During lecture we discussed how Japan encourages social inclusion through various structures such as accessible public transport which the majority of the population uses regardless of their class. While there are such structures available, I was surprised by the minimal emphasis placed on the issues of social exclusion in Japan. When the discussion question “where do you see social inclusion in Japan” was asked, I was actually stumped, as I didn’t believe such structures were widely recognizable in Japan. My own perception of the concept of social inclusion in Japan was that while there is no obvious forms of social exclusion in Japan, there is also no obvious forms of social inclusion either. In fact, I believe it is also arguable that some conscious efforts of social inclusion in Japan, are means of further accentuating difference and creating a space of social exclusion, by which enforced social inclusion becomes a means of exclusion.
Recent news of a school girl in Japan being forced to dye her hair black, despite her natural brown hair colour, highlights this conception of what I conceive of when inclusion becomes exclusion. The requirement for the student to dye their hair to appear the same as all the other students is very common at public schools in Japan. Schools in Japan have strict rules for student’s appearance from how to wear the uniform to what colour hair-tie and socks the student must wear. In the article in which the school was being sued by the brown-haired student, the school’s argument for this rule enforcement was a simple argument for rules violation, and admitted that if there was a foreign student with blonde hair, they would even demand those students to dye their hair black “because that was the rule”.
Rule making and creating strict structures to maintain homogeneity is a common theme in Japanese society. These rules that do not explicitly expel the non-compliant body, but excludes them from being recognized from the legal structures are possibly the Japanese form of unconscious (or conscious) exclusion. As a densely populated small island nation, the concept of harmony has always been stressed and part of the Japanese identity. The make up of the word 和風, wafu, meaning the Japanese Style emblems this notion as well, as the Chinese character 和 also means harmony as well. This idea of harmony for the Japanese is however strongly attached to the prescription to the established social order, and not to disturb the established peace as explained by W. Dean Kinzley in his writing of “Industrial Harmony in Modern Japan: The Invention of a Tradition”. He explains that this tradition of harmony was established during the industrial boom in Japan as a way to maintain peace amongst the chaos. While these strict social structures and rules were originally established to create a sense of unity and community in the Japanese communities fit for that Industrial epoch, the strict enforcement of these rules today to a modern demographic in the current era is arguably unfit. The rigid structures and rules are instead an act of coercion and de facto exclusion of the multi-sectional spectrum of identities beyond the classic middle class 純日本人(pure Japanese), that have become realized today.
I find it confusing and contradictory of Japan, a country that has been pushing for greater global engagement of their economy wanting to create global jinzai, Japanese talent that is competent on the global scene, to be following traditions that in fact undermine the potential of such talent to be exposed and to incorporate other non-Japanese perspectives and ideologies. To be successful in the current world affairs with the mindset of global interactions, Japanese society still needs significant reform and awakening towards the acceptance of modifications to their traditional structures, and adapt to the current global demographics.