From: tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu ()
Subject: Re: Not a Myth at All
Organization: clearer than blir
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 22:21:00 GMT

In article <Bz5q4M.Mv6@news.cs.andrews.edu> maierj@edmund.cs.andrews.edu (Joey Maier) writes:
>In article <33443@twics.co.jp> dcroz@twics.co.jp writes:
>
>>If racism was wrong in America and South Africa, then it's wrong here; and
>>if the "Japanese way of thinking" holds that it's *not* wrong, then the
>>Japanese way of thinking is wrong.
>
>I agree

So do I. Why does the concept of universal truths go out the window
when talking of Japan? Does PC now imply that no matter what the
Japanese do it can *never* be right for a foreigner to stand up and
say that it's wrong?

>>=}I have Japanese friends (who are not racist).
>> 
>>Sorry, but in the absence of some corroboration I just can't regard either
>>of these assertions as credible.  I don't doubt that you have Japanese
>>acquaintances that turn a "friendly" tatemae toward you.  But, like they say,
>>you don't find out who your friends really are until you sit on a
>>rattlesnake.
>
>I find myself in an awkward poition here. I am agreeing with both
>posters. I don't feel like MY roommate & suitemates (all Japanese)
>have ever acted in a racist manner towards me. I also know that I am
>unable to look deep into their psyche and see exactly what they think
>about me. They can't think too unfavorably of me, or we wouldn't have
>chosen to live together for the second year in a row.

Racism doesn't equate with people thinking "unfavorably" of you.
Racism does equate with people basing their opinions of you on your
race.  Have your Japanese roommates assumed that you couldn't use
chopsticks?  That's racism. Ask them if they think Japanese brains are
different from yours. Ask them if they think Japanese people are
inherently different from the rest of the world. Ask them this: "If my
parents had been living in Japan when I was born, and I grew up there,
and the only language and culture I knew was Japanese, would I be
Japanese?  Would I still be different? Could it ever be possible for
me to achieve Japanese-dom as long as I am not of Japanese ancestry?"
When they answer "no" to your question you will see that they are
basing what they think of you on your race. It doesn't mean they are
necessarily hostile. That's what I think is getting lost here. Racism,
in the form being discussed, does not *necessarily* equate with
hostility.

(I believe that this is exactly Maiko Covington's situation. Born and
raised in Japan with a Japanese given name, she is not Japanese. Maybe
she could shed light on whether Japanese people accept her as Japanese
or not. I bet there are problems but not much hostility.)

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Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12446 talk.politics.guns:25291