Comments on: Racism in Japan

By: Christina Gayle

Christina Gayle — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:06:15 +0000

Yea, after reading all of this it worries me now if my goals i want to achieve. I’m 17, and female and i want to become an interpreter (Japanese and English) but go to Japan first to teach English for a year. I don’t want to go somewhere and be shunned. I have a light tanned skin colour, and i’m from Canada.

i knew Japan was a tight knit country, but ack. This badly? Today someone on my MSN list (who i later blocked and deleted =___= )was making fun of me. Saying, that i’m going to need all the luck i can get because i’m not white, I’m not going to get a job, I should send the lightest picture i have of myself, and sucks to be me. To be honest, this hurts. And i love Japan, and knowing that i might not even be allowed to achieve my dreams because i have a tanned skin colour (i’ve even went out with Asians with darker skin than me -.-;; ) just bursts my bubble big time.

NOTE for the anime lovers: There are some black anime characters that aren’t protrayed with bad features…. some. Bleach, and Utena for example =P

By: ren kuroda

ren kuroda — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:08:05 +0000

The interesting difference between xenophobia in Japan vs. in the USA is that it is still 99% obvious from external appearances who is Japanese and who is not. A perfectly fluent gaijin with permanent residence (or even citizenship) is not “Japanese” — he doesn’t look it, and therefore he is treated differently.
This happens less frequently in say New York City, where everyone is from somewhere else and there’s no distinguishing US citizens from tourists from space aliens.
The reverse is also interesting: a USA citizen 4th generation Japanese-American with 2 years of college Japanese came to visit me and was treated like a Japanese person, though he could hardly speak, didn’t know how to bow, used the wrong slippers, etc. Most people seemed to treat him basically like a mentally handicapped Japanese citizen; him being a gaijin was difficult for most people to handle.
Yes, racism exists everywhere, and some countries have it legalized/institutionalized to the same extent as it is in Japan.
As long as Japan continues to have, through official (educational, employment, etc.) policies and social norms, a sense of unique “Japanese-ness”, the whole concept of “kokusaika” is irrelevant. Any country that needs to expound on its “international”ness, really isn’t.

By: Dorian

Dorian — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:53:53 +0000

After reading all these comments I am really thinking it twice before I decide to study manga/anime illustration and try to work over there. I am dominican and am finishing my high school studies, I am planning on going to study to the United States and become a professional Illustrator with the hope to be good enough to get a job in Japan. This is a country I came to love not only for the work they do on animation and manga, but for their beautiful cultur and manners, but after reading all these comments and the behavior they present about forgeiners is just killing my expectatives big time, not to mention I have the light suspect that for the fact that I’m from the dominican republic, a country I’m shure they have heard very little about (so far I understand the majority of forgeiners are from the US.) I’ll have lower chances than anybody else to try and make good relations with these people who seem to have a very low tolerance of people different than them, and it’s just very, very sad. I understand it’s in part of their culture to be a little dejective over forgeiners, but bring it out at this point? It’s really sad… I really want to fulfill my expectations, even if they look so very hard to get, but this is certainly not helping much…

By: Marty

Marty — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 20:19:41 +0000

From what I have heard, the Japanese are known to discriminate against all known foreigners as far as personal dealings go whether they are European, African etc. It seems strange to me though that their anime often portrays Japanese characters with distinct European features, usually indistinguishable from European characters other than hair color.
I’ve heard the explanation that it is just the style that is being used. Why is it then that African characters are always unmistakably distinct from Japanese characters, often with grossly exaggerated and hideous features. Also African characters are usually portrayed as either very dumb, monstrously ugly, low life criminals or all of the above. I have yet to see a male African character portrayed as intelligent, handsome, serious, or honorable.

In Japanese video games African males usually appear as big hulk, Neanderthal like boxers, wrestlers or goofy, smiling kick boxers, never making it through as Karate or Kung fu experts. The opposite characteristics can be seen in quite a few European characters. It has been like this practically since the beginning and I just don’t understand why it’s like this.

By: Chester Gainer

Chester Gainer — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:49:50 +0000

Ali I understand. I am a Black American and even though things are still nuts here I am utterly shocked by these things Im learning of Japan. I used to have a strong desire to go to Japan and Learn more of its culture as I am the type of person with a mind for other cultures but this just sickens me. I was hoping that Americas race crap was isolated to just here but I see that the entire world is fixated on this Pathetic racial garbage. I dont Judge anyone by color when you open your mouth and prove yourself the fool I mark you as such not because of your skin color.

I am a lover of Japanese anime and Ive often noticed the Big Lip Black characters which have that early 1900s black face design and it did bother me to a degree, but with this new knowledge of Japanese Racism Im Done with Japan.

Its sad that more American or even British or Austrailian companies dont step up to the technology plate because I feel like throwing out all my Japanese products to stop the support of companies that may only see a Black male who has a BS in CIS fit only for Janator work.

also jokuvaan what you say is just like the Japanese mentality. Not all in America are “stupid pigs” thats just like me throwing out comments like “G’day mate! You have a boomerang Im hunting Roo!!” Just Because your from Australia doesnt mean you know how to use a boomerang just like me being American doesny make me a Stupid Pig.

Stereotypes the genes our Forefathers fostered with their Bonehead hate still continues to fuel the fires of Bias and inorance to this day.

By: Ali Mirza

Ali Mirza — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 12:27:46 +0000

I went to GasPanic club in Roppongi tonight. On my last visit to Japan I was refused entry because I walked up alone to the club, they asked me if I got a member

By: Michael(tm) Smith

Michael(tm) Smith — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:16:36 +0000

Hi Paul Hill

I’m not sure if your comments are genuine or whether this is just some kind of trolling attempt to get reactions from people. Either way, I feel obligated to comment on them in order to provide a bit of a different perspective.

You wrote:

No one will ever tell me that the Japanese are not an intrinsically racist people.

Actually, I will.

I think your comment is perhaps not as carefully considered as it could be. Writing off a whole nation of people as racists just seems, well, kind of silly.

There are assholes everywhere who will do what they can to try to piss other people off. Especially if they perceive those people as being weaker and more vulnerable than themselves. And maybe the easiest way for assholes in Japan to do that is to make “gaijin” comments.

And that said, do you recognize that despite what some foreigners here seem to think, “gaijin” is not necessarily a bad word. Just because you hear somebody use the word “gaijin” in the middle of some comment the rest of which you don’t understand, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are dissing you because you are a gaijin. The girl who looked at you funny may have just not liked the way you dressed. Or the fact that you are skinny. Or pale

If you go around getting bent out of shape every time somebody looks at you funny, I reckon you are going to find lots of things to get upset about no matter where you are.

Another thing: Based on my experiences here, which I would guess are a little longer than yours, I’d say that I sometimes see friends of mine blaming any sort of perceived mistreatment they endure as coming because of the fact that they are foreigners. I guess it’s easier for them to blame it on that than it is to try to take a moment to think about what other reasons there might be.

All that said, I will admit that there are racist people in Japan. Plenty of them. But there are plenty of racist people everywhere. You tend to not notice it as poignantly when you are part of the majority race in the place where you happen to find yourself. But you notice it much more acutely when you are in place where you are not part of the majority race.

It seems to me there are a couple of points of view that people typically take after living for a while in some place where they are in the minority.

You can take the point of view of “I lived in place XX, and some people there treated me like shit because I was different, so I realized that all the people there are racists.”

Or you can take the point of view of “I lived in place XX, and not being part of the majority race there gave me a lot of insight into the complexities of racism, and really made me think about how minority races are treated every day in the place where I’m from.

By: Paul Hill

Paul Hill — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 04:02:58 +0000

Oh, I forgot to mention….as soon as I got off the plane and was walking to the train station in the airport I passed a young Japanese couple in the subway. The woman uttered something about ‘gaijin’ that I didn’t understand and pulled a face as if she had just smelt rotten cabbage or sth, and as I turned around to look as they passed, her boyfriend or whatever was clearly looking back to see if I had understood the insult. I did not need to speak japanese to understand the meaning of what had gone on….I had been in the country for ten minutes. No one will ever tell me that the Japanese are not an intrinsically racist people.

By: Paul Hill

Paul Hill — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 03:56:38 +0000

I don’t have much to say other than what I found during my brief stay in japan. I admit to being a little naive when I went over there as to what to expect, but the reality was, for me, much worse than I could imagine.
I felt completely hated by most people just for being a skinny white guy and lost count of how many times I was looked upon as though I had been scraped off somebody’s shoe.
Itwas clear to me that there was a lot of resentment and anger and as a British citizen i felt that it was completely misplaced and just couldn’t believe how I was treated in general.
I did meet some nice Japanese people there and I prefer to think of them when i am assaulted by horrible memories that stir up racist feelings within myself because of the way I was treated.
I went as a naive twenty five year old intrigued by Japanese culture such as video games and Manga and the usual stuff we are subjected to in the west, and I left after six months with a palpable distaste for anything Japanese.
I resent Japan for what it has done to my perspective of Asia and wish I had never been there as I’m not sure I will ever visit that part of the world again.
I really believe that in Britain we do not treat Japanese people that way whether they are tourists or working there and cannot escape this horrible feeling of injustice and anger whenever I think of that time, which I unfortunately do often. It is a crying shame that they behave in this way.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:14:45 +0000

I have lived in Yokohama for two years and I find your comment “I’ve noticed that the Japanese do not resort to this type of behavior no matter how drunk they are.”(re- to messy drunken behavior) hilarious!
I’ll tell you just two things I saw only this week.
1) A group of 5 gaijin (myself included) standing on a busy street corner talking and having a beer before catching the train. A drunk J.man walks up and stands in the middle of our circle, takes out his penis and urinates on the gound in the middle of the street. We all jump back and yell at him to get away from us, he smiles and in japanese says “drop dead gaijin”.
I am not complaining about this, I think its funny, I meen what other 1st world country could you see this in.
2) Drunk J.man on train, J.girl putting on makeup sitting next to him. Girl softly bumps him with her elbow while painting her face, he looks at her with daggers. The second time she bumps him he slaps her in the face (hard) and yells at her, she crys and runs off the train.
I will whine about this, and in fact J.man and I had and nice little talk.

The fact that you would say drunk Japanese dont act like this makes me question the amount of exp you have have in Japan.
As for your Q. As some people have said there is no point in arguing with you because you have made up your mind. But I will tell you about one more exp.
Two weeks ago near Tokyo Station, I was walking along when I came across a BIG political rally (LOTS of people) all clapping and cheering. The man on top of the van with the megaphone was saying “All gaijin in Japan should hang their heads in shame, I cant walk down the street without seeing their ugly faces, gaijin are horrible”.
Ive traveled alot, and I have not seen a racist act on that scale before (in person).
One more thing, all the people out there who think the Japanese are not racist, do you understand Japanese or do you just speek Eng? Because until I started speeking J I didnt think they were racist.