This article is about exposing and countering racism through critical pedagogy in the context of a Japanese EAP (English for academic purposes) program. Relevant issues are first raised through: (1) a review of academic work concerning Japanese constructions of language, race and culture commonly found in "nihonjinron" writings, a genre of literature concerned with depictions of Japanese uniqueness or Japaneseness; and (2) an examination of important historical developments in post-war Japan beginning with its occupation by the Allied forces after the nation's unconditional surrender, which is conducted with a view to demonstrating how the empowerment of a conservative politics has contributed to discourses that reify Japan as a "monolingual" and "monocultural" nation. Following this, the article focuses on how critical counter-storytelling can be combined with a critical pedagogy aimed at exposing and dialogizing prevailing discourses and practices relating to "nihonjinron." The article concludes with a reiteration of the importance of denaturalizing and destabilizing racialized and racist practices extant in socio-educational spaces and a prognosis of what the future may hold with regards to ongoing contestations surrounding Japanese constructions of race and culture.