I guess you're right -- it was a mid-sized provincial town, with few gaijin in it. Could just have been the language barrier.

Anyway, I didn't intend to dwell on the xenophobia. I've been turned away from fudosans because I'm a foreigner (this is the rule, not the exception); on the other hand, I was once caught driving with an expired license and the police let it slide! -- which they would never have done for a fellow Japanese.

Overall, my experience of Japan is VERY positive. I've made wonderful friends here, and I'm always impressed by the scrupulous honesty and helpfulness of everyone I deal with and do business with here.

Fudosans? You mean prostitutes? I find that any place that doesn't want foreigners going is probably a business I shoudn't be frequenting anyway.

Racism does exist in Japan, but it's very subtle, and most foreigners would not even notice when it occurs. Foreigners are very rarely called names (baka gaijin!), or harassed in any way, but in some Japanese you'll see an obvious change in manners when they are dealing with a foreigner. This change would be considered quite rude to other Japanese, but foreigners are generally oblivious to it.

As a rule, Japanese parents are horrified at the thought of their daughter dating a foreigner. But that horror usually does not extend itself to making their daughter's new boyfriend unwelcome in her parent's house. The parents will be polite, because being polite is an even greater rule. My girlfriend put off my meeting her parents for years, I suppose she wanted to make sure that I learned enough manners and language (though both her parents speak good English) to avoid being an embarrassment. I get along well with her family, with the exception of her father. He is polite, but not particularly friendly or personable.

As for Japanese girls, I doubt that some of you expressing your opinions here have ever had a face-to-face conversation with a real, live, Japanese girl. Personality-wise, they are the same as girls anywhere else. Cultural differences, and the fact that many foreigners are teachers, tend to make them more approachable than women outside Japan. Women who hang out in bars or clubs are approachable as a rule, regardless of which country you happen to be in.

You got me wrong dude!

Fudosan = 不動産

Sangetsu, excellent post.

Yes, unless your father is the CEO of Merrill Lynch or something like that, your gaijin self is not likely to meet with okaasan's approval. Just accept that you are the local equivalent of the guy with the noisy motorcycle back home: the bad boy that the girls date before they "get serious" and settle down and marry a Japanese boy with good prospects.

It's actually a lot more fun that way.

my opinion is that japanese people are more racist to black people than white people
maybe its because a lot of white people are on TV and magazines... i dont know, but its something I've noticed

just to give my opinion.

i am currently in osaka with a friend of mine.
i am from german decent and my friend has a marrokan decent.

we have yet to see any form of racist.
everyone is very friendly and helpfull and try there best to communicate

Have you witnessed this? Do you have any examples of instances you've witnessed where blacks were being discriminated against and such?

ooops...I was thinking "fuzoku" because that's the only place I had seen a "Japanese Only" sign on a door.

You know, I don't think this is true at all. Literally millions of Japanese women have married non-Japanese men and live all over the world and in Japan. You do not need to be the president of a multi-billion dollar corporation to get in good with Japanese parents.

Japanese dads don't like ANYONE who dates their daughters. Being a foreigner doesn't have anything to do with it.