Let’s create a positive “imagined community”
Problem: underserved “foreigners” in Japan
I have been wondering, where are the foreigners in Japan, and what are they thinking about their lives? These simple questions often occur to me in my “mono-cultural,” “mono-ethnic” homeland. We call the non-Japanese people “foreigners” even if they have lived in Japan for a long time. But the foreigners are increasing in number! If you walk on the street in some cities like Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka, or even in some suburban areas, you may feel surrounded by the non-Japanese people. And suddenly you realize you don’t know anything about their lives or views. You may simply become interested in them and excited about the different cultures, or you may also have a little fear in your heart: what if they cause trouble or commit crimes? How is our society going to change if we have more and more foreigners? (It is almost funny to call them “foreigners” when I am a foreigner in the U.S.. )
I came to study in New York City, a big salad bowl, to take back a great new idea to make the Japanese media industry more inclusive. Japanese media in general lack ethnic/gender/career diversity in the newsroom, which makes it difficult for us to understand what the minority is experiencing in Japan, having to find a foreigner-friendly child care service, or being questioned at the airport by immigration all the time. This lack of coverage must be supplemented. Hiring one or two “foreigners” in a newsroom, though, does not change the situation much because those one or two people will be absorbed in the traditional news production process. Then how can we achieve that goal?
Opportunity: the feeling that “WE ARE NOT ALONE”
A Japanese-Brazilian anthropologist, Angelo Ishi, who has done many years of research in a Japanese-Brazilian community in Japan gave me a hint. He says that the community gets advice and support from Korean-Japanese people, who often face the same issues as foreigners in Japan. This sort of multilayered human network can not only solve the everyday issues the foreigners meet, but also build a warm tie between the communities. I, too, am getting help from many students from China, Colombia, Chile, India and Italy and more as I study here. Or I buy Korean food in a deli or find out that one of the best bagel shops in New York is run by a Thai family. Those direct communications and findings make me realize I am not alone. There are a lot of people who entered this society before me, in a similar way. They are very visible in the U.S. but not so much in Japan.
Our version of “Imagined Community”?
Benedict Anderson wrote in his Imagined Communities that the media played a significant role in modern times in making people acquire a shared national identity. By reading the news of geographically distant people or incidents within the same nation, readers start to identify themselves as members of that nation. He also noted that Indonesians, who had varied history, culture and languages, first identified themselves as “Indonesians” when they were put together under the Dutch colonial regime.
He discussed imagined communities to analyze nationalism. and that concept is often referred to when someone explains nationalism ironically. Nationalism and the “imagined community” were developed in the context of printing and nation states. In this digital age, we might be able to design “imagined communities” for a good cause that works in a positive way.
Question: more to come
At this point, you must be asking, “What exactly is your startup idea?” I still have different ideas. Or yet-to-be-ideas.
One is a media platform that can bridge people who wouldn’t otherwise get to know about or talk about each other. It has to be open to the Japanese or even encourage the Japanese to join and help them get rid of unnecessary fear. It has to be a media platform that offers information and discussions based on the facts.
Another is a media platform to talk about politics in East Asia from the viewpoints of the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese.
In the article “Startup Ideas,” Paul Graham says a good startup idea has to have people who will definitely use the service, and the service has to be needed. I still do not have those people or such a service yet. I want to get to that level while asking these questions:
-How can a platform bridge the people who speak different languages? What would that look like?
-What kind of service should journalism build to serve ethnic minorities in Japan?
-Do they really need journalism? If so, specifically who?
-Which minority group should we try to involve first?
-How should we design the process of inclusion and expansion?
-How can the platform operate peacefully and not be attacked by heartless people?
-How can the platform be sustainable?
-What would the MVP (minimum viable product) look like?
I am a little discouraged that I lack focus on a specific community. I will have to know by my next post.
