Cultural Understandings of Race and Racism: Japanese Immigrant Parents’ Understandings of Racism In the U.S. and Their Experiences and Responses to Anti-Asian Racism

Background/Rationale

Despite the long history of anti-Asian racism in the U.S., including hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic (Perng & Dhaliwal, 2022), Japanese and other Asian immigrants tend to be reluctant to discuss their experiences of racism with their children (Gover et al. 2020) reflecting the value of group harmony, influenced by Confucianism (Wang & He, 2023), and the model minority stereotypes (I et al., 2024). While such understandings can make them vulnerable to racism, their internalization of model minority stereotypes can lead to colorblind and anti-Black attitudes (Atkin & Ahn, 2022). Yet their understandings of racism are not consistent. Foreign-born immigrants showed lower interest in anti-Black racism than U.S.-born Asian Americans (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). Informed by critical race theory (Yu et al., 2024) and cultural psychology (Miller & Cho, 2018), this study examines Japanese immigrant parents’ cultural understandings of racism in the U.S. and how they and their children navigate anti-Asian racism.

Methos

In-depth semi-structured individual interviews (60-90 min) with 23 Japanese immigrant parents were conducted in participants’ native language, Japanese, at urban (10) and small (13) city locales. Sixteen families moved to the U.S. 1-6 years prior to the interview. Seven families remain, permanently, in the U.S. They described their understandings of racism in general, and how they responded to their and their children’s experiences of anti-Asian racism (a total of 42 children from preschool to 12^th grade). All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed in Japanese. Through repeated readings of transcribed interviews, emic codes capturing participants’ experiences navigating racism were induced by an independent coder, using analytic induction techniques (Schwandt, 2007), which were critiqued by the second coder (Japanese educator) for the purpose of peer debriefing (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Any disagreements between coders were resolved through discussion.

Results

Most participants reported that they and/or their children experienced anti-Asian racism, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as community members’ avoidance of staying closer to them. They, however, did not know how to handle those instances because they were unsure whether such attitudes were personal dislike or anti-Asian racism. Some also reported their children experienced peers’ teasing, e.g., referring to them as Chinese. While they were accepting of “American people who don’t understand the differences between us,” they also tried to correct others’ misunderstandings. Long-term residents cautioned that such attitudes can result in anti-Chinese racism. Short-term residents also reported that their understanding of racial diversity has been expanded. Yet they emphasized the importance of learning individual, rather than racial, differences, which may reflect Japanese society, which is more racially homogeneous.

Conclusions/Implications

Japanese immigrants’ accepting attitudes toward “Americans” who lack knowledge of diversity among Asians and their own lack of attention to racial diversity and racism in the U.S. suggest social work implications, the needs of both 1) providing support for Japanese (and other Asian) immigrants and their children to protect themselves from anti-Asian racism and 2) educating them regarding U.S. history of racism, including colorblindness, to reduce the risk for them to become perpetrators of racism.