Associated Press reporter Natalie Obiko Pearson was born in Japan, went to college in the USA, and came back to Tokyo to work as a reporter for the international AP news service.
In a very moving article written on the eve of her departure from Japan after a three-year stint there for AP, Pearson, whose mother is Japanese and whose late father was Australian, talks about what it’s like to be a haafu (half) in Japan.
Citizenship, nationality, race and ethnicity carry little meaning in Japan because here they are perceived to be one and the same. The Japan where I came of age was extolled by politicians as a “one-state, one-language, one-race” nation.
It was a myth, of course. Japan has always had its ethnic minorities: the indigenous Ainu, the Okinawans, the feudal underclass known as burakumin, and the hundreds of thousands of Koreans and Chinese who have lived here for generations.
Well-written. I was worried that it would be another one of those rants about the exclusivity of Japan, but Ms. Pearson has a good angle on things. Unless you stay in the same town and do the same thing all your life (and maybe even then), you’re going to feel very out of place on a regular basis. I think this realization escapes many people who suffer from “culture shock,” in Japan or anywhere else. Fortunately, Pearson’s figured it out, even embraced it, as you can clearly see in the closing of the article.
I tell my daughter she is not ‘Half’ but ‘Double’: She has the incredible advantage of being as well Japanese as European. And she is proud of it. Until now (she is 10) no problems.
Pearson’s article about her frank and personal explanation of the search for own personal identity deeply moved me. As a haafu, I find many of her struggles and experiences directly relating to that of my own.
I tell my daughter she is not ‘Half’ but ‘Double’
Brilliant!
Pearson has now moved to Latin America, where she will report for AP from there, after three years in Tokyo. Judging from the responses this article has received worldwdide (check out the blogs around the world that have commented on her article), Pearson might have a book here. A very good book indeed. Natalie, are you listening?
I thought the article was a tad shallow and offered no solutions. Pearson has the financial freedom to have been able to attend a high-ranking university in the US and now live in whatever country she wants.
There are thousands of other “haafu” people out there in Japan, stuck in environments where they are teased, harassed, and marginalized because of their backgrounds, who don’t have the opportunity to attend private international schools or simply move away to greener pastures. I’ve met far too many biracial people raised in Japan with absolutely horrible stories to tell, and who are sadly unable to reach their full potential due to society’s opinion about their worth.
I would have been interested in hearing more about Pearson’s experiences as an adult after she moved back to Japan, and perhaps her ideas about what other “haafu” people can do to cope with their situation, other than simply hop on a plane and don’t look back.
“Many here believe that Japan, with its rapidly graying population, has no choice but to open its doors to a massive influx of foreign labor within the next couple of decades. Japanese society will doubtless endure some painful teething. But, frankly, I can’t wait.”
Seeing what massive immigration did to traditionally homogenous (both racially and, expecially, culturally) countries i don’t see much reason for rejoicing. The sad truth, as we saw so recently in the Balkans, is that multiculturalism doesn’t work, and can be the recipe for disaster. Now, please don’t mix race with culture. Look at Brasil! Very mixed racially, and works (relatively) well. But remember, they only have one dominating culture…
I found this article so interesting, as I’ve always wondered what life would have been like had I grown up mostly in Japan instead of America. As things stand now, I feel fortunate to have been part of two cultures. But I know I owe that debt to my parents for having seen the positive in blending cultures. As some of these comments show — and other stories in the news demonstrate — tolerance is not necessarily a universally shared attitude, or the logical aim of history.
Multiculturalism is just fine here in the U.S. And in Canada, and Australia, and NZ, and the E.U.(for the most part), and lots and lots of other places since before the Roman Empire. You’d better learn to live with it madne0, there’s no going back.
Great piece Ms. Pearson!!
Leaving Japan? Good riddance.
Why do people have patience for snobby rich kids who bitch and moan? Japan is not perfect, but it’s getting a lot better.
Duo: All of the countries you mentioned have only “embraced” multiculturalism in the last few decades. Like i said, don’t mistake multiracial societies with multicultural ones.
Madne0, the USA has been multicultural for it’s entire existence, which has been much longer than the last few decades. I don’t know what you mean by “embraced” anyway.
Japan’s culture is great for the most part, but some aspects of it need to be challenged, and immigration is the best way to do it. Of course, that goes for any country.
Fortunately, the international culture of young people is so common these days that it’s hard NOT to imagine a completely muddled-up cultural map a few generations from now, even in Japan (how much Japanese culture is really left in Tokyo?)
We might have our ideological differences, but we’re all on the same page, so to speak.
i love it when people extoll multiculturalism and then cite countries like the u.s. or astralia as example. i bet you they’re not blacks or aborigines. no matter how bad haafu are treated in japan, give me one example of a lynching there. as recently as a few years ago a black man was dragged to his death behind a truck. and need i remind you that tasmanians aborigines were EXTERMINATED. they’re no longer there.
Em, you wanna go back to segregation?
How about we just stop looking at the false concept of “race” altogether and just live on the same page together?
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