Japanese Identity in the News - from Miss Universe to War Shrines

The past couple of weeks have been a mixture of the predictable and unheard of in terms of Japan's representation on the world stage.

On the exciting end of things was the crowning of Ariana Miyamoto as Miss Universe Japan - the first "mixed race" Miss Japan ever. Miyamoto, daughter of a Japanese mother  and African-American father will now represent Japan in the Miss Universe contest.

Given deeply traditional and engrained ideas about Japanese identity and biological heritage, Miyamoto's victory is remarkable. All the same she has faced intense scrutiny and criticism from many Japanese given her ethic background, as this interview in the Japan Times discusses.

With the recent influx and great success of many non-Japanese athletes into the highest ranks of sumo wrestling hailing from Hawai'i to Mongolia,  Japan has already begun to wrestle with these issues, although in the context of female Japanese identity it is likely to introduce a whole new set of considerations.

On the more staid note, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will be making a state visit to the U.S. next week and the New York Times took the occasion as an opportunity to comment on the need for Japan to address its historical  past - especialy World War II - as a means to make better sense of international relations today.

Such an opportunity might already be fading since  just this Tuesday Abe decided to send a gift to Yasukuni Shrine, a site where many Japanese war dead (and "war criminals")  are interred.  Visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni has come to symbolize to many Chinese and Koreans Japan's nationalistic lack of contrition for the past atrocities people of those countries faced during the war.

Incidentally, this study trip regularly made a visit to this shrine and its war museum, in addition to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial and Museum to examine the complex history of Japan's wartime past.  While we won't be visiting these sites this time, I always recommend them as important places to bear witness.

 

Shinzo Abe foreground, the current Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko,  

who have been much more upfront about Japan's need to confront its wartime past.

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