Japanese Basketball Stars Speak Out on “Daily” Racism


I’ll never forget watching coverage of a crazed driver plow into a crowd of anti-white supremacist protesters in Virginia[1]. I was in Japan, preparing to dance in an obon festival and staying with my 65-year-old senpai who’d turned the TV on after dinner (and interestingly, Japanese news often covers American current events).

“We’re so lucky we don’t have racism in Japan,” she remarked, both of us in shock as we watched the clip on loop. I let her comment slide in the moment; after all, she had no impetus to comprehend the United States’ complex racial politics.

But what she said bothered me, because racism does exist in Japan. And discussions about it are coming to the fore, notably in sports – home to some of Japan’s most famous mixed and multinational figures.

[Warning: This article contains descriptions of racism.]

“I’m Devastated Reading These Messages as A Fellow Japanese”: Acknowledging the Abuse

Men’s basketball player Aren Hachimura, who plays for Tokai University, came forward last year with screenshots of racist DMs received on social media. The drivel need not be repeated here, but he hopes that sharing these messages will generate much-needed discussion about racism in Japan— starting with acknowledgement that, yes, it exists[2].

“There are many people who say that racism doesn’t exist in Japan,” he wrote on Twitter, “but there are people that make racist comments. It’s not a matter of exposing these comments that’s important, but once again raising concerns to the public about the problem of racial discrimination.”

Even Aren Hachimura’s brother Rui, who plays for the Washington Wizards in the US, isn’t exempt from racist messages from Japanese followers. In response to his brother’s tweet, he wrote: “I get these kinds of messages everyday.”

“I’m so used to it my heart’s gone numb”: Systemic Aftereffects

Hachimura Aren responding to Monica Okoye on Twitter. Racism in Japan
Hachimura Aren responding to Monica Okoye on Twitter.

Women’s basketball star Monica Okoye, who won a silver medal representing Japan in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, recently released screenshots of typical racist DMs she also receives on Twitter and Instagram[3]. Messages saying “die,” “go back to Africa,” and much worse have pushed Okoye to speak out about her reality as a woman born to a Japanese mother and African father.

“‘Just ignore it, don’t mind it, the person who said it is pitiful,’” Okoye wrote of advice given to her regarding this kind of discrimination. “But the truth is that we receive messages like this on a daily basis. I’m not posting these messages for my own sake, but for that of future generations of multinational children who might feel the same way.”

Indeed, the sizable population of mixed and multinational children in Japan already face racial discrimination. Nike Japan’s recent ad campaign, for instance, included mixed-race child athletes. It debuted to polarized reactions: some viewers were brought to tears by the more inclusive representation. Others, sadly, saw this campaign as evidence of Japan’s imminent transformation into a “woke hellhole.”

That celebrating multinationalism in Japan is considered “hellish” by some only underscores Okoye’s point. Denying the existence of mixed-race Japanese as Japanese denies their sense of belonging— and their very humanity.

Moving Forward

These athletes’ brave calls to acknowledge Japanese racism clearly demonstrates the dehumanization they shouldn’t have to endure. After all, this is a society where, historically, being born and raised in Japan — even by a Japanese parent, as with Okoye and the Hachimura brothers— doesn’t qualify one to be considered “truly” Japanese. Need further convincing? Just ask the Zainichi Koreans, born and raised in Japan during the Pacific War but largely denied Japanese citizenship.

That surreal moment watching TV with my Japanese dance mentor is now particularly salient. If marginalized folks in Japan must funnel so much energy into proving that racism even exists, there’s a long road ahead toward true inclusivity.

What to Read Next

References

[1] Charlottesville Rally Turns Deadly: One Killed After Car Strikes Crowd. NBC News

[2] 八村塁さんと八村阿蓮さん、インスタグラムでの人種差別の被害を告白 ⇒「本当に許せない」と反響広がる. Huffington Post JP

[3] オコエ桃仁花さん、人種差別のDM被害を明かす「子供たちにそんな思いしてほしくない」. Huffington Post JP



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