Hostile Hostels Article in Japan Times

[bELyVIS]

Some people will discriminate and some won't. As a foreigner you just have to accept it because the courts will never take a foreigner's side. I've talked to Debito before about a case I had and he will admit that even though he is a Japanese citizen, they will never consider him a Japanese. Shoganai.

[Tsuwabuki]

Then Japan will come to a screeching halt and collapse. I predict doom and gloom for any country that tries to maintain racial or cultural "purity." It's a figment of the imagination; it never existed in the first place. This is a global age. You either find a spot in it where you are both part of the world and distinct inside of it, or you go extinct. Japan is at a crossroads, and I do hope it makes the right choice.

[dogsbody70]

I wonder what the rules are about immigration to JAPAN?


Is it difficult?

PS I gather from messages on this forum that Americans do not need a Visa to visit Japan. Have I understood correctly?

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

I wonder what the rules are about immigration to JAPAN?


Is it difficult?

PS I gather from messages on this forum that Americans do not need a Visa to visit Japan. Have I understood correctly?

I haven't been on the site for a while, but this link should have all the information about Japanese visas and what's needed to immigrate (assuming that's what you mean?): MOFA: Guide to Japanese Visas

There are many countries that do not require visas to enter Japan as a tourist. I know the UK no visa is required for up to 90 days, but I'm not sure about America. I was under the impression that a visa was needed, but I may be wrong.

[dogsbody70]

thanks for that Robin.

[Tsuwabuki]

90 days are allowed to Americans without visas. But immigration implies a more permanent situation. And the answer is: not that difficult, if you have lived here for ten years. Before that? Much harder.

[manganimefan227]

It's not like Japan as a whole is doing this right? just a few places. Maybe this isn't a country issue, just a buisness or person issue It's their opinion really, Japan isn't trying to keep foreigners out Trying to stop these few seems pointless, and I bet if people saw this, some of them may be encouraged to to prove foreigners are good people. worthy of respect from the natives, and that may eliminate this in futture geneations, or shrink the numbers.

[cranks]

This is not really a problem with race or xenophobia. This guy was talking about how he was discriminated in a public bath on YouTube too, saying he had to use a foreigner bath that costed a lot more than the one for Japanese, making the issue sounded like black people were refused to use a swimming pool with white people. The reason why the public bath started, or had to start, segregating foreigners was because a bunch of foreigners who didn't know how to use a public bath, and who didn't speak Japanese, and who didn't really care to respect Japanese bath taking culture went in there and washed their body in the tub, which is pretty much a taboo there. Japanese people do not want to share the tub with them not because they are foreigners, but they don't follow the Japanese bath taking rules, and make the tub dirty. Yes it is very crude and bigoted to make it "Japanese Only", but the reason behind it is actually not racial. Given the choice, they will take any foreigner who use the bath cleanly over a genetically Japanese person who washes his/her body in the tub. There is a high possibility the "Japanese Only" place happily accepts a foreigner who speak perfect Japanese without an accent. What they don't want is the people who don't understand Japanese culture and don't respect it. Immigration status or ethnic background have nothing to do with this.

Yes, there are a lot of things the public bath could do instead of posting "Japanese Only" sign, like making the rules clear and/or have training sessions or something. But then they don't even speak English. How are they gonna do it? As a person who understand English and Japanese, and understand Western and Japanese culture, the guy could help them establish foreigner friendly rules. But he doesn't fancy that, and instead he's like advocating how bad Gaijin discrimination in Japan is. It seems to me what he's accomplishing are

1.
Painting Japan a racist country,

2.
Entrenching prejudice of Japanese people that Gaijin are the people who don't even want to understand Japanese culture, and forcibly demand what they want to have.

I don't know if they are what he wanted, but he's doing them pretty effectively imo.

[GoNative]

cranks I assume you don't actually live in Japan or you certainly don't seem to know the history of debitos battle against the onsens in Otaru. The real issue for him was that even though he is a Japanese citizen and not a foreigner he was still denied entry purely on the basis of his skin colour. This was the premise for his court case, which he did ultimately win because even in a court system biased towards everything Japanese there was no denying that the actions of these onsens were racially based.

There seems to be a bit of an attitude on this forum that once foreigners fully understand Japanese culture and people then we couldn't possibly still consider them racist or xenophobic, that such thoughts can only be held by those who have not yet fully embraced and understood the culture. I say this is rubbish. It can certainly allow you to understand the reasons why this is still a very xenophobic country but doesn't excuse it. This is one of the most racially homogeneous nations left on the planet. There are entrenched reasons why this remains the case.

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by cranks

This is not really a problem with race or xenophobia. This guy was talking about how he was discriminated in a public bath on YouTube too, saying he had to use a foreigner bath that costed a lot more than the one for Japanese, making the issue sounded like black people were refused to use a swimming pool with white people.

Yeah mate, this guy is a Japanese citizen who speaks fluent Japanese.