The national identity of a country today, is heavily influenced by its history. If a country is isolated, whether geographically and/or it is their cultural preference, then nationality, in this sense, can be largely affected by its native ethnic group or the majority ethnic group in power. As the political culture, economy and society change, some aspects within a nation’s culture remain the same. Specifically as the national identity of citizens in Japan, France and Germany formed under similar and slightly different circumstances, its consequences have the same effects. Particularly, being able to deal with outside forces and still maintaining a strong nationality, while laws and policies may come from foreign governments, is impressive. Also having a weak national identity but a good economy, or a strong national identity but declining economy, represents how various factors can influence such situations.
Today Japan’s ethnic landscape is made up of mostly Japanese residents. 98.5% are Japanese, while 1% are Korean and Chinese, and 0.5% are deemed as other. The lack of diversity has a lot to do with Japan’s history. In the past, Japan maintained and preferred to be isolated, even while geographically, it is vulnerable and dependent on other neighboring nations. Today Japan remains dependent on imported food, about three fourths of its food comes from other lands. More specifically, isolation has always been a part of Japanese culture, “for two and a half centuries a
America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.
When it began, America did not have the strong national identity and unity that it does today. Originally it was made up of thirteen individual colonies ruled by the British empire. As the colonies endured through the restrictions from the British government they became more and more rebellious. It wasn’t until the summer of 1776 that the colonies broke their ties with England and became a more united nation. While they did become more independent as time went on, their identity did not fully develop for years after the revolution; with regards to unity, the entire country did not fully unite for this revolution until much later in the war.
Since the opening of Japan from its self imposed seclusion policy in 1854, scholars have studied aboard to acquire Western teachings. The immigration problem manifested once Japanese started immigrating to Hawaii, Canada and US motivated by economic gains and evasion of military services. In the year 1900 alone, 12000 Japanese entered United States and by 1910 the population trebled to a total of 72,517. Although this bought a solution to their demand of cheap labour, another set of problems arise in the form of economic, racial and anti-Japanese agitation. Examples included would be San Francisco School Board implemented segregation of education school between Japanese and American children, and “California legislature passing offensive legislation aiming at Japanese”.
Cultural Identity is “The definition of groups or individuals (by themselves or others) in terms of cultural or subcultural categories (including ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, and gender)” (Oxford Reference). Everyone has cultural identity even though some are unaware of theirs because their habits and traditions might be seen as normal to the person and they might not make the connection that it is a cultural tradition or connected to their cultural identity. Some people are very aware of their cultural identity and have conflict within their identity because the cultures may not coincide. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States and Pat Mora’s “Legal Alien” both show cultural conflict through symbolism, conflict, and purpose.
Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story “Good Country People” written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other.
A dictionary definition of citizenship states it as a position of being a citizen in a particular country/ region. Nakano Glenns definition is much more concentrated, focused on the details, and combines this status of citizenship along with gender and race. Glenn shows how the definition of citizenship changes when including race as well as gender and how this meant that white men were mainly seen as rightful citizens while minorities were effectively left out of this definition. Glenn writes in chapter two titled, Citizenship: Universalism and Exclusion, about integrating the definitions of race as well as gender into the meaning of citizenship. Glenn makes an effort to assert the historical authenticity of the meaning of citizenship,
The reading Paradox of National Identity: Region, Nation, and Canadian Idol by Boulou Ebanda, and Ruth Middlebrook focuses on the 2006 season of Canada Idol and how it manufactures the Canadian identity.
Japan is considered to be the least ethnically diverse society in the world. One caveat to note is that this is looking at the Japanese people as one ethnicity when really Japan originates from multiple different tribes and to this day the Ainu and Okinawa are recognized as ethnic minorities. Japan does also have some other ethnic minorities such as Americans and Filipinos but they account for a very small portion of the population. A special report by the United Nations in 2005 found that Japan has profound and deep racism and xenophobia. Despite a lack of diversity, Japan has experienced a significant boom in the last 50 years and is one of the wealthiest nations in the Asian-Pacific region. The challenge Japan faces is different and that is the aging work force combined with decline in birth rate. While at first this may seem like a separate issue from diversity this challenge could be addressed with immigration. Not only would Japan immediately have an expanded work force but the new cultural values and ethnicity would likely influence birth rates as
National identity is the transmission of each generation’s legacy to the next and the enabling of the nation citizen to take pride and identification of the country (Stephan, 2009). A nation positive unique identity breeds patriotism which consequently
In most case, identity is shaped by culture. Since culture is a set of ideals life practices, routines and attitudes set up by a certain community hence culture plays a major role in shaping the identity of an individual. An individual’s character and attributes can be because of their background. This is due to the set up that one has grown up (Dumas 19). People tend to learn more about their culture, and as they grow up it becomes part of them. They embrace the culture’s beliefs and tend to do things following the set routines. The aspect of following the set routine and beliefs play a significant part in shaping the identity of an individual.
In many ways, Japan has been looked upon as a strangely homogeneous society for much of its modern history. And for some, it stands as one of the most homogeneous nation in the world. However, when looking at Japan as a whole, and considering whether or not it homogeneity is a problem, or just another cultural phenomenon, one must look towards the root cause of homogeneism in Japan. In Japan’s past, it has has been questioned, as well as assumed, that the growth of Japans homogeneous viewpoint was put forward by the government of Japan, and was done so by circulating false accusations of its lineage. Which these false stories of lineage, Japan has grown in its ethnocentric views and ways. Ethnocentrism, or
The culture of a place is an integral part of its society whether that place is a remote Indian village in Brazil or a highly industrialized city in Western Europe. The culture of Japan fascinates people in the United States because, at first glance, it seems so different. Everything that characterizes the United States--newness, racial heterogeneity, vast territory, informality, and an ethic of individualism-- is absent in Japan. There, one finds an ancient and homogeneous society, an ethic that emphasizes the importance of groups, and a tradition of formal behavior governing every aspect of daily living, from drinking tea to saying hello. On the surface at least, U.S. and Japanese
Cultural identity is the basis in which identification is used to express different aspects pertaining to identity and heritage. A person's cultural identity may be created by social organization, as well as traditions and customs within their lives. The two aspects that construct my cultural identity are the frequent chores I must complete every day in order to fulfill my behavioral expectations, and the youth group I attend weekly. These aspects are important to my family and me. Therefore, my identity has an immeasurable effect on my upbringing into this multi-cultural world I live in.
In addition, Japan is homogeneous in terms of social cohesion. Japan is homogenous in terms of ethnicity and linguistics. It has high cohesion, untrusting and no apparent increase in political participation, but it has a low tolerance for difference (ethnic, language, etc.). Japan is best represented with the social democratic and Nordic model, where among Japanese people there is equality, but among different ethnic people there is inequality and a low tolerance for them. This also results in Japan having a segmented cohesion because although, there is a low tolerance for people with ethnic and cultural differences, Japanese people are mixing with other races like Japanese and Korean people. The society of Japan also fits in with the competitive race relations model because people who are of different ethnicities and cultures face discrimination, prejudice, segregation and stereotypes. The Koreans who live in the Japanese Society are experiencing this.
A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, language and ethnic origin often possessing or seeking its own government. National identity refers to the distinguish features of group and to the individual’ sense of belonging to it. In some case even a little difference in pronunciation is enough to categorize a person as a member of different nation but in some cases two people may be separated by language, culture, geographical location etc categorized in