Is Japan a Racist Society?

BBC ^ | 11 July 2005 | Chris Hogg

[rabidralph]

Exactly. It's their country. I loved my tour in Japan and everything Mrs. Exile enjoys about Japan are the things I find appealing as well. I look forward to going back for a visit some day. Personally, I see a difference between partial acceptance and outright hostility. I don't mind that they might shut me out of some things (what, I can't think of) but I appreciate that they are always polite about it.

[Savage Beast]

There's nothing wrong with individual freedom of association--in fact, it's a right--but there's plenty wrong with racism. I don't mean to suggest that you would disagree, but I do think this distinction must be made clear.

[dfwgator]

Is the Pope German?

[nfldgirl]

I was stationed there for two years and I saw the blackface pictures on products. I thought it was funny. As a black woman, it certainly didn't affect my way of life over there. The Japanese are some of the kindest, most polite people I've ever met. I don't care what they may or may not say behind their back about me (and why spend your life being that paranoid?). Let them have their all-Japanese bars, there are hundreds of other bars where I can find a drink. My cousin taught English there for three years. She loves the place and the people. There's nothing wrong with people congregating with their own kind. Japan's business inner circle is also closed to foreigners. That's just life.

Well said...well said, indeed. During my teen years, I lived in Japan 1970-1972. I absolutely loved it. I got to go to so many places, see so many different things, meet so many different people. I had a number of Japanese friends at school who took me all over the place. These were truly the best growing-up years of my life. The Japanese people were so friendly, kind, thoughtful, considerate. That's what I remember of Japan. Our parents would let us go just about anywhere (day trips) on trains (in and out of downtown Tokyo and other places) and never worry one bit about our safety. Today, I wouldn't even think about leaving my 15 year old son and a friend off at a local mall (Hampton/Newport News, VA) without his dad or me, or the friend's parent being with them.

I realize there can be much change in 30+ years, but I would hope not in the case of Japan. I'd love to go back for a visit.

[RayChuang88]

As one who have family friends living in Japan, I can say that while there is some discrimination against the Chinese in Japan that type of discrimination is actually less than people think.

I think this is because most Chinese that live in Japan can't be distinguished from native Japanese, especially since Chinese and Japanese share a lot of common culture (Japanese kanji characters are the same characters used in Chinese more or less). My friends speak both Cantonese dialect Chinese and Kanto-ben Japanese so fluently that unless a native Japanese really ask my friends (like their names) they could be mistaken for Tokyo-area natives.

Indeed, the greatest Japanese baseball player of all time--Sadoharu Oh--is actually half-Taiwanese. That does cause some anguish with native Japanese but that usually goes away when it's pointed out he played his entire career for the Yomiuri Giants, the New York Yankees of Japanese baseball.

[rabidralph]

Okay, so we can agree that they're racist--now what. Or, so what? We can't change anyone's racist mind by pointing it out to them? So, what's the point?

[exile]

Exactly, from what little I know of their culture, I think they value courtesy too much to be outright hostile.

[ConservativeDude]

I remember one time during a class where the inevitable topic of racism came up, the Prof asked a visiting student from Japan:

"Is there racism in Japan?"

The student thought, pondered and then said in English but with a very strong indeed comical accent:

"No. Only one race in Japan."

I guess that's actually a valid answer if you think about it....the look on the professor's face was classic.

[wardaddy]

Amen.

Damn...

folks here have to always prove how good they are about race.

it's the strongest political urge.

i'm tired of falling on swords..

why....is everything all better now?

i'm more worried about Islam than I am human nature's natural predisposition to gather with like kind....racially, ethnically, religiously....when possible or by habit.

sameness...the myth and the goal.

[Redbob]

"Why the devil is there a UN investigator looking into racism in Japan?"

Perhaps to distract attention from "Oil for Food" and other such contretemps?

[Savage Beast]

Actually, we can change someone's racist mind by pointing it out to them--though it is very difficult. American history proves that it can happen. Though there's a long way to go, Americans--and Europeans also--have come a long way in abandoning the entreanched racism of the past.

On the other hand--as deeply entreanched as racism has been in America and Europe, which is plenty--it's nothing compared to Asian racism.

No matter what valid criticism may be hurled at the Muslims and the Arabs, I don't think racism is one of them.

As the world shrinks, racism is going to become more and more exposed where it exists.

The clash of civilizations that we're now experiencing--between Islam and the West--bad as it is, may prove a smaller clash than the clash between Asian racism and the rest of the world that looms on the horizon.

[Lunatic Fringe]

"Is Japan a Racist Society?"

Duh.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Life is like a folded piece of filler paper, right down the middle.

You can fold it (such as on the topic of where or in which culture you live), and one one side write all the things about it you love. Then, on the other side, all the things you despise.

You can then spend the vast majority of your waking moments enjoying positives, or you can get fixated or obsessed with the other side of the paper and be miserable and criticize the place to death until your last day in country.

It's really anybody's choice.

I've met the happiest foreigners in Japan who made tons of friends and did well financially, and met those who were miserable and could not wait to get home. A number of them walked around with chips on their shoulders trying to change 2000 years of Japanese culture and history. Good luck.

Much of this is a matter of one's own mind.

Maybe it makes Americans and others feel better to tag some other people as racist; and maybe 'they' are or are not. If it makes one feel good to do this, maybe that's fine, too. But the feelings of triumphalism and superiority may not last for long.

Life is a series of cards being dealt to one. How you use the cards is key. I knew people who could make a wonderful experience out of hell, and vice-versa. It's all relative I suppose.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

He said Japan should introduce new legislation to combat discrimination.

Right. As long as they're at it, why not enact legislation requiring everyone to be nice?

[Always Right]

Now that I think about it, I don't recall Japan ever having a black emperor....

[Modernman]

Sure. The Japanese are racist. That hasn't really been a relevant fact, so long as Japan remained essentially a mono-racial society.

However, with the upcoming demographic crash in Japan, will Japan have to start allowing more immigrants into the country? And, if so, how will they deal with large numbers of foreigners living there permanently?

[rabidralph]

No matter what valid criticism may be hurled at the Muslims and the Arabs, I don't think racism is one of them.

I will always be more accommodating to Asian racists than I will be to non-racist people, blowing me up, just because. I just don't believe that racism is the biggest problem in the world.

[rabidralph]

Thank you.

[paddles]

It's worth pointing out that there is way too much self-flagellation in this country over racism. That's the value in this article. We have idiots who refuse to recognize that racism exists everywhere...not just here in the US.

[dimk]

In my 5-6 visits to Japan over the years I did not think Japanese were more racist then ANY European country I been to. Ukraine the place I was born in is much more racist then Japan.

There are group distinctions which are very pronounced. As an American or European you will be treated better then if you are a Korean or Indian for example. But same applies to purely Japanese, do you know what "eta" means? Trust me if you are Japanese and you are from eta family you would rather be Korean or Chinese.

In Asia both Japan and Australia are key allies to US. With those to on "our" side China will never become a problem. One just has to go to Akihabara to see quality and perfection of Japanese engineering, then to the war memorial to see that old warrior culture is not dead but is just waiting under the surface. All it will take is any serious aggressive move from China to wake them up. Modern subs, modern surface fleet, modern air defense system, lots of long range strike craft. Japan is also contributing alot to the missile defense program.