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This is one of the few instances that I've seen open discrimination agains white western people in Japan. In my journey for renting a place, after a couple of v

This is one of the few instances that I've seen open discrimination agains white western people in Japan. In my journey for renting a place, after a couple of visits and getting a "no because he's a gaikokujin (foreigner)" I asked the agent to disclose it firstly. He did, but tactfully: he is a foreigner who is learning Japanese and came to the university in Japan and is hired by traditional company X and blabla. Still somewhere like 25-50% straight up rejections, but at least those were 1-minute waste instead of 30-60 min waste of time. And I was looking in the "high market in Tokyo", which I guess is probably the least discriminatory in the whole Japan. I also cannot imagine what non-western foreigner suffer (who are normally discriminated against a lot more).

orbital-decay 4y ago
Might it be because of the additional legal requirements for a landlord in case of foreign tenants? Or it's really because they don't like non-Japanese?
- post_break 4y ago
  I think you already know the answer. I've seen people complain because they think foreigners don't know how to properly recycle waste in japan and that was the cause for not renting to gaijin.
- sithadmin 4y ago
  Combination of xenophobia as well as perceived liability issues related to early lease termination. There's a perception that foreigners will renege on the rental contract and simply leave the country early without consequences. In certain fields of expat work, the reputation isn't entirely undeserved.
- barking_biscuit 4y ago
  Most Japanese people are really friendly and have pretty good attitudes towards westerners. The difficulty arises when there is a relationship between the two parties that may at some point require settling a dispute or problem solving between the individuals and it's way outside their comfort zone. They don't necessarily have a problem with the individuals (though there are a few older people who live around military bases that do), but they clearly have a problem with how such situations make them feel. One time I wanted to go into a restaurant and there weren't any signs anywhere that said 'Japanese only' or anything like that, but I rocked up to the door and made an inquiry in Japanese to the lady on the door and some guy from in behind came through and was like 'sorry, no foreigners' and she turned to him and said 'no, it's ok he speaks Japanese' and I went in and had a meal without any problems. It definitely offends my western sensibilities to be exclusionary in that way, but I think the thing native English speakers take for granted is that it's a lot easier to have an open and inclusive society like we try to when we can make a pretty safe assumption that the people we're including will be able to communicate with us to an adequate standard. I'm fluent in Japanese. It was a really hard language that took a lot to master. I have an excellent sense of the range of English abilities of Japanese people. The language barrier is a huge factor in the discomfort felt. Then there's the cultural norms. Japanese people tend to talk about other Japanese people as if everyone has baked into them the same set of rules / behaviors / assumptions. When that goes out the window, I think a decent proportion of them don't quite know how to mentally simulate how they think such a person will behave other than it'll possibly (and maybe probably) be in violation of at least some of the norms that they kind of rely on. It always makes me pretty sad when people level comments about native English speaking countries being racist etc and then you look at how much poorer you'd fare in comparison in the general case if you were to live in their country.
- anuraaga 4y ago
  There are no additional legal requirements to having foreign tenants. That being said, there are strong legal requirements to having any tenants. Japan is very renter-friendly, and you can even be months late on paying rent without any chance of eviction. So lenders lean towards avoiding any risk at all. It can be harder to find a place as a foreigner due to risk-adversity, but while most comments here want to paint it as racism, my guess is few of the posters actually speak Japanese - I suspect it would be difficult finding a place in any country when not speaking of their language, though have no actual experience to base that on. But as a brown (other comments have suggested we suffer more discrimination, which is true in the eyes of cops and general people assuming we are all poor restaurant owners) that speaks Japanese, real estate had never been difficult, though there is additional cost for a guarantor which would otherwise be a family member. But the thread is about Singapore where presumably there is no languages issue so not sure where Japan came from. I suppose it's tradition though for expats here to vent though ;)
- andrekandre 4y ago
  i think a big issue is fear of language issues (of not being able to communicate with tenants) if you can read/write and converse natively i think you can get an apartment; your real estate agent can vouch for you and alleviate their concerns etc
RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
One thing though, give the honor based Japanese culture, what do you think are the rates of Japanese not paying their rent, vs foreigners not paying rents.

orbital-decay 4y ago

Might it be because of the additional legal requirements for a landlord in case of foreign tenants? Or it's really because they don't like non-Japanese?

post_break 4y ago
I think you already know the answer. I've seen people complain because they think foreigners don't know how to properly recycle waste in japan and that was the cause for not renting to gaijin.
sithadmin 4y ago
Combination of xenophobia as well as perceived liability issues related to early lease termination. There's a perception that foreigners will renege on the rental contract and simply leave the country early without consequences. In certain fields of expat work, the reputation isn't entirely undeserved.
barking_biscuit 4y ago
Most Japanese people are really friendly and have pretty good attitudes towards westerners. The difficulty arises when there is a relationship between the two parties that may at some point require settling a dispute or problem solving between the individuals and it's way outside their comfort zone. They don't necessarily have a problem with the individuals (though there are a few older people who live around military bases that do), but they clearly have a problem with how such situations make them feel. One time I wanted to go into a restaurant and there weren't any signs anywhere that said 'Japanese only' or anything like that, but I rocked up to the door and made an inquiry in Japanese to the lady on the door and some guy from in behind came through and was like 'sorry, no foreigners' and she turned to him and said 'no, it's ok he speaks Japanese' and I went in and had a meal without any problems. It definitely offends my western sensibilities to be exclusionary in that way, but I think the thing native English speakers take for granted is that it's a lot easier to have an open and inclusive society like we try to when we can make a pretty safe assumption that the people we're including will be able to communicate with us to an adequate standard. I'm fluent in Japanese. It was a really hard language that took a lot to master. I have an excellent sense of the range of English abilities of Japanese people. The language barrier is a huge factor in the discomfort felt. Then there's the cultural norms. Japanese people tend to talk about other Japanese people as if everyone has baked into them the same set of rules / behaviors / assumptions. When that goes out the window, I think a decent proportion of them don't quite know how to mentally simulate how they think such a person will behave other than it'll possibly (and maybe probably) be in violation of at least some of the norms that they kind of rely on. It always makes me pretty sad when people level comments about native English speaking countries being racist etc and then you look at how much poorer you'd fare in comparison in the general case if you were to live in their country.
anuraaga 4y ago
There are no additional legal requirements to having foreign tenants. That being said, there are strong legal requirements to having any tenants. Japan is very renter-friendly, and you can even be months late on paying rent without any chance of eviction. So lenders lean towards avoiding any risk at all. It can be harder to find a place as a foreigner due to risk-adversity, but while most comments here want to paint it as racism, my guess is few of the posters actually speak Japanese - I suspect it would be difficult finding a place in any country when not speaking of their language, though have no actual experience to base that on. But as a brown (other comments have suggested we suffer more discrimination, which is true in the eyes of cops and general people assuming we are all poor restaurant owners) that speaks Japanese, real estate had never been difficult, though there is additional cost for a guarantor which would otherwise be a family member. But the thread is about Singapore where presumably there is no languages issue so not sure where Japan came from. I suppose it's tradition though for expats here to vent though ;)
andrekandre 4y ago
i think a big issue is fear of language issues (of not being able to communicate with tenants) if you can read/write and converse natively i think you can get an apartment; your real estate agent can vouch for you and alleviate their concerns etc

RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago

One thing though, give the honor based Japanese culture, what do you think are the rates of Japanese not paying their rent, vs foreigners not paying rents.