Mixed Japanese identities and multiculturalism

Abstract

In this article, we unpack how ideologies of ethnonationalism and multiculturalism in the Australian and Japanese contexts present tensions in self-identity and national belonging for youth of mixed Japanese and Australian background. With the aim of furthering our understanding of multiculturalism and its place in Australia, we investigate the complex ways in which these individuals are positioned in-between such ostensibly antithetical ideologies in their transnational lives to provide unique insight into a little studied community in Australia. To do so, we draw on interview data conducted with youth aged 18 to 25 who live in Australia or Japan and are the child of one ethnically Japanese and non-Japanese parent. Our findings demonstrate that multiculturalism in Australia encourages a sense of belonging and community by attributing meaning towards the ubiquity of ethnic, racial and cultural differences in urban Australian spaces. However, feelings of inclusivity or belongingness which derive from a sense of multiculturalism are often overshadowed by discourses of ethnonationalism, such as ‘whiteness’ or ‘Japaneseness’, which contradict and unsettle their mixed identities as people of Japanese and Australian backgrounds.