Abstract
This paper discusses the influence of multicultural education in Japan on the ethnic identity of minority students. Multicultural education in Japan is conducted only in public schools that have many foreign students. Therefore, this paper focuses on the following two points of view. First, it examines how minority students perceive themselves as ethnic minorities in schools where multicultural education is conducted. Second, it explains the impact that the shift into high schools without multicultural education has on minority students. I did my research on schools in the Korean community where multicultural education called “Human Rights Education” (HRE) is conducted. I interviewed 25 Korean students.
The following are the results of my research. First, Korean students have come to hold a positive image of themselves because of HRE. However, they have had difficulties in holding a positive image of themselves if no friends in these schools shared their ethnic identity. Furthermore, the fixed idealistic image of the Korean minority that is implicitly presupposed by HRE constrains some students who always use their Japanese names. Second, they are afraid that they are seen as quite outsiders by Japanese who live outside of the Korean community, and not recognized as offspring of Korean residents who have lived in Japan since the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945). Therefore, their ethnic identity is stigmatized, and they must often choose among different presentations of their ethnic identity.
