JAPAN EMBRACES DIVERSITY, 6 October 2018, The East Garden of the Imperial Palace

We are always delighted to welcome diverse people from all over the world. On that day we guided 43 guests from India, Spain, Belgium, USA, Australia, Canada, Argentine, New Zealand, Germany, Philippines and UK. We divided into 5 groups.

The weather was hot like revival of mid-summer. It was unusual in this time of the year. But soon temperature will drop and it will turn Autumn.

In Tokyo or other parts of Japan, we meet many foreigners every day. Many different colors of skin, hairs and different features of faces can be seen. We wonder how foreign people view Japanese people. It is believed that Japan is homogeneous society and mono-racial. One might find that by looking at guides. But it is actually not true.

There are several athletes who share different race or ethnicity and participated in Olympics or World Cup Soccer tournaments as Japanese nationals. Recently in US Open Women’s Tennis, a player named Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams of USA and became the champion of the grand slam tournament. Osaka is a bi-racial woman between Haitian father and Japanese mother. She might not look typical Japanese but we are proud of her as a national hero who brought glory to us.

Not only in sports but in politics, things are changing. Last month a bi-racial man named Denny Tamaki was elected as Governor of Okinawa, one of 47 prefectures in Japan, like state governor in US he became a big political figure.

His father was American and mother was Japanese so he looks Eurasian. He was formerly a parliament member. People voted him as a leader of society regardless of his racial background. So Japanese as mono-racial society is not true.

Japan embraces diversity regarding not only race and ethnicity but LGBTs. Tokyo just recently passed the ordinance to ban discrimination against LGBTs. Denny in Okinawa promised to advocate LGBT rights as one of his major policies.

We are becoming more diverse society and appreciating diversity of the world we live in.
Please come and join us.

(Masa)

Tokyo Free Walking Tour holds Saturday afternoon tour from 1PM regularly, for other time or places, please check the calendar as these tours are scheduled irregularly.