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Playing at Diversity

2019.11.04
  • Jesse Patterson
  • Culture
  • 2019
With the Rugby World Cup finishing this year and the Japanese team making it close to the finals, I think there is still much to celebrate even though they didn’t win the championship. The fact they made it there is an achievement for East Asia in how usually the only other teams from the Pacific would be a part of Oceania. I fully expect even more future generations of Japanese people, men, and women, to take an interest in playing the sport. At the same time, I couldn’t help but notice the diverse backgrounds represented in the team. While some of this could have been just to help the team, I hope in the long-term the slogan of “One Team” becomes a saying used to describe Japan by improving the present and ensuring future well-being. 

At present, most would not look at Japan and think of a diverse country. Even though there is an international community present, they do not exist here naturally. In recent years, they are largely here by choice, and many have made Japan their home. When that is presented on television and other media, though, it is usually presented in a sense of “foreignness.” Maybe background and lifestyle choices are given attention, and perhaps focus is given to difficulties experienced in Japan. Still, it is mostly in the context of being outside the culture, not a part of it. Even children born of biracial families with one Japanese parent will be casually referred to as “half” in society, but you cannot be both half and whole, not one and less than one. These ideas are counter to being “one” made popular with the rugby team and would be good to make a part of daily practice in Japan now. 

This acceptance would also make sense for Japan in the future. With the well-known population problem facing the country in the coming years, solutions will have to come from outside Japan to help. Television and other media may focus on foreigners as a source of labor, but history, both recent and distant, is full of problems when labeling of people from other countries to only cheap labor. Instead of viewing foreigners as a set of hands to get dirty, this idea of being a part of “one team” should also be encouraged. The future of Japan will not look like it does now, and that is okay. 

People you see to your left and right on a train in the future may have hair that is grayer, but it also may be blonder, browner, and redder. That does not need to be taken as a threat to Japanese culture because, like members of the international community today, they will probably be here by choice. There is something about Japan that makes them want to stay, and that means Japan lives in them. Japan may look differently, but Japanese culture carries on in a diverse people. Japan will still be one. 

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