Japan's New and Old Concept of Ethnic Policy with a Comaprison to a Multicultural Policy

Globalization has changed Japan’s population composition significantly by the 1990s as a result of the arrival of a relatively large number of foreign workers for the manufacturing industry.  This prompted the development of the concept of “Co-Living among Many Cultures” to facilitate the settlement of new foreign residents who have come mainly from South America and China.  Many of the residents have taken up permanent residence or citizenship, instead of remaining as foreign residents on temporary visas.  Japan’s large and long settled Korean community who have been treated unjustly in the past are reacting cautiously to the new concept of “Co-Living Among Many Cultures”. 

A new issue affecting the experience of Japan’s growing Chinese population is the rise of China-Japan tensions which also poses a challenge to the new co-living policy.  A major aspect of the troubled relation is the emergence of transnational political action, including the Beijing Olympic torch relay incidents .  Such incidents, as widely reported in the Japanese media, have triggered concerns among Japanese in general who treasure “Wa”, or harmony and peace, a traditional Japanese value and practice.   

In this presentation, I would like to point out what the Japanese new concept “Co-Living Many Cultures” , the traditonal philosphy “Wa” and the Australan “Multicultural Policy” concept have the common idea despite significant differences in demographics and ethnic relation policies in the in two countries.