I agree with Nyororin (yet again) about the language thing.
Here's why:
It's a cultural thing. Nyororin was saying that some things in Japan are not seen as being offensive. If you take some of those same ideas or ways of saying things and turn them into English and bring them to, for example America, then it would be considered rude.
I wouldn't qualify this as racism, but I've heard foreigners getting angry at things like constantly being asked where they're from. First of all, as a foreigner you're gonna be asked stuff like that. Second of all, it may be that person's first time asking, or just a way for them to spark up a conversation. And lastly, I've seen (at least around here) Japanese people ask OTHER Japanese people where they're from all the time. You can tell when people aren't from around here. Here's how: Langauge. When someone's accent is different, or the words they say aren't the same dialect as here, then you wanna know where this person is coming from and what the hell they're doing here. I think it's part curiosity, part defense (as far as here goes). It's a natural thing here. Also, I've seen people guess where other Japanese people are from based on their accent before... so when people ask me if I'm from the UK (I'm from the US), I don't particularly get offended, because I know it's something that people ask.
Also, when you don't know the language... then your imagination goes wild. You can fill the gaps (the areas which you don't understand) with whatever you want. You can fill those gaps in order to paint any picture you want...
"I wonder how it feels for them to read many of our comments or questions about THEIR country. It would be wonderful to hear their thoughts especially."
This is another part of the equation. Foreigners do a lot of talking about Japanese people and their "weird", "strange", and "exotic" habits.
And Nyororin, that last part of your post was really interesting... I had NO idea that kind of stuff was going on in Japan! We have a lot of Chinese and Phillipinos around here... I certainly hope none of that is going on in these parts- like you said, it sounds like a terrible people who want to earn an honest living.
I have to say though, a lot of my students do make fun of my big nose and green (which they always call blue) eyes all the time. They make fun of my beard when it grows out a bit and my chest hair (the little bit they can see during the summer "cool biz" months). I know it's all in good fun, though.
As far as interesting stereotypes that I've heard of recently... I've heard that gaijin cheat a lot (which should come off as ironic to anyone who checked out the "do japanese guys cheat" thread a little while back), I've heard that gaijin are good hagglers (... I am pretty good, if I may say so myself), I've heard we all kiss when we say hello, etc. I recommend calling people out when you hear this stuff and talking with the people who said it. I like to keep it completely humorous, as that's my favorite policy. There's no reason not to laugh at that stuff... just like there's no reason not to laugh at my grandma who was afraid of me going to Japan because she thought everyone wore rice-hats and that I might get in a rickshaw accident or in some nonsense like that (which she said completely innocently). It's just a matter of talking things out. For all you ALTs out there... I think that's honestly part of the job. I think holding in bad feelings about stuff like this is going to do nothing but harm-- so just try to educate as many people as you can.
I mean, even though I'm a pretty good haggler, I wouldn't give that title to just any old gaijin
