Quote:
Originally Posted by willgoestocollege
I came across a video on youtube about racism in Japan from a youtuber called flipflopping who has been living in Japan for about seven years with his family from the US. Part one was about the word "gaijin" and how he is offended by it but for people who live or been to Japan, do you find the word gaijin negative? Part two is the video I want to show you guys. There's a few things that he states which you probably already know about in Japan such as places which have "no foreigners allowed" signs and bids for apartments being turned down. Also a few shocking things he says in the video and one of them is that kids had thrown rocks at him.
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I don`t find gaijin offensive. Do you find the word "foreigner" offensive? It`s just the word "foreigner" in Japanese abbreviated a bit like every other longish compound word in Japanese tends to be. If you`re not Japanese, surprise surprise, you`re a foreigner.
In general, the great majority of the "no foreigners allowed" signs are at red light district places. Hostess clubs, soap lands, etc etc.
I have never personally encountered any apartment discrimination, nor met someone in
real life who was turned down. It`s a HUGE rumor sort of thing that you can`t rent an apartment in Japan.
If you`re just in Japan for the short term and aren`t going to be in the country long enough to fulfill a lease - you`ll be turned down. If you do not have the job history to have "credit" - you will be turned down. By the way - to rent most apartments a normal Japanese citizen has to have been working for so long and have a huge advance payment. Places that don`t require this (the places that are generally popular with the foreigners in Japan) are pretty picky. They`ll turn you down for stupid crap like spotting pet hair on your clothes, etc, because you might violate the lease.
And there are literally TONS of cases of short term English teachers in Japan running off without paying their rent or utilities - and leaving their trash, furniture, etc in the apartment for the landlord to dispose of. These aren`t rumors. You can EASILY find advice on foreigners in Japan sites to just not bother paying the last month or two because no one will come after you once you leave Japan - from people who brag about leaving huge bills behind to screw the landlord because they thought the building or trash rules were stupid.
It`s common enough that it is really a surprise to me how many places ARE willing to extend their trust.