British born chinese in Japan

[burkhartdesu]

I went to Japan with a Korean friend of mine...

People either

A: Assumed he was Japanese
B: Asked if he was/spoke Korean
C: Asked if he was an American/Canadian


No racism, though

[ozkai]

I found that caucasians are more liked then Asian.

Obviously it happens but in general, it's fine.

It used to piss me off when people would ask If I was American!

[MMM]

Originally Posted by ozkai

I found that caucasians are more liked then Asian.

Obviously it happens but in general, it's fine.

It used to piss me off when people would ask If I was American!

I heard that a lot. I knew a French guy that would get so mad when Japanese people would say "Hello" to him.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

People in Asia have long memories, and a lot of angst from the war still resides. The feelings which Japanese show towards foreigners are subtle, but are discernible if you pay attention.

Chinese are thought to be more rude than other peoples. There is probably some truth to this, and it may be intentional, as the Chinese have a lot to resent about Japan. Koreans are not held in high esteem, as Koreans generally filled up service related jobs in Japan. Filipinos have an even harder time, and have the most difficulty here.

On the other hand, the Japanese too have long memories, and those from the war still linger. Japan was defeated by America in the war, but rather than feeling resentment (aside from the dropping of the A-bombs), there actually exists some respect. To this day, Americans are probably the group of foreigners which have the easiest time in Japan.

The Japanese have always been proud of their culture, and during the pre-war times, they assumed their culture to be the greatest on earth. Their victories in Asia, particularly in China, the Dutch Indies, and British Singapore reinforced this pride. The dropping of the bombs in 1945 changed everything. Japan had lost. To the Japanese way of thinking, they could not have been defeated by an inferior culture. Their pride prevented this kind of thinking. American culture was embraced after the war, and it was reflected in the music and fashion of Japan in the later 40's and 50's, and still exists to an extent even today.

Very nicely put Sangetsu, yes I agree, a lot of the treatment "foreigners" are receiving is a result of what happened in the past

I have a slightly different view towards the quote on American culture and how they are treated "better". It is true that they are treated with better respect, however, most of that respect came from fear. If you have a chance, pick up a book name "A Life In Aikido: The Biography of Founder Morihei Ueshiba". Its written by Dai Sensei Ueshiba's son. The first few chapters covered bits and pieces of life after WWII, how the Japanese viewed the defeat and the amount of fear they have against the Americans.

The respect came from a fear from their experieince of how the Americans overpowered Japan. When the news of Japan declaring defeat was made public, a lot of Women and Children went into hiding in fear of violent assault by American troops. This "Violent Assault" is imaginary (While there were in fact some incident, but it was a rare case), its only imposed by their fear after the war

Another interesting thing (Not sure if its facts or fiction) covered in this book is how the rest of the country viewed the act of the invasion. According to Sensei Ueshiba, Dai Sensei and MOST other Martial Art Sensei (so maybe its only limited to the Budoka) are against the war, the view it as an act of cowardry to invade other country, its an act of theft - Taking whats not yours.

[trunker]

with the recent surge of tourists from mainland china, even the japanese have learned to diffrentiate between mainlanders and overseas chinese people. they may not be able to tell mmediately whether or not you are from say hong kong or milton keynes, but many will be able to tell that you arent a mainlander.

and this is pretty much true anywhere, not just in japan.

mainland china is still pretty much its own planet, somewhat like japan, so when its residents come out for a holiday they do stick out.

at the same time i'm not saying you absolutely wont face any discrimination,.... if you go looking for it you will find it, for example, some english schools may prefer to hire the stereotypical white person over you. but thats a marketing image business decision. and arguing against that kind of mentality is just a waste of time.

on the whole though, i think you'll barely notice it unless you make it an issue. I've lived in places where rascism is a fact of life, if not a lifestyle choice, and compared to them, Japan is a cake walk.

[JonBoy888]

Thank you all for your contributions, its been very interesting reading all your experiences and views on the topic, I have always been fascinated with Japan and will always be, and I guess no matter where you go theres gonna be upsides and downsides, especially when you move out of your comfort zone of your own home country. The main picture thats being painted for me is that you'll only get trouble if you look for it which is mostly the case for everywhere not just Japan. I am an Illustrator and have the freedom to be based anywhere in the world and after what Ive read here I would definatley be making a serious decision to spend a couple of years in Japan BUT after I holiday there so I can grasp first hand knowledge of being there.

[ozkai]

Originally Posted by MMM

I heard that a lot. I knew a French guy that would get so mad when Japanese people would say "Hello" to him.

I have to admit, I found may foreigners in Japan had the same problem as your French friend.

It definitely helps if you know a bit of Frecnh.

[Editor]

Sadly there are discriminations against Chinese and Korean in Japan. I think it stems from the fact that the “trust” has been lost over the years due to the negative facts and incidents caused politically and historically including unreasonable political demands, propaganda and bringing discredit by the both of the 2 governments.

So some people may look at you in a hostile manner(if they think you are Chinese or Korean). Also, ignorance is another issue. Japan is an island, one-race country throughout the history and it is not familiar to many people to see British born or American born Chinese/Korean.

Below points are the main feelings that can be seen on the net which would come up in one’s mind when he/she first meets the foreign person.

To Caucasian: Inferiority complex, envy, cool looking, advanced culture. Stems from the brainwash by GHQ in post WW2 era.
To main land Chinese: self-centered, ignorant, crafty largely due to the communist China’s policy, also because of how they act based on ideology “Chinese ethnocentorism.”
To other Asians: undeveloped, looking down(sadly because of the inflation of foreign workers after the post war economical development of Japan in 1970s also influenced by western racism)
To Latin American: similar to the one about other Asian. There isn’t a strong cultural tie.
To Middle eastern: oil rich, terrorist, Muslim. People are largely ignorant about it.
To African: Largely stereotyped. Savanna, lion, that sort of stupid things. It’s either joke or ignorance.

However, the bottom line is that there is very little discrimination against foreigners in the personal level as long as the one respects the culture and tries to understand the way things are, and live in harmony with Japanese people. This is just like those who are always good and respecting people in any culture according to any standard.

Japanese is the culture of honor, humbleness and respect. Trust is something to be born, not made.

I don’t think anyone likes someone that behaves in a particular way and tries forcibly to apply that to other culture and criticize it or even try to change the surroundings instead of changing yourself without trying to adjust. Personally I think this tendency(negative impression to negative behavior which may even lead to strong resentment) is the cause of discrimination in any culture which is sadly accumulative, sustainable and easy to create negative stereotypes. Pretty reasonable I think.

So in the first encounter, you may feel people have negative impression about you but as long as you stay respectful, humble, polite, thoughtful and sensible, people would be the same to you.

About Caucasian people treated better, Sangetsu explained that well except for the part “that they could not have been defeated by an inferior culture.” I think that’s misleading. There is no inferior culture. Some maybe better off economically but the Japanese mentality is that all the people are equal and there’s no better culture or worse.