Comments on: On Always Having an Empty Train Seat Beside You in Japan

By: owwls

owwls — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:19:41 +0000

I took the population of foreign residents, excluding illegals and military personnel, based on 2011 census data, excluding naturalized Chinese or Korean immigrants, since my article is about responses to non-Asians. That number was about 1.7 million, pretty close to what you have. Then I divided that number by the total population of Japan.

I’d like say that even if we did your method, we’d have a 98% ethnically homogenous country. Not sure if you ran your own numbers before attacking my credibility.

By: Mainichi_struggle

Mainichi_struggle — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:56:10 +0000

“a country with 99.8 percent ethnic homogeneity”
The author lost all credibility with me with this statistic. Conservative estimates of people with non-Japanese ancestry living in Japan (including US military personnel, ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants) are over 3 million. Add to this people of Korean descent who have taken Japanese nationality as well as people with mixed heritage and the number is likely much, much higher. Japan is also experiencing a wave of tourism. Where did you pull your 99.8% figure from?

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 07:33:12 +0000

I did say: I stopped giving a shit about what other people thought of me. :)

And it’s not just Americans that face this; and it’s not a constant bombardment of racism. In the end, some people will like you, and some people won’t, this is a universal fact of life that will be true anywhere you go. It’s a good lesson to learn, and Japan is a good place to learn it!

By: ShifuYaku

ShifuYaku — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 03:57:53 +0000

I’d love to go to Japan someday and am currently learning Japanese. But a lot of things that I’ve gone over the subculture aspects of the main culture is distinct untold racism. I’m afraid of it, actually. Will I really be looked at funny and not talked to, and have snide remarks said about my personality that they don’t even know? I already have people do that to me here, or so it seems by the people who don’t know me. Maybe it’s just a stranger action thing. I’ve never been outside of the US, and sometimes seeing the world for what it is (even though I know what it is) scares me. I know that a majority of the world dislikes Americans (the stereotypical ones, anyway), and I don’t want it to reflect on me. I would probably stick out like a very sore thumb, though. :D

So my point is, after reading your article, what did you do to deal with the subtle racism you received? You didn’t really say.

By: Loco in Yokohama (@Locohama)

Loco in Yokohama (@Locohama) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:29:15 +0000

You must be referring to white Americans who’ve never experienced before. Mos blacks have in one form or another. And it’s uly and intolerable in the states as it is here and anywhere else it may show its ugly face. And making excuses for it (some foreigners have done bad things so they’re justified in criminalizing all foreigners) is a cop out. It’s like saying people dressed like Muslims have done terrorism slim justified in treating any Muslim I see like a terrorists. Does that sound right to you? Acceptable? Tolerable? I certainly hope not, but it sounds like it is. It sounds like you’re pretty sure you would do the same if you were in their position. I think it’s in humanities best interest to even go as far as leaving yourself vulnerable to the stereotype being confirmed inthe worst way than to treat (mistreat) anyone based on it. But i suspect that takes a tolerance of fear and position of courageouness that most of us just aren’t inspired to aspire to.
As long as fear and ignorance rule, these kinds of things will continue and the human species will never evolve. Just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.

By: Archana

Archana — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:52:17 +0000

You come across as very tolerant – but then i don’t think it would be beneficial for you to have a hissy fit if someone leaves room between you and themselves on the train. I wonder if foreign women experience the same thing?

My husband told me he felt hurt by racism in Japan once. He had never encountered any racism before and always felt under the radar for the most part. He was walking him from the station in Ushiku and this woman locked her car door as he walked past.

He said he felt stupid for feeling bad – after all – she’s the idiot; it was broad daylight and he looks like a well dressed man with gentle features. But he also understands why she feels this way. He has seen foreigners behave terribly on the train and in bars and restaurants – things they would probably not feel right to do back home. He has heard stories of foreigners stealing and damaging property.

I think the reason many Americans feel hurt by the racism is because they have never encountered it before and, before coming to Japan, they don’t get told about it. So it comes as a shock. I was shocked that people were nice to me – I had been told that the Japanese were xenophobic and that I would be treated badly. For once, being Indian was an advantage.

By: Locohama

Locohama — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:54:02 +0000

“Since we aren’t likely to force the Japanese into being accustomed to polar bears, we may as well adjust how we react to their reactions.”
And this is the crux of it, isn’t it? All apologists have done is exactly this. They’ve chosen to forgive and excuse this Japanese notion that you are not quite human, but more akin to a “polar bear” Sure, you may be right that Japanese will not be forced into changing…but I’d like to think that that is a cop out. That people will change their views if given good reason to, and having this worldview accepted by the representatives of the greater world living amongst them is decidedly not good reason to.
How to inspire this change is a good question but adjusting to it in a manner where it goes unaddress seems to me to be a defeatist response.
I am not a polar bear (unhuman). I am not a danger to anyone (unmoraled). I am not a criminal dead set on separating Japanese from their belongings (criminalization). All daily presumptions asserted “microaggressively” by the natives here. Accepting this kind of response to my presense in a way supports it, makes us co-conspirators…
Or not, who knows…maybe it is hopeless.
Anyway, this is one of the best posts I’ve seen on this and applaud you for actually critically thinking about this issue…which is unfortuantely all too rare.
Surprised I hadn’t seen his before!
Peep my book if you get a chance (-;
Loco

By: Jenine

Jenine — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 03:58:10 +0000

I really enjoyed this article. The funny thing is that the same type of stuff also happens here in America. If I’m on a bus or train and it happens to be crowded, a person will sit in any available seat possible even if it’s next to me. As soon as a handful of people begin to leave this bus or train, the person sitting next to me moves on to the next vacant seat of their choice. I’ve done this myself. The problem with Americans is that a lot of us tend to think we deserve respect on a silver platter no matter what part of the world we travel to. It doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes you have to earn respect in order to get it. No matter where I go in the world, I’m willing to earn my respect if it doesn’t come to me right away.

By: On Getting In With the In Crowd in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:31:29 +0000

[...] “outside” words from foreign lands – katakana. The rules of inside and outside are used for people, too. And they decide how you talk and how you are talked [...]

By: Sophie

Sophie — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:02:33 +0000

Exactly :)