4 ms·

At the risk of being controversial... I'm going to go ahead and say that Japan doesn't care about racism like America does. Japanese people are extremely racist

by umvi 6y ago

At the risk of being controversial... I'm going to go ahead and say that Japan doesn't care about racism like America does. Japanese people are extremely racist, but you just don't know it because Japan is 99+% Japanese with <1% being ethnic minorities. But the ethnic minorities that _do_ live there live in segregated apartment complexes, etc. to prevent "mixing with the natives".

foofoo4u 6y ago
The Dekasegi is an interesting piece to add to the discussion. Many are unaware that Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. > During the 1980s, the Japanese economic situation improved and achieved stability. Many Japanese Brazilians went to Japan as contract workers due to economic and political problems in Brazil, and they were termed "Dekasegi". Working visas were offered to Brazilian Dekasegis in 1990, encouraging more immigration from Brazil. > In 1990, the Japanese government authorized the legal entry of Japanese and their descendants until the third generation in Japan. At that time, Japan was receiving a large number of illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand. The legislation of 1990 was intended to select immigrants who entered Japan, giving a clear preference for Japanese descendants from South America, especially Brazil. > Because of their Japanese ancestry, the Japanese Government believed that Brazilians would be more easily integrated into Japanese society. In fact, this easy integration did not happen, since Japanese Brazilians and their children born in Japan are treated as foreigners by native Japanese.[42][43] This apparent contradiction between being and seeming causes conflicts of adaptation for the migrants and their acceptance by the natives.[44] More can be read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilians#The_Dekasegi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilians#The_Dekase...
ricktdotorg 6y ago
> But the ethnic minorities that _do_ live there live in segregated apartment complexes, etc. to prevent "mixing with the natives". source for this? my experience: my wife is Japanese, i have visited JP many times, we know a ton of non-Japanese immigrants living in Japan and they all live wherever the heck they want to live. i've never heard of non-native minorities being segregated either officially (government) or privately (landlord collusion) other than perhaps stories of illegal immigrants being packed together in the seedier parts of town. is that what you're referring to?
- Mtinie 6y ago
  The commenter you replied to may have been describing the discrimination faced by people such as the Ainu, Ryukyuans, and others who are not considered part of the majority ethnic Japanese group. https://www.refworld.org/docid/55a4fa5115.html https://www.refworld.org/docid/55a4fa5115.html
- jfarmer 6y ago
  https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-foreign-tenants-not-much-can-you-can-do/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-... https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/housing-discrimination-against-foreigners-in-japan-ministry-of-justice-survey/ https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/housing-discrimina... https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/17/national/social-issues/half-foreign-nationals-tokyo-experience-discrimination-survey-shows/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/17/national/social... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-discrimination-foreign/foreigners-in-japan-face-significant-levels-of-discrimination-survey-shows-idUSKBN1720GP https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-discrimination-fore...
  - ricktdotorg 6y ago
    wow! this is indeed quite eye-opening! while i was aware of non-native discrimination in Japan in terms of employment, i had not heard of housing-specific discrimination! i asked for receipts and boy, you delivered!!! thank you for opening my eyes. will read and discuss w/our family :)
    - innocenat 6y ago
      To be honest, it's not really to the 'segregated' level. It's not like one building for foreigner and the other for Japanese. Officially, it's illegal to deny rental based on nationality. In reality, you don't want to live in an apartment if the owner doesn't want you there anyway, even though you could push for it in the court.
sukilot 6y ago
Racism exists where genocide has not yet been completed. A "non racist" society is rarely a historical role model.
innocenat 6y ago
> but you just don't know it because Japan is 99+% Japanese with <1% being ethnic minorities. Racism is discussed on Japanese SNS quite often. There are also frequent demonstrations both for racism and against racism. I think the reason people don't really know because it's wasn't actively reported, even on Japanese media. Additionally, there are 2.93 millions foreigners in Japan [0]. Japan population is 127 millions. That's already 2.3%, and not even counting Ainu and Ryukyuans. It's not large, but it's much larger than <1% you claimed. [0]: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13256541 http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13256541
- umvi 6y ago
  True, it used to be <1% but the share has been growing over the past decade.
tomp 6y ago
Why does everything have to ba racism? Can’t they just be xenophobic? Or maybe nationalist?
- umvi 6y ago
  Is there a significant difference between being "xenophobic" and "racist"? Seems like semantics...
  - tomp 6y ago
    Well the motivations are completely different. Xenophobia is a pretty normal human condition, and very reasonable as well (“strangers” carry germs, which is being amptly demonstrates right now). It could also be motivated be preservation of culture, nation, etc. - basically same reasoning as makes you prefer your children vs other children, just extended a bit to the whole nation.
    - zarathustreal 6y ago
      No one cares about the literal definition of words anymore, it’s all about feelings and implied context now. The word “racism” is a perfect example. You’ll rarely see anyone using it literally as in “prejudice based on race” which is a shame. We’ve lost a lot of the ability to reason about _why_ these things are bad, now it’s just “I feel like it’s bad, I’m scared of someone doing something bad to me.”
    - dan-robertson 6y ago
      The reason you prefer your children is that they are much more likely to contain your genes than other children, and your main purpose in life is, to some extent, to ensure that those genes may propagate to later generations.
      - hayez1 6y ago
        You share more genes with the people in the same ethnicity as you than with people of another ethnicities. So using your exact logic: >basically same reasoning as makes you prefer your children vs other children, just extended a bit to the whole nation. still completely holds.

by umvi 6y ago

foofoo4u 6y ago

The Dekasegi is an interesting piece to add to the discussion. Many are unaware that Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. > During the 1980s, the Japanese economic situation improved and achieved stability. Many Japanese Brazilians went to Japan as contract workers due to economic and political problems in Brazil, and they were termed "Dekasegi". Working visas were offered to Brazilian Dekasegis in 1990, encouraging more immigration from Brazil. > In 1990, the Japanese government authorized the legal entry of Japanese and their descendants until the third generation in Japan. At that time, Japan was receiving a large number of illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand. The legislation of 1990 was intended to select immigrants who entered Japan, giving a clear preference for Japanese descendants from South America, especially Brazil. > Because of their Japanese ancestry, the Japanese Government believed that Brazilians would be more easily integrated into Japanese society. In fact, this easy integration did not happen, since Japanese Brazilians and their children born in Japan are treated as foreigners by native Japanese.[42][43] This apparent contradiction between being and seeming causes conflicts of adaptation for the migrants and their acceptance by the natives.[44] More can be read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilians#The_Dekasegi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilians#The_Dekase...

ricktdotorg 6y ago

> But the ethnic minorities that _do_ live there live in segregated apartment complexes, etc. to prevent "mixing with the natives". source for this? my experience: my wife is Japanese, i have visited JP many times, we know a ton of non-Japanese immigrants living in Japan and they all live wherever the heck they want to live. i've never heard of non-native minorities being segregated either officially (government) or privately (landlord collusion) other than perhaps stories of illegal immigrants being packed together in the seedier parts of town. is that what you're referring to?

Mtinie 6y ago
The commenter you replied to may have been describing the discrimination faced by people such as the Ainu, Ryukyuans, and others who are not considered part of the majority ethnic Japanese group. https://www.refworld.org/docid/55a4fa5115.html https://www.refworld.org/docid/55a4fa5115.html
jfarmer 6y ago
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-foreign-tenants-not-much-can-you-can-do/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-... https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/housing-discrimination-against-foreigners-in-japan-ministry-of-justice-survey/ https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/housing-discrimina... https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/17/national/social-issues/half-foreign-nationals-tokyo-experience-discrimination-survey-shows/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/17/national/social... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-discrimination-foreign/foreigners-in-japan-face-significant-levels-of-discrimination-survey-shows-idUSKBN1720GP https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-discrimination-fore...
- ricktdotorg 6y ago
  wow! this is indeed quite eye-opening! while i was aware of non-native discrimination in Japan in terms of employment, i had not heard of housing-specific discrimination! i asked for receipts and boy, you delivered!!! thank you for opening my eyes. will read and discuss w/our family :)
  - innocenat 6y ago
    To be honest, it's not really to the 'segregated' level. It's not like one building for foreigner and the other for Japanese. Officially, it's illegal to deny rental based on nationality. In reality, you don't want to live in an apartment if the owner doesn't want you there anyway, even though you could push for it in the court.

sukilot 6y ago

Racism exists where genocide has not yet been completed. A "non racist" society is rarely a historical role model.

innocenat 6y ago

> but you just don't know it because Japan is 99+% Japanese with <1% being ethnic minorities. Racism is discussed on Japanese SNS quite often. There are also frequent demonstrations both for racism and against racism. I think the reason people don't really know because it's wasn't actively reported, even on Japanese media. Additionally, there are 2.93 millions foreigners in Japan [0]. Japan population is 127 millions. That's already 2.3%, and not even counting Ainu and Ryukyuans. It's not large, but it's much larger than <1% you claimed. [0]: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13256541 http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13256541

umvi 6y ago
True, it used to be <1% but the share has been growing over the past decade.

tomp 6y ago

Why does everything have to ba racism? Can’t they just be xenophobic? Or maybe nationalist?

umvi 6y ago
Is there a significant difference between being "xenophobic" and "racist"? Seems like semantics...
- tomp 6y ago
  Well the motivations are completely different. Xenophobia is a pretty normal human condition, and very reasonable as well (“strangers” carry germs, which is being amptly demonstrates right now). It could also be motivated be preservation of culture, nation, etc. - basically same reasoning as makes you prefer your children vs other children, just extended a bit to the whole nation.
  - zarathustreal 6y ago
    No one cares about the literal definition of words anymore, it’s all about feelings and implied context now. The word “racism” is a perfect example. You’ll rarely see anyone using it literally as in “prejudice based on race” which is a shame. We’ve lost a lot of the ability to reason about _why_ these things are bad, now it’s just “I feel like it’s bad, I’m scared of someone doing something bad to me.”
  - dan-robertson 6y ago
    The reason you prefer your children is that they are much more likely to contain your genes than other children, and your main purpose in life is, to some extent, to ensure that those genes may propagate to later generations.
    - hayez1 6y ago
      You share more genes with the people in the same ethnicity as you than with people of another ethnicities. So using your exact logic: >basically same reasoning as makes you prefer your children vs other children, just extended a bit to the whole nation. still completely holds.