Achieving Internal and External Mobilizations: Realignment of Social Movement Actors and the Construction of New Protagonist.

This paper analyzes how the anti-fingerprinting movement that began in Japan in the 1980s could achieve both internal and external mobilizations, focusing on the construction of collective identity as the "residents of Japan." The movement challenged the fingerprinting requirement that was imposed on foreign residents. The main potential beneficiaries were Koreans, who lived in Japan as the former colonial subjects of the Japanese empire. The failure of their earlier attempts seems to have been due to their nationalistic and colonial framework of the issue, which made them unable to receive societal support. As these Koreans, who were considered foreigner by birth due to the Japanese Nationality Law, became more community-based, their sense of belonging shifted from the Korean "state" to the Japanese "community." Their claim as the "residents of Japan," despites their Korean nationality, was supported by the Japanese, other foreigners, and the local governments, resulting in the realignment of social movement actors and the construction of a new protagonist. It suggests that since non-beneficiaries also relate themselves to the issue in their own context, they are not quite "external" to the issue. The distinction of movement participants based on direct benefits they receive will obscure the nature of protagonist as a diverse mixture of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries acting as a collective under a master frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]