PEOPLE

inability to conceive of a person who abandons his country. Of all
poople, the Japancse have shown least enthusiasm for emigmtion
chemsclw, Their attachment to thtir own country, however
unkindly it treats them, is so absolute that they regard leaving im
show as n denial of self, a kind of suicide.
Professor Michio Royarna, profcssor of inmatima1 politia at
Sophia university in Tokyo, says that despite appearancts, Japan was
not mly intcmaionalized.
1t'~ all been one-way ttaffic. Wc end pple out to fweign countries, and
hey return with useful ideas. BUI we nil1 do not accept fohcignm into our
weicty in my real sen=. The prd of this is in rhc Japllncac universities,
which should know bm*; but which exclude foreigner8 from hru teaching
staff, except as tcachcn of foreign languages.
Professor Kei Wakaizumi, professor of international politics at
Kyoto Sangyo university, says Japan= should not bc criticized,
Wt arc only human beinp, who undermnd human behaviour from OW own
experience. Japan is a cwnuy of consensus, It i~ homogcneolis, if not in rhc
strict recisl me, then certninly CU~N~~~Y,
to a dtgm unique among nation#,
We m~ot imagine s conflia where, at the md of it, a perm bccome~ A
refugee. For that reason we find it difficult to accept a pem who is a rcfu-
gee,
This is not sophistry, but an honestly held view common among
intelligent Japanese who know very well how the rest of the world
thinks. Such views sound arrogant: but the Japanese make no such
show when they advance them, rather the contrary. Japnesc
strongly klitvt that the Vietnamese should not capon their problems:
the Japanese would not drive out their own people in the way
Viemam has. Holding such a view, che cxclusion~iy poliq of the
Japntst is arguably their most realistic solution, And, in view of
the asualty rate among dcsperete boat pcople, who is to say that the
toll would have btcn higher if the Vietnamese had brcn obliged from
the stan to sort out their differences, as the Japnnese suggest hey
would do in similar circumsmnccs?
At the penonal level the Japanese view looks crude and scifish.
One Japncsc confided:
We blame the refugees as much 0s we blame the Viemarnew government
Either they're criminals, or they're we&-willed people. Whatever t hy w,
we do nor undErstand why they cant remain in rhek own society to help
rebuild it after nll their fighting. Some of Phe refugees may bc good people,
unfairly treated by their government. But how are we to know than from
he mt. And how do such problems become our responsibility in the fint
place?
Profewr Wakaizumi says he understands such feelings of ordinary
Japanese and even pardy shares them himelf.
I rm ambivalent in my attirude. It is clear that 40 reasonable human kinp
we should open dmrs and welcome refuge= from wherever they come.
There is no qucstion abut that on humanist grounds. h d at the same time
we must mske cv*y effort to urge the Vkmarncse government to stop thm
muocities and unacccpmble policies that give rise to the problem. But w h
it comes down to the qucstion of realistic sdon we should tat here in Japn,
this rather inexplicable emotion, this psychology of ours, comes to the fore
and dictates our policy. I would not say it is a mist attitude, be~~usc as you
know as individuals we're hospimble and rcdy to welcome others, imspeetive
of race. But to have refugees settle down in Japan d mat them just
like our friends and ncighbours, without prejudice or preconctption8 - well,
we hve diffieulry.
Pmfewr Wakaizumi sccs the problem as one of human relations,
and the fear held by Japanese that they will simply fail to get along
with the Vietnamese if they come in substantial numbers. This personal
fear weighs more than any absbact ida of humanity, and far
more than any rema consideration of international politia, such
as taking China's side against Viemam. It comes back to Japan's
Korean minority, a case of the most vicious of vicious circles. The
Chinese minority, once about 100 000, has melted fairly thoroughly,
Many thousands have taken Republic of China (Taiwan) nationality;
far fewer have d en kople'a Republic of China nationality; about
50 000 haw mght and have gained, or are in the process of gaining,
Japanme nationality. The Koreans are different. ('They are more
homogeneous, more nationalistic, more like us,' says Professor
Royama.) Few Japanese-born Korems have chosen to mkc either
North or South Korean passports, and only a few have applied for
Japanese nationality. They say that the procedures arc long and