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Topic 1:
Don't dismiss that foreigners are treated differently simply because of their face / skin color or if their heritage is known just because you haven't experienced in your relatively short time in Japan. This is a human trait not a Non-Japanese / Japanese thing. Japanese simply handle it differently than other countries in general. This is not just isolated to police / authoritative figure - so the story about the nice police officer helping you adds little to the topic.
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Response 1:
Until there is sufficient evidence to back up such accounts, I am very reasonable in relying on my own experiences and the experiences of my coworkers and friends. We have all experienced being treated differently, it is the view that this is some sort of institutionlised conspiracy that is widespread among the Japanese population that I believe to be an inaccurate stereotype propagated by westerners.
These are all personal anecdotes: "this police officer did that" "this Japanese person did that", therefore it is completely in-line for me to counter with experiences of my own: all of my experiences with police officers in Japan have been wonderful. This is quite relevant, since I have had quite a number of experiences with police officers, at least in Tokyo and Fukuchiyama. Much less experience in other parts of the country, admittedly.
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Topic 2:
Japan is a great place to live and on average more peaceful due to the society, culture and beliefs. But you may want to get some salt for yourself if you go against the grain in Japan like it seems you described in the US.
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Response 2:
I do not believe in cultural relativism. For the most part the political views important to me are ones the majority of Japanese agree with, or even take for granted: public health care, public transportation, public retirement and social security programs, civil liberties and civil rights, and I have had several Japanese engage me (at their instigation, not my own) in civil, interested, and mature debate about my Catholic faith. Of course, when I think a view is wrong, because I am not a cultural relativist, I am quite clear in my own opinions. I have yet to ruffle any feathers, and some times, as stated earlier, I am even sought out for my views that vary from the Japanese norm.
I think I eat too much sodium as it is, so I'll probably cut down.