The is a Japanese buzzword used mainly on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

to refer to privileged people who are apart from commoners. In 2015 and 2019, the term was nominated for the New Words and Buzzwords of the Year Awards, sponsored by the publisher Jiyukokuminsha.

Meaning

There is no clear definition of the term; it can simply refer to the wealthy and

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

in some cases, or it can also refer to

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

s, and

bureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", ...

s who say and do things that are beyond the comprehension of the

general public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. Additionally, it can refer to the group of people that use political, financial, or other forms of power to escape their

criminal activities In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

and social responsibilities.

History

The term ''upper-class citizen'' spread rapidly since allegations in 2015 that the

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

s of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics infringed on copyrights. It was subsequently used online and elsewhere in the report of the February 2018 accident in Minato Ward, Tokyo, and the fatal April 2019 Higashi-Ikebukuro runaway car crash.

Development of Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic emblems

In 2015, allegations of copyright infringement were raised in the development of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems. The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) held a

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

, and the media and Internet users reported it using ''upper-class citizen''. TOCOG originally selected Kenjiro Sano’s design, but due to a series of turmoil that occurred from the summer to the fall of 2015, it withdrew Sano’s design on September 1, 2015. At the press conference announcing this decision change, Toshiro Muto,

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the Olympic Organizing Committee, stated that the uniqueness of the design “can be understood by experts, but, unfortunately, not by the ordinary people” — citing the comment of Kazumasa Nagai, Chairman of the Selection Committee. During his comment, Muto used the term ''ordinary people'' multiple times, and the opposite term ''upper-class citizen'' was chosen to ridicule this sense of

elitism Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constructi ...

in the designer world. Muto's statement provoked a backlash as being condescending. According to

Ameba News is a Japanese blogging and social networking website. In December 2009, Ameba launched Ameba Now, a micro-blogging platform competing with Twitter. In March 2009 Ameba launched Ameba Pico, a Facebook app for the English market based on the v ...

, these sentiments were widely spread, supported by the fact that ''upper-class citizen'' was one of the top HOT words on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. It was also used in the print media by ''

Nikkan Gendai is a tabloid-sized evening newspaper published Nikkan Hyundai Co., Ltd., a publisher belonging to the Otowa Group centered on Kodansha, and is a member of the Japan Magazine Publishers Association, an industry group of magazine publishers. It ...

'' on September 5 as a comment by freelance writer Toshiyuki Inoue: “The emblem uproar is not going down, but rather it is shifting to a conflict between the powerful people called upper-class citizens and the ordinary lower-class citizens.” ''Nikkan Gendai'' also used ''upper-class citizen'' in its September 5 issue as a cover term to include Nagai and other designers who were involved in the emblem selection process. These incidents led to the 2015 nomination of ''upper-class citizen'' for the New Words and Buzzwords of the Year Awards.

Higashi-Ikebukuro fatal runaway car crash

On April 19, 2019, a car went out of control in Higashi-Ikebukuro, Tokyo, killing a 31-year-old mother and her 3-year-old daughter who were using a

pedestrian crossing A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, both of which pertain to road sig ...

and injuring ten people, including the driver and his wife. The driver was

Kozo Iizuka is a Japanese engineer who served as Director of the AIST and President of the International Measurement ConfederationMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and a former vice-president of

Kubota Corporation Kubota machine is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Osaka. It was established in 1890. The corporation produces many products including tractors and other agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical str ...

. However, Iizuka was not arrested and was sent to a hospital instead. The term ''upper-class citizen'' was used on the Internet concerning this perpetrator's social status and received preferential treatment. By contrast, two days later, a male driver was caught red-handed for driving a city bus that plowed into a line of pedestrians in Chuo Ward, Kobe City, killing two people and injuring four. On May 8 of the same year, a female driver was arrested at the scene of an accident in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, where two

nursery school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

children were killed. Furthermore, Iizuka was reported in the press as a “former government official” or “former director” and not as a “suspect.” Because he was a high-ranking bureaucrat in the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and also served as a chairman of an industry association and a director of a major machinery manufacturer even after leaving MITI, the perceived special treatment of him drew sharp

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

. As a result, the word ''upper-class citizen'' was nominated for the 2019 New Words and Buzzwords Award. In connection to this, the book ''Upper-Class Citizen/Lower-Class Citizen'' by Akira Tachibana (published by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

), released in August of the same year, reached a circulation of 130,000 copies.

References

{{Reflist Japanese slang