalism refers to customs and beliefs transmitted and enacted in groups (tribes) sharing a common identity and in which centralized political organization and authority are absent (https://sociology.iresearchnet.com/sociology-of-race/tribalism/). People have a tendency to hang out with others who have similarities to themselves based on many dimensions of similarity such as: race, ethnicity, language, religion, ways of life, kinship, attitudes, worldview, and generation.
If a black person moved to Tokyo and opened a Japanese tea shop close to a native Japanese tea shop, one would expect the black-owned shop might not do as well as the other. This may be rooted in racism, but it may also be tribalism based on culture (language, dress, business customs, and etc.) Even if the race came into it somewhat, it hardly seems proper to say that the Japanese people there were evil because they treated the black guy differently. If the black guy complained that the Japanese were racist and demanded that he be treated the same as the man who owned the Japanese tea shop, many people would say that he was playing a race card.
Here’s the deal. being treated differently can be rooted in many dimensions of difference. Race may or may not play a part in it. What would you have to do to prove it?
Japanese people are not evil because they feel more comfortable with other Japanese people. They are likewise not evil if they really value their culture and would like to see it perpetuated. lots of folks highly value the culture in which they share and have grown up within. It is only natural.
It would specious to claim that whites are evil on the basis of their culture dominance. It would also be specious to claim that whites are racist if they want to preserve their historical European culture and values. It would not be specious to claim that there have not been individuals and groups of whites who have sought and obtained dominance of others in this country. They are out there, to be sure. I submit to you that they are at the fringes and from those fringes they have brought much injustice here.
PS. I have no reason to beleive that the nation of Japan would be better or better off if the percentage of non-japanese people increased. To see more of my thoughts on Diversity, read my posts on Paradise by the Kamani-board Light and Diversity Post #2 at my blog.
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