I write a lot about how Japan is a homogenous place where everyone considers themselves as having come from the same genetic stock, which can be a useful vehicle for creating a more harmonious society despite the fact that there’s actually quite a lot of variation in the local genetic make-up, with plenty of Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Ainu and other DNA hiding under the surface (including some I’ve contributed). The famous Japanese uniformity might be changing in the near future, though. A new statistic was recently released showing that one in 30 babies born in Japan had at least one foreign-born parent, reflecting both imigration as well as the popularity of kokusai kekkon (international marriage), currently 6.6% of all registered marriages. Japan is a fabulous country, but I for one would love to see some alternate cultural influences here, whether from Korea, Brazil, America or wherever, and an increase in foreigners settling here and raising families would help a lot. My half-Japanese daughter regularly has issues with the other kids who can’t seem to understand why she’s not completely in sync with them, but if each class had more students who were haafu or who came from other cultures outright, it’d be more acceptable to stand out. Remember my crazy theory that Japanese/foreign couples are less likely to fall into the same “sexless” rut that Japanese couples sometimes get mired in, and thus by intermingling with Japanese, we foreigners can do our part to help repopulate Japan.
