自民族中心主義というのは、今も昔もどこにでもある現象だ。日本も例外ではない。ただ日本の場合は島国であり、異民族との接触に不慣れなところがある。だから、とかく極端な自民族中心主義となりやすい。
一方、漢民族なども自民族中心主義で有名だが、異民族と常に接触してきた。だから、異民族と付き合う方法を知っている。
日本人は、異民族の文化を尊重し、対等に付き合う方法を学ぶ必要があるのは間違いない。
PART THREE:
Outcome of Harmonism (6)
By Shun Daichi
4. Ethnocentricity
The Japanese may be one of the most ethnocentric peoples in the world today. We do not have institutionalized racism like South Africa used to have, which is a crime today, however, we do not have a good record either.
Not only the nationalistic politicians but MITI also has revealed an ethnocentric tendency when they announced their plan for a program called Columbus. In this program MITI planned to establish Japanese colony-type villages in Spain, Portugal and Australia and send elderly Japanese to live there, and of course big Japanese businesses are sure to follow.
Such an insensitive attitude toward another country and another people is not surprising when one realizes that almost every race and nation believes that they are the best race or the best nation in the world.
Japan is not an exception.
It appears that Harmonism also contributes to this factor. We always work hard to be the same with others and we reject anything different from us. This attitude seems to lead us to a kind of racism.
The Japanese are interested in the outside world; however, living in a tight and rigid society on a small island in harmony does not help us understand in depth about other countries and people.
Living up to the expectations of our society is already quite hard and demanding on us.
I had a dinner with an American family in China. The family had three children and one of them is an adopted child from India. She said she had horrible experience in Florida when she visited as one of the music group members of her university.
The eyes of many white people in the South of America were scary, she said. She was not so happy living in the US. Her university is in Boston. In her university, black boys immediately consider her as a possible candidate for dating, while white boys immediately put off the idea of dating with her.
“You should live in Japan. You might have better time” I told her.
“No such discrimination?”
“Well, we have discrimination but we discriminate everyone not just blacks but white people too. We discriminate even own Japanese people."
We all laughed. But this is true. We discriminate fellow Japanese called BURAKUMIN, Ainu people, Asians and everyone who does not understand Harmonism.
In Japan there is a feeling developing that the world inside Japan is the whole world and anything happening outside is not important to the Japanese people.
We have the attitude these days that if we have harmony in our country then that is everything. I will tell you in the last chapter that an ethnocentric tendency is one of the greatest hurdles we have to overcome.
(To be continued)
