Monday, September 23, 2013

What Counts

Poster from PFAR
Legions of protesters marched on Tokyo yesterday in an ongoing campaign to wipe out racism in Japan's capital city and beyond. Prompted largely by a growing number of anti-Korean demonstrations that have ripped through the heart of Tokyo's Koreatown, yesterday's anti-racism rally swelled with supporters who numbered anywhere between one and three thousand. Among Japan's three biggest dailies, the Mainichi Shimbun put the crowd count at 2000 while its major competitor, the Asahi Shimbun, made a more conservative estimate of 1200. No matter how you figure it, in the final estimation the number of anti-racists beats out the number of racists by an overwhelming margin and I guess that's what counts most of all.


  1. You are so right: the good outnumbered and outweighed the fearful here. A wonderful anti-racist action in Japan was that of Emperor Akihito in 2001, when he acknowledged and praised his Korean ancestor, King Muryeong, during his annual birthday press conference:

  2. Thanks for reading and sharing the link to that great Guardian article ("The emperor's new roots - The Japanese emperor has finally laid to rest rumours that he has Korean blood, by admitting that it is true"). It really puts everything in proper perspective.

  3. Around the same time, genetic researchers were finally able to prove the Adam and Eve and other religious myths that reflect the reality that we are all descended from the same ancestors: the San people in Africa. Spencer Wells, a geneticist, was featured in a great Nat Geo documentary, "The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey" that filmed the San - beautiful people who look like they are Asian, African, and European in heritage. It was easy to see how, in late isolation, people developed distinctive appearance as a result of environmental (no sun, too much sun, cold, heat) factors.