Multiethnic Japan

by John Lie

Multiethnic Japan challenges the received view of Japanese society as ethnically homogeneous. Employing a wide array of arguments and evidence--historical and comparative, interviews and observations, high literature and popular culture--John Lie recasts modern Japan as a thoroughly multiethnic society.

Lie casts light on a wide range of minority groups in modern Japanese society, including the Ainu, Burakumin (descendants of premodern outcasts), Chinese, Koreans, and Okinawans. In so doing, he depicts the trajectory of modern Japanese identity.

Surprisingly, Lie argues that the belief in a monoethnic Japan is a post–World War II phenomenon, and he explores the formation of the monoethnic ideology. He also makes a general argument about the nature of national identity, delving into the mechanisms of social classification, signification, and identification.

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, History, Social Science, Japanese History, Sociology

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2001

About the author

John Lie is C. K. Cho Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

[Rene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. Doesn't move far beyond the obvious truth that monoethnic Japaneseness (or any other cultural authenticity) is a fabrication.

[Jakob]

Great introduction to Japaneseness and Multiethnicity. It is certainly not outdated, although a lot has happened since it was published and it would be nice to see a follow-up.

[ryo narasaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

i learned a lot. a lot a lot.
i have even used this book to plan curricula for my japanese and anime classes in the high schools where i teach.
i of course get frustrated by lie's "high"/academic language but i guess it is appropriate for his audience.
another frustration: when teaching high school students japanese language and culture, it's very difficult to not make broad generalizations without sounding too abstract- i need to figure out a way to get around this...
i highly recommend this book.

[Daniel Burton-Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has a bit of a chip on his shoulder from indignities he presumably suffered as a Korean living in Japan for over a decade, but he marshals an impressive amount of data to thoroughly demolish Japanese pretensions of cultural and ethnic homogeneity.