The Dhams and What It Means to Be Mixed
With Chapter 61.5 dropping today I was once again reminded of something that had been bothering me for a while now. And it's the way the dhams are referred to. It gets lost in translation, but MochiJun uses a pretty dated term to refer to the dhams. One you might consider derogatory.
But why is that? How does the larger Japanese societal discourse around people of mixed race play into this? Is the term actually derogatory? And if not, why did they change it in the anime?
DISCLAIMER: I am a white cis-woman who's been born and raised in Germany. I major in Modern Japanese Studies and have lived in Japan for one year during which I attended a Japanese high school. I am currently attending university in Japan. This post is based on my personal experiences, as well as things I learned during my studies and research. This is not an academic paper and I will link sources for further reading, in case you find that you are interested in this topic. I am open to criticism and corrections.
Even in this age of globalization, Japan is what can be considered an ethnically homogenous society. According to the 2020 census, about 97,8% of the Japanese population are Japanese, and thus, only 2,2% (which amounts to about 2,7 million people) of the population consists of foreigners. The "Japanese" and "Foreigner" in the case of the census, however, refer to one's passport, one's citizenship - not ethnicity.
Japan does not recognize dual citizenship, requiring those who have had two passports since childhood to give up either one by the age of 20. This means that there might very well be people included in the census that were counted towards the percentage of foreigners, even if they are ethnically Japanese.
With such a broadly homogenous society, it is no surprise that people who look different stand out. I don't exactly mean the whole "don't wear flashy colors if everybody else at your company's party is wearing a suit" set of societal standards and unspoken rules. (Yes, that is a thing, too, but this is not the place to talk about that.) I mean the attitude the media and, by default, Japanese society has adopted towards people of mixed race.
I'm white, I speak pretty good Japanese and I would say I know enough about the culture to not make it painfully obvious that I'm a foreigner. But I am. People speak to me in English first (my mother tongue is German and yes, while it is safe to assume a white person would speak English, not everyone does, but anyway) and in touristy places you are just that - a tourist. And that's fine. I'm not Japanese, I can deal with being the foreigner. That's what I am, anyway.
But Japanese society manages to alienate people that aren't foreigners. People who are Japanese - either on paper or simply ethnically. The rule is relatively simple: If you don't look Japanese, you aren't.
People of mixed ethnic origin have been verbal about this issue for a long time. And the concept of being not entirely ethnically Japanese was not just introduced during the age of globalization. People with mixed roots have been around for a long time. But they continue to be othered just as much as they were back in the day.
You might or might not have heard of the period that is usually referred to as 鎖国 sakoku. Literally, it means "land in chains" and refers to a period of roughly 200 years (1639-1854, depending on who you ask) that saw immense trade restrictions. Japan essentially closed its borders, limiting trade to the Dutch (who lived on an artificial island close to Nagasaki) and China.
Children that were born between Japanese and foreign traders at that time were called 愛の子 (ai no ko; lovechild).
While sakoku lay the foundation for a Japan with relatively little outside influence (this is not entirely true, there was still quite a lot of foreign influence and after 1854 Japan practically Westernized itself - I'll link some sources for further information), the Meiji Restauration (1868-1912) saw a rise of nationalism and promoted Japanese ethnicity as something superior to other Asian ethnicities. Basically, Japan tried to be an imperialist European nation outside of Europe.
It was only natural, then, that a "clean bloodline" would be more and more emphasized and thus, ever new terms were created to refer to people who weren't, well, "ethnically clean".
During the 1930s the term 混血児 (konketsuji) emerged. And this term is important, because it's the one I'd like to focus on here. konketsuji literally translates to "mixed-blood child". See where I am going with this?
The term was originally used to refer to children between Japanese nationals and a citizen of Taiwan, China or Korea - countries that Japan colonized at the time. I think it's pretty obvious that the general stance towards these children was, um, pretty negative to say the least. They were outright discriminated against and seen as "inferior" to people of "pure" Japanese descent.
During the American Occupation (of Japan), the term was adapted to refer to the children of American soldiers and Japanese women. They were associated with the loss of Japan in the war and were generally portrayed in a bad light. Considering the reputation of the American military personnel during that time, it's relatively obvious that their children weren’t exactly beloved by society. The term konketsuji was also used as a derogatory term.
I already mentioned that it gets lost in translation, but interestingly enough MochiJun uses the term 混血 konketsu (mixed blood) to refer to the dhams. The first time Noé is introduced to the dhams during the Catacombs Arc, Johann introduces himself and Dante and Riche as "konketsu". We don't receive any broader commentary on the term, other than Noé being surprised that half-human-half-vampire people are a thing. (EDIT: In the English version I found Johann introduces himself and the others as "half-breeds". Idk if it's the official Yen Press tl or a fan tl, but yeah, half-breed comes pretty close in nuance.)
The term is used throughout the rest of the manga, for example when Domi and Dante spy on Jeanne and Vanitas' date or today, in Chapter 61.5. But both these cases are interesting. They do something that Japanese likes to do a lot.
While we are still shown the kanji 混血, this time the reading changes. Normally this combination of kanji would be read as こんけつkonketsu, as I mentioned above. But there is this thing in Japanese, I guess you could call it a play on words, where random readings get assigned to kanji. The readings don't have to have the same meaning as the kanji and they can vary from the original pronounciation.
Imagine this: a manga is set in the US and the characters are having a discussion about global warming. Character A says 「まあ、地球温暖化を無視する人もまだいるけどな」 (Well, there are still a bunch of people who just ignore global warming.) Now, we have these kanji 地球温暖化 (chikyuuondanka) that translate to "global warming". But the author might want the characters to sound cooler - more American, whatever. So the author might decide to assign the reading グローバル・ウォーミング (global warming in katakana) to the kanji. It would look somewhat like this:
Doesn't this just complicate things? you might ask. But, no, not really. If you know kanji, you'll have one look at them and know what it means. But now you know that what the character would actually say out loud would be the English version. Why would anyone do this? you ask. In this case, it might just be a stylistic choice. As I said, the author might want the characters to sound "cooler". But average Japanese audiences might not be familiar with the English term, and so, by choosing to put the kanji term there, the author will know that everybody understands what is being said, while also getting to change up the character's speech and make it more characteristic.
MochiJun does something similar. She gives us the kanji for 混血 konketsu and gives us the reading ダム damu (Dham -> Dhampir). So it's safe to assume that what she actually wants the characters to say is "dham" ダム. If we had voices for the characters, like in the anime, they would probably be saying "damu" and not "konketsu".
Again, you might ask: why? My bet here is that Mochizuki wanted to emphasize just how hostile everyone is being. She wanted to highlight that people aren't being friendly or objective when saying "damu" (or, dham). Obviously, Japanese people aren't stupid. Readers would understand that this is racism. But this has more impact. It's a visual aid, a clear sign that vampire society's hatred towards dhams has manifested in hateful language.
I remember re-watching the anime recently and coming across the scene in the Catacombs Arc where Noé first learns about dhams. And, they changed something significant about the scene.
(I wanted to take a screenshot of the episode but it wouldn't capture the subs so please believe me or go check out the Japanese dub for Episode 8, thank you.)
They have Johann say ミックス mikkusu (mix or mixed, short for mixed roots). He doesn't say konketsu. He doesn't say damu. Instead he uses the term that is nowadays considered to be the least "problematic" or at least the one that a lot of people seem to feel comfortable with.
Mikkusu has become the term currently prevalent in the public discourse and it's the successor of another English term: ハーフ hāfu (half). This one is probably the most well-known term, even in the English-speaking sphere.
(The amazing band Queen Bee has a song called "HALF". It was used as an opening for Tokyo Ghoul, but if you look up the lyrics it describes the singer's life, i.e. their struggles growing up in Japan as a person of mixed roots.)
It was used for a long time and still is. It's the term I've become used to, too. But people are trying to use it less and less, although this is an on-going debate. Some people who have mixed origins themselves don't mind the term and say that not the word is the problem, but society's stance on the matter. Other people want it gone and advocate for the usage of terms such as ミックス (mixed) or ダブル daburu (double).
I've read different takes on the origin of the word hāfu, but the most popularly known one is that it is said to originate from the word "half-breed", which, well, I suppose it is pretty obvious why we should not use that word to refer to humans.
And yet still, Mochizuki uses the word 混血 konketsu, albeit with a different reading. Volume 3, the one where the word first appears, was released in 2017. The hāfu debate was already happening back then and anyhow, people of ethnically mixed descent did not just pop out of the ground yesterday.
And the term konketsu has not really been used in a positive way since at least the Second World War. So, no, it's not an accident. It's not that Mochizuki "didn't know better". This was a deliberate choice.
So, does this make her racist? No.
It's a clever use of language. If she wanted to be racist in her work, she would be. And yes, there are probably some things to be said about "clan with strange powers that all have dark skin and are apparently all dead with the exception of two people", but, that is not my debate to lead. And the dhams aren't portrayed in a harmful way. The narrative doesn't "other" them, they aren't any more the laughing stock of the plot than any of the other characters.
And Chapter 61.5, if anything, spoke up for them. Noé spoke up for the dhams and called the vampires out on their bullshit. A discussion is being held and interestingly enough, it's a discussion that is still on-going in present-time Japan.
Vanitas mentions that the dhams happen to stand out because of their eye color. Well. People with mixed origins stand out in Japan, too. And like I mentioned, it is mostly because they "don't look" Japanese.
As much as the dhams are being treated differently simply because people judge them based on their looks, people who might have been born and raised in Japan will get questions about their origin and their Japanese skills on a daily basis - simply because they don't "look Japanese".
I think the reason 混血 konketsu is being used is, firstly, yes, Mochizuki wants to let us know how hostile everyone is being. And I guess you could say that perhaps she is using the word to translate the dhams' situation into Japanese historical terms, into something that the Japanese society has been through and can relate to.
But I also think that another thing we need to consider is this: there might just not be any other word.
This theory only works for the manga, because the anime went ahead and gave us ミックス mikkusu. But in the manga, we only ever see 混血 konketsu and ダム dham. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
The reason Johann introduces themselves that way might simply be because there isn't really any other word he could use. We haven't heard anything about a "Dhams Liberation Movement" and it is highly likely that there is none.
These English loan words that are being used in Japanese had to develop. They had to spread and take root in society. It might be the same for the dhams.
Perhaps future chapters will use a different language. Perhaps Johann, Dante and Riche themselves will find a different term that feels a bit more - them.
Congratulations for having made it this far. As promised, here are some links with further information on the matter. I'm open for criticism, corrections and just further discussion on this matter, but please, stay respectful.
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Meiji Restoration, political revolution in 1868 in Japan that brought about the end of the shogunate and ushered in the subsequent era of ma
The Origin of Japan’s Modernization / The Government of Japan - JapanGov -
