22-07-2025
VOX POPULI: Study suggests xenophobia as the ‘default' is a conformity issue
Voters listen to a speech at Sanseito's street rally in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on June 21. (Akari Sugiyama)
While researching overseas cases of 'haigai shugi' (xenophobia), I realized that this word, which literally means 'exclusion of foreigners and foreign things,' can be substituted with other expressions in English.
The strongest expression is 'hatred against foreigners' ('gaikokujin keno' in Japanese) but "anti-foreign sentiment" ("hangaikokujin kanjo") and 'contempt for immigrants' ('imin besshi') are also often used.
There are fewer expressions that emphasize 'exclusion' ('haijo') or 'ostracization' ('haiseki').
Is there any Japanese word or phrase that explicitly conveys discriminatory thoughts?
I wondered about that when I saw, in the July 20 Upper House election coverage, this comment by a supporter of the opposition Sanseito party: 'Since this is Japan, putting the Japanese people first is common sense, isn't it?'
Obviously, this person has embraced the 'Japanese First' concept with total ease.
Realizing that the wave of populism that's rising around the world has arrived in Japan, I felt down. And it also made me sense that something just doesn't add up.
Compared to Europe and the United States, the number of foreigners Japan has let in is extremely small. And yet, the Japanese people are vociferously rejecting foreigners. Why?
In 'Kashika Sareru Sabetsu' (Discrimination brought to visualization), author Akira Igarashi presents the results of a very interesting experiment.
When Japanese test subjects were asked whether they supported or opposed restricting the number of foreign workers coming to Japan, their comments were more xenophobic if their answers could be seen by other people.
This, according to Igarashi, is the opposite of what is normally the case in Europe and the United States, where test subjects tend to hide, out of guilt, their honest anti-foreigner feelings when their answers can be viewed by other people.
Igarashi theorizes that there exists a 'standard' in Japanese society that creates the illusion that people must act xenophobically.
They are made to believe that since xenophobes are a majority, they must conform.
In the background, Igarashi explains, is Japan's greater tolerance toward xenophobic celebrities and politicians, who would be severely condemned in other countries.
If a single xenophobic statement can spread by feeding on people's frustrations and anxieties, that is really alarming.
Xenophobia is unmistakably the same thing as discrimination against foreigners.
—The Asahi Shimbun, July 22
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
