Is Japan a Racist Society?

BBC ^ | 11 July 2005 | Chris Hogg

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

An independent investigator for the UN says racism in Japan is deep and profound, and the government does not recognise the depth of the problem.

Doudou Diene, a UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, was speaking at the end of a nine-day tour of the country.

He said Japan should introduce new legislation to combat discrimination.

Mr Diene travelled to several Japanese cities during his visit, meeting minority groups and touring slums.

He said that although the government helped to organise his visit, he felt many officials failed to recognise the seriousness of the racism and discrimination minorities suffered.

He was also concerned that politicians used racist or nationalist themes, as he put it, to whip up popular emotions. He singled out the treatment of ethnic Koreans and Chinese and indigenous tribes.

Mr Diene says he plans to recommend that Japan enact a law against discrimination, which he said should be drawn up in consultation with minority groups.

He said he would now wait for the Japanese government to respond to his comments before submitting a report to the United Nations.

[EDINVA]

"He was also concerned that politicians used racist or nationalist themes, as he put it, to whip up popular emotions."

"Sounds familiar"

like Chirac and Schroeder ???

[television is just wrong]

We have had numerous Japanese students come stay with us. One stayed for 3 years while she attended college. We got on the topic of nationalities. She could not contemplate. She simply stated, " don't understand, I am just Japanese". They are not racist. they are not specifically dealing with the problems we face here in the U.S. with open borders, and the very large mix of people from all over the world here.

It is a natural phenomenon that people of similar backgrounds are attracted to one another. What we have here is pockets of backgrounds of people who huddle together in their similar cultures. We do not have a homogenated society. Except for some who cross culture into others.

From a genetic background. I have been told and understand that when different races have children together that there are medical issues of organ and blood types not matching either of the parent.

This nation is no longer a one culture. It is a multitude of cultures struggling for each ones identity. So I do not know what the eventual outcome will be, but it might not be good for all involved.

HUGE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT, this multiculturalism. Some call it strength, some call it a huge mistake. Whatever it is, the future will tell.

[mollynme]

I have heard that here is a group of people in Japan who are basically treated like the untouchables of India. They are called the Burakumin. These people have ancestors who worked in various trades regarded as "unclean".

You are correct. They are also referred to as "Eta". I believe that their ancestors were the butchers and tanners. Even today, you will find that many leather dealers are Burakumin. Intermarriage with "racially pure" Japanese is a cultural "no-no" and close examination of the ancestry of a prospective bride or groom is done to make sure that there are no Eta ancestors.

[Racehorse]

That's just life.

You said it. I hope the Japanese tell the socialist pecksniffs & internationalist busybodies where to stick it.

Yeah!  Not on my planet!  Not in my galaxy!  Down with socialist peckerwood universalistic busybodies everywhere!

So, who do we take on next . . .?  :-)

[rabidralph]

LOL! No, I do mean it's a homogenous society--all the same. I don't have a dictionary, so I'm not too familiar with hegemony, except that people used it a lot after 9-11.

[k2blader]

*LOL* Okay, thanks, just wanted to check. I think I understand what you mean now. :-)

[AlBondigas]

I was told by a (Japanese) coworker that the Japanese are racist among themselves - with natives grouped into (5) categories - & "Buddha Heads" as the lowest of orders

True ?

[skeeter]

So, who do we take on next . . .? :-)

Dunno... the Trilateralists?

[LWalk18]

The only problem is that they are not having enough babies to survive as a people. If something doesn't turn around in their culture soon, they were have to import immigrant just to have a labor force.

[Billthedrill]

Basically, yes, but as with so much else about Japanese society, that answer doesn't run very deep. There was a forced insularity due to 250 years of deliberate cultural isolation under the Shogunate during which foreigners were often simply executed upon arrival (there was an exception for the Dutch in southern Japan - there's a Dutch-theme-park down there to commemorate it named Haus Ten Bosch).

Japanese attitudes toward other races are simply an extension of a Japanese/non-Japanese dichotomy that hasn't necessarily much to do with the color of one's skin. One is either inside or outside the uchi and if outside one is never really in. It is an absolutely marvelous society to visit but one will always be a visitor.

This, as so much else, has changed on the surface with the dizzying pace of modernization, but that change isn't very deep. And it's spotty and has some odd manifestations - the term gaijin isn't normally applied to black visitors but it is applied to black American visitors. Nothing categorical here, just some stuff I observed in eight years of living in Japan. And some of what is deemed wildly racist is inadvertent and innocent, the product of them not reading the American racial codes and shorthands. This toothpaste is a classic example:

This was originally intended to be complimentary. Is it racist if they don't know it's racist?

[MirrorField]

Never hear the world condemning their "French language first/only" policy. We were denied service (told to leave, in English) at a restaurant in Quebec. "You can't come in here".

That's not racism. It would be racism only if black/asian/indian/whatever speaking french would be excluded. It may be stupid, but if you're not blocking your customers based on skin color / ethnicity, it's not racism.

[jayhorn]

I spent two weeks in Japan last summer on a Boy Scout trip and I was treated with wonderful hospitality everywhere I went.

It's because you're probably white and you speak English. It's not white Americans they have a problem with.

[DTogo]

If you look for racism in Japan you will find it, just as you will in most other countries. If you are a thin-skinned, PC wimp, it will probably bother you too. If not, Japan is a very gaijin-friendly place to live, and the Japanese very gaijin-friendly people to hang out with. Yeah, they've got their cultural idiosyncrasies and quirks, but don't we all?

Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)

[dsc]

"If you look for racism in Japan you will find it, just as you will in most other countries. If you are a thin-skinned, PC wimp, it will probably bother you too."

I really don't want to make an enemy of you...and people I argue this with usually trip off the line...but I am continually astounded at the ability of some people to avoid perceiving that racism is the very core of the Japanese volksgeist.

If you could extract racism like a tooth, and you extracted a Japanese person's racism, the remainder would fit in an ordinary air mail envelope.

There is nothing in a Japanese person's worldview that is as important, as ever-present, as all-defining, as race.

I've been here 20 years. My oldest daughter is a senior in high school; number 4 is in the 8th grade. I've been making my living in Japanese society since 12/86. I've looked at this from every angle.

Until a person can read publications that are not meant for translation, and until he can eavesdrop on conversations, he has little or no chance to discover what Japanese people are thinking.

You say that "Japan is a very gaijin-friendly place to live (for those who don't know, "gaijin" is a word much fouler than the word n*gger), and in a way that is true. A long-nosed barbarian can get away with almost anything, and paradoxically that is because of the racism.

Japanese don't expect anything of hairy, stinking, disease-ridden, ignorant, stupid sub-humans, so you can get away with anything.

One of the most revealing things is the reaction of Japanese people when you catch them saying things such as the actual quotes above. They're not embarrassed, any more than you would be embarrassed if your dog heard you saying that he was stupid and he stank.

They may be astounded that you actually speak Japanese and understood what they said, but of embarrassment there's never a trace.

I've been thinking about this lately in the context of an analysis of Islam that held that their problem is that they are 500 years behind the West.

Since the Meiji era the Japanese have striven mightily to catch up to the West in terms of technology, but philosophically and morally they are at least 300 years behind. They are so far behind that they are not even capable of understanding that their basic assumptions are exactly what Westerners are talking about when we say, "racism." You can't even explain it to them.

I'm sure there must be exceptions, but those are one in hundreds of thousands.

[dsc]

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

They don't even understand what courtesy is.

What they have is a strictly defined system of required phrases (kimarimonku) and actions that serve the purpose of avoiding conflict, but have nothing to do with any actual regard for the other person.

This minuet serves the purpose of containing the murderous rage that lurks just below the surface.

[dennisw]

Japanese are more racist than the average American

[The Electrician]

I believe that the "us vs. them" worldview is instilled at a very early age. Whenever I passed a group of Japanese schoolchildren (perhaps kindergarten age) in Tokyo when I visited ten years ago, they would yell out "gaijin", almost in unison, while pointing at me. At the same time, though, many of them would smile and make their best effort to say hello (which comes out as "herro"). So while they are learning about the world, and learning basic English, they are also learning about the distinction between the Japanese people and the other.

[Racehorse]

This minuet serves the purpose of containing the murderous rage that lurks just below the surface.

From whence comes this murderous rage?

[DTogo]

There is nothing in a Japanese person's worldview that is as important, as ever-present, as all-defining, as race.

Growing up in a 99.9% racially homogeneous society, that's to be expected. I experienced a bit of racial "suprise" myself upon moving back to the US and once again becoming aware of how many different kinds of people America is made of. Worse than that, IMHO, is how too many Americans can't handle that we are made up of different races and think the subject is taboo. Who cares? Acknowledge it, enjoy it, learn about and from it.

(for those who don't know, "gaijin" is a word much fouler than the word n*gger)

If you want it to mean that to you, it will. To me it is just a word that means foreigner, that I casually used to refer to myself, and with friends often used to casually refer to other gaijin in Japan, "The store over there with two gaijin standing in front of it."

Japanese don't expect anything of hairy, stinking, disease-ridden, ignorant, stupid sub-humans, so you can get away with anything.

All I can say to that is "Wow." You must have had (still having?) a bad experience. I had a great time there (yeah, there were ups and downs), have plenty of friends and family there, and would go back in a heartbeat.

[wardaddy]

I just don't believe that racism is the biggest problem in the world.

Neither do I...not by a long shot but many freepers....especially the younger ones ....live to point the finger over this one.

It's really ridiculous.....not really conservative in my view to trumpet forced or imagined sameness and relativism.