The Phenomenon of Hatred and Counter-discourse in Contemporary Japan: From the Perspective of Multiple Discrimination and Intersectionality

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the phenomenon of hatred in contemporary Japan from the perspectives of ‘multiple discrimination’ and ‘intersectionality’ and to consider the possibility of counter-discourses to resist the spread of hate. Since the 2010s, Japan has witnessed an eruption of compounded hatred against racial and ethnic minorities, women and sexual minorities, and socially vulnerable people. Hate-related research and discourse in Japan have developed in response to this phenomenon, and anti-hate discourse requires a transversal approach to respond to the complexity of the phenomenon. Anti-hate discourses and movements in Japan have been accumulating based on the concept of ‘multiple discrimination’ and are currently connected to discussions on ‘intersectionality’. However, the potential of the intersectionality debate in Japan is ambivalent, as it does not fully reflect the experiences and voices of minorities in Japan.