"Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official Registry Systems: Towards A Japanese Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory (CRT), grounded in American legal theories of power and dominance, has been increasingly applied to other countries to analyse racialised power relationships between social groups. Applying CRT to Japanese society, where "racism" is officially denied as a factor in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press)
2014
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/40665/1/Art3.pdf |
| _version_ | 1825834283516821504 |
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| author | Arudou, Debito |
| author_facet | Arudou, Debito |
| author_sort | Arudou, Debito |
| collection | USM |
| description | Critical Race Theory (CRT), grounded in American legal theories of power
and dominance, has been increasingly applied to other countries to analyse
racialised power relationships between social groups. Applying CRT to
Japanese society, where "racism" is officially denied as a factor in the
systemic differentiation of peoples into a dominant majority and
disenfranchised minorities, nevertheless reveals racialised paradigms
behind deciding who is a "member" of society (as in a citizen) and who is
not (as in, a non-citizen), systematically allocating privilege to people with
"Japanese blood." This research focuses on recent changes to Japan's
official registry systems vis-à-vis non-citizens. Historically, the Family
Registry (koseki) and the Resident Registry (jūmin kihon daichō) have
employed biological conceits to give systemic advantages (in terms of
citizenship, employment, access to social welfare and official recognition
as residents and family members) to "Wajin" (Japan's dominant social
group with "Japanese blood") over "Non-Wajin." Although the Resident
Registry system was amended in July 2012 to allow equal registry of noncitizens, this research finds under CRT methodology that the dominant
Wajin majority did not further enfranchise or cede power to the
disenfranchised non-citizen minority. The reforms were merely cosmetic
changes to a segregating system that remains largely intact in scope and
enforcement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:20:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | usm.eprints-40665 |
| institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:20:26Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | usm.eprints-406652018-05-31T08:55:40Z http://eprints.usm.my/40665/ "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official Registry Systems: Towards A Japanese Critical Race Theory Arudou, Debito P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Critical Race Theory (CRT), grounded in American legal theories of power and dominance, has been increasingly applied to other countries to analyse racialised power relationships between social groups. Applying CRT to Japanese society, where "racism" is officially denied as a factor in the systemic differentiation of peoples into a dominant majority and disenfranchised minorities, nevertheless reveals racialised paradigms behind deciding who is a "member" of society (as in a citizen) and who is not (as in, a non-citizen), systematically allocating privilege to people with "Japanese blood." This research focuses on recent changes to Japan's official registry systems vis-à-vis non-citizens. Historically, the Family Registry (koseki) and the Resident Registry (jūmin kihon daichō) have employed biological conceits to give systemic advantages (in terms of citizenship, employment, access to social welfare and official recognition as residents and family members) to "Wajin" (Japan's dominant social group with "Japanese blood") over "Non-Wajin." Although the Resident Registry system was amended in July 2012 to allow equal registry of noncitizens, this research finds under CRT methodology that the dominant Wajin majority did not further enfranchise or cede power to the disenfranchised non-citizen minority. The reforms were merely cosmetic changes to a segregating system that remains largely intact in scope and enforcement. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/40665/1/Art3.pdf Arudou, Debito (2014) "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official Registry Systems: Towards A Japanese Critical Race Theory. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 10 (1). pp. 50-77. ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243 http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Art3.pdf |
| spellingShingle | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Arudou, Debito "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official Registry Systems: Towards A Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title | "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official
Registry Systems: Towards A
Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title_full | "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official
Registry Systems: Towards A
Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title_fullStr | "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official
Registry Systems: Towards A
Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official
Registry Systems: Towards A
Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title_short | "Embedded Racism" In Japan's Official
Registry Systems: Towards A
Japanese Critical Race Theory |
| title_sort | embedded racism in japan s official registry systems towards a japanese critical race theory |
| topic | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) |
| url | http://eprints.usm.my/40665/1/Art3.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arudoudebito embeddedracisminjapansofficialregistrysystemstowardsajapanesecriticalracetheory |