Ethnic Options, Covering, and Passing : Multiracial and Multiethnic Identities in Japan

Even though the number of multiracial and multiethnic Japanese, socially recognized and identified as “haafu (half)” are increasing, their identities and experiences are seldom critically analyzed. How do they identify themselves and how do they feel that they are identified by others? Based on interviews with eighteen individuals who grew up in Japan having one Japanese parent and one non-Japanese parent, this article explores ethnic options and practices of covering and passing among multiracial and multiethnic individuals in Japan. The analysis shows that multiracial and multiethnic individuals possess different kinds of ethnic options and practice passing and covering differently.Bio notes SAYAKA OSANAMI TÖRNGREN is Ph.D in Migration and Ethnic Studies and is researcher at the Department of Global political studies and MIM, Malmö Institute of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University, Sweden. Her research field is International Migration and Ethnic Relations and her main research interests are in racial and ethnic relations, intermarriages, and integration. The past years she has been engaged in research on refugee integration and conducted studies on resettled refugees in Japan. She is currently working with an EU project, The National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM). She has published in international journals, edited books, and written reports on varieties of topics concerning the field of IMER. Her most recent publication is Reversing the gaze: Methogological reflections from the perspective of racial- and ethnic-minority researchers in co-authored by Jonathan Nghe in Qualitative Research