Racism and Ijime in Japan’s Advertising: The Ethnic Alienation of Hāfu and Zainichi Korean Minorities in Japan

The present chapter explores, from an ethical perspective, how advertising in Japan tackles several highly sensitive social and cultural issues. The issues of focus are representative of Japanese contemporary society, otherwise frequently portrayed as characterized by a remarkable degree of homogeneity: the systemic phenomenon of ijime (虐め, usually translated into English as “school bullying”) and the perpetual racial discrimination of Zainichi Korean and hāfu (ハーフ, biracial people born and/or living in Japan, or, in literal translation, “half,” an individual who has one Japanese parent and one non-Japanese, otherwise referred to as being 混血, konketsu: “mixed-blood”). As an attempt to challenge the Japanese public to embrace the new age of multiculturalism and abandon the historical narratives of Nihonjinron, a sociological theory emphasizing the distinctive superiority of Japanese national identity, Nike’s ad “The Future Isn’t Waiting” is a two-minute Japanese language video launched in November 2020 by Wieden + Kennedy. Given the paucity of scholarly commentary regarding cultural aspects of ethics in Japanese advertising, together with the complex intertwining between culture, ethics, and the advertising industry in a rapidly globalizing world, it seems therefore useful to focus on this particular advert as a case study.