> > Japanese people are racist! This is a difficult subject to answer in a simple way. I think they are, but it doesn't matter as much we tend to think, and it

> > Japanese people are racist! This is a difficult subject to answer in a simple way. I think they are, but it doesn't matter as much we tend to think, and it has less impact than what would be expected. For instance I agree with you that outward hostility is extremely rare, or any racism explicitly verbalised. It also have basically no effect to foreigners above a certain living standard. To put it bluntly, if you're rich or at least middle class, you would be hard pressed to find signs of discrimination. It's on the lower part that it becomes more apparent. To follow on your point: > For instance, renting apartments can be an issue for foreign residents with poor Japanese language skills It's not the language skills most of the time, although if you're crazy good at negotiation you might be able to dig your way through it. In my experience it's more that if you want to a flat at the same basic conditions than an average Japanese worker you will only have access to 5 or 10% of the offers. Those flagged "foreigners OK" for whatever reason. For what it's worth, if you're a dude with no guarantor you won't have the same conditions as student girl backed by her gov. worker parents, as well. In contrast, if you're ready to shell 200k a month on location and work at a prestigious place, you will be mostly welcome whatever your gender or race. And of course a lot of things work the same. If you're looking for a job, trying to work at low wage job might be harder as a foreigner than applying to an IT department or financial institutions. The lower you go the more people will care if you're a foreigner or not.