Multicultural Olympic team shows Japan's diversity growing pains

FILE PHOTO: Naomi Osaka of Japan holds the Olympic torch after lighting the cauldron at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony, July 23, 2021. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Tokyo Olympics were supposed to showcase Japan's growing ethnic diversity, but the Games have also dragged into the international spotlight a domestic debate about whether the country can be both multicultural and Japanese.

Japan's team is its biggest on record and most diverse, including nearly three dozen athletes of mixed parentage and reflecting a gradual but profound change in a still largely homogeneous country.