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I’m not bothered by this. If we gaijin assimilate for the most part here, we are very welcome - at least in my case. I’ve never had any serious trouble with racist douchebags in nearly 25 years. The rock n roll scene is awesome, the food is great, and the only foreigners we have here are here on qualified business, academic, or other visas that require scrutiny. It’s really nice to not have a bunch of loser immigrants. They kicked all the scum suckers out between 20 and 10 years ago - many African, Iranian, Eastern European - well anyone from anywhere, including the USA, Canada, UK, France, etc., that was able to get in and lead a criminal life - that sold the drugs and caused all the trouble, and it’s been lovely. If you desire to get out of the KKKalifornia-ization of AmeriKa, Japan is a great place to move to for work and peace if you are up for the challenge of learning the language and have an adventurous personality - and if you love heavy metal.

I was a legal resident of Japan for 14 years and would run into some sort of racist douchebag about once every three years. For each of the five or so such incidents of the sort that I recall, there were at least thirty or so incidents of the locals going out of their way to be kind and helpful.

One particular incident still makes me smile to illustrate what the locals think of gaijin who mind their manners. I had had a hard day at work making several calls around Tokyo when I caught a homebound train with a rare open seat. I got to enjoy it for all of four or five stations later when an elderly couple got on the opposite end of the car and I hear the man say to his wife, "Gaijin men have a reputation for being kind to older women like you. Let's go stand over there and see if he gives you his seat." What else could I do?

“I’m not bothered by this. If we gaijin assimilate for the most part here, we are very welcome - at least in my case. I’ve never had any serious trouble with racist douchebags in nearly 25 years. The rock n roll scene is awesome, the food is great, and the only foreigners we have here are here on qualified business, academic, or other visas that require scrutiny. It’s really nice to not have a bunch of loser immigrants. They kicked all the scum suckers out between 20 and 10 years ago - many African, Iranian, Eastern European - well anyone from anywhere, including the USA, Canada, UK, France, etc., that was able to get in and lead a criminal life - that sold the drugs and caused all the trouble, and it’s been lovely. If you desire to get out of the KKKalifornia-ization of AmeriKa, Japan is a great place to move to for work and peace if you are up for the challenge of learning the language and have an adventurous personality - and if you love heavy metal.”

36 years in Japan . I too have had no “ serious trouble “ re: racism . I’ve lived and worked in Tokyo , Saitama, and Kumamoto where I now reside with my Japanese wife . Happy to say R&R is alive and well and it is not just metal . Shoegaze , 60’s cover or influenced bands , etc...abound .