Diversity in Japan: Does it exist ?

Question

I beleive so since many people from other Asian countries have immigrated there.
What do you think ?

Answer 1

I've tended to notice the following...
There are indeed lots of non-Japanese Asians who speak Japanese in Japan. That doesn't mean you can't tell they are foreigners. All white people, all black people don't look the same..same with asians. You can definitely tell the difference btwn someone from SE Asia, E Asia, China, etc. The have different basic features, just like every other color of person. Once you have lived in Japan for awhile, you will be able to usually tell if somebody is J or gaijin (usually). There are exceptions though!
As for diversity in Japan...not really. Yes in Tokyo. Yes in Osaka. But cruise out to some of the smaller, non-business center town or cities...the only gaijin you will see there is the English teachers. Maybe a few others. There are lots of Koreans and Chinese sprinkled around the country, but not alot of others.
A couple years ago I visited the Kagoshima area with a J friend, and I was the first foreigner most of the people in his family had seen in years!
I lived in Akita for a year while going to University, and when I had to register as an alien there, I saw stats on the Gaijin population. There was less than 1000 foreigners registered in the entire prefecture! Half were Korean, then it was a smattering of many nationalities.
So no, I don't think Japan is very diverse right now...but it is moving that way..slowly.

Answer 2

It depends on the meaning of "diversity". If you mean the racial diversity like the US, my answer is No.
Actually Japan is NOT immigrant country. So isn't their policy.
Registered foreign residents are 2M, officially. The population of Japanese is 125M. Foreigners are less than 2%.
China towns are only 2. Never heard Arabic streets in Japan, but several Indian towns and Brazilian towns, small though.
In Japan, they are feeling there is diversity for their life, it is for Japanese and of Japanese life. You can find it in their culture.They accept both old and new.

Taiwan is similar. 98% is Han Chinese. In Korea, I think nearly 100% are Koreans.
In the East Asia, including China, you won't be able to expect the racial diversity like the US and Europe.
Even in those countries, I doubt whether they are trying to admit and accept the diversity for Muslim ppl.

East Asia won't repeat the same failure occurred in those multicultural nations. The riot in the France, racial conflicts in London, etc.

Answer 3

Actually, NOT many people from other Asian countries have immigrated there -- at least not legally.
I lived in Japan for a year, and since then go back every few months for business. The only place I see non-Japanese is the "red-light" districts around Tokyo. I have yet to meet a single non-Japanese (other than a few Americans who work there like I did) in a business or social setting.
No, diversity doesn't really exist there.

Answer 4

I have to point out that once an Asian immigrant has learned Japanese YOU or I wouldn't be able to tell them apart from a Japanese person! And if they don't speak in front of you, you'd have NO idea anyway.

Suggesting that all Chinese and Korean etc. immigrants are in the red light districts means that Welltravelledprog must consider the WHOLE of Japan to be one big red-light district..!! Because I've seen / heard / met them all over the place..!! And as they're not all FEMALE .... !!?!

Anyway, in comparison to many countries (in Europe, or America,) Japan does NOT have racial diversity at all! But in the eyes of your elderly Japanese Tokyo-ite, there are an unbelievable amount of foreigners around! It depends on what you're used to really..!

There IS diversity, but on an extremely SMALL scale...!

BTW, most Koreans who live here pretend to be Japanese. If they're discovered later to be non-Japanese they sometimes get demoted or sacked, but it's impossible to be 100% sure whether that's due to their lying, or an intrinsic racism on the part of their employers. (I have to point out that if a 100% Japanese person lies on their application for a job, which they get on the strength of that application, they will ALSO be demoted or sacked. A perfect example is that of several bus drivers recently. Bus drivers HAVE to have stopped their schooling by a certain age, and anyone who stayed in school for longer than that isn't permitted to be a bus driver - this is so that the less-qualified people can get a decent job on their own merits - but earlier this year it was discovered that several bus drivers had lied about when they left school ... so they all got fired for being over-qualified and lying on their application forms.)

Answer 5

Yes there is diversity but no where as near as places like the U.S., U.K, and Russia. WellTraveledProg probably has seen a lot of non-Japanese outside of the redlight disctrict but some other Asian minorities do not often stand out such as Koreans. If you visit places like Shibuya and Roppongi you will likely see a variety of westerners walking around, some middle easterners selling "Donner sandwiches (aka shwarmas) or a variety of nationalities in the clubs.Korean BBQs are often owned and run by Korean families who may have been in Japan for decades or may be a recent immigrant. There is a lot of illegal immigration but there are also a lot of legal immigrants. I know English teachers from the UK, U.S., NZ, and a few other places who live in the Tokyo area. The areas around the U.S. bases often attract an interesting mix of people, some temporary residents while others settled down with their Japanese spouses. While walking the streets of Arakawa ward in Tokyo I often see Koreans, European descended people, and Africans.

While a Japanese may be able to tell that a Filipino from a Japanese but there are a lot of people from places like North America who can't tell a Japanese from a Filipino or Vietnamese.

Answer 6

In some areas of Japan there is a large Brazilian population. In Hamamatsu and some towns in Gumma it's common to see Portugese signs. Japanese/Brazilian music is a whole genre unto to itself. Other than that, if you want diversity you really need to go to Kobe, Tokyo or Yokohama.

Answer 7

The gaijin is the rarity, not the norm in Japan, no matter what culture they are from, gaijin are definitely in the minority, Grabbed from the cia factbook on Japan:
Population- 127,463,611 (July 2006 est.)
Racial makeup-
Japanese 99%, others 1% (Korean 511,262, Chinese 244,241, Brazilian 182,232, Filipino 89,851, other 237,914)
note: up to 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin migrated to Japan in the 1990s to work in industries; some have returned to Brazil