Nike Japan Ad Encouraging Diversity Angers Japanese Racists

Nike Japan Ad Encouraging Diversity Angers Japanese Racists

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Nike ad
Picture: Nike
Extreme right wingers in Japan slam Nike and threaten a boycott over a commercial that's being praised by...well, virtually everyone else.

Before I get started discussing the new Nike Japan ad, let me say a few words about Japan and diversity. It seems this is a point I need to repeat over and over. Because whenever I publish anything about women or minorities speaking out about their situations in Japan and how they wish things would improve, I invariably get an ignorant comment like the following:

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First off, UJ hasn’t “turned into” anything. We’ve been talking about these issues for a full two years now. You’re tuning in a little late, I fear.

Second, while UJ allies itself with women, minorities, indigenous peoples and others in Japan, we never speak for them. Our articles are primarily based on translations of their comments and descriptions of their activism.

As for Japan becoming a “woke hellhole”, anyone who pays attention to our site knows that groups in Japan has been protesting and fighting for their rights for centuries. Japanese women, for example, have fought for better treatment for well over 200 years. (Don’t believe me? Check out Alyssa Fusek’s three-part series on the history of Japanese feminism.)

Accusing an English language publication of “turning” the far-right Japan of one’s imagination towards ideals of social justice is Orientalist and racist. Such rhetoric erases the existence of Japanese activists who have devoted their lives to change. They are the ones working to make Japan a better place for its citizens. We merely make their hard work known to the wider world.

Non-Homogenous Japan

In terms of racial diversity, Westerners tend to treat Japan as a “homogenous nation”. Such rhetoric ignores the existence of non-Japanese people in Japan – principally, the country’s native peoples, such as the Ainu in Hokkaido, and the Ryukyuans in the southern Okinawa island chain. It also ignores the existence of long-term foreign residents, second- and third-generation non-Japanese citizens (such as Zainichi Koreans), and, of course, mixed-race Japanese people (“half”; ハーフ).

Accusing an English language publication of "turning" the far-right Japan of one's imagination towards ideals of social justice is Orientalist and racist. Click To Tweet

It’s true that more and more half Japanese are making names for themselves in sports and entertainment, and opening more doors to acceptance of mixed-race Japanese. Naomi Osaka is the example that will come to many people’s heads, naturally. But the list – from track star Sonny Brown and NBA player Hacimura Rui to talent such as Lola and Thor star Asano Tadanobu – is too long to detail. Indeed, some of Japan’s most famous stars, both domestically and internationally, are half or a quarter. (Examples: Singer Amuro Namie, who’s a quarter Italian on her mother’s side, and Watanabe Naomi, whose mother is Taiwanese.)

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But success in sports and entertainment doesn’t translate to social acceptance. Many mixed-race Japanese and non-ethnically-Japanese citizens still face discrimination and prejudice in their daily lives. Many are called “gaijin” (foreigners) to their faces and treated like outsiders in their own country. Mixed kids who move to Japan after living abroad face a language and culture gap that make their lives even harder.

The experience leaves many bitter and disaffected from their roots. It also often leads to depression and, in some cases, self-harm. In an article last year by President.jp, one half Japanese girl, Takahashi Misako, tells of the effect that bullying had on her in high school. Takahashi was mocked for her appearance (particularly her curly hair) and told she should “die”. One day, a student left thumbtacks in her shoes. She reported it to her homeroom teacher. He told her there were “no bullies in my class” and that it was all in her head. The experience drove her into a deep depression and to self-harm.

Fortunately, with the help of therapy and several school transfers, Misako found her footing again. Other kids, however, aren’t so lucky.

I haven’t even touched on the treatment of Zainichi (other ethnic groups living in Japan). In particular, the treatment of Zainichi Koreans is a whole other horror story unto itself. Zainichi Koreans are a frequent target of right-wing hate groups, who protest outside of Korean schools and send death threats to the schools and their students. Right-wingers frequently portray Zainichi Koreans as “sleeper cells” working on behalf of North Korea to destroy Japan from the inside.

And this is why Nike Japan’s latest commercial is so important.

“I Have to Pretend I Don’t Care”

動かしつづける。自分を。未来を。 The Future Isn’t Waiting. | Nike

The power of sports is not just on the pitch. If we all work together, the future will be more open to us. Stories based on the real-life experience of athle…

Nike Japan’s ad (above) focuses on three female high school students who play sports. The students appear to come from different backgrounds: one is Black Japanese, and another is depicted as Zainichi Korean.

As the students go through their day, they’re shown dealing with bullying, teasing, and social ostracism. Other students pick at the Black Japanese girl’s hair like it’s some sort of alien object. The Korean girl feels all eyes on her as she transfers to a new school. The Japanese girl gets teased and knocked down by her classmates.

But the students don’t only deal with bullying. The commercial shows the ways in which Japanese society itself leaves them feeling isolated. The Japanese girl uploads a cute video of herself to a TikTok-style service – and someone asks, “You really think you’re cute? Ha!” The Black Japanese athlete reads a story on Naomi Osaka and sees a comment asking, “Is she American? Is she Japanese?” Meanwhile, the Korean student reads a newspaper article about an inquiry into the “Zainichi [Korean] problem” – i.e., the supposed “problem” of people of Korean descent actually existing in Japan.

As we watch the video, the students voice their doubts: “Am I a disappointment?” “Can I keep going like this?” “I’m not ‘normal’, am I?” They also voice how they feel they have no one to turn to: “I just gotta suck it up,” “I have to pretend I don’t care.”

As the video nears its conclusion, however, the students start saying: “But that’s not true, is it?” “Nope.” “No way.” In the final moments, the students say, in turn:

いつか誰もが

ありのままに生きられる世界になるって?

でも、そんなの待ってられないよ

“動かしつづける。自分を。未来を

They say, someday, someone will give us a world where we can be ourselves.

But I can’t wait.

I’m gonna keep moving. Moving myself. And the future.

The Right-Wing Howls, Everyone Else Applauds

The mere depiction of mixed-race Japanese and Zainichi Korean people in the video, coupled with the acknowledgment of bullying and racism in Japan, sent right-wing Twitter commenters on Nike Japan’s post into a frenzy.

No Title

動かしつづける。自分を。未来を。#YouCantStopUshttps://t.co/EEkOkOOeLt pic.twitter.com/aPnZcPAO05

Many right-wingers hang out (anonymously, of course) on Japanese Twitter. As a result, many of the negative comments have been upvoted and surfaced to the top of the thread. Some comments include:

“I’m never buying Nike again”

“Do you enjoy calling out Japanese people?”

“This is Japan Hate”

The right-wing’s primary argument is that the ad “makes Japan look like a country full of racists”. Such arguments are often coupled with a fierce denunciation that racism and discrimination even exist in Japan. (That would be news to the Black Japanese residents we interviewed last year, who documented their experiences with racism in Japan in detail.) These arguments are amplified by Western allies of Japan’s right-wing, who point to the existence of foreign sports players to deny racism ever occurs in Japan.

No Title

What a load of horsesh*t. This is like arguing that LGBT prejudice doesn’t exist “because Matsuko Deluxe”. Please read up on the actual lived experiences of people who have suffered racial discrimination in Japan. https://t.co/t6Lg5EfdOU

Many of the right-wingers are promoting a boycott of Nike. As one commenter noted, of course, that was already tried in America, when Nike teamed with Colin Kaepernick on an anti-racism ad. The result? Nike’s sales shot up.

Outside of the right-wing trolls, the spot has been met with acclaim and applause. Kosaka Daimaou, a DJ and comedian best known in the US by his Pikataro persona (yes, he’s the “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” guy), captured this sentiment in a tweet that reads in part: “Nike…has me crying in the morning. This is what makes Nike shoes and clothing so stylish.”

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これ作った人…てか、NIKE…朝から泣かすよ。だから、NIKEの靴やら服やらカッコいいんだね。こんなの作れちゃうんだもの。そりゃかっこいいわ! https://t.co/SjIChoQYdV

Be Better

When you say you don't want Japan to be "woke", what you're really saying is that you're fine with discrimination. You're fine with mixed-race Japanese kids being driven to depression and self-harm. Click To Tweet

The point of the Nike Japan ad, of course, is not to depict Japan as some sort of unique hellhole of racism, bullying, or sexual discrimination. These things occur worldwide. The point is to bring awareness to it in the hopes of making things better for everyone who lives in Japan. Everyone deserves the right to grow up in an environment where they can be their best selves, free of prejudice or hate.

This is why comments like the one at the top of this article set me off. When you say you don’t want Japan to be “woke”, what you’re really saying is that you’re fine with discrimination. You’re fine with mixed-race Japanese kids being driven to depression and self-harm. You would rather cling to a fantasy about a “homogenous Japan” rather than make the world a slightly better place for the marginalized.

We owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to the world to be better than that. No matter who we are. No matter where we live.

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Jay Allen

Jay is a resident of Tokyo where he works as a reporter for Unseen Japan and as a technial writer. A lifelong geek, wordsmith, and language fanatic, he has level N1 certification in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and is fervently working on his Kanji Kentei Level 2 certification.

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