From: trent@cs.utexas.edu (Scott Trent)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese Discriminations against foreigners?
Date: 22 Jan 1993 00:51:43 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: tokio.cs.utexas.edu
Summary: All kinds of people

In article <28132@sybase.sybase.com> herb@sybase.com (Herb Lison) writes:
>From reading of various threads in this newsgroup it
>seems that the Japanese are constantly discriminating against
>foreigners.

One does get that impression from recent postings.  I think that this
is because unpleasent experiences tend to provoke more discussion than
their counterpart.  (I'm still a little bit upset about the time I
was denied a room in a capsule hotel in Chiba because I was a gaijin.
"was a gaijin"?  I still am, when not in the U.S.  :-)

>If only to restore some balance I feel it necessary
>to briefly describe my own experience in Japan.

[pleasent experiences in Japan]

Japan can be a very very nice place if one makes an effort to blend into the 
culture, (by learning the language, learning what is and what is not 
acceptable, appreciating rather than belittling the differences in Japanese 
culture, etc.  In short by not being an 'ugly American'.)

I, too, have been amazed at the high level of politeness and kindness
that has been shown to me over and over in Japan.  This is probably one
of the reasons that I am interested in Japan.  However, I think it safe to
say that there are unpleasent people in every country.  Japan is no
exception.  Neither is America.  I have run into my fair share of these in
both countries...

>In one year of living in Japan I never experienced any obvious
>discrimination, either in public or at work or any other venue.

Come to think of it.  I think I probably started noticing discrimination
the most during my third year in Japan.  Much of it is very very subtle.
Perhaps, discrimination is not always the right word.  I suppose a
'non-homogenous' element of a 'homogenous' society should expect slightly
different treatment than the 'homogenous' elements.  (I'm trying to phrase
this delicately to avoid flames.)

I think I am also safe in saying that, in general, the Japanese are much more
"gaijin-conscious" than most Americans are.  Non-homogenous elements will
stick out much more in a homogenous society, such as Japan's, than a non-
homogenous society such as America's.  One experience which really drove this
one home to me, was that my wife went through a period a couple of
months after we got married, where she was worried that because she was
'gaijin' here in America that she would be a burden to me, or that my family
might not be pleased, etc.  For the record, my family has been no less than
110% suportive of us since we were dating, and my wife is not and never has 
been a burden to me in any way.  I think this was a case of her being overly
"gaijin-conscious".  For a time she was very self-conscious about being 
a 'gaijin'.  She was thinking about the Japanese view of "gaijin", where in
Japan a 'gaijin' spouse can be a burden, where a family might NOT be pleased
to have a 'gaijin' join the family, etc.  (does this make sense?)

For what it's worth, things are now going well on all fronts.  Among other
things, I think I've overcome the hurdles and her family appears to accept me 
as the nice guy I am.  :-)  Our next task is to move back to Japan, and
for me to be a non-burden 'gaijin' spouse in Japan.  :-)

-- 
scott                             /* We're the United States Government, we   */
trent@cs.utexas.edu               /* don't do that kind of thing! -- Sneakers */