Module: Making Modern Japan: Great Expectations and Hard Times
Lecturer: Professor Rajyashree Pandey
Lecture 5 – Japan’s Minorities
There's going to be a strike, so when we come back after reading week, the lecturer
is going to do the bomb and the occupation of Japan lecture together to make up for
the time lost.
Recap
In last week's lecture, we talked about Japanese Imperialism. What's connected to
Japanese Imperialism is the presence of minorities, as it is seen as a mark of
colonialism. There are several minorities that belonged to Japan's empire which we
will cover in this lecture. And also, we will talk about other minorities that were
created in Japan from the Meiji period onwards.
Who are Japan's minorities?
It is a myth idea that Japan is a modernist country that is only made up of Japanese
people.
Nation and national
Self vs other
Constructing differences
Inside vs outside.
We will look at the way in which this myth came to be created and its implications in
order to gain an understanding into how Japan perceives itself.
The idea of homogeneous = the idea of essentialised Japanese-ness. This idea of
Japanese-ness is gained through a combination of blood and ethnic homogeneity.
There are constant statements made around this topic.
It is difficult to get an accurate percentage figure of the ethnic minorities, particularly
the Chinese and Koreans and so forth, because they were forced to become
Japanese, so they won't appear on the record of ethnic minorities.
Ainu people
We tend to think that the age of Japan's empire began in 1895 (Sino-Japanese War,
the colonisation of Taiwan). However, we need to rethink this. We need to think to
the date of the inception of Japan's modern empire instead in 1869 when the forceful
1
Lecturer: Professor Rajyashree Pandey
Lecture 5 – Japan’s Minorities
There's going to be a strike, so when we come back after reading week, the lecturer
is going to do the bomb and the occupation of Japan lecture together to make up for
the time lost.
Recap
In last week's lecture, we talked about Japanese Imperialism. What's connected to
Japanese Imperialism is the presence of minorities, as it is seen as a mark of
colonialism. There are several minorities that belonged to Japan's empire which we
will cover in this lecture. And also, we will talk about other minorities that were
created in Japan from the Meiji period onwards.
Who are Japan's minorities?
It is a myth idea that Japan is a modernist country that is only made up of Japanese
people.
Nation and national
Self vs other
Constructing differences
Inside vs outside.
We will look at the way in which this myth came to be created and its implications in
order to gain an understanding into how Japan perceives itself.
The idea of homogeneous = the idea of essentialised Japanese-ness. This idea of
Japanese-ness is gained through a combination of blood and ethnic homogeneity.
There are constant statements made around this topic.
It is difficult to get an accurate percentage figure of the ethnic minorities, particularly
the Chinese and Koreans and so forth, because they were forced to become
Japanese, so they won't appear on the record of ethnic minorities.
Ainu people
We tend to think that the age of Japan's empire began in 1895 (Sino-Japanese War,
the colonisation of Taiwan). However, we need to rethink this. We need to think to
the date of the inception of Japan's modern empire instead in 1869 when the forceful
1
