Quote:
Originally Posted by JonBoy888
Hey all, Ive been looking through these forums and many others in fact but cant find an answer to my question so I hope someone here can help.
Ive heard many stories about the discrimination from the Japanse to foreigners but want to get a broader opinion from you guys on here. My friend who recently took part in an exchange program to Japan as part of his university course which lasted 6 months, he came back and said that in Japan there are two types of foreigners, one type being the europeans, canadians, americans basically anyone caucasian. Then there are the other types of foreigners being those who are of asian descent for example korean, chinese etc.
He said that both groups get treated differently, even tho both groups are in a foreign country the caucasian people are treated better and seen in a more positive light whereas the other group are seen in a more negative light. Is this really true? to that, my main question really is what if you are a bbc (british born chinese) or an abc (american born chinese) are you still portrayed in a more negative light then say someone else who is born in America or britain but has white skin? how would they react if for instance they had negative connotations about you because you looked chinese but couldnt speak a word of it but spoke fluent english?? would they put you in the 1st or 2nd group of foreigners??
Please bare in mind I dont want to start a race war etc etc we as people really dont need it so please sensible answers only! Also please be aware I know that although there is an underlying issue about race in Japan just like there is in any country in the world I want to make it clear that I know that opinions like the ones ive stated above are the minority and do not reflect the Japanese as a whole.
|
Hi, I am Canadian Chinese myself, my experience is totally different. While I do speak "well enough" Japanese, I also did tell/show people that I am NOT Japanese, and I definitely didn't feel discriminated when I was in Japan.
A few thoughts to what you said. First, other may disagree, I think "Discrimination" is a bit strong for what you are describing. I THINK the "behavior" people experieinced has to do with the Japanese lack of willingness to accept differences (This is changing though). Their behavior has to do with what they experienced. So its a matter of acceptance, and not discrimination due to race
Now, the ethnicity part of your question, IF people are treated differently, it probably due to poor past experieince with the non Japanese Asian that was residing/visiting Japan. I remember when I was a kid, I used to live around Yokosuka. We had a school trip where we visited Kyoto, and one of temple we visited was Ginkakuji. For those who don't know, Ginkakuji is filled with stone weaved patterns (a sone garden), they put a lot of work into weaving these pattern. During our school trip, there was another group of Asian tourist there (Plus other local tourist, schools, and groups), this Asian tourist group got out, and the parents let loose of their kids. THe kid run up to these stone garden and destroyed all the patterns. The parents did NOTHING. The comments I heard from other was basically "Those uneducated Chinese".
I mean this is just one incident, but its enough to cause people to think negatively of one specific ethnic group.
Just my 2 cents