From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Subject: Re: Not a Myth at All
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 00:51:58 GMT
	<1992Dec29.170152.2165@island.COM> <C03M67.19D@ncifcrf.gov>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

Maybe I can ask a few question that will help clear this up a bit...

In article <C03M67.19D@ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov
   (Michiaki Masuda) writes:

 =}In article <1992Dec29.170152.2165@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
 =}>In article <C00LoL.1Js@ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda) writes:
 =}>>   If there's no reliable way of communication, it would be inevitable 
 =}>>for a shopowner to show the tourist an attitude different from that
 =}>>to a Japanese-speaking customer. Fear? Perplex? Frustration? Or despair?
 =}>>In some cases, the service may not be offered when the owner cannot
 =}>>be sure if he/she can satisfy the customer.

   If someone were so concerned with their service that they were
worried as to whether or not they could satisfy their customer,
wouldn't they have prepared to deal with such situations (such as
learning English).  Wouldn't it be someone who was not concerned
mainly with service who would turn away customers based on race?

 =}  There are more occasions where people are discriminated based on their
 =}communication skill than you might think. Would you call TOEFL a racist
 =}exam?

   Aren't the results of the TOEFL interpreted soley on the answers
given and not on the race of the individual giving the answers?
Isn't it possible for members of any race to take the TOEFL?
Isn't the main point of the exam to test the English ability of
non-native speakers regardless of race?

 =}   If having their family/friends/loved ones injured/disabled/killed,
 =}having their land bombed, and having their life destructed is not a bad 
 =}experience, you are right.

   Does this make it OK for those who suffered to punish all people of
a different race from themselves?  Would this also make it OK for Lennon
fans to specifically target Japanese people (regardless of citizenship)
for the shooting of John Lennon?  See how soon such a ridiculous
'excuse'/'iiwake' can be carried to even more ridiculous extremes?

 =}You might want to imagine the sentiment which
 =}made them post those signs in spite of possible disadvantages.

   Since it was more popular to be anti-US after the war, wouldn't
there be more advantages to racist practices?  Aren't non-racist
practices usually more disadvantageous when not practiced by the
majority?

 =}   Someone who picks up every opportunity to connect any thread to the
 =}Japanese war crimes might say,

   Wasn't it your post which tried to tie post-war racism to US war
crimes?  Isn't it a bit strange to do something and then try to point
out what is wrong with doing such a thing?

   Just as it is pointless to argue that the Japanese deserved what
they got, it is pointless to argue that foreigners deserve the racist
shopkeepers practices...

 =}>Really? The only difference is that one incident occurs in Japan, while the
 =}>other might occur here in the US. Obviously, we would call the US incident 
 =}>"racist". Please explain why the incident in Japan would NOT be racist.
 =}
 =}   Since you admitted that the incident that you used as an example is the
 =}one in the US, I might be able to point out several other differences.
 =}
 =}   Your example is a discrimination of American citizens by another group
 =}of American citizens. Their nationality, their language and their culture
 =}(American culture in a broad meaning) should be the same. On the other
 =}hand, gaijin are more foreign to Japanese than, say, Afro-Americans are
 =}to, say, white Americans. In other words, in the US, a different race
 =}does not necessarily mean different language, different life style or
 =}different value system, whereas in Japan, a different race has been
 =}meaning other attached differences more often than not. For example,   
 =}to those shopowners who posted a "gaijin okotowari" sign, a different
 =}race might have meant a different attitude or behavior after being drunk
 =}in "gaijin no heitai-san."

   What about examples of things like discrimination against Mexicans
in California?  Wasn't such racism rationalized as 'language' (cultural)
differences?  There are many other examples too... Chinese in California,
Vietnamese in Texas, Haitians in Miami...  (other places/other races in
an endless list of permutations)...

   Do any of these racist practices not get called racist by even the
Japanese media and people?

   Does the example given by Mr. Fester make more sense now?  Does the
mere fact that the incident occured in Japan rather than the US excuse
the incident from being racist even though it was discrimination based
only on race?

 =}   In the US, where political correctness in the racial problem is 
 =}overwhelmingly emphasized

   Does a discussion on a non-existent (or never experienced) misuse
of a term excuse a practice which is properly defined by that term?

   Aren't we all mature enough to know that trying to rationalize racism
by arguments like "bad experience", "cultural differences" or "what is
racism?" are merely forms of denial?

 =}   I'm not saying that "gaijin okotowari" is an ideal situation. However,
 =}if someone tries to correct the situation by calling it as "racism"
 =}("jinshu sabetsu" in Japanese), he/she would have to take a longer way
 =}to go.

   When the onsens and sentos were putting up the "no foreigners"
('gaijin dame'/'gaijin okotowari') signs, weren't the popular terms
used by the Japanese media for referring to such events "jinshuu
sabetu", "racism" and such?  If one does not feel that these were
the popular terms then why was the news full of reporters using such
terms to describe the situation?
--
---

   I will be on vacation from 12/18 - 12/27 and will not be able to
read email during that time.  My company will be on vacation from
12/29 - 1/4 and our news and mail servers will be down during that time...

   Sorry for the inconvenience...