This blog was running a poll on this subject. The question was;
‘Do you think Japanese people are fairly good to Foreigners?’
78% of the visitors to this blog responded that Japanese people are fairly good to foreign people.
21% of the visitors said ‘To some extent’ Japanese people are good
Only 1% of the visitors told, Japanese people are not good to foreign people.
What I conclude from the poll and along with my 10 months living experience in Japan is Japanese people are really good to foreigners.
Almost 95% of the visitors to this blog are foreigners. Foreigners themselves say that they do not face any kind of discrimination in public in Japan compared to many other countries. Many times the fear of Japanese people to talk in English is misinterpreted as aversion towards foreigners.
My own experience says I have not faced any discrimination till now. I used to commute the heavily crowded Toei trains and Tozai line trains in the morning and evenings. Literally the people are sand-witched. Had any of the Japanese man or woman or children show any kind of dislike towards a foreigner at their face or action, I could have sensed it.
Reading through some Forums for foreigners, I had gone through many statements that they have faced discrimination in Japan. Some of the foreign people said, Japanese people are racists. In one discussion, when I commented that it may be due to the English speaking fear of Japanese people and told my own experience during the past months, I got the answer that ‘Jayaprakash is the lucky Indian’, who have not faced any discrimination till now in Japan.
I really don’t know on what basis some foreigners who lived in Japan say that Japanese people discriminated them. I have written in this blog on June that I used to attend a physiotherapy course for the disc prolapse and sciatic pain. 5 days a week I continued the course for 3 months and now continuing 2 days a week.
The clinic I have been going is having only Japanese staff and nurses. They do not speak English and I am not fluent in Japanese. I am the only foreigner patient visiting the clinic as far as I know. As part of the treatment, the doctor and the medical staff have to touch the body. I have not seen any kind of negative attitude towards me from any of them. In fact they treat me as if I am a Japanese and exchange all kinds of wishing words in Japanese while I enter the clinic and leaving the clinic after treatment.
Coming out of the clinic, I used to enter the nearby convenient store (kombini in Japanese!) to buy snacks and juice. Instead of discrimination, I have seen the little sales girls are interested to receive money from a foreigner!. That was really surprising to me when I thought of the bad experiences narrated in the websites and forums on discrimination of foreigners in Japan.
Frankly and very truly I can say, I have not faced any kind of discrimination or racism in Japan.
To mention one more warm relationship I have with my hair dresser Takagawa san, who runs his Hair dressing saloon near Toyocho. Every month I visit his saloon. He knows my choice in the Indian hair style. Only once for the first time in March 2008 I explained in my broken Japanese to him about my hair style. He do not ask me every month about the way my hair should look like. He knows. He talk in Japanese while dressing my hair. I could catch 20% of his words and the remaining portions I correlate and guess. The communication is all about understanding between two people, not really all about language!
Some day, it will be time for Takagawa-san and his wife to take snacks and traditional Japanese food. All the time they have invited me to join with them. One day, Mrs. Takagawasan gave me a set of traditional Japanese food. At first I hesitated to receive it from them. To be frank, it was due to my fear of getting discriminated from Japanese people as read in the forums and website. But they insisted to take their food and I obeyed.
Having been passed through many incidents of life in Japan and mingled with Japanese people, if I am true to my heart, I can not say that ‘I face discrimination in Japan'. I am really sorry that I could not join that group of foreigners who likes to announce to the rest of the world that Japanese people discriminate foreigners.
For those who say Japanese people discriminate foreigners, I do not have any advise or do not know what you mean by discrimination. But think before announcing: Is it only to catch attention of public, because discrimination is an issue in your own country? So, you want to declare to the rest of the world that Japanese people are also not free from that devlish nature in the mind like your own country men?
Further reading on this subject from experienced people are recommended. click here
‘Do you think Japanese people are fairly good to Foreigners?’
78% of the visitors to this blog responded that Japanese people are fairly good to foreign people.
21% of the visitors said ‘To some extent’ Japanese people are good
Only 1% of the visitors told, Japanese people are not good to foreign people.
What I conclude from the poll and along with my 10 months living experience in Japan is Japanese people are really good to foreigners.
Almost 95% of the visitors to this blog are foreigners. Foreigners themselves say that they do not face any kind of discrimination in public in Japan compared to many other countries. Many times the fear of Japanese people to talk in English is misinterpreted as aversion towards foreigners.
My own experience says I have not faced any discrimination till now. I used to commute the heavily crowded Toei trains and Tozai line trains in the morning and evenings. Literally the people are sand-witched. Had any of the Japanese man or woman or children show any kind of dislike towards a foreigner at their face or action, I could have sensed it.
Reading through some Forums for foreigners, I had gone through many statements that they have faced discrimination in Japan. Some of the foreign people said, Japanese people are racists. In one discussion, when I commented that it may be due to the English speaking fear of Japanese people and told my own experience during the past months, I got the answer that ‘Jayaprakash is the lucky Indian’, who have not faced any discrimination till now in Japan.
I really don’t know on what basis some foreigners who lived in Japan say that Japanese people discriminated them. I have written in this blog on June that I used to attend a physiotherapy course for the disc prolapse and sciatic pain. 5 days a week I continued the course for 3 months and now continuing 2 days a week.
The clinic I have been going is having only Japanese staff and nurses. They do not speak English and I am not fluent in Japanese. I am the only foreigner patient visiting the clinic as far as I know. As part of the treatment, the doctor and the medical staff have to touch the body. I have not seen any kind of negative attitude towards me from any of them. In fact they treat me as if I am a Japanese and exchange all kinds of wishing words in Japanese while I enter the clinic and leaving the clinic after treatment.
Coming out of the clinic, I used to enter the nearby convenient store (kombini in Japanese!) to buy snacks and juice. Instead of discrimination, I have seen the little sales girls are interested to receive money from a foreigner!. That was really surprising to me when I thought of the bad experiences narrated in the websites and forums on discrimination of foreigners in Japan.
Frankly and very truly I can say, I have not faced any kind of discrimination or racism in Japan.
To mention one more warm relationship I have with my hair dresser Takagawa san, who runs his Hair dressing saloon near Toyocho. Every month I visit his saloon. He knows my choice in the Indian hair style. Only once for the first time in March 2008 I explained in my broken Japanese to him about my hair style. He do not ask me every month about the way my hair should look like. He knows. He talk in Japanese while dressing my hair. I could catch 20% of his words and the remaining portions I correlate and guess. The communication is all about understanding between two people, not really all about language!
Some day, it will be time for Takagawa-san and his wife to take snacks and traditional Japanese food. All the time they have invited me to join with them. One day, Mrs. Takagawasan gave me a set of traditional Japanese food. At first I hesitated to receive it from them. To be frank, it was due to my fear of getting discriminated from Japanese people as read in the forums and website. But they insisted to take their food and I obeyed.
Having been passed through many incidents of life in Japan and mingled with Japanese people, if I am true to my heart, I can not say that ‘I face discrimination in Japan'. I am really sorry that I could not join that group of foreigners who likes to announce to the rest of the world that Japanese people discriminate foreigners.
For those who say Japanese people discriminate foreigners, I do not have any advise or do not know what you mean by discrimination. But think before announcing: Is it only to catch attention of public, because discrimination is an issue in your own country? So, you want to declare to the rest of the world that Japanese people are also not free from that devlish nature in the mind like your own country men?
Further reading on this subject from experienced people are recommended. click here
It does happen, but I've also enjoyed the same type of experiences as you; relying on a familiar hair stylist, and going through months of physical therapy with a Japanese trainer. Well said
ReplyDeleteI'm an Indian(from Haryana) and have been living in Canada for quite sometime. There's one thing I've noticed that us South Asians face extreme amounts of hate and racism from white canadians. My Uncle living in US tells the same story about the behaviour towards South Asians and other minorities in america. Now here's an interesting thing my cousin told me (he moved to Japan from US couple of years ago). He told me why white gaijins complain the most about things such as racism or discrimination in Japan. There are 2 reasons for this:
ReplyDelete1: They are too used to being the 'top dogs' in their own contries where they lived an 'over-privileged' life compared to the minorities. (they may or may not be racists themselves) They come to Japan and as soon as they realize that the Japanese people are not 'kissing their ass', they start complaining and whining that Japanese people are racists. Its shocking, I know.
2: The second reason why whites complain about racism in Japan is because they want to tell the whole world that 'they are not the only people on the planet who are racists'.
Some of them complain that the word Gaijin is racist towards them. I can't think of anything that is wrong with it. It just means foreigner and is a million times less offensive than the words whites use towards minorities(including Japanese) here in North america.
And by the way, I love your Blog. I would love to move to a country like Japan in the future.
Hi Jay, This is Warner. Do you remember me? We met at Geneva long before.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see your Japan blog. Hope you do well in Japan. Write more and excite all of us!
cheers
Hi Turner, Thanks for sharing your experience. Contrary to the anti-Japanese propaganda, discrimination towards foreigners is not significant in Japan. This is what my life experiences say. Thanks once again.
ReplyDeleteHi anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you when your experience speaks out. Racism that Indians or any other dark skin people face in European or American countries is more severe. I think Japanese people have some kind of friendly attitude towards Indians. Skin color of Indians also vary a lot. Some are brown, some are black, some are wheatish and still we see many Indians with pink color. Some Indians look like Iranians or other Middle East people, while some are more like Mongolians. India being a multi-racial country have unity in all these diversities.
One of the reasons for special consideration towards Indian people are there are very few Indians in Japan. Almost all of them are highly skilled engineers or scientists.
I could not find sufficient reasons from my own experiences to align with those foreigners living in Japan who always say about Japanese discrimination and still enjoying their stay in Japan.
Hi anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you when your experience speaks out. Racism that Indians or any other dark skin people face in European or American countries is more severe. I think Japanese people have some kind of friendly attitude towards Indians. Skin color of Indians also vary a lot. Some are brown, some are black, some are wheatish and still we see many Indians with pink color. Some Indians look like Iranians or other Middle East people, while some are more like Mongolians. India being a multi-racial country have unity in all these diversities.
One of the reasons for special consideration towards Indian people are there are very few Indians in Japan. Almost all of them are highly skilled engineers or scientists.
I could not find sufficient reasons from my own experiences to align with those foreigners living in Japan who always say about Japanese discrimination and still enjoying their stay in Japan.
Hi Warner, Glad to meet you after long time. How did you find this blog? I used to update this blog whenever I get time.
ReplyDeleteHello sir
DeleteI am in Indian boy and I want to ask that if in future i want to settle where i should go
South Korea or Japan which is the best place for me(indian- black skin)
Hi dear, it depends on an individual's choice, but whereever you settle down, don't put too much to your skin color. It simply doesn't matter.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThere are indeed undertones of racism (or rather, xenophobia) that exist in Japan today, particularly among the older nationals. But to say that it doesn't exist whatsoever because it hasn't happened to you is ignorant.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of Gaijin is "outside person". I believe this attitude is due to an inherent sense of group solidarity, with roots in traditional values. They are wonderful people; polite, curious. But there is definitely a distinction between "we" and "they". Slowly it is changing, especially as young people have a desire to travel abroad.
I encountered your blog by accident and felt I should add some comments.
ReplyDeleteAs Japan is one of the most visibly homogenous societies in the world, most people have little understanding of life in most multi-ethnic societies, or the racial and cultural sensitivity that expected in other parts of the world. Certainly racism exists everywhere in the world, and almost always it comes from a minority of the population. "Racism" (by legal definition) is simply treating another person differently because of the ethnic group a person belongs to. In these terms, most Japanese nationals will agree that most foreigners face discrimination on a routine basis. Of course, most of this discrimination is subtle and often unconscious. Far more than most nations, Japan is perhaps, the most guilty of blatantly ignoring outsiders, which over the years becomes tiring and stressful, and accounts for quite a bit of misunderstanding.
On the other hand, in my 16 years of experience in Japan, I have not encountered anybody of any ethnicity, who has been here a few years or more, and hasn't experienced blatant, overt discrimination. Like anywhere, discriminatory attitudes depend upon a person's international experience, education, income level, etc. Japan is a nation of individuals, and certainly everyone has different perspectives and preferences and certainly not everyone is nice (Japan has it's criminals, serial killers, etc). I have run into Japanese people who have openly admitted that they "hate" Chinese people, Brazilians, Peruvians, Americans, Australians, etc. I have a Japanese-Canadian friend who was insulted in Kobe, to his surprise, for being "nisei". Whether a person resents Caucasians because they are perceived to be "all rich and are stealing Japanese girls", or avoid Indians "because they all smell of curry", they are equally prejudiced statements. Over time, you realize that much of the overt discrimination is actually passive-aggressive, and that native Japanese are simply much more polite to other Japanese.
Discrimination in Japan is technically unconstitutional, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. I'm not surprised that highly educated professionals, or people in service jobs, who could be fired for overt discrimination, provided you with equitable treatment, but I guarantee there are people in other parts of Japan who will eventually treat you with hostility.
I encountered your blog by accident and felt I should add some comments.
ReplyDeleteAs Japan is one of the most visibly homogenous societies in the world, most people have little understanding of life in most multi-ethnic societies. Certainly racism exists everywhere in the world, and almost always it comes from a minority of the population. "Racism" is simply treating another person differently because of the ethnic group a person belongs to. In these terms, most Japanese nationals will agree that most foreigners face discrimination on a routine basis. Of course, most of this discrimination is subtle and often unconscious. More than most nations, Japan is perhaps, the most guilty of blatantly ignoring outsiders, which over the years becomes tiring and stressful, and accounts for quite a bit of misunderstanding.
On the other hand, in my 16 years of experience in Japan, I have not encountered anybody of any ethnicity, who has been here a few years or more, and hasn't experienced blatant, overt discrimination. Like anywhere, discriminatory attitudes depend upon a person's international experience, education, income level, etc. Japan is a nation of individuals, and certainly everyone has different perspectives and preferences and certainly not everyone is nice (Japan has it's criminals, serial killers, etc). I have run into Japanese people who have openly admitted that they "hate" Chinese people, Brazilians, Peruvians, Americans, Australians, etc. I have a Japanese-Canadian friend who was insulted in Kobe, to his surprise, for being "nisei".
As a half-black, half-white brazilian, I've experienced both sides of the coin when it comes these tense questions. So by my personal experience, I would certainly affirm that racism would have a lot to do with intentions. I know people who have been to Tokyo and some nearby cities and have endured quite a few unpleasent situatios, because they tried to play japanese. They speaked the language very well, and knew a lot about their daily rituals. It seemed to bother. On the other hand, I've read in many places that japanese people seem to be most receptive to those who try to blend. I've never been to Japan because of questions like this. I am a huge admirer of japanese culture, and probably am too afraid to face rejection on the vey country I take most of my references. And there is the skin color issue. I have no clue how a latin american half-black person would be treated. A nice japanese lady once told my boyfriend that, specially in tokyo, the situation is a bit worse. For her, the big cities represent more of a battlefield than an invivibility alternative.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that japanese people are bad or anything else, it is just that some foreigners do not respect the japanese way of life.
ReplyDeleteI eally wish to continu my studies there and stay THERE.
Hey jay
ReplyDeleteIt doesnt hurt that you are fair and rather pleasant looking.
But I think people should just go home ( China India etc) instead of expecting others to be accomodating of one.
I am from Nepali background and lived in Japan for around 2 Years but didn't come across any act which I could possible call as racism and discrimination. If I get a chance, I would like to live in Japan. Of course sometime people are indifferent to you but it comes totally out of their busy schedule. Their are friendly, polite, ready to help anytime. If there are some people who think Japanese are racist, they have to visit country like Australia, America and most of the countries in Europe. I lived in Australia for 2 Years and many years in Europe and America. They say Asians are barbarian, Indians and Chinese stinks and its done overtly. Forget about the normal citizen, you can hear the racist comments made by Government Official all the time. Just like someone in this post said, White thinks they are superior and in any country where they go unnoticed they claim those country to be racist as they are not used to it. But its time to face it. Not everyone gets noticed everywhere. People are way to busy in Japan and normally they don't have time to spare on strangers. Actually, Australian who work 4 hours, drinks 8 hours but still are indifferent and when they do notice you, they catch you will negative remarks are the true RACIST. After travelling to the different part of the world. Color only matters in Europe, America (not south) and Australia. In Asia wheresoever you go, people are friendly and always eager to help.
ReplyDeleteHi Rohit,
DeleteThanks for sharing your experience and opinion. As a person who had traveled in Australia and Japan, you can compare from your real life experience. What I fee is that people discriminate based on skin color, race, or on a number of other factors. It is common among us to find or look into what is uncommon in others. Very few people see the similarities. Our education system is also based on teaching children how to find differences such as the 'odd one out'.