Nothing like good old racism...

Not that tough, and not that general. I know what you see on the news and stereotypcial shit you hear from English teachers, but in actuality, especially in Tokyo, it's not that bad.

Koreans (Japanese born Koreans especially) have it 1000x easier than they did 15 years ago. Compared to what white people are used to, it's probably pretty apparent, but stopping a BLACK person (not a foreigner, not a whitey, not a korean, but black people only) at a bar that caters to gaijin is just wrong.

For the most part, at least on the surface, Japan has grown up a lot. Foreigners can even get blow jobs in most of those places with no hassle.

Yeah, I hear they whip Alex after each football match. :smt033

If you don't act like a fucking idiot, you probably won't notice. If you don't act out of place, you also probably won't notice. I can see how a lot of gaijin would take being told off for using their mobile on the train as racist, but it's not -- it's annoyist.

Presenting yourself well will also take you far. The same people that say they are descriminated against are often people you would not be caught dead with in a dark alley.

To be honest though, I don't blame a little hate/fear towards gaijin. Military has a huge presence here, and they're usually pretty obnoxious when out. The African men, while very nice, are often employed to get people into their store, and are extremely persistent in annoying patrons to buy from/go to their store. There's a group of Iranians that have been selling drugs in Shibuya for years -- right out in the open. I hate labelling people, but the above demographs are very black and white.

Finally, I also empathize with building owners that are hesitant to rent to gaijin. There's no way I would rent my property to someone that I couldn't communicate with, and even though there's a growing population of non-Japanese Japanese speakers, it's still outweighed by the ones that can barely string a sentence together.

Anyone here black and live in the South? I'm sure they would have comprable, if not worse stories than this, happening in present time. Hell, it wasn't long ago that water fountains, toilets, etc. were seperated.

 

I don't watch news and I don't know any teachers.

 

Well guys, are we talking institutional rasicm or just common racism here, becasue there is a difference.

Common rasicm being the "I don't like [insert racial slurr of your choice]" versus institutional rascism, like a sign that says "Whites only bathroom."

Common racism is more of a social thing that changes over time (and is on the decline in most places in the US) while institutional racism can be legislated out of existance (passing a law that says everyone gets to use the bathroom for instance.)

How is it in Japan? One, both?

 

rasism is racism, that's the same thing....

 

It's very institutionalized (although the other does exist obviously, you don't see it so much). It kind of goes with Japnaese society -- very non-confrontational. It makes sense that something like racism would be deep-seeded.

Cahaz:
They are not the same thing. No white person has ever been lynched in Japan (that I know of) and you don't hear about gaijin-haters tying them up and dragging them behind a truck while they are alive. Yet, something like renting an apartment takes an act of God.

 

i don't know why , if i take the exemple of hawanja, a black *by exemple) couldn't got to the same bathroom that a white use...
that's racist too. and this can develop racism too..

 

Actually, that is called segregation.

 

I'm afraid to go to Japan on Vacation (To buy games) just because of the rasicm. I wasn't born in America (Born in Portugal), but is this racism more toward people who live there or american nationals. I'm about to go there and pretend I know very little english and speak in Portuguese.

 

From what I understand it is anyone who is not Japanese, not just Americans.

 

Well what I mean Cahaz is people taking it of thier own accord to do something racist as opposed to there being a law which is racist.

You coud say the the segregation in the US pre-civil rights era (1955 and before) as instituional racism, as in there were laws which restricted the access of a certian segment of society based on race ("Whites only" bathrooms, or Black people being forced to sit in the back of the bus for instance.)

By contrast, Common/social rascism is more being an individual's own personal attitude, although this can also be expressed in institutional groups (ala the KKK for example.) However this is seperate from a "law," i.e. a resturant owner kicking all the non-white people out of his place becasue he's a rascist dirtbag, not because there's a law that says he has to.

Sounds to me the situation is Japan isn't "racist" as we know the term in America, sounds more like "eleiteism," as in Japanese people are favored more when it comes to things like jobs, renting an apartment, etc. However a non-Japanese person can get access to those things if he "proves" himself ( as GajinPunch says, "Presenting yourself well will also take you far. The same people that say they are descriminated against are often people you would not be caught dead with in a dark alley.") Is this an accurate discription?

This whole subject is actually pretty fascinating. I've never really thought about the state of racism/elitism in other countries. For the most part America is so PC now that anyone caught doing something like this regrets it pretty quick.

 

It's a joke, and at worst will result in you getting in an argument. There's no violence against non-Japanese, and the chances are excellent that you'll come and go w/o noticing it. It's really only for long-term gaijin.

Technically, everyone who's not Japanese is a piece of shit, but there are ranks. Here's my non-official gaijin ranking system.

White that speak Japanese (we have it the easiest)
Black American/English/Canadian that speak Japanese
non-English speaking Europeans that speak Japanese
Whites
Europeans
Phillipino/Thai/Indonesian/etc
Black
Africans (if your accent gives you away)
Middle Eastern
Chinese
Korean
Dogs
Cats
Feces on the street
North Koreans

I kinda slapped that together, but there is some truth to it. It's mainly based on stereotypes. Most Phillipinos are housekeepers, or caretakers for the old. There are two types of Indian men in TOkyo - those that are system engineers, and those that work in an Indian restaurant. So, nobody has anything against them. There's a group of Iranians that sell drugs in Shibuya, which gives them a pretty bad wrap country-wide (they're on the news from time to time). Since nobody can tell them apart from other middle-easterners, they ruin it for everyone else.

I have a couple of black friends that are ex-military. They can hold their own in Japanese (one speaks very well actually) and they say they take shit a lot. Getting in good with their in-laws was a chore. One of them said when his wife told her parents, they said, "He's a who? And he's a what?!" Hehe.

China, Korea, North Korea -- we all know the story.

 

Well I guess it's ok to go them.

 

What you telling me

That Japanese have a place where cute Japanese girls look for American men.. I think i am going to the tourist trap.

g

 

Re: What you telling me

The bar in question in this thread is the best place to go. They're called "gai-sen" which is an abbreviation for "Gaijin Senyou" (Only Gaijin).

I think even AntiPasta got some action there and he's 19 for fuck's sake.

 

Re: What you telling me

Holy shit :smt045 Is it true Anti?

 

I love GaijinPunch's racist chart for Japan. It's actually quite accurate. Like gaijinPunch said, if you’re a visitor to Japan for a few weeks you probably won't notice any racism at all. I've lived here for 6 years like GaijinPunch and can honestly say that the biggest form of racism I've faced was trying to get an apartment. If it wasn't for my wife's part of the family owning their own business then we would have found it extremely difficult. Not once have I ever been looked down on from shop keepers, restaurants or even in leisure places. When you go to a new area people will stair because you are an unfamiliar face in a land that's 95% Japanese. This happened when I moved to Shimonoseki 5 years ago. But now I feel that I'm part of the city. I don't even consider that they are Japanese and I'm not.

Yet again quoting GaijinPunch. If you act in a respectable way then you will fit in within time. Last year when we moved to our new apartment I was told by the landlord that he didn't want me to be there in case other tenants wouldn't move in because there was a Gaijin living there. Of course the landlord was an old fart and like many old farts they are the most racist of Japanese. Anyway, after actually meeting him he could see that I wasn't the typical loud un-educated westerner stereotype and agreed to let us move in. All of my neighbours are in their late 20's / early 30's so I get along fine with them. Even had the woman upstairs ask if I could baby sit her 2 year old boy for half an hour :smt045

So the bottom line for racism in Japan is this. Visit and you probably won't even notice it unless you are from the middle east or other Asian countries (Excluding India). Live here and you will notice it. It may get you down at first but don't let that worry you. Lay low keep yourself to yourself and you'll soon fit in. Just don't be a nob head like the idiots you see in Tokyo night club areas.

 

what i a gajjin? :smt100

 

Gaijin is basically Foreigner

 

thx , but ...why basicly?

 

Hmm.... nuances in the term that are lost in the translation, mainly b/c of culture. Japan is very homogeneous, so being a foreigner here is much different than in the west. Even the main character in the word "Gaijin" is made up of two katakana characters, the language for foreign words.