I kinda love it when people call things that aren't remotely "racist" for "incredibly racist". Saying that you don't like a language or don't like to listen to a language is not racist.

That being said...

Amnell: I think you will hear several languages in Japan besides japanese. Especially if you're in Tokyo. You're just gonna have to live with it ;)

There's nothing not "remotely racist" about saying she would go nuts if she heard Spanish in Japan. It's just when someone says "No to sound racist" usually the following words are racist or discriminatory.

So she would be pissed if she heard Spanish in Japan? As a non-Japanese speaker, that's a pretty elitist attitude. What does she plan on speaking?

I stand by my post.

MMM, Amnell is a HE. But I agree with the poster above you. What Amnell said isn't the slightest bit racist (he wasn't even talking about race, it was language). It can be extremely frustrating to go to a foreign country and then be surrounded by people from your country. It just makes the experience less exciting. e.g. I think Spain is a beautiful country, but I don't like going there because I seem to see more english people than spanish people. It defeats the point of a cultural experience.

Maybe the Mexicans are interested in Japan to.

talves los Mehicanos kyera saver mas de Japan.

sorry if my spanish is off i speak spanish i just dont know how to write it.>^_^<

Amnell is an English-speaker from California. It's not people from his own country he doesn't want to see, but Spanish-speakers, specifially Mexicans.

Few ever MEAN to be discriminatory. It just comes out.

Even still, noodle hit the nail on the head.

to go to Japan and encounter Mexican culture, which is a culture that I've had plenty of exposure to over my life time AND if I wanted to *really* experience said culture, I would go to Mexico, not Japan. Encountering people there speaking Spanish would indicate to me on the sub-intellectual level that "they're everywhere". Which is kind of a racist attitude, I know... But that's just from living in a place where it's actually true XD . Intellectually, I would know that the statement isn't actually true in all cases.

I would also be bummed to go to Tokyo, Japan and get stuck in a pocket of people from America, be the anglophones or Spanish speakers. I briefly toyed with the idea of going to school in Yokohama until I found out that I'd most likely be housed with other international students, about 80% of whom typically were from America. That was kind of a turn-off...

But you're right. Words can often come out very differently from how they were intended. I hope I haven't upset anyone <_<;;; !

Amnell, I know what you meant to say, and I know what you said. I picked on you because it was about the 5th time in as many months that someone said "I don't mean to be racist but..."

I know you live in Southern California and I know you are exposed to Spanish-speakers a lot.

Guess what. There are Spanish-speakers all over the world.

You want your experience of Japan to be like Disneyland, where everything is Japanese-y and there are no foreigners to wreck you pure experience.

Well, too bad you weren't born 200 years ago. Then you could have had that.

Again, I understand what you meant, but here is the reality check. Japan is an international country. People from every country in the world live and visit there. If you want a gaijin-free experience, find the smallest town in the country and go there. All cities have foreigners...even Spanish speakers! in Japan.

Noodle, you still want to defend his last post?

MMM, I think you're just being as pedantic as people like Ronin4hire. If what Amnel said is considered to be racist, then I think the original meaning of the word has been lost. I find it amazing that every slight comment about anything is considered racist. Heck, if things carry on like this, in a couple of years, saying something like a black person is black will be considerd racist and any study of culture will be considered racist...:cool:

What Amnell said is FINE. And I agree with him. If I go to Japan, I hope I don't hear too much English or any of the languages I speak. No doubt there will be foreigners, but thats not the point. It's like the people that go on foreign exchange programs to hang around people from their country... What's the point? Stay home if you're not going abroad to experience new cultures and languages...:cool:

He didn't make any remarks about a certain race being inferior or superior. Only saying one doesn't like/want to hear a certain language _IS NOT RACIST_. Also it's understandable (if perhaps not possible) that, if you travel across to the other side of the world, you want it to be as different as possible from home. I'm the same way.

I know and understood what he wrote in his first post, and apparently so did you. So I don't understand why it is necessary to try and make someone out to be a racist that apparently is not (based on what we've seen him write, anyways).

The only thing he said about mexicans before you mentioned them, was that he asked about the popularity of mexican food.

Anyways what I wanted to point out was that even if saying the things he did would make him naive, elitist, asshole, whatever (not saying it does) - it still wouldn't make him _racist_.

I do, however, think it's a totally pointless thing to bother with and I can kind of understand you also MMM, so don't think I'm just out to get you or anything!

Sorry for the rant.

There's a popular Mexican-influenced dish in Okinawa called Taco rice. I guess it came from the Mexican Americans at the American bases in Okinawa. I'm not sure though. It's very popular here.

And to answer the original question, yes, there are Mexicans in Japan. I'm half Mexican and I'm living in Japan.