Reclaiming Our Identity Is Reclaiming Our Dignity

People of Afro-Japanese heritage like me (I am Ghanaian-Japanese) are not considered “true” Japanese due to our darker complexion. People like me are often bullied at school or made to feel like foreigners in our own country. However, we represent Japan too; we are becoming more visible and growing in number. From Naomi Osaka, the tennis player, to Rui Hachimura, the NBA player, or Ariana Miyamoto and Aisha Harumi Tochigi, Miss Universe Japan 2015 and 2020, respectively, and many more. We are part of Japan and deserve societal acceptance as Japanese people.

Afro-Japanese encounters go as far back as the 16th century with Yasuke, a Black samurai who served Oda Nobunaga in feudal Japan. By the late 17th century, several hundred Africans lived in the Dutch enclaves of Japan. In the 20th century, African American leaders such as W.E.B Du Bois engaged with Japanese elites to expose American racism at the League of Nations. WWII brought in tens of thousands of African American soldiers, many of whom had mixed-Japanese children. Nowadays, there are more and more African migrants and biracial people like me, and racial discrimination is not a foreign problem or a novelty in Japan. We can shift the conversation about how to make Japanese society more inclusive for Afro-descendants.