Joel Matthews

Tokyo Metropolitan University, University Education center, Faculty Member

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I am currently full-time faculty at Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan, primarily teaching East Asian modern history, minority studies and postcolonial studies. I am interested in issues of race and ethnicity in modern Japan, predominantly through the lens of Zainichi Korean history, culture and politics, but also seek to make connections between Japan and other postcolonial settings in Asia and beyond.

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Papers by Joel Matthews

Are Western Models of Multiculturalism in Crisis? : National Identity, Cultural Integration, and Historical Memory

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External Territorial Integrity in Tokugawa Japan : Case Study : Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands

This paper examines the notions of &quot;territory&quot; and &quot;borders&quot; ... more This paper examines the notions of &quot;territory&quot; and &quot;borders&quot; in the context of late Edo-era Japan&#39;s incorporation of the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands into &quot;Japan&quot;. During the Edo period, despite the self-proclaimed isolationist policy (sakoku) there remained &quot;four windows&quot; through which information, people and goods could enter Japan: Matsumae in the north, Tsushima in the west, Nagasaki with its Dutch connections, and Satsuma in the south. However, from the 18th century, foreign visitors to the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands prompted Japan to rethink its established territorial limits and adopt the European notions of borders and national territory.

Historicizing “Korean Criminality”: Colonial Criminality in Twentieth Century Japan*

International Journal of Korean History, 2017

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Historical structures of exclusion and the colonial Korean (Zainichi) diaspora in modern Japan

Cultural and Social Division in Contemporary Japan, 2019

This chapter examines the historical structures of exclusion that have continued to render the co... more This chapter examines the historical structures of exclusion that have continued to render the colonial Korean (Zainichi) diaspora as the most prominent internal ‘other’ and the primary target of contemporary xenophobic/exclusionary rhetoric and practices. While Zainichi Koreans as an ethnic minority in Japan are by no means a homogenous group, their legal status (for those who have not naturalized) renders them outside the boundaries of the nation since they do not possess Japanese nationality. Most Koreans whose ancestors have resided in Japan since the colonial period possess the legal status of ‘special permanent resident’ or tokubetu eijūsha. This chapter historicizes colonial (Zainichi) Korean legal, economic and social status as non-Japanese nationals and posits this as significant because ethnic and social minorities in most other nations would, despite the existence of prejudices and discrimination targeting those minorities, nevertheless have a sense of belonging to the nation as citizens, and therefore debate over their position within majority society would remain confined to the domestic politics of that nation.

Osaka In and Out of the Nation: Neoliberal Spatial Gestures for the Globally Competitive City-Region

GeoJournal Library, 2013

Is it all bad? Japan's internet suicide subculture

The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded, 2008

External Territorial Integrity in Tokugawa Japan, Case Study: Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands

Ronso, 2018

This paper examines the notions of "territory" and "borders" in the context of late Edo-era Japan... more This paper examines the notions of "territory" and "borders" in the context of late Edo-era Japan's incorporation of the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands into "Japan". During the Edo period, despite the self-proclaimed isolationist policy (sakoku) there remained "four windows" through which information, people and goods could enter Japan: Matsumae in the north, Tsushima in the west, Nagasaki with its Dutch connections, and Satsuma in the south. However, from the 18th century, foreign visitors to the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands prompted Japan to rethink its established territorial limits and adopt the European notions of borders and national territory.

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Are Western Models of Multiculturalism in Crisis? National Identity, Cultural Integration, and Historical Memory

Ronso, 2017

Multiculturalism, as a social model for numerous Western nations, has been instrumental in shapin... more Multiculturalism, as a social model for numerous Western nations, has been instrumental in shaping immigrant societies. However, over recent years, the concept has also come under increasing scrutiny in the context of terrorism, xenophobia, and a backlash against the acceptance of refugees. Furthermore, the core ideological underpinnings of multiculturalism, cultural pluralism and equality, are no longer assumed to have universal appeal. From 2010, numerous European leaders declared multiculturalism to be a "failure" and urged the abandonment of multicultural policies and values. This paper analyses the current trends in immigrant and cultural integration in Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Australia to reveal whether, in fact, multiculturalism was failing.

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Historicizing "Korean Criminality": Colonial Criminality in Twentieth Century Japan

International Journal of Korean History, 2017

In the context of Japanese colonialism, this article examines the discourse of colonial criminali... more In the context of Japanese colonialism, this article examines the discourse of colonial criminality that came to epistemologically position the Korean colonial subject as criminal and therefore necessitating domination, surveillance and punishment. The discourse of colonial criminality stemmed from Japan's late nineteenth century epistemological commitment to imperialism and concomitant knowledge of law and the legality of colonial subjects. Through an analysis that historicizes the “criminal Korean” (futei senjin) epithet in the prewar and the emergence of yami as a signifier of Korean economic criminality throughout the 1940s, this article illustrates how the racialization of Koreans in Japan was both framed in terms of crime and subversion, and how that criminality functioned as a justification for postcolonial legalized exclusion and discrimination.

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