[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by GoNative

I personally don't subscribe to the attitude that racism is mostly misunderstood in this country because of a lack of understanding of the language or culture.

And I don`t subscribe to the attitude of Mr Debito and his followers who see injustice and discrimination at every turn - even when it is justified toward a specific individual. Sorry, but if you don`t pay your rent for three months, decide to leave all your phone bills unpaid... Then come back to Japan in 2 years to find that *gasp* you can`t get a phone or apartment because you`ve been blacklisted... It is NOT discrimination or racism. It`s your own stupid fault and you deserve to get in trouble for it. Don`t blame the poor guy who you didn`t think was important enough to be paid because you weren`t planning on coming back to Japan. There are WAY too many of these stories out there.

Not to mention that if you look through the countless "racism" cases on his page, everyone somehow "forgets" to mention that 95% of them are hostess bars or soap lands.

At one point I thought he was a great fighter for equal rights... And then I read more. And more. And found out he was using his kids to bait places, and pushing them through all kinds of crap to "expose" racism that really didn`t matter that much. Instead of actually going after things that DO, they nitpick at little things that don`t really make much difference. If you`re standing on a corner protesting the use of "half" and screaming at people on the subway about it (an actual event...) they aren`t very likely to take you seriously even if you do try to deal with something serious.

There ARE cultural differences, and to act like they`re not there both in the interpretation of what is actually racism/discrimination and in how you try to tackle these issues is folly. Looking at Japanese behavior through a western lens and then reacting to it in the way you`d react to things like it in the west (or rather, the US in Debito`s case - ie. Suing 2ch for outing your affairs...) is just going to make you a laughing stock.

But my friend had and have. She always got messages from Japanese people.
In these message they write many terrible things to her.
The 'kindest' message was 'you, gaijin bitch die!'

That sort of thing sounds like she was picked up by 2ch or the like for writing something that REALLY made a lot of people mad. WHAT is she saying? That is the important thing.

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.

This is definitely true. My husband is from Fukui - right along the coast. It is one of the most distinct accents in common use in Japan. All areas have their own accents, but they tend to be limited in use. As in 80%+ of speech is standard with only older people or certain phrases being a local accent or dialect. But in a few areas even young people speak with 50%+ dialect. Fukui is one of the few. Even the local news broadcasters have a pronounced accent - and on NHK at that!
When you hear someone with an accent similar to one you`re familiar with or one very different, it`s natural curiosity that prompts people to ask. It`s like weather level small talk. Apparently this is offensive to some people as they don`t know the culture behind it and assume it`s only because they`re not Japanese. It`s just a way to try and start up a conversation, and one that has been pounded into them in school as a good way to start talking with a foreigner on top of that.

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.

The Japanese government is pretty naive and just sort of bumbles along without noticing a lot of these things - so it becomes a thorn in the side of a lot of people who are denied services when they go about it in the correct procedure... When someone who cries racism can get by without a question. There was a huge one in the news just a couple days ago about a bunch of Chinese immigrants who came to Japan without legal employment but flubbed their way into free housing and utilities, unemployment benefits, etc etc.

It`s awful because the majority isn`t like that - but the bad people who take advantage of the system or the general kindness of people reflect badly on everyone. And that person isn`t likely to be kind to the next person that comes along to potentially take advantage of them. And they`re likely to be very vocal about how they were taken advantage of to all their friends, family, and the like.

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)

Actually - in Japan - this is pretty accurate. There are WAY too many guys here who want to hop in bed with Japanese girls.... And who cheat like no other because they have girls interested in them that wouldn`t have happened otherwise.

I've heard we all kiss when we say hello

Most people I`ve encountered who have mentioned this usually seem to know that it`s European and not "western" in general.