Adamu posts about Tony Bianchi, the Bensonhurst-born former English teacher who was elected to the city council of Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. In particular, you want to listen to his 2003 interview with NPR (linked to Adamu’s post), where, among other things, he explains–in Brooklynese–how his native accent helped him learn Japanese. Adamu also contrasts Bianchi’s style of “expat activism” with that of a better-known foreign-born Japanese activist:
Bianchi’s political style stands in stark juxtaposition with that of a better-known Western-born activist in Japan, Debito Arudo (Pictured below). Debito, also a naturalized Japanese citizen who was born and raised in the US (California), is much more confrontational, divisive, and preoccupied with identity politics. While Debito demands to be accepted as a “Japanese person” as part of his multiculturalist vision for Japan, Bianchi seems to relish his status as an American who made a life for himself in small-town Japan. He even uses his “New York-ness” to make himself more accessible (See picture on right). Bianchi is also much less of an “activist,” even to the point of not wanting to be called a politician as that would distract from his goals as a servant for the town of Inuyama. That’s certainly an understandable desire as “politician” is an much crueler epithet than “gaijin,” but it reflects his decidedly provincial aspirations.
Fascinating stuff, so read the rest of Adamu’s post on your own.
PS: Tony from Bensonhurst isn’t the only “foreigner” in Japan to enter the political arena. Finnish-born Martti Turunen, of course, is not a hockey player, but rather a Diet member from the Democratic Party of Japan (hat tip to Adamu again).
31 Comments
wow, he’s another Brooklyn New York Yankee fan. Sad. Product of parenting. I wonder why the Japanese didn’t force this man to change his last name and first name to Japanese style.
After all, the Japanese did require that of Koreans. Ever heard of Rikidozan (Kim Sin-Nak (Hangul: 김신락; Hanja: 金信洛), or Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達 Ōyama Masutatsu) (Choi Yeong-Eui (Hangul: 최영의; Hanja: 崔永宜), ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikidozan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masutatsu_Oyama
Japanese people have a double standard.
Rikidozan was not forced to change his name. For that matter, “Rikidozan” is just a stage name anyway.
And you know, Park Jung-hee had a Japanese name as well and he all know that he went on to great things.
I don’t know the whole story about Rikidozan, but Choi’s son says it the way it was, even for Park Jung Hee, Lt. Okamoto.
http://www.ohmynews.com/Articl.....p;rel_no=1
- 인터넷에 ‘안티 최영의’가 있는 것으로 안다. 그들이 내세우는 안티의 이유는 최영의가 귀화를 했고 일본인으로 살아왔기 때문에 한국의 영웅이 아니라는 것이다. 창씨개명과 귀화에 대해 어떻게 생각하나?
“아버지는 분명 윤봉길 의사, 유관순 열사와 같은 애국자는 아니었다. 하지만 재일동포로 살면서 아버지에게는 한국인이라는 자긍심과 고국에 대한 그리움이 분명히 있었다. 당시에는 귀화하지 않으면 아무 것도 할 수 없었다. 아버지는 가끔 ‘조국에 대해 고개를 못 들겠다’는 말씀을 하시기도 했다. 아버지가 일본인이 아니었다는 가장 큰 이유는 후계자로 한국인을 지목한 것에서도 분명히 알 수 있다.”
by the way, I’m a reasonble person. I believe I mentioned here a long time ago that in South Korea, tv news is still doctored by whoever’s in the Executive branch of power.
I’m the sort of person who has thought about asking Koreans in their 80’s about what their Japanese style names used to be. I never did it though. I’m guessing most took one of those on and later discarded them.
Bianchi and Tsurunen are the only *Westerners* who naturalized and became politicians, but there are several notable “foreign” politicians of Taiwanese and Korean descent, both in the Diet and in local government. Indeed, if you exclude the Japanese Parliamentarians born in the colonies before WWII, and the US Congressman born overseas because of the military or other government service, the numbers of Japanese and American “foreign born” elected politicians currently serving in the Congress/Diet are the same: three. (Jamaica, Hungary, and the Netherlands for the US; and Finland, Taiwan, and Korea for Japan.)
WJK: The naturalization law was liberalized in 1982, making it even easier to become a Japanese citizen than it is to become a US citizen (just 5 years of continuous residence, you have to have an income, not be crazy, and read Japanese to an 8-yo level). The name requirement has been dropped since 1998: a naturalizing citizen can take whatever name they like as long as it is readable in Japanese (using katakana, hiragana, or kanji characters).
Curzon–OK, I’m curious. I assume Tom Lantos is the Congressman from Hungary, but who are the Dutch and Jamaican ones? This list also includes a couple of Cuban-born lawmakers from, strangely enough, Florida.
Rob: My list may be outdated; according to your link, the current list of “genuine” foreign-born elected Congressman includes Lantos, David Wu, and Mel Martinez. If memory serves correct, the Jamaican-born politician was a Democrat from NY city and the Dutch-born politician was a Republican from Michigan. (Van Hollen’s Dad was in the State Dept., and this list also doesn’t mention at least one congressman born in Japan because of parental military commitments.)
Curzon,
there are several notable “foreign” politicians of Taiwanese and Korean descent
- the term itself is idiotic. If they are just “descent” then they are born in Japan and have Japanese citizenship. What is so strange about a citizen becoming a politician? Yet, you still attach the label “foreign”. Maybe you start thinking like a Japanese.
For my edification, can you give some examples? I like to know which Japanese politicians have Korean blood in them.
I know Koizumi’s father had some affairs with the first Korean female pilot. Who knows, Koi may be a Korean (on the mother’s side).
Curzon: Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is also foreign-born.
Also, to add to the comment re name changing, I understand that the Ministry of Justice now recommends that foreigners *not* change their names when they naturalize. The option is certainly there, though.
I wonder how long it will be before we have the first non-racially-Korean elected to a public office here in Korea? There are some like the influential Jeffrey Jones who you can imagine trying to do it… Hyeon-gak Seunim (and Gus Hiddink, for that matter) have perhaps been paving the way. Hana-nim knows that i would never try to do it, even if i could without changing my citizenship; Korean politics is such a dirty snake-pit, why lower yourself into that?
Baduk:
1. Notice that I used “foreign” in quotation marks, which generally denotes a pseudo-definition of the world.
2. Arguing that the term “Foreign” is idiotic in the context I use it misses the point. Both Korea and Japan have no history of non-ethnics involved in the society on equal terms as ethnic citizens, not do they have any tradition of immigration or multiethnic societies. Thus, if someone has non-Japanese or non-Korean ethnicity in them, they will, for better or worse, probably be regarded as “foreign” in one way or another. This is what Adamu’s post gets at in the comparison of Bianchi and Arudo: Bianchi is comfortable with his identity whereas Arudo was unhappy to be American and is now unhappy to be Japanese.
3. The three “foreign” politicians are all members of the opposition DPJ: Tsurunen Marutei (Finnish), born in Finland and naturalized; Renho Murata (Taiwanese), born in Taiwan but who went to high school and college in Japan; and Park Shinkun, born in Korean but who chose Korean nationality, not naturalizing until 15 months before he ran for office. In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s there were also at times Diet members from the Ainu, Korean, and Burakumin minorities.
4. I am guilty of thinking Japanese in some respects, partially a product of attending a rural Kansai public high school.
I’m surprised but impressed to learn that—according to Curzon’s first comment—Japan’s citizenship criteria are so liberal. Surprised because—as he points out in his third comment and other readers will know—Japanese and Korean laws on what “foreigners” (i.e., those not of Japanese or Korean descent respectively) can and cannot do appear on the surface at least to be quite restrictive. From what I gather, it’s still harder to become a South Korean citizen, is it not? I vaguely recall hearing a few years ago that in addition to a lengthy residency requirement, there was a university-entrance-exam-style test on Korean history, etc.?
sewing: An easy-to-understand look at citizenship laws across countries, including Japan (including North Korea’s super-strict system but not South Korea’s) can be found here as a rebuttal to one of Debito’s staler arguments.
Adding to Joe’s comments, if you take a look at the daily National Register of Japan, you’ll see that few of the people granted citizenship have changed their names to sound Japanese.
I don’t understand peopl who want to “become Japanese.” I thank god every day that I wasn’t born Japanese, and the only reason I’m willing to live in Japan is because I’m NOT Japanese.
There are so many restrictions placed on people in current Japanese society. As a foreigner who is very familiar with what is expected of people in various circumstances, I can act appropriately or not depending on mood, although it’s not as though I make a habit of being inappropriate. If you actually are Japanese, though, people expect you to adhere much more strictly to a certain set of rules. I’m glad I don’t have to do this.
Zak: The assertion implied in your statement is that naturalized citizens must suddenly follow a whole set of rules only applicable to Japanese people, and you’re magically exempt if you’re a foreigner. I know enough happy naturalized Japanese professionals and miserable Eikaiwa teachers to disagree with that statement. Additionally, foreigners generally pick up that perception, in my experience, from working in either 1.) the boonies, 2.) a government or quasi-government organization, or worst, 3.) a government organization in the boonies. Allow me to recommend the private sector in Tokyo.
I should have made more clear that picking up a Japanese passport didn’t make you magically Japanese. I’m refering to the, dare I say it, “Japanophile,” who wants to blend in so much and hates being reminded that they are irrevocably different. I don’t think the process of acquiring Japanese citizenship has much to do with anything except picking up some legal rights in Japan and foregoing them in your home country.
And, since I work at home as a translator, I am definitely more exempt from certain social norms than you are if you work in the private sector in Tokyo. I definitely like it that way. Still, I hope I didn’t give the imporession I get off on being uncouth–I don’t.
Forgive me if this has been covered, but are people who become naturalized Japanese citizens then required to renounce their prior citizenship, as is the case for those who become naturalized Korean citizens?
I am glad to say that I have never met such a person.
Kushibo: Yes. Japan does not allow dual citizenship. However, many people do get away with keeping their citizenship, especially if they hold US or EU passports, because it’s so hard to check/prove these things. According to the citizenship law, even if the Minsitry of Justice does find out, the naturalied citizen will be notified of the violation and will have the chance to remedy the situation before they are penalized.
Debito made himself a martyr (unnecessarily) on this issue. You can read the details “here.”:http://www.debito.org/deamericanize.html Don’t miss the ‘boat people’ rant.
However, many people do get away with keeping their citizenship, especially if they hold US or EU passports, because it’s so hard to check/prove these things.
In Korea, I believe, a person’s citizenship is considered provisional (or something like that) until a document stating renouncement of one’s prior citizenship is produced, and if it’s not done so within six months, then the ROK citizenship is made null and void.
It’s possible that I have the details wrong or that I had them right but they have since changed.
I’ve always wondered how difficult former US citizens found it to get a green card or visitor’s visa to the United States.
What? Japan doesn’t allow for dual citizenship? How provincial and racist! Look at how Japanese automatically think a white person or other Asian is “foreign”
Now us Koreans…we would never ever label a Filipino or a yangnom..oops, I mean, white person as foreign. Hell, all Koreans are automatically programmed to accept all ethnicities as Koreans! We never have an “us” vs. “them” attitude. That is only Japan!
Also, an African can guy can become a Korean citizen without any problem! Also, we would totally allow an ethnic Chinese or Japanese to run for public office. Look at how many of them are in our government. See how open minded and tolererant Korea is? Sure we may come up and curse them out and spit in their faces for looking different from us from time to time..but hey, that is just a minor thing that they have to get used to. Totally different from the racist Japanese who force foreigners to adopt kanji in their names…now that is a crime against humanity!
you’re the racist, Chonko. I don’t know what Korean(s) wronged you so severely that you hate them so much, but you’re the one with the assumptions and the poor attitude. Kanji would be Hanja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji
We, the Koreans, already had that.
What the Japanese asked us to do was stop speaking/writing/reading in Korean (but mostly stop speaking), and have totally new names. Japanese names.
according to Chonko, every bad person would be Korean.
to be fair, I mention here something that was mentioned here in the past. South Korea had ethnic Chinese people living in South Korea (Hwa gyo), but they weren’t allowed to do a lot of things South Koreans did.
They wouldn’t be allowed to go to Dae Hak, University.
That’s pretty significant, considering everyone in Korea thinks or thought one must at least have a university diploma to do anything in life.
Most Hwa gyos were in the Chinese food business. Not because they wanted to, but because that was what the government let them do. Severely messed up, in my opinion.
Hwa gyos weren’t allowed to vote. Beyond messed up, in my opinion.
To be fair, I don’t know for sure if all of the above is true. I heard of it from a South Korean radio broadcast op/ed show in Los Angeles, California.
But, I think it’s mostly true.
I was in my teens back then, and I thought the South Koreans were basically doing what the Japanese did to Koreans living in Japan.
wjk: Putting aside your issues with Chonko’s logic, he has a point that can’t be denied: The Japanese electorate has voted in naturalized “foreigners” to public political office in local and national government. The Korean electorate has not, to the best of our collective knowledge, had a similar experience.
The hwagyo (Korea-born ethnic Chinese) were treated at least as badly as Japan-born ethnic Koreans were in the past.
Curzon, you have a point, though I think several issues of scale should be considered. First, the number of naturalized Koreans not of Korean ethnicity is, I believe, considerably smaller than their counterparts in Japan. Second, the number of elected offices is considerably smaller (given that the ROK’s population is about one-third that of Japan’s). And finally, democratically chosen, directly elected offices are something that have around barely a decade in Korea.
If it is to happen, it is going to take a bit more time. I thought I read about an ethnic Vietnamese woman being elected to a town council, but I might be confusing that with something else. (In the past there were a lot of ethnic Japanese holding public office, but they weren’t democratically elected.
)
Kushibo: All good points.
There seems to be misunderstanding about the history of Japanese voting system. Everyone living in Japan have equal right to vote and to be voted since 1926 regardless of his/her ethnisity provided that he/she has Japanese citizenship. Before WWII, an ethnic Korean, 朴春琴, was elected as a Diet member twice in 1932 and 1937. Even voting in hangul had been allowed. After the WWII, Koreans lost the right to vote and to be voted in Japan since they lost Japanese citizenship as a result of the independence of Korea.
Brief history of Japanese voting system for ethnic Koreans (in Japanese).
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fv.....juuichidai
Aki, I was quite aware of the ethnic Korean who was elected to the Japanese Diet in the 1930s. Ironically (some would say), ethnic Koreans for the most part enjoyed considerably more rights, freedoms, and opportunities as Japanese citizens outside Chōsen/Korea than they did inside Chōsen/Korea.
By the way, had Japan not lost its Chōsen and Formosa, these two “Outer Japan” colonies were to be represented directly in the Japanese Diet starting in 1946, with Japan finally making good on that particular promise to treat Koreans and Taiwanese as “equals” with those in the Japanese home islands.
Taiwanese and Koreans were legally designated as naikokujin (内国人) or “inner country people,” to distinguish them from gaikokujin (外国人) or “outer country people,” i.e. outright foreigners. Sort of a limbo status between being Japanese and not being Japanese. Now, that naikokujin distinction doesn’t exist; everyone’s a gaijin and that’s just the way it is. Until you go the Bianchi route, of course.
I agree that Debito’s methods are divisive rather than constructive. His methods of confrontation, without the all important omoiyari （思いやり）just leads to more conflict with conflict shy Japanese. There are other activists who are much more effective.