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05-15-2008, 05:51 AM
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Some people have bad times while others don't. I mean, Nagoya is known as one of the very closed communities in Japan and outsiders are often treated differently. But you are saying you were fine there right? So I think it depends on individuals. 
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05-15-2008, 05:55 AM
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people from Tokyo are more discriminatory than the rest of the country, or anything like that. The proportion of foreigners in the area is completely out of whack from the rest of the country, and I think that may be some source of the problem.
It's also worth pointing out... in western countries, especially the US, racism and discrimination is a very touchy subject. Famous and influential people can be shamed on the national level just for making one racist statement. That's what its like in a country made up of immigrants. In contrast, it's really unreasonable to expect the whole of Japan, a very ethnically homogeneous country, to be able to cater to the needs of every foreigner. If you can read my signature, that's the philosophy that I follow while I'm in Japan... I've never had any troubles with it. If you can't read it, well... that might make you part of the problem.
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05-15-2008, 06:08 AM
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 )I think that the "discrimination" comes into play largely because there is a huge foreign population, and a large chunk of it gets a kick out of misbehaving. Even when they don`t view it as such, if you`re gathered with 10 teacher friends getting loud and rowdy (which would be accepted where you are from) it is indeed misbehaving in the Japanese view. That`s culture, not discrimination. I also think it has a lot to do with having countless people around who are bitter about Japan, jumping to point out any little thing, however mundane, that can be twisted into something "racist".
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05-15-2008, 06:58 AM
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Like you said, not everyone follows the same philosophy as you do. And I believe those are the ones who end up with negative thoughts about Japan or anywhere else in this matter.
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05-15-2008, 11:02 AM
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For example....other countries are not immune from not living up to people's expectations. I'm from New Zealand and I've noticed that NZ has an image of being a particularly peaceful place (we actually have some comparitively high violence statistics) and the people "down to Earth" yet too often you hear in the news about naive foriegners being taken advantage of. A Scottish backpacker was even murdered not so long ago! The problem with this semprini guy is probably the same with what happened to these naive tourists you hear about in NZ. I suspect that the less insightful ones probably harbour the same sorts of feelings towards New Zealand as this semprini guy does towards Japan.
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05-28-2008, 07:19 PM
Some advice for SakeSan's trip. Please forgive the long reply...
In general, Tokyo's train system can be intimidating for a new user. But in your case, getting to Akihabara is really easy from Iidabashi. It's just 3 stops away on the local train (keep in mind, this is different from the subway train which you can find at a different station in Iidabashi - don't get them confused!). You want to go in the direction of Suidobashi and Ochanomizu. If you end up in Shinjuku, you've gone the wrong way. Luckily, the platforms have signs in English. At Iidabashi station's entrance, there is a wall of ticket machines. Above the machines is a giant map of the train stations. You want to purchase a ticket for the cost of reaching your destination. So just find Akihabara on the map and the number beneath it's name is how much you need to buy a ticket for (I think it's something like 130 Yen, but I forget). I'm pretty sure there's an English map above the ticket machines, but it wouldn't hurt for you to write down the Kanji for both Iidabashi and Akihabara to quickly locate them on an all Kanji map. There should be a button on the ticket machine to switch it to English, but you don't really need to use it. Just put your 130 yen into the machine and press the touch screen where it says 130 and it'll give you a ticket. Take your ticket to the entrance gate and feed it into the machine. At the other end, it'll give you your ticket back. Very important: MAKE SURE YOU SAVE YOUR TICKET! You will need it again when you reach Akihabara to exit the station. I didn't know to keep the ticket on my first trip to Tokyo and had to pay train fair twice for 1 trip. Oh, just in case you haven't thought about it...you need to plan a route from the airport to your hotel - preferably not using Taxis for the most part if you can avoid it. Narita airport is actually quite far from most places in Tokyo and if you're expecting to take a Taxi from Narita your bill will be quite expensive! Like maybe $100 or more. You can take a shuttle bus from Narita to one of the larger train stations in-town for about $30. For about that same price, you can also take a train directly from Narita to one of the larger stations where you can transfer to a train going to Iidabashi. Once you reach Iidabashi Station you can take a taxi to your hotel if you have trouble finding / walking to it. As for money, from personal experience Travelers Cheques are a real pain to deal with. When I first came to Tokyo, I had half my money in cash and half in travelers checks and I had to track down a bank that could exchange the travelers checks for me. It cost me a lot of time as I had to go back on certain days and times when they could cash them (they don't cash them on the weekends at the CitiBank in Shinjuku, FYI). And there's a daily limit to how many you can cash at some banks. If I were you, I'd stick to cash and convert your currency into Yen at the airport, or do it before you get to Japan. Honestly, I've only seen 2 Japanese people ever use a credit card here. Not to say that you can't use a credit card...I just wouldn't rely on it as my sole means of payment. If you get lost, look for a Koban (police box) which you can find near many major intersections. In my experience, they're pretty helpful with giving you directions and some of them can speak basic English. Whenever you go out, make sure you've got the address written down on a sheet of paper. Even better if you can get a print out of the address in Japanese. That way if you get lost and ask for help, people can help you even if they can't speak English. Just point to the paper. :-) Works especially well in Taxis.
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05-31-2008, 02:30 PM
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06-05-2008, 03:39 PM
After living in Japan for over five years and being a slightly fat, large breasted whitey, i would say Japanese people are very racist, however they are just not at all rude about it. I have chosen to live in the country side in a number of differnet parts of Japan and i get looks, i get pointed at and have comments made behind my back (often about my size) however i have never found anyone to be rude or mean. Curious- yes, interested- yes.
I once went to the OBGYN (ladies doctor) for a check up and by the end of the day my Japanese boyfriend's family wanted to know if i was pregnant! The word got around town real fast. Another time the bank called to find out if i was ok as a new person moved into my address....they knew it by heart. But i love it, perhaps being a celebrity everyday is fine with me....
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