The Issue of Diversity and Multiculturalism in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to problematize that which has been taken for granted about the notion of multiculturalism in Japan. Multiculturalism is a "hot" issue in Japan. As the Japanese government started to promote "internationalization" since 1980s, slogans such as "international exchange," "cultural exchange," "understanding of other cultures," etc., have become the most popular hackneyed expressions among policy maker and educators. This paper demonstrates that the notion of multiculturalism in Japan is intricately and deeply embedded in Japanese society, Japanese culture and the Japanese educational system and that this type of multiculturalism excludes ethnic groups which have lived in Japan since old times.