How can honestly say that the horrible treatment of women in the Middle East (countries with predominantly Muslim population) is just a stereotype? Hove you been living under a rock your whole life? If not you surely must realize that women are NOT treated as equals to men in these countries. This is no stereotype, women there have significantly less (if not no rights at all) compared to men. Depending on religious extremism, some women are not allowed to vote, leave their houses unescorted by a man, and have close to no freedom or say in any matter at all. Again depending on religious extremism, some men can be "married to" more than one woman (correct term could be considered to "own" more than one). You must have no heart what-so-ever if you can make dumb comments such as you did on such a serious topic.

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Considering that my parents are from Morocco, which makes me Moroccan myself, and Morocco is in fact a Muslim country which I visited several times to visit family relatives for a long period of time,... Yeah, I have no clue what I'm talking about. =)

You gotta love them Western views. ;D

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xtr3m3dude, The Muslim extremists a an under whelming minority in the Muslim world. Even less populous than the American version of extremist, the Neocons. The media and various other sources have blown what they do way out of proportion when compared to the rest of the Muslim society. And who exactly are we to push our Western values onto their society? If their women are happy with where they are in society is it right to force them to change against their will? Fun fact, after the Taliban regime was forced out of power in Afghanistan the interim government passed laws allowing women to wear something other than the head to toe get up they were required to wear by law before, but the overwhelming majority chose to continue on as they had been before. Just because we think they should have "rights" doesn't necessarily mean they want them. Yes, there are some places where women are fighting for their right and, by all means, they should have them, but that doesn't mean anyone has the right to disrupt the perfectly peaceful lives of those that are happy as things stand.

Well enough of that rant, this is supposed to be about racism in JAPAN. I for one think things are slowly starting to shift towards them being more open to outsiders. They are changing we just need to give them the time. You gotta remember they were basically a closed society up until about 150 years ago.

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Honestly, I think you'll find the good & the bad everywhere, some places more than others but this is a problem that will not go away in my opinion until we are advanced enough we can visit anywhere in the world for a "day trip" whenever we want, and even then we'll be ready to direct our racism at the first non-human species we come across.

I'm an Australian, I am generally welcoming of anyone & like to hear about where they come from & if possible convince them to make me some of their local foods

However there are people in Australia that are quite racist. Both my parents were born overseas, and they talk to alot of foreign people & get on quite well with them, but I often find myself cringing at some of the stuff my father says when he hears of trouble with foreign people on TV.

I just traveled back from holiday yesterday via bus. We had a man in the back of the bus talking on his phone most of the time that gave my ears their total profanity quota for the next year, part of which was his comments on an Aboriginal man that he knew. It was a bad experience for me, and most likely all the tourists on the bus also. Sadly though this sort of view towards the Aboriginal portion of our population is quite common.

Any Australian here will probably also recall our "One Nation" political party, the leader of which would argue til she was blue in the face that she wasn't racist, however anyone who has seen some of her speech's from back then will probably think otherwise.

If your Australian or Japanese or whatever, it doesn't matter to me, what matters is are you friendly or not.

You didn't really get my point.....*sigh*

In this thread female members are talking about their good experience in Japan, while male members are talking about bad experiences and that's not a coincidence.

Have you ever had foreign exchange students in your schools? All the guys always go for the foreign chicks. They always pay extra attention to them, they show them the city, tourist spots, etc....

But in the case of male foreigners, the local males see them as competition, and the local females hardly show initiative to take them out....because it's not as well seen in society.

And this happens almost everywhere.

Dr.Love@ I apologize, the fact that guys tried to buy my sister twice in Morocco made me think that.

I didn't know that in Belgium the commerce of women was something common, that's probably the reason why you don't find these practices uncommon.

But where I live, we don't consider that "friendly towards women"



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THIS POST DOES NOT EXIST......IT'S ALL IN YOUR IMAGINATION

If you're saying I had wonderful experiences in Japan because men are nice to me, I disagree. I stayed in a female-only dormitory. My class was also predominantly female. It was the women who always invited me to go out, never the men. More often than not I was surrounded with women more than men.
Japanese people are actually more comfortable being with people of the same gender. Men don't really have that western idea of "asking women out". They prefer going in groups. That's why in manga, instead of dates, you see a "goukon". For one thing, if they get seen around alone with a girl, people immediately think they're a couple, then it becomes awkward for the both of you.

I think men are just more critical with Japanese behavior. If someone asks me if I know how to use chopsticks or if I can eat raw fish, I don't find it offensive at all. The blogger previously mentioned apparently found it racist. I find nothing wrong with it. One of my dorm mates actually didn't know how to use chopsticks---not all countries have lots of Japanese restaurants. So I think asking questions like that is valid.
If someone speaks to me in English even after I show them I can speak fluent Japanese, I also don't find it offending. I don't think it's because they're blatantly underestimating you. I think it's because they want to practice their English with you (a lot of younger people really do).

I think it's really just how you interpret the things they do.

Last edited by Razril at 11:38 am, Mar 18 2008

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Then Japan is completely different than what I have experienced in other countries.

I know I'll end up there in one year or another, and I hope I'll learn to behave there without accidentally insulting people all the time.

I hate being a foreigner, it's very uncomfortable almost everywhere you go, and receiving foreigners is also very uncomfortable, that's why sometimes the situations get pretty awkward.

BTW, Belgium is the most friendly country towards foreigners that I have seen and personally experienced.

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THIS POST DOES NOT EXIST......IT'S ALL IN YOUR IMAGINATION

I did get the point of your post. I just didn't get the point of your point. In other words, I don't think it really has much ground. That's merely speculative on your part. And if it is, maybe women just focus more on the positive things instead of the negative?

You know, no matter how much you try to pretty up your sentences, it doesn't change the fact that that was an insult - a harsh one, at that, which I refuse to waste time responding on...

I find it ironic though that your apologize has been nullified by the words after it... In other words, an empty apologize.

But, let's not digress. =) I don't think that just because of a small amount of people, you should label a certain race. That would be just the same as if an extraterrestial would label humans evil just because of one stupid/rude person which he coincidentally met first.

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It's interesting to see the responses here. I don't know how many of you are westerners, but here's my experience as a Chinese person.

DO NOT LET THEM KNOW. I try not to bring it up, because my people and the Japanese have serious issues with each other, stemming from almost 80 years ago. Obviously, not all Japanese have problems with Chinese people, but its difficult to tell which ones are the conservatives, thus take no chances. Unlike westerners, I have the benefit of being able to blend in, as long as I don't open my mouth. When I do, there's always that look of confusion on their faces, like 'wtf is this'.

If we can give Japan the benefit of the doubt, and say that their proportion of racists is as large as the US's, it would still be half the country. If anything, I would venture that proportion is actually higher, given that the US has a much larger mix of minority races than Japan. The % racists you'll encounter also varies on how far away you are from the big cities.

First i dont think anyone can say that there is a country that holds no racism.Of course there will be occasions of foreigners to experience such acts(in japan or whatever) but i dont think they would hold a grudge against you specifically because you are american and not european(these are examples).But in some other countries such is mine(greece) many of us work on tourism.Even though especially in summer the locals are less then tourists, many locals act very bad against some tourists from specific countries.They hate british because they usually drink(my hometown-rhodes is a favourite destination for british),they hate turkish like sworn enemies and the albanians because they are too many and they think they are taking their jobs.
The reason that i am telling this ,is that racism against specific group of people is very bad even though i have never been to japan to have a better opinion about this thread.

who the hell cares if there's a ''japanese racism'' it's not like any of us is living in japan >.>; the most we'd do as otakus is probably visit japan someday, get sick of it and leave~~~

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Slight flaw in you argument Marmot, I'm male and am having a great experience in Japan. And the one person I know that got hit with a racial slur is female. sorry to punch a gapping hole in your argument, but there it is.

@ranmaru: actually yes at the moment I am living in Japan, kkthxbai.

Last edited by Spanky151 at 7:34 pm, Mar 18 2008

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Are you sure there aren't any otaku that aren't dreaming of being an ESL teacher or marrying a Japanese resident? And besides, some Japanese *do* leave Japan and they don't automatically change their mentally once they leave their country. I doubt most people that leave the country that they love leave all their thinking (whether positive or negative) behind. And ranmaru, are you saying that after you pay like a few thousand dollars to visit there, and are stuck on a flight that's about 10 hours or more (depending on where you're leaving to go there), that while you're there you expect to "enjoy" a lousy and painful experience that becomes a memory? That sounds like the same sentiments "I'm totally okay being robbed while I visit a country (and it isn't any of the war-torn countries either)".

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This is gonna get locked.... but anyway...

Yea I don't think the Japanese are all that racist in general, but I do think they might be victims to racial profling, after all Japan is a pretty homogenous society, and seeing a foreigner might be a point of interest. I'm curious as where they get their stereotypes from if they're such a homogenous society.

I think it just depends on either who you are, where you go, or what you do. Everywhere in this world has some form of "eyes staring at you strangely" effect or the racism effect. Japan, majority-wise, has a lot of nice polite people. Then, there are others with different view points so that can't be helped. I believe it also depends on the age gap.

As a Taiwanese American, it was no problem for me to walk through Tokyo because blending in isn't so hard in terms of looks. With some countries that have people with the same race, instead of places like North America or United Kingdom, you are bound to get stared at for just looking out of place.

Alright, whenever I go to Taiwan to visit relatives... Taipei has to be a bit unusual for me no matter how many times I go there. It's a pretty international city because it has a Japanese school and an American school. So, you'd see lots of different nationalities running around the city. Every local person there are pretty use to it so it's not like Japan where everyone gawks at you. Me, coming from a melting pot country, should see this as very normal. Except, I can't help to have this perception that I'm in an Asian majority country. So, I can't help but to stare a little... >_>

Ok, back to Japan. One time, my Mom and I were in a cafe. One word of english out of her mouth was loud enough to be heard by a bunch of elderly Japanese men in a table nearby and I could easily hear "American" coming out of their mouths. Instantly, I knew they were talking about us...or at least, my Mom who was speaking pretty loud in the cafe. I actually tried to tell her to quiet down a little. ^____^;

And now, for an opposite story. I was in DisneySea enjoying almost everything the park had to offer. My Mom and I ended up by the bridge area and there was this show that was about to start. A bunch of Disney Cast Members were coming out pulling a bunch of pots and wearing chef clothing. They were all foreigners. At least, I know one of them was American. Suddenly, one Cast Member tripped over a pot. None of his fellow CMs came to help him, but I guess... It wasn't that big of a deal but I felt bad still. After they got to the show area and set everything up, the American CM walked in front of this one Japanese family sitting on the bench (as they got the best seats in the house) and he said the rudest words I've ever heard in a Disney theme park! The family won't understand what he's saying, but seriously.. Did this guy not realize that someone from his own country was watching the show? And none of the other CMs did anything to lecture the guy.

I can't believe Disney hired such a CM! I mean, I know it happens that people think speaking in another language in front of someone who doesn't understand would save them from getting into trouble. *sighs* But inside a Disney park, even if none of the other people won't understand what you're saying... It just feels so wrong. >_< Have respect, at least, to the people you're trying to entertain!

Last edited by tgirl at 7:33 pm, Mar 19 2008

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