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Originally Posted by godwine
And you think this type of stereotyping doesn't exist outside of Japan? Its even far more vocal in North America.. I grew up with people making fun of Chinese driving, assuming that I can't speak English.....
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I just have to say that I hate this sort of argument. As though by pointing out there is bad elsewhere that somehow legitimises or excuses bad stuff occurring somewhere else. I mean in China you can be jailed for having opinions that the government doesn't agree with. Does that mean that it would be ok if something similar happened in Japan? No of course not.
From time to time there are incidents in Australia that are racially motivated. Does that mean that no Australian can ever be critical of racism outside of their country? No of course not.
As far as I'm concerned things like racism are universal. Every country has it. Most countries at least in legislation have laws to protect people from it. One issue I've always had with Japan is that there is very little legislative protection against discrimination and racism for non-Japanese residents and citizens.
The UN has expressed concerns over this numerous times. This from wiki
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In 2010, according to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Japan's record on racism has improved, but there is still room for progress.[31] The committee was critical of the lack of antidiscrimination legislation in the country and the treatment of Japanese minorities and its large Korean and Chinese communities.[19] "There seems to have been little progress since 2001," when the last review was held, committee member Regis de Gouttes said. "There is no new legislation, even though in 2001 the committee said prohibiting hate speech is compatible with freedom of expression." Many members of the committee, however, praised the Japanese government's recent recognition of the Ainu as an indigenous people.
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Lack of legislation allows discrimination to continue and actually somewhat legitimises it.