Ten Thousand Things
Multicultural Webfinds

"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

Historian Bruce Batten on 20th Anniversary of Discovery of Korokan Ruins & Dual Citizenship in Japan (NHK's "Shiten Ronten" on June 15)

This year Fukuoka, always one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Japan, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the Korokan ruins, with a commemorative exhibition at the wonderful, English-friendly FUKUOKA MUNICIPAL MUSEUM.

The KOROKAN (great aerial photo at this link) was a state guest house for East Asian diplomats, traders, monks, and guests, during the Asuka (538-710), Nara (710-794), and Heian (794-1118) periods. In 1987, during repairs, evidence of the Korokan was found under a baseball stadium in Fukuoka, Japan's longtime gateway to Asia, the Silk Road, and the world. The discovery and excavated artifacts reflecting the richness of the traded elite goods coming' through Kyushu to Japan's first capitals in Asuka, Nara, and Kyoto – tiles, Chinese Etsusyu gama (celadon porcelain), Shinra pottery, Islamic pottery, Central Asian glassware – created a sensation.

Vice President of J.F. Oberlin University, Bruce Batten, a historian, is writing part of the Korokan exhibition catalog and will participate in a symposium in Fukuoka. His 2006 Gateway to Japan: Hakata in War And Peace, 500-1300, an engagingly written history, starts with a description of the discovery of the Kokoran:

"Hakata (Fukuoka) was the location of the Korokan, an official guest-house for foreign visitors that is currently yielding its secrets to the spades of Japanese archaeologists. Nearby was Dazaifu, the imperial capital of western Japan, surrounded by mountain fortresses and defended by an army of border guards. Over the ages, Hakata was a staging ground for Japanese troops on their way to Korea and ground zero for foreign invasions of Japan. Through the port passed a rich variety of diplomats, immigrants, raiders, and traders, both Japanese and foreign."

Bruce Batten will also be commenting on much a much more recent Japanese global issue on on NHK's "SHITEN RONTEN" ("Viewpoints") 9:50 p.m. program. The title of the talk is "NAZE IKENAI? NIJU KOKUSEKI." ("WHY NOT? DUAL NATIONALITY "), a timely topic given the tremendous increase of the rate of international marriages (in the hundreds of thousands in the past decade) in Japan. The program will broadcast June 15, from 9:50 to 10:00 p.m. (on channel 3 in Tokyo).

Batten says that dual citizenship is not just a good idea for people but for Japan as a country, stating, "Making dual citizenship legal would make it easier for Japanese corporations and society as a whole to tap the potentially huge pool of people with precisely the backgrounds and skills Japan needs to survive in this era of globalization. And it might also help to partially stem the predicted depopulation of the country as the result of declining birth rate."

In 2000, in Tokyo, 1 in 10 marriages were between a foreigner and a Japanese person. Most of these marriages were between a Japanese man and a woman from China, the Philippines, South or North Korea. Japanese women who marry internationally generally marry Koreans, followed by Americans. J. Sean Curtin's 2002 article on international marriage in Japan reflects a still ongoing trend.

"Nationality in Japan" by Japan scholar William Wetherall provides a broad overview of of the issue of nationality in Japan. Wetherall states that "while Japan does not encourage Japanese adults to also be nationals of other countries, dual nationality is not today, and in fact has never been, illegal in Japan, and the number of dual nationals is increasing." However, the Japanese Ministry of Justice state children with dual citizenship should make a choice of citizenship before the age of twenty-two. It sounds as if some people are allowed to slip through the cracks, without real threat of action taken by any "citizenship police" to alter the situation of those who, for whatever reason, don't address this issue when they reach twenty-two...

Around 89 nations allow multiple citizenship. Australia allows multiple citizenship and 4-5 million Australians (25% of the population) have dual or multiple citizenship, mostly with the U.K. Many Canadians similarly hold British or French citizenship. Over 60% of Swiss citizens who live abroad hold dual citizenship. The United States also allows multiple citizenship, if such citizenship is granted automatically. If an American citizen seeks a different nationality, then that person's American citizenship may be terminated. Arnold Schwarzeneggar, governor of California, holds both Austrian and American citizenships. Germany also allows multiple citizenship, with restrictions.

Denmark and South Korea are among some countries that don't allow multiple citizenship.

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