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- Same here... as one learns more and starts using Japanese the order of preference generally quickly changes from "romaji > kana > kanji" to kanji > kana > romaji". IMHO...
- These are my photos of the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest that you used for this article without my permission. Please remove them from your site. -Dietrich
- Haha, really? I thought cats go ニャンニャン and dogs go ワンワン in Japanese :p (source, mangy cats and wild dogs).
- Thanks ^^. I had fun designing the vintage-style presentation. Look out for more vintage fugu and schoolboy coatman in the future!
- Thanks for the comment! Maybe you can make one of our future lessons in late July! :p
Tofugu Comments
Japanese Culture and Language
Now that I’m back from Hawaii, I finally had the chance to wade through all the emails I decided to ignore until now (sorry if that was you!). A decent number of them were people worried about racism in Japan; mainly, they were worried that people in Japan would treat them poorly because they were, [...]
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11 months ago
I'm not scared of those signs or racism overall in Japan, it's worse here, and it's not even that bad here. However, I wouldn't go to a restaurant with a "JAPANESE ONLY" sign unless I know what I'm doing (speak Japanese, be respectful and as you said, follow the cultural guidelines).
11 months ago
One kinda funny thing was that people didn't like to be near us on trains. At one point we got on a packed train, yet still had room because they scrunched towards each other so they wouldn't touch us. People were generally ok with me sitting near them, but my friend who is fourth Japanese had the issue that people would get up and find a new bench when he sat down.
11 months ago
During a conversation I had with one of the university students, and he told me flat out that racial intolerance is something that makes his blood boil, and that he never understood it. Keep in mind, that I'm a 6' lanky white guy with big, curly brown hair and blue eyes.
The group that we hung out with in Japan was almost entirely made up of people who had been to America the previous year on a reverse of the trip we were on (our schools are sister schools or something). They said that they received so much kindness from the American students, that they were paying it forward to us. Anyway, when people talk about all the Japanese being xenophobic, they obviously experienced Japan in a completely different way than I did (but of course, I got plenty of stares just walking down the street, but that is understandable). I made many very close friends during my time in Japan.
11 months ago
11 months ago
Gaijin treatment may be bad, but the Japanese likes to treat their own subgroups a lot worse. Read up on the burakumin. They are sort of the Japanese version of the Indian untouchables.
11 months ago
It's a very odd kind of racism here though. People will bend over backwards to help you, IF you ask. They are very nice and extremely polite, to your face. Otherwise they will go to lengths to avoid you, even crossing to the other side of the street.
11 months ago
--
Viet Hoang
11 months ago
11 months ago
11 months ago
11 months ago
apparently we didn't do something right with the email reply
thing...anyways, going to sleep, nightynight
11 months ago
My opinion is slightly skewed. I have never been to Japan, though I will be moving there in a months time, but I will get to see first hand what it is like. I will be living in Saitama and will probably visit Tokyo very frequently.
Just a few things I wanted to say. I don't mean to cause an argument. So please lets not escalate this to an argument. Not saying you were going to, just wanted to say it before it happened. Okay, I'm talking too much now.
See you guys
11 months ago
A cousin and I were traveling via 新幹線 (is that the right kanji?) and we were sitting next to a middle aged woman. She started up a conversation w/ my cousin (who is half 日本人) and eventually she asked about me. So I turned around and introduced myself (you know, よろしくおねがいします, etc) but she sort of ignored me....
So I spent the rest of the trip looking out the window. ;_;
Maybe I had a really weird accent...?
11 months ago
11 months ago
”外人がありません？”
”え〜そなのかんけね！”
11 months ago
Okay, I'm not hurt by the whole 'No Gaijin' thing THAT much. It isn't like it is only Americans. And it seems almost a little polite to me, because the people are being honest that they wouldn't be able to help a foreign speaker. But that is just my opiniong ^^
11 months ago
11 months ago
11 months ago
Overall, I love living here in Japan and don't want to live in any other city in the world right now but Tokyo. I feel comfortable and am treated with respect most of the time. When someone tries to put me down and discriminate against me, I stand up for myself, just like I would anywhere. Things are calm and safe here and it's one of the least risky places to come to if you're going to pull up stakes in your own home country and live abroad.
I know I'm rambling, but allow me this small anecdote:
The first time I was asked to leave an establishment in Japan was actually kind of funny. It was in Kanazawa and the place was an adult club. They had a poker table so that's why my friend and I were interested. Anyway, the bouncer-type guy does the arm-cross thing and says "Japanese only." I said, "Don't worry, we speak Japanese." The guy gets pissed off and shouts, "Nipponjin tte itterun darou!" Luckily, one of the oyaji-types gets up from the poker table and says in very good English, "You don't want to be here if nobody wants you here do you? Go down the street. They want you there."
Anyway, we saw his logic and left that joint. That was the first time I'd ever met any over-30 yakuza-types. A little intimidating, to say the least.
11 months ago
I've been wondering about this subject for awhile now, and was going to email Koichi about it and now its here.
First off, I've been to Japan only a couple of times. But it was only for business, so I spent most of the day in a meeting and then back to my hotel to sleep. I didn't have much time to really explore, because I didn't know any Japanese at that time. And time was a factor, I only had a couple of days to wrap up the meetings and head back home.
But recently, I've been thinking about moving to Japan or Korea. Depending on the information that I get. And I'm hoping that some of the community here would be able to share their experiences and shed some light on this topic for me.
I (28 years old) am Chinese born in Singapore moved to Canada when I was 8, and I'm currently taking Japanese classes to get me going for now. And plan to move to Japan within the next year or so, I just want to get prepared for it within that year. After watching that 'Japanese are not impressed" video it kind of scared me, not being accepted and all. I've been through that when I was a kid, but now Canada has changed so much and its better.
I love the language, culture, sport (I practice kendo), and people. What better way to learn more about a culture than to immerse yourself in it. But when I get there, I need to kick start my career again; I'm a marketing manager here for a print media company. And I was just looking into some U.S or Canadian companies that are existing there to be part or even to an extreme of working for a Japanese company. Since I'm taking a big leap, that myth about Japanese people alienating foreigners true?
Don't take this the wrong way when I ask; but do they treat 'Asian' looking foreigners different from 'Non Asian' foreigners? A little better a little worse? Or just the same? I heard many different takes on it, and I need to shed a little more light on this.
Anyone who has experience please feel free to share.
Thanks,
11 months ago
I'm still in highschool, so I'm curious as to what it's like living alone and trying to make a living as a foreigner in Japan. Probably then will one supossedly experience the sort of discrimination, etc. that people are reporting. Even so, I think the majority of Japanese people (of my generation anyway) are very open towards foreigners.
1 week ago
im just curious, because i'm doing the same thing in a while...i just need to learn more japanese. ^^''.
11 months ago
:)
I think that somehow, some of us lived in Japan...well.. I believe in reincarnation and stuff:)
So...maybe some of us, the ones that learn japanese and are interested in Japan, once lived there:)
So...this sign doesn't make sense: who is gaijin ? Maybe we all lived there once:)
Maybe deep inside we have japanese spirits and the people around are gaijin for us too:)
Anyways, I feel like home there, and I am sure that some of you too.
11 months ago
11 months ago
One year in Japan and I thought my heart is going to explode because of leaving Japan.
I also learned japanese very fast, went to kendo classes and finally passed a 3 kyu exam in kendo. I very often feel I have that nihonjin no tamashii inside.
I am very sure of this.I know many will raise their eyebrows, some will lough, but I just know, just have the feeling.
I think many of you felt this too, but some of you just never put it in words, because others would lough.
Hum...it makes me sad how narrow minded some people are. Racism certainly makes me sad.
10 months ago
Um. Warning: I don't know how to express my thoughts without sounding like a fool so I apologize in advance.
I really wanted to thank you for your comment about having some sort of nihonjin no tamashii inside. I'm not conceited enough to think that I was the only one feeling this sort of irrational connection to the Japanese culture, but heck if it's an easy thing to admit. I have to say, I don't really believe in reincarnation, it's more like, I *want* to believe in it (but I'm feeling too disillusioned about religious beliefs and human kind in general, sorry) but in any case, I wonder why I've always had these weird urges to bow and apologize all the time; I'm fascinated by the Japanese language, when learning it, I feel like I'm finally reuniting with something long lost, listening to a song I had somehow forgotten and always wished to remember. I really long to be part of this culture (again?) even though I will never really be, because I was born a "gaijin". The only explanation I've come up with so far is, I must be a closet masochist. Mh, I think Freud would have a field day with this.
Anyway, thank you for being nice to us people who usually won't dare speak up our mind because others laugh at us.
And now I feel incredibly embarrassed.
Don't hesitate to tell me if I completely misunderstood your feelings and thoughts. I'll just go and bury myself in shame somewhere.
11 months ago
I mean, I was just wondering about this whole concept of an anti-foriegner sentiment in Japan, which I had heard about, yet which seemed a bit too odd and blown out of proportion...so I did some looking around on the internet trying to find out more about it, without running into much luck...but then, just before I was about to go to bed, I decided to check Tofugu (my favorite blog about Japanese culture)...and lo and behold, here's this article! It's uncanny, really.
And yes, thank you for clearing that up. The wondering was just driving me crazy.
11 months ago
11 months ago
11 months ago
Perhaps the biggest tip is one of body language and mutual understanding. Being open and friendly will net similar responses. Acting with superiority and dominance (the so-called "gaijin smash") will net distrust and cold feelings.
11 months ago
Anyway, I can't say I've had any experience with this. I've only been to Japan for a short time with my school, and since we were in a relatively small town, we only saw one other gaijin, and he was there to help the high schoolers learn English. I think it seemed more like we were rockstars than hated...I hope I wasn't just misinterpreting. >.> I site the "Japanese people aren’t actually impressed with your Japanese" article to support the paranoia. XD
Nah, I think that this was pretty informative and help to debunk some fears. That video was pretty funny though (although maybe a bit offensive XD) Although...I think that one video may be embedded twice.
Thanks for the article! :D
11 months ago
i think many japanese are not racist...but most time just really silly with lots of weird stuff...and some about the things they dont know much about...so i think it not really a racist problem...but instead some other problem..and the problem i think is to be less silly and think about what kinda' stuff they are doin' to other people of different culture...just like how sometimes american also does when they think asians,hispanics, and etc. differently based on sterotyping...but instead i think people should be taught to accept and learn to embrace those differences; instead of making fun of them...
11 months ago
11 months ago
Every country, thank fully I am in London which is multy cultural and needs the tourist business, I was recently in Istanbul, Turkey and it is the same - many people speaking several languages in order to engage with tourists.
I think Japan isn't that widely bothered with foreign tourists in their country, most sites/attractions looks like they are visited by 99% Nihon-jin.
11 months ago
11 months ago
11 months ago
However when we got there 99.9% of people were nice, but we did have one or two experiences of anti-gaijin sentiment. Those sorts of attitudes towards foreigners and race only reflect badly on the people who express them, so I didn't let it bother me.
Lol lucky for me I didn't get maced like those poor tourists in the video ^_^
11 months ago
http://www.zdwonline.de/?page_id=314&picture_id...
:)
11 months ago
4 days ago
I honestly don't know what to think about this one. They're making an assumption that a foreign person does not love fish as much as a Japanese one would. It's bizarre discrimination - but it's still discrimination if actually enforced.
11 months ago
11 months ago
1) Just because everyone else does it, it doesn't mean you have to. Japan should strive to do what's right, not just the bare minimum (that applies for everyone, not just Japan).
2) I certainly don't see more than one racially offensive sign a month living in Tokyo for the past 6 years, but I've never seen one in America for the 19 years before that. (Being white it's possible I missed some, but you can rest assured the mainstream media would have attacked such a sign like Debito does here and that hasn't happened to the best of my knowledge.) In this case, I don't think Japan is even doing the bare minimum. 1 sign is already too many.
3) Free speech vs. discrimination. I believe in free speech. One someone uses their free speech to be racist, it doesn't bother me. Why? Because I just think to myself, "they're stupid." However when someone practices racial discrimination I think, "boy I'm stupid for coming to this ファッキング county" (to borrow your katakana and ovoid any potential profanity screening plugins).
Sure, Debito has created a lot of attention for an issue that really isn't that prevalent, but the fact that is an issue at all is disgusting. Sure people are racist in America (and anywhere), but the type of stuff that people do in Japan would get you sued out of house, home, and any cent you could ever make for the rest of your life, and possibly some jail time too.
4 months ago
11 months ago
"2) I certainly don't see more than one racially offensive sign a month living in Tokyo for the past 6 years, but I've never seen one in America for the 19 years before that. (Being white it's possible I missed some, but you can rest assured the mainstream media would have attacked such a sign like Debito does here and that hasn't happened to the best of my knowledge.)"
Never seen one in 19 years? What about the confederate naval jack? You do know that people who use that thing often don't mean it as a sign of harmless regionalistic folklore, but do it with the precise intent of giving the middle finger to black people? To me that's even more offensive than a dry "no foreigners" sign, because it deliberately aims to make other feel bad or to intimidate them. And what about all the looney white power groups up there in the rocky mountains?
As for the "mainstream media", don't forget that one of the most popular pundits, Michelle Malkin, defended the internment of Japanese Americans. Not a peep about that form the mainstream media.
11 months ago
But none the less, said flag qualifies as free speech, which I write off as "they're stupid", which is different from denying entry to one's store because of their race. Rest assured that in 2008, the second someone flying a confederate flag turned away a minority from their bar etc, they'd have their liquor licensee or foods business licensee revoked and a nice lawsuit on their hands.
Just last week a saw a sign for an apartment that said, "we reserve the right to refuse foreigners and prostitutes." Don't even get me started on housing in this country, that's a whole different mess that is so huge you could dedicate an entire blog to just that problem alone.
Edit: Your comment about Michelle Malkin is also an example of her right to free speech. She has a right to be an idiot and no one can take that away from her. Just so long as she doesn't do anything to take rights away from another. She may make someone feel bad, but locking the door to your business (not home -- that's different) is discrimination,and there's no two ways about it.
11 months ago
-The confederate flag, one of the most common displays of overt racism
-Hate groups, probably the most extreme form
-The succes of people who believe interning entire groups of people is justifiable.
Now ok from a legal-technical standpoint this may all fall under "freedom of speech", but that doesn't mean it isn't cause for serious concern. In fact I find this casual, trivialized racism far more disconcerting than the occasional case, perhaps punishable in the US and other countries, of foreigners being barred from a certain establishment. I'm curious what you'd think if a good portion of Japanese in areas with a large foreign population suddenly started driving around with a flag of imperial Japan stuck to their car if you'd know they did it just to stick it in your face, like people do with the confederate flag. I doubt whether you wouldn't find that racially offensive for 19 years.
11 months ago
Exactly.
I'm not saying those people aren't stupid, in fact I've said just that every time, but they aren't breaking any laws in America. America probably has the widest legal protections of free speech you'll see, and probably the only western nation with no law against hate speech. Regardless these actions are all speech, not discrimination as nothing is being taken away from someone. These signs denying access to a business however are discrimination, and are illegal in any country advanced enough to have laws.
>I'm curious what you'd think if a good portion of Japanese in areas with a large foreign population suddenly started driving around with a flag of imperial Japan stuck to their car...
Clearly you've never been to Japan and thus have never seen the 'speaker trucks' or the large 'black trucks' that do just that. Again, these people are just as free to do that as I am free to call them idiots for doing so, because they are causing me no harm, hurting me in no way. However denying me access to someplace because of my race is indeed wrong.
I'm sorry we are forced to repeat the same thing back and forth as I fear you are not actually reading my comment.
I have said in every single comment that although such actions are the actions taken by idiots, they are protected by free speech, and they should be allowed to make it publicly known how terrible of an excuse for a human being their are. However, they are not discriminating against anyone in the legal sense of the word. Every time, you just give me more examples of people that do this, and every time I tell you the same thing.
What we see in America is protected by free speech as it is purely speech with no action. What we see in Japan is not because it is action that is taken based solely on racial prejudices. And after all, the topic of discussion is Japan is it not? So you can give me all these examples of things that bother you in America, and I will point you back to my first post, item #1 where Japan needs to do what is right because Japan needs to become a just country, not just do the bare minimum to survive.
I think you are misjudging me as someone who doesn't know much about Japan, but I assure you you are wrong as I'm not some random English teacher but instead someone who has studied everything from East Asia Studies to Law, and now Design in Japanese universities not as some 1 year vacation exchange but as a legitimate student that say for the exact same entrance exams as Taro or Hanako.
The underlying problem here in Japan is they do not have human rights, or the rights afforded to all human beings as law. In their 'human rights' section of the constitution, they have Japanese citizen rights, and as a non-japanese citizen, all rights afforded in the constitution need not apply. This is very different than from America for example, where human rights are the rights of a human.
Technically, there is nothing legally wrong with even these Japanese Only businesses, and that is why Debito could not fight his case until after he took his Japanese citizenship. You could say that as I am brushing off racism as free speech in America because it's legal, I must then do the same for discrimination in Japan because it's legal here. However I do not do so because I think America's laws are right, and Japans are not. Japan's legal system is ancient, decrepit, and corrupt. It was already behind the times when it was first instated, and was built on deceit the second time around as well as the Japanese language constitution that was ratified by the Diet was systematically and deliberately untruthfully translated from the English original, and that is why these problems are here today.
I think the US's stance of freedom of speech is the most appropriate for todays modern world, because just as it unfortunately allows racists people to say racist things, it allows you and I to call them out while at the same time prevents anyone form taking publicly or privately afforded powers and then fueled by their racists misconceptions to act negatively towards another. Here in Japan however, there are no such limitations.
Which is worse, Japan or America, is irrelevant. I shouldn't have brought the comparison up however most everyone here is American and I felt it appropriate for a frame of reference. The issue here is Japan is not perfect, and even if Debito and others make the situation seem worse than it is, the bottom line is it is not perfect, that 1 such sign is too many. And the attitude of it could be worse, or it's not that bad, just allows for things to remain anything less than perfect. I believe Japan should learn from the Lexus commercials in the states. The relentless pursuit of perfection. Instead however, Japan is currently in a state of doing the bare minimum and even then fighting and screaming the whole way along.
Excuse my long rant, most of which has been just a rehash of what I have said in every other comment, but it seems as though I have to say it again in order for anyone to actually read it for once.
11 months ago
As for the black vans, I know about them. I've never been in Japan, but I can't help but have the impression that they're far less usual in Japan than people / cars / state buildings flying confederate flags are in the southern United States.
But, back to the core of what we were arguing about. You claim that racism is less of a problem in the US because the ubiquitous racism I see in the large parts of the US is protected under the first amendment clause of the constitution, whereas the "no foreigners" signs that have been spotted on occasion in Japan is worse because it a kind of racism that affect someone very directly and was outlawed in the US in the 1960's. I do not follow that rather legalistic line of reasoning though. Whether something is legally protected or not does not determine whether it is something that sensible people ought to be offended by and concerned about. You brush it off because of the strict dichotomy you make between "discrimination", which you find outrageous, and "protected free speech", about which you say "One someone uses their free speech to be racist, it doesn't bother me.". However, from a critical legal theory standpoint, this dichotomy is untenable. One has to acknowledge that racism is a structural feature of American society and that it comes in many forms. You can argue that denying someone entrance to your business because of the colour of their skin is worse that constitutionally protected hate speech. But you cannot argue that just because Japan has a couple of cases of punishable discrimination it has a bigger racism problem that America just because America's ubiquitous racism falls within the borders of constitutionally protected speech.
11 months ago
Incorrect. The first line particularly.
>You claim that racism is less of a problem in the US...
No, I claim that the No Gaijin Allowed issue is not a non-issue, that it is indeed a very big issue. It is the exact same kind of issue as the you speak of racial discrimination in the south in the 50's and 60's.
'Strict dichotomy' is indeed something that I think is very important. You're talking about racism. I'm talking about discrimination. I don't care if someone is racist as long as they don't take it to an action which is discrimination. (Okay, I don't not care, they're idiots, but i'm willing to deal with it because the day they get prosecuted for thought crimes is the day I get prosecuted too.)
We're talking two different issues here, Racism vs. Discrimination. Racism is a thought crime, discrimination is a crime of action with it's basis on on the racially hearted thought crime. In America, one commits discrimination and they enter a world of hurt. In Japan, you get a slue of people defending.
I agree with you that racism is bad, and it does exist in America. BUT I don't care. I care about what hurts me. Some idiot in America driving around in a car that says kill all whities on the window is disturbing, but until he actually does it it's just a thought crime, and he's just a hick. Here in Japan, where I live, where I face this issue every single day, I care about not the guy in his truck with loud music and a big flag, I care about the guy who puts a sign up on his apartment that says he reserves the right to deny housing to foreigners and prostitution. Prostitution is illegal in Japan, and he puts being a foreigner in the same category with them. He reserves the right to deny a service to someone because of their race. That is discrimination, and that is a problem. And that is my ultimate point. Discrimination exists. Maybe it's not as big of a problem as Debito makes it sound, but the issue in itself, no matter how small, is automatically huge.
I agree with the things that you list as being 'wrong'. They disgust me too. But I'm willing to accept them because blocking them would block me as well. I only request from you that you accept that I agree with you on that issue, but that is not where I'm taking issue. Can you agknowledge that I agree with you on those issues as somehting that is wrong, BUT, they are not the subject with which I am taking issue? That my issue is denying service to someone because of their race is wrong, and is inherently a HUGE issue even if it happens only once in a while.
Or perhaps you are actually trying to say that some guy with a flag in his window is somehow more distractive to the human society than someone denying services to another because of their race? If that's the case, then I'm afraid I have nothing more to day to you because that has become a fundamental core of my life, and so far your argument has done nothing to change my feelings on that.
edit:
>Nor is there a need to bring up the argument of authority or be condescending towards people who study (or "vacation", as you call it) in Japan for only one year.
Sorry, but authority is an issue in this case. Someone who comes on a 1 year vacation who does not speak fluent Japanese can not understand the situation. No matter how well read, how well educated someone is on Japan, if all of their information is 2nd hand translated to English, they ultimately understand nothing. Once Japanese is translated to English, the translators bias is put through, words are changed. Just translating it to English removes it's from it's original Japanese context, form, and structure, changing it's meaning every so subtle, but that little bit is enough to void all benefit that would normally be gained from reading such materials. I don't mean to sound like an ass when I list my 'qualifications', but the bottom line is in this situation, they are extremely relevant because of the translation issue.
11 months ago
But then you totally ignore that huuuuuuge social cost of constitutionally protected hate speech. After a lot of prodding I could get you to admit that you actually do care a little, but certainly not too much. What do you think has the most serious negative consequences for people as a social GROUP? Being barred from one or two public baths or restaurants and having a couple of jackasses driving around in a van spewing hatefull rants? Or having the media and entertainment industries portray you as a criminal (if you're African-American), a rapist (if you're African-American), a bandito (if you're hisanic), an illegal alien (if you're hispanic), an eternal other (if you're Asian-American) a terrorist (if you're Arab-American)...?
In conclusion, it doesn't attest to good judgement to focus all your anger and outrage on one form of illegal discrimination and downplay all the rest just because it is covered by the first amendment.
11 months ago
No.
We need to strive to be the undisputed best at everything we do at all times, otherwise we will be destined for terrible things. In any ranking, there is #1, and dead last. Nothing in between. On the topic of racism and discrimination in Japan, the same is true. Japan is not the worst place in the world. But it’s far from perfect; and it’s not even the best. That means there is room to grow, and any complaint is a legitimate complaint that needs to be addressed fully without hiding behind the straw-man that is an example of something worse.
I want absolute perfection. I want the examples of racism in america you've given to go away, but I don't see why they have anything to do with the topic of discrimination in Japan other then to diminishing the wrong that goes on here because there's wrong in other parts of the world.
Go back and read my first post. My argument was not that Japan is worse than America, that was your interpretation of my argument. My argument that saying it's worse in America is a complete cop-out that says, "go ahead japan, as long as your not the worst in the world it's okay".
There will always be examples of worse things in the world. Hell, we may as well just round up all the Arabs and throw them in jail right? They can't be trusted right? Besides, Hitler took it one step further; he didn't just put a group of people in jail, he killed them too, so as long as we don't go that far, everything's okay.
Now I know very well that's not what you're intending to mean, and it's disgusting that I would even imply that is what you mean. You're taking the same approach as I am, just on the other end. Not a necessary wrong, but an acceptable wrong. For me, in order to protect my rights, I will deal with racist thinking people but I wont stand to have my rights taken away. As I see it, you think the occasional rights of some foreigner in Japan being taken away just aren't a major problem that takes priority when we look at other wrongs in the world. However, you're giving Japan a 'get out of jail free' card just because America isn't perfect, and I think that's just bad.
btw
>Or having the media and entertainment industries portray you as a criminal (if you're African-American), a rapist (if you're African-American), a bandito (if you're hisanic), an illegal alien (if you're hispanic), an eternal other (if you're Asian-American) a terrorist (if you're Arab-American)...?
All of that happens in Japan too just exactly as you've explained it. Some of it is probably imported from America, but it still goes on here. It may not happen as much because there just aren't that many foreigners, but whenever there is anything at all relates to a foreigner, the media, the people go out of their way to make a note of it and push the stereotype as far as possible. My favorite was a bank robbery not long ago. The description of the criminal? He looked like a foreigner. No further description, not even what color foreigner, just a foreigner. After all, anyone robbing a bank looks like a foreigner, that's what they do.
11 months ago
Well let's see
"I certainly don't see more than one racially offensive sign a month living in Tokyo for the past 6 years, but I've never seen one in America for the 19 years before that. (Being white it's possible I missed some, but you can rest assured the mainstream media would have attacked such a sign like Debito does here and that hasn't happened to the best of my knowledge.) In this case, I don't think Japan is even doing the bare minimum. 1 sign is already too many."
I did interpret this as you implying that you think that Japan has a bigger racism problem than Japan, given that you say it performs worse with regard to the one form of racism that you can genuinely become upset about, namely illegal discrimination. If there a different way to interpret this, I'm sorry for not having notice.
As for human rights, that is, in my opinion, just a load of Anglo-American mid 20th-century hooey. I'm much more inclined to agree with the People's Republic of China that how a country organizes it's political system and how it treats it's people is part of it's internal affairs. Of course countries that violate said human rights can be quite unsavoury places, and we should our distance from them. There are of course extreme cases like genocide, but generally we should not try to impose our values and ideas on other countries. After all these universalistic human rights discourses contain no guarantee that they will not be abused in the interests of imperialism. But that's of course a completely different discussion.
11 months ago
both of you have interesting points. Anything that has to do with any amendment or any law has a lot of vagueness to it, thus the conflicting of opinions. I love it!
11 months ago
You have said before that I'm talking semantics, but ignore that very fact as you read. I'm saying that Japan has a bigger Discrimination problem than America, and that just being a racist is one's right. Just like it's one's right to pierce a chain form their bellybutton to their nose. While it's their right, I think both are truly messed up.
>As for human rights, that is, in my opinion, just a load of Anglo-American mid 20th-century hooey. I'm much more inclined to agree with the People's Republic of China that how a country organizes it's political system and how it treats it's people is part of it's internal affairs. Of course countries that violate said human rights can be quite unsavoury places, and we should our distance from them. There are of course extreme cases like genocide, but generally we should not try to impose our values and ideas on other countries. After all these universalistic human rights discourses contain no guarantee that they will not be abused in the interests of imperialism. But that's of course a completely different discussion.
I think that last statement makes it very clear that you and I will not see eye-to-eye on very much as China is beyond any doubt in my mind the most purest form of evil on this earth that no one has the balls to stand up against. (see further here: http://blog.darin-tenbruggencate.com/2008/07/11... )
Also, just for the record, I think you need to understand that I don't appreciate the racism here, and that I think it leads to the discrimination that I truly take issue with, but as long as it stops at racist thoughts and doesn't overflow into discriminating actions i think we should be hands off. (see: http://blog.darin-tenbruggencate.com/2008/07/23... )
However again, after your China remark, it's clear that we will not agree on much of anything. I'm not going to say you're wrong, but that I disagree eight million percent, and I would like to end this conversation (at least in the context of this tiny input box -- driving me bonkers) for now because there will be no mutual understanding between us as we have just very very different outlooks on the world and life.
7 months ago
You're writing a comment against discrimination, so hopefully you'll concede that some southerners (many of us, in fact) *do* have class. Many of us strongly reject racism and show an active interest in other cultures. Just so ya' know....
11 months ago
As for the Japanese version of anti-foreigner attitudes.... a total piece of cake in comparison. Which is a good thing.
11 months ago
Anyways, that's why tourists shouldn't go to Wainai
11 months ago
Tourist should definitely stay in town like Waikiki, because I would hate to see them get punked out for some cash from some 7 foot, 12 year old sole [pronounced 'so-lei']... reliving my childhood memories.
11 months ago
Luckily, I'm moving to Volcano Village on Big Island to work on a few tea farms. Half the farmers seem to be from the San Francisco Bay Area so I can talk "PEET'S" with them.
Aloha -
11 months ago
11 months ago
Apparently I have Japanese facial features, thus get mistaken a lot for being one. I remember on the last trip to Japan, a random Japanese individual approached me for directions and was speaking straight up Japanese. He gave me a retarded stare when I responded in my broken Japanese, but it did change once he understood I was a foreigner. I should be the one asking for directions! And then there was Koichi's highschool home teacher who mistaken me for one of her ex-students... haha.
11 months ago
11 months ago
They also face even more racial prejudice and discrimination than I do as a white person as they are, as the mayor of tokyo calls them, third rate humans. It's disgusting. And because that's their place in society, they are powerless to change it.
BUT, any sort of progress made by Debito or anyone else who levees their 'white privilege' in this country are not only afforded to other people like him. My make-believe Cambodian person also gain the same rights that Debito or anyone else fought for.
And again, just because someone has it worse doesn't mean that someone else can't have it bad and complain too does it?
11 months ago
11 months ago
>>they should be treated like everyone else
Sadly, equality does not exist in the Japanese society. Anyone who asks for equal treatment is assumed to be the weaker party, because if they were stronger, they would beat their chest and make it known. Remnants of the class system during the samurai days.
>>but the younger generation...
However once they get out of college and get into the work places, that changes. And even still, the older generation set the bar sooooo low, that even people like these bafoons are an improvement. http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/education/080716/...
It's so ironic with Japan though because around the turn of the century she sent so many of her citizens to Brazil to work as near slave labor on farms to earn money for the poorly run Japanese economy. They seem to have no problem bitching about the hardships people faced in 1908 and implement the same limitations on people in Japan in 2008. (This is the 100th year anniversary of the great migration, or as I call it, the great slave trade as the Brazilian government paid the Japanese government for those laborers, and the Japanese gov. willingly sent them.)
11 months ago
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11 months ago
Ah really? I for one am a 7 foot 6 golden-haired honkey of pure Swedish ancestry, with DNA directly extracted from the melting water of the purest nordic glaciers and eyes as blue as those of the Dune Fremen. And don't get me started about my musculature... So what does that translate into in terms of social status?
11 months ago
Love the series btw.
11 months ago
I have been living in Japan for a month at the beginning of a 2 yr stint and so, of course, my husband and I are being given all sorts of advice both solicited and un- .Of course much of the advice is useful but I find that there are things here and there mostly to do with what I would consider honour (yes, we westerners have that concept too - shock horror!) that I am starting to wonder exactly what kind of foreigners have actually come to Japan!
The most common example of this is the advice that "Promises are very important to the Japanese." Now I haven't not done anything I have said I will do so I know it's not personal but just general advice and when it's given it is most definitely a warning. Each time I question the person, trying to get exactly what it is they mean by this advice. Do you mean they take everything you say AS a promise? I ask - which is my (and most people I know) general philosophy anyway but I know it's not everyone's. No, they answer, they just mean nothing more than "keep your promises." Well... err... DUH. Exactly where so they get the idea that promises are not important to foreigners? It's what the word "promise" means - it is so important that we have a word for it!
What kind of dishonourable shits have these people had to deal with so often that so many people give this particular piece of advice LOL?
11 months ago
Well, maybe not...
11 months ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHyUHnjjCGo&feat...
Not as impressive as world history has taught us...........
oh, well.....
11 months ago
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Hontoni Omoshiroi - the commercial.
XD LOLzz
Thankiez so much again Koichi!
mata
11 months ago
Still, Gomen.
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10 months ago
I've also heard that it is at least technically illegal in Japan for a business to ban gaijin as a class.
10 months ago
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10 months ago
Can't condone racism in any form, but I do think that alot is to do with a breakdown in communications and that scare monger rumours are frightening people into either not visiting other countries or clouding their judgement so that they go with an air of 'no one's gonna get away with being racist to me!' Which would instantly put anyone's back up!
I'll get down off my soapbox now ;)
10 months ago
I don't have any experience as far as the "no gaijin" signs are concerned, though I am as worried as everybody else since I'll soon go to Japan for the first time. "Gaijin" stand out no matter what. It doesn't mean we have to act like great brutes to live up to the image of the Ultimate Rude Foreigner. I mean, learning the language and having respect for the culture is the least one can do. Besides, isn't it the same in every country, Asian or not, when one is a foreigner? Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds, but still. It doesn't hurt to try, right?
9 months ago
I speak Japanese and even have a Japanese name (adopted), and think it's more of the "closet" racism that's a problem than these outright racist practices of barring foreigners from some establishments.
You can speak Japanese, have a work visa, a Japanese name, etc... but if you don't look Japanese, it seems Japan is only fun for a visit for some people.
Unless you like being the monkey boy token friend, that is...
Situations like these improve as the older, racist-ier generation dies out.
8 months ago
The looks on their faces when you tell them you understood what they just said makes it a little better though. :3
7 months ago
7 months ago
Either way, it's funny :D
6 months ago
I am 25% Japanese, and my sisters and my half Japanese mother and uncle are thinking about going to Japan. If there is any racism towards Americans, do you think we would be as shunned if we are part Japanese?
6 months ago
6 months ago
A few months back I was reading this blog while my Japanese exchange student was watching TV in my room. I played the first video, and after it was done she got up and forced me to play it again... D: After watching it she was a bit of a jerk to me the whole time she was here. I'm guessing this is an unspoken issue in Japan, or maybe her family is stricter than others. Shrug.
6 months ago
Sorry about that!
5 months ago
Racism definitely exists, though, and I think the number one problem is that too much of the populace doesn't really acknowledge it exists or is even fully AWARE of the problem when it occurs in its subtler forms. I can't count how many times I've heard a Japanese person mention with pride how there's no racism in Japan, I suppose thinking of lynchings and genocide and ghettoes, as schoolkids pass me on the street giggling and whispering "gaijin go home" and I move into a tiny slum of an apartment because it's the only building in town that will rent to foreigners.
Being ethnically Japanese is such a huge and absolutely core part of so many people's sense of identity, and divides them so irrevocably from non-Japanese, that naturally it's unusual to question it when a person is being treated differently because he or she isn't Japanese - they ARE different! This constant widespread sense of innate difference, combined with a strong national pride and, let's face it, a dislike of admitting shortcomings (Japan as a country doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to owning up to its mistakes), means that racial discrimination isn't really addressed as a problem until people like Debito stir up a big media fuss and force some kind of response from people. I have a huge respect for Japanese people and by living here I've met some of the most internationally-minded and tolerant people ever in my life. But I think what's missing in Japan at large, and that needs to get developed in order to avoid escalating troubles as the birth rate falls and immigrants increase, is more self-accountability instead of just accountability to the rest of the world. There doesn't seem to me to be enough discussion and education amongst JAPANESE people about what racism is, why it's bad, and how to combat it in their country - people seem largely happy to let business continue as usual, as 4th- and 5th-generation Korean immigrants remain feeling marginalized and ignored, other Asian foreigners are often treated as crime scapegoats by the media, and kids who have barely heard of the Holocaust kick and scream when they find themselves sitting next to me on the train (and are removed, unreprimanded, by smiling parents).
Things are getting better, maybe, but until discrimination is more frequently identified and condemned by Japanese people themselves without foreign pressure, the prejudices that often hide under the politeness will continue to surface in more concrete ways.
4 months ago
2 months ago
O hell yeah -- I want to find one of these signs and steal it!
1 week ago
for a bit, i had worried if people over there (japan), may be really mean towards foreigners.
that made me less encouraged to travel there for college.
and that is true...there will be those odd people sticking out of the group making everyone else look bad.. >_>
11 months ago