"Turning Japanese": Understanding Japan in the Age of Populism and Identity Politics

Is Japanese society monoethnic and homogenous, and therefore, xenophobic? The question (and variation of this) is loaded with implicit assumptions about Japan. The recent wave of restrictive immigration policies and racist rhetoric in mainstream public discourse seem only to confirm these assumptions. But there is history to these implicit, “ahistorical” assumptions about Japanese people, culture and society that illuminates a curious interaction between Orientalism, “occidentalism” and modern national identity making in Japan. Foreigners (or more precisely those from the West) have long stuck to the idea that Japan is different, ever since Japan opened to the world with the Meiji Restoration (1868). Western popular imagination about Japan is full of stereotypes. But the Japanese also played along with it, too. Today, the right-wing nationalists are trying to resurrect the soul of Meiji Japan’s foundation myths. They sadly don’t see the irony of them playing straight out of the Western right-wing playbook. This talk sheds light to some important aspects in the anatomy of Japanese identity and nationalism that are playing out today.

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This event is a part of YCAPS' "Getting to Know Japan Series".

Speaker:

Dr. Haruko Satoh is Specially Appointed Professor at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University, and Country Manager for the JDS-India. She has recently concluded a 5-year project, “Peace and Human Security in Asia: Toward a Meaningful Japan-Korea Partnership” supported by the Korea Foundation; she previously worked on the “Peace and Human Security in Asia” project (2011- 2016) with six Southeast Asian universities. Before joining OSIPP, she worked at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs), and Gaiko Forum. She studied at Mount Holyoke College, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) – Bologna Center, and the University of Cambridge. She is the Executive Committee member of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA) and member of the Leiden Asia Centre International Advisory Board. Her interests are primarily in state theory, Japanese nationalism and identity politics in foreign relations. Publications include: “Japan and North Korea: Reminders of Forgotten Realities,” in Lam Peng Er (ed), Engaging North Korea (Routledge, 2025); “Middle or Muddle: Whither Post-Abe Japan?”, East Asian Policy (January 2022); “Rethinking Human Security: Securing Safe International Cruises Through A Human Security Lens”, Asian International Studies Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 (July 2021); “Much Ado about a Constitution” in Lam Peng Er & Purnendra Jain (eds), Japan’s Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century: Continuity and Change (Lexington Book, 2020); “Japan and Korea: A Fragile Relationship”, East Asian Policy (July 2020).

Format: This event will be recorded and published in our web archive. Questions are encouraged during the live event.

Registration: Required Link

Moderators: Amani Kidd and Jeffery Mazziotta

Webinar Cost: Free of charge