"The church must defend the human rights of minorities," says Rev Hisano Shinitiro, former moderator of the Church of Christ in Japan. "We must reject domination and control in favour of mutual service and life in community." Shintiro was one of those who spoke on rising neo-nationalism in Japanese society at the annual meeting of the Alliance's Northeast Asia area council (NEAAC) in Tokyo in October.

In his presentation, NEAAC secretary Dr Kim Sung-Jae highlighted the resurgence of neo-nationalist movements in Japan and the growing xenophobia towards foreigners and immigrant workers.

The Jiyushugi Shikan ["liberal view of history"] research group is an organization that sprang up in response to the Sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo cult in 1995.

The attack revealed a deep-seated Japanese identity crisis. The new research group argued that the root cause of this crisis lay in a masochistic overemphasis on the negative aspects of Japanese history and called for a renewed "history education", to rebuild the identity of the Japanese people.

The group's view of history leaves something to be desired, however. In order to awaken a sense of national pride in Japanese students, it promotes a view of early 20th-century Japan that refuses to acknowledge Japan's invasion and colonization of other Asian countries and exonerates her of responsibility for war crimes.

Under the impact of this neo-nationalist "history education" movement, the Japanese political sector moved towards a system of national mobilization. The Japanese authorities revised the Diet Act (July 29 1999) in order to create conditions for constitutional revision; passed the Communication Monitoring Law and amendment to the Citizens' Residence Registration Law (August 2 1999) to monitor all citizens by assigning each citizen a number; and enacted the National Flag and State Law (August 8 1999) to strengthen the symbols of national identity.

This movement towards national mobilization creates a volatile and dangerous atmosphere, at a time when a declining birth rate forces Japan to rely more and more on immigrant labour. By the middle of this century, according to a survey by the United Nations' population division published in May, immigrant workers and their families will make up at least 17%, and perhaps as much as 30%, of the Japanese population.

All the speakers in the NEAAC consultation linked the rise of Japanese neo-nationalism to the desire to protect the economy and culture from the inroads of neoliberal globalization. The Japanese state is being strengthed in an effort to defend national economic sovereignty.

The neo-nationalist response is, however, no better than the globalization to which it reacts. It leads only to collective egoism, ethnic discrimination, exploitation of the immigrant population, and a denial of the darker moments in Japanese history.

As Christians whose vision is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, we must reject both neoliberal globalization and the domination of a monoculture, and the exclusive nationalisms which spring up in reaction. Our goal is an oikumene in which all the inhabitants live in justice, peace and mutual respect.

"We must move beyond a nationalistic worldview to a "heterotopia' [M Foucault and E Soja] in which people of different national origins and diverse cultures respect and accept one another's differences, live together in mutual harmony, and put down roots to establish a new worldview and a new value system."

Park Seong-won, department of cooperation and witness