2.3% of Japan's local population is half western

salamat said:

We may see Japan ending up similar to Latin America countries in the future if these trends continue, where pure japanese families have low birth rate.

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nice gaijin said:

Thanks for expanding on your question.

I think it makes sense that the demographics are shifting away from homogeneity, as the foreign population is rising and one of the easiest ways for foreigners to get permission to reside in Japan is through marriage. Japan is pretty strict about immigration and its population is already declining, so it seems perfectly reasonable for the percentage of mixed children to increase as these trends continue.

I guess, then, the question is to what extent are we assigning a label or value to this change we're observing. Do you think it's a good or bad thing that Japan is moving in this direction?


@salamat, I'm not sure what you mean about Latin American countries or where you're drawing a parallel... what do you consider to be "pure" families in Latin America?

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nice gaijin said:

Thanks for expanding on your question.

I think it makes sense that the demographics are shifting away from homogeneity, as the foreign population is rising and one of the easiest ways for foreigners to get permission to reside in Japan is through marriage. Japan is pretty strict about immigration and its population is already declining, so it seems perfectly reasonable for the percentage of mixed children to increase as these trends continue.

I guess, then, the question is to what extent are we assigning a label or value to this change we're observing. Do you think it's a good or bad thing that Japan is moving in this direction?


@salamat, I'm not sure what you mean about Latin American countries or where you're drawing a parallel... what do you consider to be "pure" families in Latin America?

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salamat said:

The criollos(fully spanish europeans) who make up the upper class of latin america

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salamat said:

Well I guess its from whose perspective is dependent if its negative or positive. Some westerners may see it in a positive light that Japan is becoming whiter

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nice gaijin said:

hm, it's interesting that the group you consider "pure" in Latin America is the group directly descended from the European colonizers from a few centuries ago... Wouldn't that be like if a bunch of French-speaking Canadians came to Japan and created a successful ethnic enclave, then claimed to be "pure Japanese" in a few hundred years?


What would you say, from your perspective?

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salamat said:

Well I guess its from whose perspective is dependent if its negative or positive. Some westerners may see it in a positive light that Japan is becoming whiter

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Lothor said:

Only a racist would see a 'Whiter' population as a positive thing. Most Westerners are not racist, even if the systems in their home country (and most countries in the world) are, and many Westerners are not White. I think we can leave skin colour out of this discussion.

Note that the number of Western people in Japan is much smaller than the number of non-Japanese Asian people. There are far more Japanese children with a Chinese, Korean, or Filipino parent than there are with a Western parent. So Japan is not becoming 'Whiter'.

Many people (myself included) see increased diversity and foreign representation in Japan as a good thing. You probably would too if you lived in Japan and repeatedly found your existence denied (foreigners are often not included in official population statistics) or exoticized by idiotic TV programs.

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Majestic said:

And the Japanese themselves are a mixture of various ethnicities, having undergone waves of immigration from the mainland (Korea and China) through the centuries. Some say the imperial line itself is linked to Korea. So this idea of "diluting the pure blood of Japan" already seems more emotional than rational, but the premise of this whole thread is a bit cringe, so we're already departing from the shores of rationality.

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Lothor said:

Only a racist would see a 'Whiter' population as a positive thing. Most Westerners are not racist, even if the systems in their home country (and most countries in the world) are, and many Westerners are not White. I think we can leave skin colour out of this discussion.

Note that the number of Western people in Japan is much smaller than the number of non-Japanese Asian people. There are far more Japanese children with a Chinese, Korean, or Filipino parent than there are with a Western parent. So Japan is not becoming 'Whiter'.

Many people (myself included) see increased diversity and foreign representation in Japan as a good thing. You probably would too if you lived in Japan and repeatedly found your existence denied (foreigners are often not included in official population statistics) or exoticized by idiotic TV programs.

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salamat said:

I have actually met an esl teacher on a flight to Narita who wished that Japan was still controlled by the US like back after ww2. He ranted that Japan would be better off if white people were in control of the country. It was a very akward 10 hours sitting next to him

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mdchachi said:

That would be an awkward flight indeed. You didn't mention the guy's ethnicity. White? Japanese?

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