[MMM]

I don't think I need to change the title of this thread, as it addresses on of the questions RealJames asked me, what are other aspects or perspectives that are different when regarding marriage. One of these is the definition of race.

Like it or not, Japanese see themselves as a different race from every other ethnicity in the world. Being Japanese is more than a nationality.

Family records are kept by the government which go back generations. The purity (or "impurity") of one's bloodline is on file. So when one decides to marry a non-Japanese that decision is not simply that of a man and a woman, but is now a part of the family's history forever. It is a "family decision" in more ways than one.

I remember in high school some American friends being bothered that the Japanese kids referred to them as "gaijin". They mistakenly understood the word to mean "foreigner". "In America YOU are the gaijin!" the American kids would respond. What they didn't understand is that "gaijin" doesn't mean foreigner. "Gaijin" means "non-Japanese".