Diversity And Inclusion In Japan

Alcantara, Shinohara, and their contributors evaluate the current state of diversity and inclusion (D&I) within business and higher education in Japan, and the importance of D&I to the growth of Japan’s economy and the enrichment of its society. Japan is widely understood to be a homogenous and patriarchal society, and while this is changing and was never wholly accurate, it certainly faces challenges in becoming more diverse and inclusive, particularly in its business and higher educational cultures. Grounded in research and offering best practices, the chapters in this book analyze critical issues relating to D&I in Japan at the individual, organizational, and industry levels. They present both a longitudinal analysis of the evolution and performance outcomes of D&I policies in Japanese corporations across industries, and rich studies of different underrepresented groups in Japan. These groups include immigrants, women, and people with disabilities. The contributors prescribe policies for promoting D&I in higher education, within businesses and at the governmental level. This book is an essential contribution to D&I discourse in the Japanese context that will be of great value to scholars of Japanese society and business, and an important extended case study for those looking at D&I more widely.

This book enables readers to understand contemporary Japanese society and culture. Since it is written by experts, it allows readers to start with any chapters they are interested in. It also provides a unique way to introduce Japanese society and culture to those who have never visited or studied Japanese society by reading articles from various authors on topics such as gender, family, economy, natural disasters and politics and laws. It provides scholars, academics, graduate students and the general educated audience all the information required to understand contemporary Japanese society and culture fully and see the diverse perspectives available.

The recent manifestation of exclusionism in Japan has emerged at a time of intensified neoliberal economic policies, increased cross-border migration brought on by globalization, the elevated threat of global terrorism, heightened tensions between East Asian states over historical and territorial conflicts, and a backlash by Japanese conservatives over perceived historical apologism. The social and political environment for minorities in Japan has shifted drastically since the 1990s, yet many studies of Japan still tend to view Japan through the dominant discourses of “ethnic homogeneity (tanitsu minzoku shakai)” and “middle-class society (so ̄churyu ̄-shakai)” which positions the exclusion of minorities as an exceptional phenomenon. While exclusionism has been recognized as a serious threat to minority groups, it has not often been considered a representative issue for the whole of Japanese society. This tendency will persist until the discourses of tanitsu minzoku shakai and so ̄churyu ̄-shakai are systematically debunked and Japan is widely recognized as both multiethnic and socio-economically stratified. Today, as with most advanced capitalist countries, serious social divides occasioned by the impacts of globalization and neoliberalism have destabilized Japanese society. This book explores not only how Japanese society is diversified and unequal, but also how diversity and inequality have caused people to divide into separate realities from which conflict and violence have emerged. It empirically examines the current situation while considering the historical development of exclusionism from the interdisciplinary viewpoints of history, policy studies, cultural studies, sociology and cultural anthropology. In addition to analyzing the realities of division and exclusionism, the authors propose theoretical alternatives to overcome such cultural and social divides.

No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are. – Paulo Freire Diversity in Japanese Education explores ‘self-experience’ of individual learners and educators in Japan. The word ‘diversity’ is not limited to one’s ethnic background. Here, diversity refers to one’s pedagogical experiences and life experiences; to the norms, beliefs and values that impact such relations. These experiences and relations are fluid as they are shaped and reshaped in global and glocal settings. They are also reflected in praxis of English language learning and teaching in Japan. The authors’ educational backgrounds vary but they all share the common ground of being educators in Japan. Through being involved in learning and/or teaching English language in Japan, they have witnessed and experienced ‘diversity’ in their own pedagogical context. The book focuses on shifting critical and reflexive eyes on qualitative studies of pedagogical experiences rather than presenting one ‘fixed’ view of Japanese education.

Japan's Diversity Dilemmas: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Education reveals how Japanese society is now in the midst of dramatic transformation brought on by demographic change and globalization. Foreigners are coming to Japan and many more will come in the near future to meet the demands of an economy that needs workers to compensate for an extremely low birth rate. The ramifications of this influx of foreigners into a society that has based its identity on a mythical ethnic purity are enormous. This book examines the effects of globalization on both new and older ethnic communities. It shows the ways in which minorities, in particular Koreans, are changing their conceptions and practices regarding nationality. It explores issues of human rights and emerging conceptions of citizenship in Japan. It also looks at how forces of globalization are affecting the state ideology of homogeneity and how a new image of diversity and multiculturalism is slowly developing. Several authors focus their attention on implications for education in citizenship education, ethnic education, and international education. Japan's Diversity Dilemmas is not just about minorities, but addresses issues of diversity that impact Japan as a nation in three areas: ethnicity, citizenship, and education. As the population diversifies, the linking of ethnicity and citizenship is being challenged and education is a battleground where these struggles occur. This collection of papers by an interdisciplinary group of authors helps readers to understand Japan's evolving conceptions of the nation and its attempts to balance tensions of unity and diversity. 'Japan's Diversity Dilemmas looks at precisely the kind of issues that need examination and discussion, as Japan stands on the cusp of potentially huge demographic and social changes. This collection of studies will enrich and inform classroom and public discourse and those who follow these issues will find this book essential." -Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News and former Fulbright Fellow, University of Tokyo

This volume examines how Japan’s increasingly multicultural population has impacted on the lives of minority children and their peers at school, and how schools are responding to this trend in terms of providing minority children with opportunities and preparing them for the adult society. The contributors focus on interactions between individuals and among groups representing diverse cultural backgrounds, and explore how such interactions are changing the landscape of education in increasingly multicultural Japan. Drawing on detailed micro-level studies of schooling, the chapters reveal the ways in which these individuals and groups (long-existing minority groups, newcomers, and the ‘mainstream Japanese’) interact, and the significant consequences of such interactions on learning at school and the system of education as a whole. While the educational achievement of children of varying minority groups continues to reflect their places in the social hierarchy, the boundaries of individual and group categories are negotiated by mutual interactions and remain fluid and situational. Minorities and Education in Multicultural Japan provides important insights into bottom-up policy making processes and consciously brings together English and Japanese scholarship. As such, it will be an important resource for those interested in education and minority issues in Japan.

A balanced introduction to and examination of contemporary Japanese education. While the postwar system of schooling has provided valuable ingredients for economic success, it has been accompanied by unfavourable developments such as excessively competitive exams, stifling uniformity, bullying, and an undervaluing of non-Japanese ethnicity. This book offers up-to-date information and new perspectives on schooling in contemporary Japanese society, and uses detailed ethnographic studies and interviews with students and teachers. It examines the main developments of modern schooling in Japan, from the beginning of the Meiji era up to the present, and includes analysis of the most recent reforms. It develops a new picture of the role that schooling plays for individuals and the wider society. Essential reading for students and educators alike.

This is the first in-depth study of the "other" Japan - the diverse and complex culture that belies the conventional portrayal of Japan as a homogenous entity. Moving, fascinating and surprising, this book sets out the largely untold story of the cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity found in Japan today, where members of marginal societal groups are ignored by the mainstream on the grounds of physical, ethnic, religious or other differences. Among them are the Ainu, Koreans, "Buraku", women, returnees and the deaf, for all of whom this work serves as a forum to give eloquent voice to their history and present situation. This unique study describes the existing plurality in Japan in order to start balancing the perspectives which currently exist in the non-Japanese literature about Japan; to challenge the myth of Japanese uniqueness by focusing on very common experiences that Japanese people share with peoples in other parts of the world; and above all, to counteract the common tendency to see complexity as a threat by illustrating the value to society as a whole of diversity and cultural plurality.