What about Other asians?

[kakaislegend]

Relax...this is not another racism thread...

Just a quick question though, I know in general japanese people are nice and friendly, but we all know about Gaijin etc.

2 questions

1. The term "Gaijin", does it only apply to white people? Or ANY foreigners?

2. How do the Japanese treat other Asians? Especially those who look like a Japanese?

Im just concerned about the racism there...

Thank you

[akiba4you]

Hi kakaislegend,

1. The term Gaijin is used for ANY foreigner and not only white peoples.
2. Japanese treat other Asian (or peoples from any parts of the world) peoples with respect, after it really depend if you can adapt yourself to the the Japanese culture and life style, if not you will be just a "Hen na Gaijin" .

Regards.

[chiuchimu]

^ yep, I second this.

[akiba4you]

i think it's the major problem with Foreigner here in Japan, many can't adapt to the life style here...

[kakaislegend]

Thanks all

Its just that I heard Japanese dont really treat other Asians well, I mean Asians who dont look japanese.. like Filipino, Indonesian, etc.

However, what about Non-Japanese who DO look Japanese?

Thanks

[akiba4you]

It's not true, you can be Korean, Filipino, Indonesian there is no problem.
they treat everybody with respect, there is some conflict with China but it's more a political problem.

[Ronin4hire]

Not so fast...

While I agree that you can live in Japan without any problem with racism as I have done.

To pretend that there is no problem with racism at all in Japan is a bit too much.

kakaislegend... the fact is that racism exists in Japan. In my experience most Japanese were friendly to me.

But there are problems with it just as there are with any country.

The ambushing of a bus of Chinese tourists during the political row was one example.

I think the best way in dealing with this is just to remember that in Japan there are many people with many different ways of thinking about things. Just like in your own country no doubt.

That should be enough for you to be able to brush off racism should you be unfortunate enough to encounter it.

[chiuchimu]

^ Good point. There is a minority of racist, and racist flareups do happen during international conflict. Just walk an intelligent path and you'll rarely see it.

As to other Asian like Filipinos, there are a lot of half Filipino-Japanese celebrates. Even though they are famous, no one talks about them being Filipino or half and yet, its not like anyone is hiding this fact. One case I'm very familiar with is AKB48's Akimoto Sayaka. Very popular IIDOL that everyone in Japan knows. they all know she is half Penoy and yet know body cares. She is treated as any other Japanese IDOL. She clearly looks half SEA but was born in Japan to a Japanese mother so she speaks Japanese and acts like any other Japanese teen. In a minor servery asking 50 grandmothers which of five girls they would like their grandsons to marry, Sayaka was picked number one. Also, Two of the current heart throbs male actors are half Filipino too.

I'm sure the same could be said for other Asian races, just I didn't look into them.

[Ungarmax]

Its not really asia-racism, but I do know that when I go out to lunch with my Canadian-Asian friend (I'm white) they always serve him first, ask him questions even if my other white friend is doing the answering to questions because the asian doesn't know as much Japanese. It is kind of rediculous.

[KungMartin]

Originally Posted by akiba4you

Hi kakaislegend,

1. The term Gaijin is used for ANY foreigner and not only white peoples.
2. Japanese treat other Asian (or peoples from any parts of the world) peoples with respect, after it really depend if you can adapt yourself to the the Japanese culture and life style, if not you will be just a "Hen na Gaijin" .

Regards.

or baka gajin !!!

now i know why my brother used that nick years ago xd