[MMM]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

It is what you said. When there were as many Japanese in there as there were foreigners, the process of elimination was solely based on looks.
Wearing a baseball cap that directly projects a certain image (such as being a fan of baseball) and just being a normal person who walks into a store are two different things.

Welcome to life as a foreigner in Japan. 99.999% of blue eyed people in Japan are not Japanese. That's not racism, that's reality.

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I'm not mad that I wasn't mistaken for a resident, I'm mad that I was mistaken for a tourist. There's a difference in that wording. In my reasoning, this mistake was based purely on an assumption.
The problem is people keep bringing up these "majority goes" type attitudes, such as "you're in a homogenous country" or "the majority of caucasians are tourists."
I'm not fighting for rights, I think most of us would just like some kind of acceptance. I know I haven't been here that long, and believe me, I'm not already jaded, but it's stuff like this that doesn't make sense.

I think your argument falls flat here, because you make it sound as if being a tourist is a bad thing. You've never been a tourist before? Are Japanese anti-tourist?

I remember one night in Osaka missing the last train, and walking into a friendly and quaint looking bar. I was surprised when the bartender started speaking French to me. I responded in Japanese, why would he think I was French. He pointed to the walls and I saw French flags and pictures of Paris. "This is a French-themed bar, so I thought you might be French." We both laughed, and that was the end of it.

If I hated French or something like that, maybe I should have been offended, but it truly was a honest and harmless misunderstanding.

I think this is the same boat you are in.

Were you rejected, given worse service, or treated poorly because of your "tourist" status?

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I didn't know racial profiling was a western only value. I don't really know what kind if work you're in, but next time offer one of your minority clients a discount and tell them it's because it's the holidays and that they probably need it more than you. See how they react to that.

I do not understand what you are talking about. Were you offered the discount because you looked poor because you are white?

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I'm not insulted because that's not what's going on here. I've met people like those you're describing. But I don't think my one legitimate complaint warrants me to be lumped in the "Jaded 'Nam Vets" category.

Just be aware you are starting to sound like one of those people I am describing.

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

This holiday, give a bucket of KFC to the first black person you see and a space heater to the first white person you see for their trailer.

Wait, you mean all black people don't eat chicken and all white people don't live in trailers?

I guess if that's the way you see things.

Those are racist stereotypes.

If 99% of the white people in Tokyo are tourists, and someone asks if you are a tourist, that isn't being racist, that is making a pretty safe assumption based on your race.

Is it racist to ask a Japanese man how many bowls of rice he eats a day?