The Japanese are racist. No doubt about that. But xenophobes? I sincerely doubt that.
When was the last time you were there?
1964
You're right, racistwas the word I shoul have used.
You're right, racist was the word I should have used.
The Japanese are probably more xenophobic than they are racist. I've been living in Japan for 2 years- not in a major city- in real Japan. As a foreigner in Japan, you aren't from America, the UK, Peru, or Algeria, you are from 'gaikoku', meaning 'the outside'. You are either Japanese, or you aren't. Ethnic Koreans who've been living here for generations and are by all means Japanese lack the right to vote. Call that racist, but I think there is underlying xenophobia in that policy. The Japanese appear to be very open to the 'outside' the way they imitate things- fashion, music, lifestyles- but essentially all thay are doing is adopting things they lack the insight to come up with on their own and making those things 'Japanese'. It's very superficial.
Don't get me wrong, not all Japanese are racist xenophobes. But there is definitly the feeling among them that they are part of something special that is not to be intruded upon by outsiders. "We Japanese all *this*, We Japanese all *that*..." I hear it daily. I've even heard "foreigners can't eat rice everyday like the Japanese because we Japanese have special intestines". I've heard that more than once.