In Response To: Yoshio Sugimoto, “Nation and Nationalism in Contemporary Japan,” Sage Handbook of Nations and Nationalism (2006), pp. 473-487.
National homogeneity remains an important part of modern Japanese culture despite a growing multicultural and ethnically diverse population. Sugimoto suggests a cooperation or intertwining between these two seemingly opposing aspects of Japanese society and I tend to agree. Though nationalism maintains the ability to exclude various groups of people within any society, as seen throughout the history of the world repeatedly, I believe ethnic diversity and celebration of multiculturalism can strengthen a state’s national identity. The United States pretends to pride itself on its status as a nation of immigrants while utilizing an exclusive version of nationalism to stifle the success and growth of certain groups of people. This example of a multicultural nation embracing nationalism is not what Sugimoto or I encourage a newly diversifying Japan to embody. Instead, Japan has the opportunity to build a stronger sense of nationalism and state pride through an encouragement of multiculturalism. Japan’s national roots remain an important aspect of Japanese society and bringing immigrants or other ethnicities into that narrative can be challenging, but it is not impossible. Japan utilized Western technology and ideas to modernize and establish itself as an economic hub outside of the traditional, geographical Western society (Sugimoto, 475). Japan modernized without losing its sense of tradition and national pride. The country remains loyal to its historical values and ideologies while incorporating newer ideas from outside its own cultural context and this combination has strengthened Japan’s position on a global scale and stimulated its economy. This same thing can be done in Japan with the influx of different groups of people. Japan has the opportunity to thrive with both national homogeneity and ethnic diversity as important aspects of Japanese society. I believe it is a sad notion that nationalism must be separate from multiculturalism because this suggests that humans must be separated by race, religion, or ethnicity to create a society with strong cultural values and traditions. Multiculturalism should be celebrated as a tool to create a better national identity, a more inclusive nationalism.
1 Comment
Interesting observations. You're right to point out that Japan has an important opportunity, but it will face many challenges in the future if it is to avoid the pitfalls that the US and other countries have run into. Your last point about an incompatibility between nationalism and multiculturalism being "sad" is also interesting. Do you think that all countries need to be multicultural? Or is it possible to have a strong national identity and still interact closely and fruitfully with those from other nations?
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Laura Gumz |