A Disjunctive Foundation

[DISCLAIMER]

When I arrived in Okinawa, Japan in 1997, military personnel were required to undergo a week of training in regard to acculturation—cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. About this concept, one source states:

Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and adjusts to a new cultural environment as a result of being placed into a new culture, or when another culture is brought to someone.

Despite having a status of forces agreement in place, Marines were visitors in Okinawa. Thus, we weren’t entitled to disrupt Okinawan or Japanese culture. (I specify a distinction, because many Okinawans told me they weren’t Japanese, though instead identified as Okinawans.)

During acculturation training, I learned things such as not to place chopsticks sticking straight up in a plate or bowl of food and to pay attention to small children who waved at traffic, because that was a sign that they were about to dart into the street. (Stop immediately if a kid waves.)

According to one source, “Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society’s majority group or assimilates the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially.” Assimilation isn’t an undesirable concept.

Without culturally assimilating, United States (U.S.) military personnel could’ve added to the growing tension from the 1995 Okinawa rape incident in which three U.S. servicemen rented a van and then kidnapped, bound, beat, and one member raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.

Fast-forward 26 years since I left Okinawa in 1999 and I’ve casually monitored how Japan has questionably chosen to culturally “enrich” their population by allowing immigration from other nations without measures to culturally assimilate incoming populations.

Personally, judging such action on behalf of the Japanese isn’t worth delving into herein. Rather, I think critically about the response to some Japanese individuals who perhaps have watched what mass migration has done to other nations and who apparently oppose non-assimilation.

As an example, one source reports, “A Kurdish community leader who resides in Japan says his group is under attack by Japanese extremists and that support is needed to end the attacks.” I’ve observed media content regarding Japanese “extremists” who merely desire to preserve culture.

I said in a post entitled When Diversity Isn’t a Strength, “I don’t support the notion that ‘diversity is our strength.’ Such sloganeering may be blindly accepted by people who fail to use logical and reasonable consideration of potential impacts to a society, though I’m not such a person.”

Japan is currently being “strengthened” by cultural diversity and it doesn’t appear as though the effects of such actions will be reversible unless drastic measures are taken to either: (1) assimilate incoming populations or (2) reverse course and return to a state of homogeneity.

Because I’m not typically interested in demanding what others should, must, or ought to do, I have no prescriptive formula for the people of Japan to follow. Still, one wonders where the drive of Japanese people is, the same motivation that generated protests when I was in Okinawa.

Frequently, Okinawans would stage protests outside of military bases and chant, “Yankee, go home!” Hailing from the South, I took issue with being called a Yankee. Nevertheless, I understood the sentiment. Marines were apparently unwelcome guests in our host nation.

Now, it appears as though Japan is submitting to foreign influence. Perhaps this is understandable, as I’ve observed how people are treated when resisting the potentially irrevocable effects of mass immigration. For instance, one source states:

In this presentation, Ayako Sahara will show the ways in which anti-Kurdish racism in Japan has emerged and how it reflects recent Japanese racism and anti-refugee sentiments.

Kurds living in Japan, who reside in Kawaguchi city, Saitama Prefecture, have become the target of hate in Japan due to some newspaper articles and social media reports attacking their legitimacy of their refugee status, and some right-wing organizations and activists have been claiming they are a social evil.

Japanese popular culture has maintained the myth of Japan as a single-race nation especially after the defeat of World War II and collapse of the Japanese empire. Through education, younger generation generally believes this myth and has normalized their racism against so-called “foreigners.”

While xenophobia in Japan generally has targeted Chinese and Koreans with special resident status to stay in Japan, anti-Kurdish racism in Japan is a relatively new phenomenon.

Therefore, this study will illuminate the background and history of xenophobia and racism in Japan, as well as the recent context of anti-refugee sentiments through anti-Kurdish discrimination.

The supposed academic analysis of buzzword terms places at the feet of critically-thinking Japanese people ad hominem attacks regarding “racism.” Chinese, Korean, and Kurdish people aren’t a race. Therefore, this attempt to defame detractors of mass migration is a moot point.

Still, “xenophobia” suggests an irrational fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign. Thus, any sentiment of Japanese nationalism is misleadingly equated to such fear or hatred. This is a subjective claim and therefore also an arguable point.

In any case, the fact that an alleged academic “study” has already arrived at a conclusion to be studied is the antithesis of the scientific method. The confirmation bias phenomenon will doubtlessly plague results of the assessment, so why conduct such a “study” in the first place?

“The Japanese people are racist and xenophobic, so let’s conduct a study that shows just that” isn’t how science works. Is there any doubt as to why a reported “replication crisis rocked the social-behavioral sciences and triggered a movement to make research methods more rigorous”?

The disjunctive (lacking connection) foundation upon which such a study is based is obvious. Nonetheless, I find it useful to demonstrate how this is the case. For instance, consider the following syllogism:

Form (disjunctive) –

Either p or q; not p; therefore, q.

Example –

Either the people of Japan will welcome mass migration with open arms or Japanese people are racist and xenophobic. The people of Japan won’t welcome mass migration with open arms. Therefore, Japanese people are racist and xenophobic.

This is the disjunctive logical reasoning of a child. It’s not a rational foundation upon which rigorous academic study rests. More deleterious than this is how irrational appeals to emotion can impact Japan’s culture of shame. In a post entitled Guilt and Shame Are Choices, I said:

I admit that I can choose to experience guilt and shame if I want to. There’s nothing inherently unhelpful or unhealthy about these secondary emotions. Still, if I make the choice to experience these feelings, I’ll do so on my own terms – not on yours or anyone else’s.

Ultimately, what happened to that 12-year-old Okinawan girl in 1995 was abysmally unjust. Now, in 2025, Japanese people can choose to be captured by a flood of migration, bound by shame, beaten by labels of racism and xenophobia, and culturally savaged in the end.

However, a disjunctive foundation for the perpetration of such actions is easily refutable. Japan, you’re a strong nation with a rich history. The shame placed on you for wanting to preserve your culture is unwarranted. Thus, you can choose not to perilously be culturally “enriched.”

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As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

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