Japan: A Country of Anti-Cultural Diversity

Jessica Aguilar
GCU 114 iCourse
11/17/2015

The country of Japan is ethnically diverse due to its location in the Asian countries and
being widely surrounded by other countries to ensure that ethnicity is something that is widely
diverse. In its history, Japan has been known for adapting other cultures and putting a few of its
own twists on it and making it apart of Japanese culture. In fact, Japanese and Chinese culture
are very similar in terms of religion and views. Japan even adapted the idea of Confucianism
from China early in its history. The irony of all this comes to play when you look at present day
Japans views on cultural diversity. The truth is that today, many people in Japan almost shun
cultural diversity and would rather have everyone in the country adapt to modern day societys
views and culture rather than having a wide range of cultures within the country of Japan.
Today Japan is very well known and looked at because of its culture, but why hasnt
anyone thought of perhaps why Japans culture is usually looked at for the generic Japanese
culture that many remember when thinking about Japan? It could perhaps be somewhat shocking
with the idea that the reason the generally looked at culture of Japan is the same, because
Japanese culture is the only accepted culture in Japan. In the past, that may have not been so
when the country began adapting many different cultures in Asia to come up with the culture we
see now in Japan. It would appear that todays modern society and culture generally seen in parts
of the world with the new modern age have had a huge impact on Japan. Japan, today is mainly
known for its advances in technology and the reason why may be because of this new idea that
cultural diversity should be rid of in order to keep up with the modern world and not fall behind
with other countries that simply havent caught up yet to the modern world.
In present day Japan there is an example of a culture that was show shunned and ignored
by the Japanese that it has nearly disappeared in Japan. The name of the people behind this
culture are the Ainu. The Ainu are thought to be indigenous people of Japan, which is a big fact

that many of the people of Japan have chosen to ignore. For many years the Ainu people were
ignored, discriminated against, and forced to become one with modern society and leave the old
Ainu culture they grew up with. The Ainus culture is somewhat close to the culture that the first
original Japanese people were thought to have, which is something that very few Japanese know.
Historically, the Ainu are thought of through historians, as people who are very closely related to
the Jomon who are the people that many believe to be as the first people to adapt a type of
Japanese culture that many people see today. The Jomon were simpler people who lived off of
the natural resources found in Japan and eventually as they grew in the area, grew to form the
basics of the country that would eventually become Japan.
Because of the fact that the Ainu were forced to adapt to modern society many of the
people found in Japan that are Ainu now, either have no idea that they are Ainu or are currently
attempting to recover the lineage of culture that they lost because of what their ancestors faced in
the past in terms of discrimination and prejudice because of the type of culture they had. Despite
these ideals of anti-cultural diversity found in Japan; the Japanese government has intervened on
the issue that the Ainu has been facing for many years. They went so far as to name the Ainu
people as the official indigenous people of Japan which actually sparked a few people to change
their way of thinking little by little. The few Ainu that lived in isolation in their culture were able
to finally share some of their culture with the Japanese without the fear of facing discrimination
or prejudice.
Although the Ainu is one of many examples of people who have been put on a side where
the Japanese oppose them, since the Japanese has intervened on part of the Ainu, it certainly goes
to show that perhaps the government could help bring more cultural diversity back to Japan as it
had in the past with the Chinese and other countries. The factor of modern society certainly has

taken its toll on Japan and is in need of a little push to change what could become a future of
people having no culture at all. Because without cultural diversity, really there is not much
culture at all to show.

The image above is of the Ainu people of Japan which are the official indigenous people of
Japan. Caption:
Ainu People. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.conservapedia.com/images/5/52/Ainu_people..jpg

The image is of Shibuya Crossing which is something that has come to form Japans modern day
culture of technology. Citation:
Tokyo Times Square. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.economywatch.com/files/imagecache/story/story/tokyo_people_0.jpg

References
W, S. (2013, November 8). The Ainu: Reviving the Indigenous Spirit of Japan - Tofugu.
Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.tofugu.com/2013/11/08/the-ainu-reviving-theindigenous-spirit-of-japan/
Japan : Ainu. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749cfe23.html
Experiencing Ainu culture. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/scenic/hokkaido/hokkaido_05.html
Qi, J., & Zhang, S. (n.d.). The Issue of Diversity and Multiculturalism in Japan. Retrieved
November 17, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED507893.pdf