Sakoku Japan racist?

[lethargic_man]

I was at "the first picnic of the year" today, hosted by Sam WinoLJoDW. At one point we were talking about the history of Japan, and in particular the period in which Japan was a closed country, with no foreigners permitted in it, and the only westerners allowed to trade with it the Dutch, who were confined to a small island off the south coast. Someone, I forget who, described this policy as racist. I hadn't thought of it that way. Given that this was long before the invention of the concept of a multicultural society, and that no one had any automatic right to enter another country, and that, being an island nation, Japan was not susceptible to the mixing of peoples that happen in countries with land borders, I don't really see this policy as racist provided it was not accompanied by a concept of ethnic elitism.^* (One could argue that lack of exposure to the other allows the demonisation of that other, but I don't think Britain at the time had large numbers of foreigners in it.)

* Hmm, I can see the seeds here of talking myself out of my previous stance...

What do you think?