I am a black American. Served 6 years in Japan in the US Navy before transferring to Bahrain currently. I quickly became aware of the feelings you put out in your video. Most people don’t want to admit what’s wrong with Japan. Don’t know why but there are always excuses made for them whether that be because of their culture or that they don’t experience other races of people…which I think just isn’t true in today’s time. You cant reason with it bro, I’m sorry you experienced this. But Japanese people will always be protected and given the benefit of the doubt.
You're 100% correct. Before I moved to Japan, I just dismissed all criticism of Japan as Americans complaining about non-sense. It took for me to live here for me to fully understand why people complain. And it's real frustrating that they get the benefit of the doubt while we Americans get called all kinds of things (stupid, racist, ignorat, etc), when we treat people way better overall. Imagine if we started denying housing to people simply because they're a foreigner...
I'm currently doing my PhD here in Japan, and so far it's been one year. And recently I've been thinking that I don't want to stay in Japan after my studies. I've had similar experiences as you, and I've accepted that I am not Japanese nor is it possible for me to become "Japanese". It's sad since I realized in all countries there is both xenophobia and racism to varying degrees, and often if you move to another country your success of integration/assimilation often depends on if you come from a similar culture and ethnic group (Ex. Like going from Canada to USA, or Canada to somewhere in EU if you look European, or like China/Korea to Japan). I think countries like USA and Canada are unique in that they can easily absorb new people into their existing culture. Although I have some complaints about this since Canada will say things like "we have no culture, we are a post-nation" which I think is damaging for Canadians who aren't connected to any recent immigrant group/roots. To be fair Canada is also not the friendliest country, as people socialize like bears or in bubbles, and those bubbles do not mix. Besides this, I will say Japan is not a "nation" but a "tribe", and I sadly acknowledge that "tribes" do exist everywhere and that this is human nature. Like so far I've had fun in Japan while studying here, I've made a bunch of friends with both Japanese and other international students, I even have a JP gf (which I don't think will work out since she doesn't want to leave Japan), but at the same time I struggle to see myself living here. Anyway, Japan is still a great country and has achieved alot, I will always hold a good opinion of Japan, I will be friends with Japanese, I will still enjoy their culture, like their traditional culture/shrines/temples/castles, but it is not my home, and I will go somewhere else after I graduate. Thanks for sharing your story.
Great comment. I have no personal experience on this subject, but this seems like the most level-headed comment I've heard so far about xenophobia in Japan and in general.
From my perspective after living in Japan for a year, I think it's hard to find a true friend. It made me feel lonely. Many people will tell you that they are your "tomodachi" but they never really show it. When I worked in a Japanese company, other foreigners seemed to be pushed aside, they often ate alone, they didn't talk to Japanese people. I like to get out of my comfort zone, I can communicate in Japanese, so I tried many times to make friends with Japanese people in the company, I even managed to go out for dinner after work three times but that was it. When I wanted to go to the station with someone after work, they would often say "I have to stay longer, go alone", and then leave the company and go to the station alone 2 minutes later. It was a very lonely feeling that a Japanese person would rather go alone or with another Japanese person than talk to you on the way to the station. I felt like a lot of Japanese people had the attitude of "I'm at work, so I have to be nice to you and talk to you, but you're a stranger to me when I get off work." It was so pathetic that when another foreigner from Europe showed up at the company, the Japanese would tell me "Hey, you must be happy that there's a new foreigner from Europe. You've already made friends with that European guy." I felt like an animal in a zoo that can only be friends with members of its own species. I didn't come to Japan to seek friendship with foreigners. When I left that company they said goodbye to me nicely and of course said "we'll go eat and drink together again" and of course never spoke to me again. It's also funny that most of the Japanese people at work would ask me for my Instagram. They'd say "let's go out for a meal sometime," and I'd say, "Sure, I'd like to go out, let me know when you plan to go out," and of course they never even used their Instagram to invite me to a meeting, but I saw in the stories that they often went out with other Japanese people from the company. For many Japanese people, Tatemae, or the "public face," is very strong. People will pretend to like you and you won't be able to tell who your real friends are. I've dated many girls who, after 3 dates, were already planning their next date, trips together, and one even wanted to marry me, only to block me without explanation a few days later. A Japanese person will never show you true feelings, so the only chance to make friends with a Japanese person is with a Japanese person who doesn't think like a Japanese person. It's hard to find such people, but during my stay I found two such people and I really felt like I was their friend. One of them is now my girlfriend. How to recognize such people. Like I said, Japanese people with tatemae will never be your friends. You need to meet a Japanese person who will show you the honne's "true face". Such a Japanese person will tell you what they think, for example "you look ugly in this, you are stupid, don't say such things, stop doing that, you are an idiot, you should shave your beard, I don't like this movie, I don't like this food, let's eat something else" and things like that. Most Japanese people will not tell you what they think, so if you are from outside of Asian countries and you are raised in a culture where people clearly state their opinions, you will not be able to make friends.
Sadly that can be true. There might be some communities which accept you as a truly belonging member in Japan, but it must be hard work to find one. And, as a Japanese who have an experience of living in the states, I feel that Japanese people are prone to be ignorant about how mentally hard living abroad can be. But I believe if they had had experienced feeling alone outside Japan, they would have been more kind and friendly to you.
I’m living in Malta but I’m from Switzerland.I meet young girl who takes intensive English classes before she start her job in Japan.I teach her how to deal with things in Malta and also I helped her with everything by the time she decide to visit Switzerland,before her departure to Canada for first job.I help with sim, hotel,public transport,I Answear all questions how to visit france 🇫🇷 over border and what to see there.Her school friend lived and study in Switzerland but she Answered her questions ones a Week! After she comeback to Malta from Switzerland and flew to Canada I told her that her Mum and Dad must be proud of her because she doing so well. But that Japanese girl who I helped so much never replied to me anymore.
@@saxophoneplaya Of course geography has many things to do with Japanese mental culture, but I believe culture changes at some point, affected by global network today.
One thing I've noticed in the workplace is that you'll hardly make true friends there. This applies to any situation and anywhere. It gets worse if you're the newbie in the place. And a shy person like me won't be able to make friends easily with someone and fit in. I don't experience racism where I live, but I carry this feeling of not belonging to my own country and to places that should be familiar to me. Just don't worry about not making friends, this is common. Friends come with time.
I related to this a lot. A lot of this reminded me of experiences I had when I lived there. Especially the bit about how there’s often this taboo among expats about criticizing the place, as if to acknowledge any failings in Japanese culture is somehow either disrespectful, or an admission of personal weakness.
Man this hit me really bad, Im asian, born in asia, studying Japanese. In one hand I totally get the mindset of the Japanese, even understanding it, but in the other hand, yes it is still xenophobia, especially that part "It is because you are not Asian". It made me feel so bad because I actually sympathize with that, most asian countries are very ethnically harmonize and don't get educated about racism as much as in the west, and Japan is even more than that
@songandwind72 because they are closer to the west I think. And I also dont like the recent trend of isolating Japan and Korea from Asia when talking about negativity, If you visit China for a while you wont experience much racism, they will always smile at you and such, but it comes out when you live there long enough
thank you for sharing your experience in japan. As a person thinking about living in that country, stories and videos like these help me get the full picture and prepare me for the reality that's waiting for me.
I only went to Japan for a 2 week vacation, but I did have an experience like this. On my last day, I was on my way to the airport, it was early morning and this train station was almost empty. That's when a middle-aged Japanese man approched me and pushed me pretty hard, with both hands. Somehow I managed not to fall down. And then he just kept walking. Note that it's not like it was crowded and he needed space. It was a conscious effort to attack me. Now, I'm just a skinny girl so I definitely was no match for him. Tbh I was also just surprised and didn't react. I later learned this is called "butsukari otoko" and they usually attack women, apparently they do that to Japanese women too. So at first I thought it was an act of racism (I'm white), but it was most likely an act of misogyny or a mix of both.
I saw this happen at the train station in Tokyo! An older Japanese man pushed an African American man out of the way, in the same way as you described!
This happened to me too. Im a black woman btw. :-( i was really confused and scared when it happened, and angry too. what the hell. all my life in dagerous west and never once have i been physically assaulted by anyone, but in japan it happened. it was scary, but when i told others about it they acted like it was normal, which left me even more confused. i only learned about "butsukari otoko" online because it bothered me for weeks so i kept trying to understand,
Let me tell you, as a Black American, i experience ignorance my entire life... Even just recently, one of my patients asked me to see my medical license before i could exam her. Most of the time, i don’t even react or even notice racism because i grew up with it. But at least when I’m in Japan, i feel like I’m on an even playing field as other Americans. I think your experience was good for you. I feel like everyone should experience racism at least once so they can understand how others feel. My experience with Japan is that it takes some time for them to get used to you and become friends. But once you become friends, it’s so nice being around them. You stay friends through decades!
Took me 7 tries to get accepted to an apartment. They only accepted on the condition that I pay $200 extra purely for being a foreigner. People avoiding me on trains is just a perk. Thanks for legroom!
only 10% of apartments in tokyo accept foreigners, and of that, there are often conditions like you pay double "thank you" money or higher deposit or be of specific racial groups or from certain countries or speak japanese. In comparison, 20% of tokyo apartments accept pets :-) it is easier to find an apartment for a dog than it is to find one for a foreigner, and Japan should be ashamed of that. In my last week in Japan on the english teaching program, my students asked me if i had any complaints about japan, things i felt were not right and needed to change. And i told them, 40 students in the class and in front of the teacher, that i think japans biggest obstacle to itself right now is xenophobia. they applauded me btw. Im proud of my students cause i chipped away at their prejudices for years haha
I am PhD student at Japanese uni and I have gotten weird reactions from Japanese people because I am studying Mandarin (I'm already at a pretty advanced level in Japanese). It seemed like this came from a mix of anti-Chinsee racism and insecurity in their own foreign language abilities. Most of the people in question are essentially monolingual despite years of English education. So, a foreigner learning multiple languages might be perceived as making them look bad.
But damn giving you bad looks because you learn mandarin is bit too much no? What is even more surprising is that their culture was influenced by Chinese
Those chopsticks , Kanji , the buildings , and many other things and yet they are racist to Chinese like ????? Without us or our ancestors they will not have all this cultural influences
I had a white co-worker that used to live here in Japan, and he said after 5 years here, he would tell his black friends, "Dude, now I finally understand what it feels like to be black in Japan." Btw, I'm sorry that black people always get it the most. As a Puerto Rican, I've experienced some stuff, but I don't understand why yall just get it the worst.
@@EveofPyrite ya I hate that shit. It irks me even more cuz the black community is the one that has accepted me the most. So I get mad when the media conveys this negative image.
Xenophobia and racism exist in every country. This is my opinion. I think underrated countries like Taiwan are more accepting and less toxic than the popular ones, such as South Korea and Japan.
You forgot China too I’ve been to Shanghai and Beijing People were friendly and more welcoming the best people I’ve met despite all those negative news towards them
Taiwan will be little different from Japan and Korea. Japan and South Korea are popular places, so bad stories are more likely to be shared on social media. If Taiwan becomes as popular as Japan and Korea, bad experiences will be shared on social media just like in Japan and Korea. Similarly, the US has a bad reputation because the US is the most famous country in the world.
My parents are both immigrants from Bangladesh, I was born in Sweden and in all my years living here I have never experienced the racism you describe, in fact i would lowkey say i haven't experienced it at all. Maybe some old people staring at me in smaller towns but that's the extent of it. So yeah that's kinda crazy ngl
Recently returned from Japan and I often met with teachers there. One thing I was warned not to fall into was the gaijin drinking cycle. Friends from abroad who only ever hang out at bars and parties. I was told it can really depress you.
I wonder how these experiences relate to gender, like how would some of this stuff go as a woman. It's just a thought i have because most of the time i hear of these experiences it's from guys
I have a feeling this is more gender related than race. I lived in Japan for many years, and I saw a lot of separation by gender. Like when you go out to do karaoke, you often only see groups of just girls, or just guys. If it was a class full of guys, I don't think they would have treated him that way.
Yeah I think like 90% of the “discrimination” stories people have in Japan are from guys… never heard of a woman (white woman at least) being treated like this. I think they view us as less of threats, cleaner, etc
A girl got spit at by some young guys who were acting like “ thugs “ kind of. I felt so bad when I watched that video. Some Japanese people are ruthless. I’ve already heard and seen so many videos and stories about their experiences. Not all Japanese people are like that but sadly their are a lot who are. I don’t want to be ignorant because I never even went there to even say anything I’m just going off of what I seen in video as it’s physically happening.
As someone who wants to go to japan, study and continue my life there, something just makes me feel sad about that decision because of how Japanese people might treat me there, some might try to talk to me or some would just ignore me. That makes me feel sad because I'm more of an extrovert so I can't stand being alone for a second. My parents say that in the future Japanese people might start talking to foreigners casually. I honestly believe that and I hope that happens soon! Great vid btw 😁😁😁
It's interesting this was recommended to me, im creating a story about a high school graduate from America who starts her college journey in Japan. So, this video is actually eye-opening. I plan on this being a manga and a novel
Just a Japanese strolling through, I'm honestly sad that xenophobia actually exists while we're not aware of it. I purposely learnt English to base off my personality, but eventually used it as an actual tool to talk with the homies. AND SURPRISINGLY ENOUGH, I got really good English scores both in the writing and speaking aspects, to the point where I almost forgot my mother tongue. The reason why xenophobia exists is because of the intrasocial influences to think that the majority of foreigners are seen as creepy. But man, ain't just that. Probably because of the language barrier as well, being someone who used to suck at English back in the olden days kinda got me fearful if I make any mistakes, even misunderstanding some things as well Just to close it off, don't think of it as xenophobia, we aren't just as educated on the language and haven't got used to seeing foreigners (especially white people). So don't take it to heart. We want to be open about stuff, but the language barrier and stuff makes it even harder. Good thing I got outside influences to build who I am today
@yuzuruizumieggy Imagine not making it so hard bro Loving your family isn't h ating the neighbors ruclips.net/video/XuCtoG8806c/видео.htmlsi=h9yG7OQOPsXn0aS7
You are wrong. I've lived in Japan for 30 years. Japanese people are really racist. Like I pay taxes but I can't vote. I want to rent a place but no because I'm white. I sit down at a table and people get up and move. (no I don't smell or look bad, I've had more lovers outside Japan than you ever will in the world).
As an English teacher, I totally understand what you mean when you talk about the fear of making mistakes in English. I wish the teachers here would tell students that we foreigners don't care about mistakes in grammar. We just want to talk. Japan would be a much better place with everybody speaking broken English to us than totally being isolated.
I empathise with you. Felt this after about 2 months in Japan. It's a very upsetting and crippling feeling. Then I realised the country was not for me. Fortunately, I visited Bangkok before. 2 years here now and never experienced racism. The Thai people are very welcoming, and most of the things I like about Japan is here too. Stay strong dude!
yeah I lived in Japan and I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. and just as JJMcCullough said the worst part of all is you MUST NOT criticize anything that happens to you by any means, because if you do IT'S YOUR FAULT, and both the locals and the gaijin all take this stance. it's a weird cult-like mentality.
I mean that's pretty much how the west views vvomen. Innocent by default, all the time. Criticize them once and it's your fault since you shouldn't have been a "sexist inceI".
btw, the victim blaming "its your fault" happens wrt every wrong in japanese society. PM got shot? its his fault. girl got S-Aed, totally her fault. Kid got bullied? Kids fault. Foreigner got discriminated - their fault. thats why you have got to call people out on their bullshit especially foreigners to toe that line.
this is very similar to what im experiencing now. i live in china and just like you, study in foreign studies university, so there are more foreigners here than chinese people. all of my classmates are not chinese and they are nice, very welcoming and friendly. my japanese classmates though? every time i speak to them i feel like an intruder, they look down on everyone who is not asian. this japanese girl (who i considered to be my friend) would just organise all those fun activities and she ONLY invites koreans/japanese. in your video you said that "that's because you are not asian" but trust me they hate other asians as well, just not so openly. this nation is so racist it feels illegal. i actually confronted my classmates about it and they said "oh it's because they are not clean" and yeah, "they" is basically everyone besides japanese people it feels almost comical on the contrast to how chinese people treat foreigners and we literally live in china///// i wish we could talk about this more openly because i dont see why i cant share my concerns with others w/o coming off as rude. they'd be talking about chinese people having no manners (living off of chinese government money btw) and then only speak japanese to others like if you don't know it you are not even worth talking to sorry for any mistakes english is not my first language!
also a lot of ppl here say that its "only natural" very "normal" and "its their culture" but i dont think being racist can be accepted as a norm in 2024. sure blame foreigners for not knowing the etiquette but in my case i dont even live in japan and i still need to follow their rules???
As an introvert day to day and extroverted when drinking alcohol I felt like I fitted right in (This applies mostly to Tokyo) Kansai region is completely different and is more friendly in a way you can just approach anyone and they will speak to you and not try to avoid you.
Thank you for making this video. As a white man (literally blonde hair) I have an interest in Japanese culture and have even been self studying the language for 4 years now. I used to want to live there but I have since changed my mind after hearing all these foreigner racism / Japanese xenophobia stories. Yours is just one of the many that I have heard. It's clear they don't want us there. I'd still like to visit, but living there is out of the question now, and I guess I understand. I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but thanks again for sharing.
I am sorry this happened xS i have found the only place i tend to make friends is at language exchange events.. because the people who attend these want to learn english they tend to be open minded and friendly towards foreigners.
I contacted a realtor to find an apartment in Nagoya. He drove me round several places. Unbelievable hole in the floor toilets. Eventually he was about to contract me but had a message from the owner that he didn’t want a foreign tenant. I found a place myself but still was demanded to pay the realtor.
I experienced something eerily similar with Koreans Chinese and European foreigners in a language school in Japan and in fact I got ill and almost passed out in the street and the only person that helped me out was a Japanese girl that could barely speak or understand english, but it was just enough to ask her to call the school manager and tell him I needed help (my phone plan actually expired and couldn't call anyone), other foreigners told me ""they were late and they couldn't help me" What I learned is that when Japanese specially silly young girls say that they love "Americans" they mean Brad Pitt not us so we are subject to earn people's friendship just like regular people and sometimes people simply doesn't like us either because of how we look speak move or talk, certain faces make people believe we are arrogant or dangerous or boring is like going back to high school.
I completely agree. I’m half Japanese but can’t speak much of the language and I have definitely experienced the subtle differences in how I’ve been treated compared to full Japanese people. It’s hard as I feel so much belonging here as I have grown up with my Japanese mum and Japanese culture but I know that I am not seen (and treated) like everyone else. My goal has always been to live and work in Japan but after being in the country for the last month, my mind has definitely changed.
Man seeing so many comments justify that behavior shocks me. I haven't visited Japan (yet), so I have a limited perspective on the issue, but in my eyes it isn't that hard to be understanding towards people who come from other cultures. Of course one should learn the basic etiquette of a country he or she is moving to or visiting, but as a human being one should also be able to try and understand others, and see that difference does not warrant hostile or rejectful behavior. A foreigner is bound to make some mistakes or do things that might seem out of the ordinary for a japanese person, but is it that hard to understand that they likely don't have any harmful intentions? This is just straight up racism, even if that is somewhat accepted in some parts of Japanese culture.
Assuming it happens to all foreign-nationals is your first mistake. People are accepted or rejected by their own behavior, mannerism, mindset, personality, culture, skill, education etc. If you think that is "straight up racism," Japan is definitely not the country for you. When I was growing up we had a naturalized citizen from Finland serving in the Upper House; an Armenian mathematician teaching at a Japanese university (who later became the Armenian Ambassador to Japan); Georgian, Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, and Hawaiian Sumo wrestlers; naturalized Brazilian football players on national team; a number of successful Taiwanese and HK-Chinese singers; and a Brit named Peter Barakan hosting a TV show introducing foreign documentaries. There were a number of Americans on Japanese TV as well. There is a Harvard graduate named Patrick Harlan who is also a TV personality, commentator, and comedian. We also have an Uzbek/Uyghur naturalized citizen currently serving as Member of Parliament. She used to work for the Bank of Japan and later the United Nations before running for office. And if go a bit future back, the gentleman who created Cup Noodles (ANDO Momofuku) is originally from Taiwan. The person who founded "Lotte Group" was a Korean migrant to Japan. He made his money selling gum and chocolate in the post-war era. And one of the richest and successful businessman in Japan (SON Masayoshi) is the son of a Korean migrant. He's the founder of Softbank. You should take a look at "GAGA Channel." Gagamaru was a really well-loved SUMO wrestler from Georgia. And then you'll know what type of foreigners are accepted in Japan. Many of the people who are interviewed in his channel are also from various countries.
@@yo2trader539 My point was not that it's wrong for a different country to have different morals and behavioral standards, but that a person should generally be able to understand that one who comes from another culture might behave differently to them, and that the difference in appearance or behavior is not always intentional. It's impossible to act completely identical to how an average Japanese person would, or know the entirety of their etiquettes and morals by heart when you're someone who's still new to their culture. Just like a language, it takes time to adapt to a new culture. Just because some of the people you mentioned in your comment were succesful and accepted in Japan, does not mean that they didn't go through trial and error to learn the Japanese way of handling things. There's also a difference in shunning someone who intentionally acts disrespectful towards or is unwilling to learn your culture and someone who has good intentions at heart. Also in this case there were way less variables at play, FreeBird seemed to be immediately judged based on his appearance alone. If I met someone who was American and they did something which is considered rude here, I wouldn't distance myself or act in disgust/anger towards them. I'd simply inform them of what they did and why we find that thing to be rude and if they aren't willing to change after, then it'd understandable for me or someone else to not like said person. Edit: Also Japanese people tend to romanticize Americans they see on TV (Especially with celebrities), in the same way a lot of Western people do with Japanese media, so that's not always an accurate representation of how a random guy in Japan should act.
@@Thomas48484 Again, you're comparing Japan with another country. Nobody knows or cares how things are done in other countries, just like most American wouldn't care how things are done in foreign countries, including your closest neighbors. And perhaps you were never discriminated in your own country. Japanese visitors have plenty of stories that they can tell you, be it in the US, France, Canada, etc. Sometimes waiters don't even taken your orders. Sometimes they're assaulted on the streets. Sometimes they're made fun with Asian-sounding greetings, or other hand gestures. Sometimes cops pull you over. So when some White American dude talks about Racism based on his experience in a school classroom...it's beyond funny. Doesn't he know Asian people are getting assaulted on the subway in the US just because they're Asian? What kind of bubble is he from? Let me it put more bluntly. Japanese society accepts foreigners who are compatible with and can contribute to Japan. In other words, those who can assimilate culturally and integrate socially. I have no doubt every one of them went through an acclimatization period. Some probably took longer than others. Some probably struggled more than others. But Japanese society only accepts and appreciate those who made the effort. I know many people who left after a few years because they weren't compatible with Japan, or couldn't find a foothold. It could be for family reasons, personality, career ambitions, financial goals, skillset, education-level, social values, sexual orientation, etc, etc. I also suspect liberal/woke segment from Western Europe, North America, or Australia generally won't do that well in East Asia, especially because they're seen as too alien. This is based on my observation of people from Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union who blend in as if they were raised here. They tend to be more socially conservative and respect and value traditions of various cultures including their own. And Slavic speakers are exceptionally good with languages. Of all the people I've met in Japan, the ones who impressed me the most were from Central Asia. There are Uzbeks and Kazakhs who have near-native fluency in Japanese language and culture. But they grew up speaking Uzbek/Kazakh (i.e. Turkic), attended Russian-language schools since childhood, learned English via Russian language, and mastered Japanese in university. Japanese is their 4th or 5th language, yet they able to understand it better than most foreigners from English-speaking counties. They are language geniuses. I also know people who visited on vacation just once, and realized Japan is where they want to be and have stayed for decades, received Permanent Visa, and eventually naturalized citizens. There is an interesting Brazilian teacher who teaches Japanese to Brazilians in Japan. Her ex-husband was a Japanese Descendant (i.e. Nikkei-Brazilian) so they came together to work hoping to save some money. Her Japanese Descendant husband couldn't stand Japan, but she loved it, learned the language, and now she's a language teacher in Japan, while her ex-husband is back in Brazil. So you see, it's not our job to change for your benefit. Neither is it your job to change for the benefit of foreigners. By the way, from what I understand of American history on immigration, I'm pretty certain it was never easy for Irish, Italian, Polish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Mexican immigrants to adjust to America. It took an entire generation or two to be accepted in their newly adopted country that they called home.
i'm a canadian and i LOVE japan and japanese culture. it may not have been a plan of mine to life there years ago but seeing the declining state of my country it is becoming more appealing by the day. i'd rather live in a place where i am ignore but safe rather than a place where i am not ignore but unsafe.
Frankly, the way you think...is too alien for most Japanese people. The interpretation of events is also very American, and interesting and funny from a Japanese perspective. "You're Non-Asian" isn't just your appearance. It's referring to your culture, mannerism and mindset. In terms of cultural proximity, we see people from China and South Korea and think that their behavior and mindset is from an alien planet. We see Americans and think they're from another galaxy. And obviously, Japanese people only appreciate and accept foreigners who are assimilated culturally. I have a suspicion that your experience may not have been different even if you were Asian-American. It's not because you're a foreigner, it's because you're an American. I've studied and worked with Russians, Turks, Mongolian, Uzbeks, Kiwis, Malaysians...but they're far more assimilated than you were. Turks, Mongolians, Koreans are almost near-native speakers. And people former Soviet Union and Slavic-countries in general have excellent language training in their home countries, and have enormous flexibility and integrate incredibly well into Japan. Americans usually can only survive in an English speaking expat bubble. A Japanese person will never assume that things in the US will be the same as in Japan. After all, they're fully aware they're living in a foreign country. The way you assume that you should be treated just like how you would be in the US, or complain how behavior and norms are different from what you know back home....sounds American. A very alien mindset in Japan. People in Japan have zero obligation to you. I took Mandarin in college as a second-foreign language, and there was a South Korean student in my class. We all studied and struggled together for two years. She was born, raised, and educated in South Korea, and came to Japan for her undergraduate studies. It's not like she was particularly in to Mandarin or Chinese culture. But a second foreign language was mandatory in my school, so she chose Mandarin/Chinese hoping to improve her understanding of KANJI. She took Japanese in her highschool in South Korea. She wasn't a native Japanese speaker, but fluent enough to be accepted as a full-time student in Japan. She struggled with KANJi more so than native-Japanese speakers...but she got along perfectly with everybody in class. We used to hang out after class almost every week. Sometimes our Chinese professor joined us in our "study group" (aka drinking party) gathering too. She knew all the best affordable Korean restaurants in Tokyo, and she's the reason why I still enjoy マッコリ (makgeolli). I think it helped her that there were certain common phrases and words that she recognized in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Learning KANJI definitely helped improve her Japanese reading/writing. By the time she finished university, she was near-native in her Japanese. What made it even more interesting was our "Chinese" professor was actually an ethnic-Korean or 朝鮮族 from Northeast China (aka Inner Manchuria). He explained to us about various minorities in China, and how they're educated, what languages they learn, or how the Chinese university exam system works, etc. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that a significant portion of Chinese nationals living/working in Japan are ethnic-Koreans and Mongols, or that some of them study Japanese in high-school, or that it's one of the elective languages for university exam in China.
I'm not American and I can see the American mindset here. When you are in another country, you will always act differently from the standards of what is considered normal for that country. And this is valid for any place, even for different regions within one county. It's a set of factors.
I’m an American, I don’t understand this guy’s mentality with going to another country to study and not learning the language well enough or customs at all and then being surprised that people are put off by him. Not like I understand Japanese norms or culture super well, but I feel like he was pretty oblivious in this scenario.
A 21 year old kid is not at all representative of long term American expats. Your "Lol that's sooo American" attitude is ignorant and disrespectful to all the American expats that try very hard to integrate and still feel like outsiders.
In the west we have a word for that.... "narrow minded" meaning you lack the complexity of thought, empathy and open-ness to understand the world from another perspective to the point where you refuse to see the humanity in someone else, ignoring the 99% similarities to hyperfocus on the 1u% differences. and that's not a good thing to be. Its considered an extremely primitive way of thinking.
I hear you! I went through similar experiences in Japan & elsewhere. Racism & other forms of prejudices exists everywhere at various degrees. I'm of mixed Japanese and Chinese decent born in the Philippines. Both of my parents' families moved to the Philippines a generation or two before the start of WW2. There will be people who read this will say how is that possible? Those people most likely never left their social bubble/never left the city or state they reside/don't know how the world works. Enough of my rant. I move on. I immigrated to the USA with my family. Growing up I was shunned at my Catholic school because my parents were not doctors, being the FOB (fresh off the boat), give hefty donations to the school & treated bad for being of Asian decent. My army experience (enlisting in 1988 and becoming an officer in 1992) the racism level was up a rank. I had fellow soldiers who witnessed how I was treated just say "you were just born the wrong race. But we accept you." I visited the Philippines with my family. My cousins who are Filipino (born and raised there) tell me "you can never be one of us no matter how hard you try; Japanese boy." "Japanese boy" was said in a sneering way. My brother was about to say something and my dad pulled him aside and had a talk with him afterwards. Fast forward in time to Japan. It was 2014. I had already had a combat tour in Afghanistan, lived in Germany, did stuff in Afghanistan and Iraq as a PMC. Before arriving my uncle who retired from a Tokyo company and moved to the Philippines for cheap living gave me what to expect. I experienced "bad Japan" in my first year of living here. My group was harassed by Bozozoku every other night. My workplace had local communist protesters. Kyoto is the capital of communism in Japan btw. Yes there are communists in Japan. There was little to no English support (a motivator to learn 日本語。We lived in the countryside of Kyoto Prefecture. There was a sign put up in the apartments we moved to saying "American soldiers go home." I heard about there was Japanese language lessons offered and I sign up at town hall. The gentleman who worked there said to me in perfect American English "We don't teach the likes of you. " The likes of me?" When I told him my family if originally from Chiba-ken; it only fueled his hatred in my direction. Yes hatred not dislike. It's countryside Japan. My group are the first Americans since the post WW2 occupation. A year and half later I had a private tutor for a year before I got transferred to work in Eastern Japan closer to Hokkaido. I started to experience "good Japan" after traveling outside the area I lived. I ventured to Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Hamamatsu, Tokyo, Chiba-ken, Saitama-ken, Sendai & Sapporo just to name a few. I found my nichè in gaming, fitness & martial arts (started martial arts in the military & still continue in Japan). As an American living in Japan for the past 10 years; all I can say is take the good with the bad. Don't bother with people in the honeymoon period. If they break away from their delusions they will either leave with a bad taste or adjust to life here. I still find myself saying to myself time to time "why Japanese people why....." Learning the language is a slow burn for me but I learn. I have co-workers married to local national have been in Japan longer than me and the only word they know is konnichiwa こんにちは。That's just my life. I like K-pop too. I like heavy metal & goth more.
A lot of the time I’ve noticed that when something seems outrageous or gross it gets called American. So while English is used to make products seem a lot better than they actually are. There’s this other layer that associates it with the ‘barbarians’ from the west. Written English or loan words are okay, prestigious in some cases. However the people who speak the language natively are not seen the same way. I guess paper is less intimidating than the real thing.
I've never been to japan before, but I'm currently doing the whole immersion thing (your videos and a few other channels are my exceptions though) and I gotta be honest, the more I learn about japan on a more deeper level the less I'm starting to like it. Definitely going one day tho. I'm possibly even whiter than you are so hopefully I'll have some funny discriminatory stories to share. Great video
@@kos2919 What the fuck? No. I learn more about the fucked up aspects of their culture, the strict copyright laws (judging from their youtube videos) and the prevalence of the rotten filth that is the yukkuri scene. I am not some weeb, just a guy. Like I literally went into it *knowing* about the xenophobia, the justice system, the work hours and not even being a particularly big anime fan. The more I learned after that is what is making me a little averse
@@PunishedSpindle300 "Man went to other country, still shocked that they're different than his" And? What so different than an Asian guy like me coming to USA, got shocked with gang culture in Boston, and yet still enjoying my time there. Growing up means knowing the value of other countries can be quite different. It's not our job to dictate them. This isn't pre-WW2 colonizing mentality anymore.
I can relate. I also lived in Japan as an exchange student and had similar negative experiences, but they were rare, and thankfully, most of my interactions with the Japanese people, and East Asians in general, were quite positive. Actually, the ones I had the most trouble with were other foreigners, specifically Western Europeans. You see, I'm a Jew, and let me tell you, the Japanese dislike of foreigners I'd sometimes encountered was nothing compared to the Nazi-level anti-Semitism I had to put up with from European fellow students, primarily those from the UK and Spain.
Fwiw (I wasn’t there) the teacher herself didn’t sound racist but she was very honest with you 😅 Probably had a しょうがない attitude about her students and didn’t want to try to disrupt the classroom 和
As a Japanese person, I feel very sad that something like this happened. If I were to explain it, Japanese people are extremely shy and generally do not like to communicate with people they do not have much contact with. That may have been a factor in my cold response. I think it could have happened even if you were Japanese. I also attend a university with many foreign students, but the cultural differences and language barriers are so big that I find it difficult to make friends overseas even though I want to. I hope that this will help ease the pain of the troubles and discrimination that you have experienced in Japan, even if only a little. Please feel free to comment if you find any cultural differences or translation errors. (This translation uses Google Translate)
I would comment “yayyy” over a new video coming out but with the subject matter i decided that might not be the best idea (And im guessing this is about that one story you told on stream that one time?)
Recently I was reading Based on a True Story: A Memoir by Norm Macdonald and found this quote; "Then the cat slung the dead mouse into the short hay and strolled away. This last moment was what surprised and frightened me the most. This whole endeavor had nothing to do with food. And this is when I learned that hardscrabble truth: There is a difference between what a thing is and what it appears to be" It is a pattern that to grow, one must sacrifice purity and innocence for the sake of disruption and corruption. The void that these corruptions leave is where we can adapt and learn. Many Japanese don't want corruption of their little burble and mask, and are willing to use violence (as not all violence is physical) to defend appearances. But as the cat of the quote just follows its nature and not human moral, social norms follow history and geography. As such, the reasoning of 'you are not Asian' makes sense by no making any sense. But what is our paper in this amalgamation of factors that define culture? What can we do as members of other culture? Well, maybe we can find answers in the way Norm Macdonald presents us the cat; ' I see the cat, who’s licking himself and swatting horseflies with his tail as he lies beneath an improbably large maple tree that is blighted and dying. I look up the tree and see there is something up high too, hiding in one of the crooks of its reaching branches. Something that is watching. And the back of my head hits the headrest as I see that the thing in the tree is me."
You mention that the Japanese students at your university wanted to learn korean because they were K-pop fans, and you found that cringe (5:59). At the start of the video, one of the main reasons you wanted to learn Korean was K-pop (2:14). How do you reconcile with these two contradictory thoughts.
Think at 2:14, he implied that he got into learning Korean from K-pop and then found the Korean culture interesting and so kept learning Korean then at 5:59 he said the japanese girls were only interested in Learning Korea because of K-pop and they weren’t interested in other aspect of Korean culture. Which then he said only wanting to learn Korean because of K-pop was cringe sort of like how some people want to learn Japanese only because they are a fucking weeboo
I feel like this is more of a 'being a minority' thing than a Japan thing, but it is certainly easier to be a minority in Japan than the US, Aus etc. Overall, great video, though the thumbnail was a bit clickbaity.
I am Sri Lankan, and I have a part-time job in a Convenience store. I do speak Japanese fluently. Man, I was shocked one day. When I gave the remaining money to a lady customer she refused to take it in her bare hand. She asked me to keep the money on the Table. Then she took it. I was shocked and upset. She came again to the store. I did not go to help. One of the Japanese lady crew members did the bills. But this time, that rude customer took the remaining money and receipt from her. Man, I was totally down. I had a big respect to the Japanese before I came to Japan. There are a bunch of foreigners in Sri Lanka too. We never ever do this kind of thing to foreigners. This is so Rude :/
I'm sure your employer taught you to use the tray for handling money. Whether you're in a Japanese bank, department store, hotel, or postal office...it's the same. It would considered poor manners to give money by hand in Japan.
@@yo2trader539 I have never seen that in the convenience store. I have been here almost 5 Years. People are in a hurry. They have no time to collect money one by one.
As a non-Japanese Asian person. I think using the word "racism" might not be literally correct. Japanese also discriminate against other non-Japanese Asian people too (which are the same race as Japanese). You are discriminated not because of you're white but because of you're non-Japanese (regardless of your race). They will only be nice to you if they can get money for you (e.g.as a tourist). But when you hear Japanese talking to each others or interview about foreigners, more often than not, they likely to have discrimination opinions and negative attitude against foreigners. You'll hear these a lot if you watch Japanese-only language media.
I experience racism at post Katrina New Orleans, a time where most left were poor black people who couldn't afford to leave. I was called racist names and insulted to my face a number of times. I never new how much it sucks to be treated like that.
I stayed in Japan 1.5 years. On the whole, it was a wonderful experience. But I did experience racism time to time - the more subtle kind. I could relate to your video. Sorry you went through that. One of my oddest experiences was when a girl I hadn't seen before ran past me and kept running, occasionally looking over her shoulder. I thought that was odd. Then I realised she was running away from me. Oh, I hadn't even realised she existed until a moment ago, but she was terrified of me. Weird. But it is what it is. As a foreigner, you have to know your place as an honoured guest. Often I had to talk to people in English even though my Japanese was better than their English because it would confuse them otherwise.
If you are still interested in learning Korean check out the Sejong Institute, I took it there and absolutely loved it and its all different people in the class. My class had people from USA, South America, India, Europe etc. I'm not east Asian and felt really comfortable in the class.
I know nothing about japanese customs, but the girl tried to get away from you the whole class, and you ask for her number in the end, the result was kinda predictable 😂
I learned Korean before coming to Japan, I can second that being a Korean learner in Japan as a foreigner (especially male) is straight up pain in the ass. Most ironic part is that I do have some Korean friends irl (and chat with them in Korean) but I 100% cannot blend in Korean-study group in Japan (oh and some of the groups would just refuse male or non-Japanese/non-Korean to join in first place). If I didn't learn Korean in my home country I will never be able to learn Korean
The weirdest part is that none of your foreign friends understood. That is very weird. In the other classes, do you feel like the students didn't treat you as oddly? I hope other classes of majority Japanese classes treated you more warmly.
Algorithm knows. I’ve been an exchange student in Thailand for 3ish weeks now. Same feeling. I’m a 210lbs white guy. Yep, I’m like a circus animal to some people.
My first thought was that it's a language class and they don't want to make a mistake in front of the foreigner. But Japanese society is insular and perhaps it was just racism.
Lumping everything outside as one thing "foreign culture" is very American. They are interested in Korean culture, that doesn't mean they are interested in any other culture, or even "foreign cultures" in general. You're just a random foreigner from a culture they have zero interest in, and thus treated so.
I’m learning Japanese, 5 months so far. Have ADHD so I am assuming it’s gonna take me triple time to learn. I estimate at least becoming almost fluent at least within 10 years. I plan on moving there when I’m older around 50s, by a nice house in a small city. I’ve heard that things aren’t so bad outside of the major cities like Tokyo. I’ll probably get a job at the local コンビニ. And move out my life until I am not here anymore.
I can agree that they were being racist but the whole “the koreaboos don’t wanna talk to me” situation is hilarious. 😂 the teacher was flat out like “naw but you ain’t asean tho”
I remember being ghosted as in trying to ask for help in japanese to a local and being absolutely ignored and I was like shit this stuff does happen, but also some japanese people were really happy to talk with me
I went to Korea and Japan, but I have to say the place where I feel as you described was more in Korea, but in japan not too much, maybe because people dont talk too much
Mixed Asian here born And raised in the U.S. I experienced racism and xenophobia my entire life. I’m writing this comment while on vacation in Japan. I know what it feels like. It is cruel as it got it from both sides. Very cruel. May the world evolve into something g better?
im American i dont dislike japan of culture i do watch some anime manga and i like japanese women but their xenophobia/racism has to end in their culture
Japanese folks might seem super friendly on the surface, but there's often a hidden layer of jealousy and resentment towards foreigners, which seems to come from their own insecurities and strict way of life. After living and working in Japan for a decade and being married to a Japanese guy, I've seen this firsthand. Sometimes, their condescending or rude behavior feels like a way to push foreigners to leave sooner. Because of that, I’m totally set on sticking around for as long as I can, just to ruffle some feathers.
I’m really sorry that you experienced that. I would have cried in the bathroom I’m not gonna lie 😭 I’m such a people pleaser as it is so I can’t even imagine being treated as if I was some alien. I would be so hurt I really have to admit to that😣
When I went to Japan for a year I came there KNOWING I would ALWAYS be seen as a foreigner. I knew how things would be and I accepted it. I get extra attention and sometimes even get random discounts just because I’m black. It’s nice. I know I’m not Japanese and I never want to be Japanese. I stayed there because it was fun and I plan on coming back. Don’t come here if you are trying to live here as an actual citizen, like you are actually Japanese. You will NEVER be Japanese. If you accept that you’ll have a lot more fun. Take pride in who you are. I’d say it’s even more fun not being Japanese. The average Japanese life seems so boring and being a BLACK foreigner in Japan makes it so much more fun. Take advantage of your nationality and have fun! I’m an extrovert though so that counts for it too. If you are an extrovert in an introverted environment it can really make things fun. Makes getting girls easier too.
Living in Japan as a foreigner, you literally have no human rights. You exist solely by the grace of the government. I am also a black woman and in the end, all things considered, and gettign fed up of listening to the racist conversations of other people every daaaaay who assume you dont understand japanese, i decided to leave lol. I had a good time but the pain got painful.
Lived in Japan 7 years love it. Had similar problems but than had more fun’s than hatters caz was always A nice and smiley to everybody. But had a lot of hate when I was with Japanese girlfriend. Everybody were saying to her that what is she got to do with me and do I pay her money to be with me? But they didn’t know I speak Japanese and could understand. Plus I think confidence and your spirit strength are important in that country! They sense it very well that’s why they stare a lot on you. But if you don’t give afraid looks they will avoid you. I have a lot of stories from Japan. Bad and good. Best time in my life I think…😊
As a non-Japanese I can't say for certain, but it really sounds like the problem there was less about you being foreigner and more about you being a guy. If you were Japanese you'd probably know better of what to expect, but wouldn't get a much better experience, as I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the ever-increasing divide/disconnect between genders in Japanese culture (birthrates ain't dropping for no reason).
hey freebird this the reason why eastern culture and western culture will never be united as a single culture? i dont want to be labeled as foreigner but we need a single earth country without problems sometimes i ask myself why cant japan be like the western culture?
The East and the West do have their differences, and I don't foresee them uniting as one large cultural complex, like how Europe and America/Australia/Canada are, or like the Islamic world or the Indian Subcontinent. And that's fine. People don't need to all be the same to coexist.
Thank you for sharing this story, and I am sorry you were treated so awfully in your time studying abroad. I still hope you keep the same interests and you can achieve your goals.
What I get from this is, like you walked into a group of very close friends, partners in crime, and you're not. But there in Japan its not really like that but it manifests like that. Thank you
Nothing to do with racism. Why would you take the teacher's opinion as gospel? University girls, especially those vacuous enough to be into K-pop, are some of the most judgmental people around. You were not chad enough for them and they don't even want to be seen near you, let alone interact with you. You are the human equivalent of Paris syndrome to them, serving as a stark reminder of the disappointment of reality. It's possible to overcome inherent nature with charm and social grace, obviously aided by knowing the language, but basically you jumped into the deep end and drowned. It would have been the exact same experience as a male of any race or nation with what you were/are working with. Japanese beta men get the same treatment they just recognize their place.
The are the most terrible person in the world and politeness doesn't make them kind person's. They are dealing with tourist people all around the world for decades they have to get over their obsession.
I’ve been the only black person in my entire school and I’ve experienced the exact same. You get used to it. I’ve seen people move their cars back when I pass by and lock their car doors. It sucks at first but it kinda just becomes the norm.
I think you’re conflating racism with people being awkward around someone from a foreign background. Especially if they grew up in a country in which 98% of folks share the same heritage. It’s uncomfortable to collaborate with people you can’t communicate with, you said yourself that your Japanese wasn’t great at the time. It’s awkward, and I don’t think it comes from your race, gender, or ethnicity. You suddenly showed up in their class halfway through the semester, and perhaps they were anxious that they’d have to try communicating with a foreigner on top of learning Korean. I feel like you might’ve read into the situation a little too much, however it’s your lived experience, and I appreciate you sharing it. It’s good that people speak up about their experiences. I’ve lived in Japan for 8 years, and I can’t say I’ve been privy to any direct racism.
Being uncomfortable with people who don’t share the same heritage as you isn’t a result of racism? Visibly recoiling from someone and refusing to help them isn’t a result of racism? Running away from someone without saying a word after grabbing someone looking terrified isn’t a result of racism? Continuing to be stared at and avoided repeatedly and then having it confirmed by someone from there that it’s because of your race is not a result of racism? Ok Jan 🙃
@@Princetonian4eva Please read my post again. Being afraid that you can’t communicate with someone (especially when that’s what you’re supposed to be doing in a class), shows disdain towards socially awkward situations, regardless of that person’s background. Certainly not towards the person for being Caucasian. Racism, as I understand its definition, is harboring prejudice towards a certain race or group based on their skin color, background, or ethnicity. Perhaps the definition of racism must be agreed on before further conversation can be had, however that itself is an intriguing topic I’d love to discuss.
I'm glad these videos are coming out more and more. I haven't had this exact experience. With women, I've actually been lucky enough to only be around those that find me attractive 😂 But, I have experienced denial of housing simply for being a foreigner and just TONS of rude people, including some trying to start fights with me.
I am a Japanese and I think she could not speak English at all. When I was seriously studying German, I could not speak English at middle school level. My brain rejected English, even if understanding English promote me to learn German. Now, I have given up learning German, so I am open to both languages. And many Japanese find it impossible to learn two foreign languages at the same time. So, she may feel that you are not serious about learning Japanese as a student. Unless you make an effort to learn Japanese seriously（まじめに頑張っている）, many people will not want to cover the losses caused by your poor Japanese language skills. Help is not free in Japan. Many people will only help you if it will bring you benefits. I also did not know that learning two or more foreign languages at the same time is natural in other countries, so we need to understand it.
I mean I was only two months here, it might be not enough but i had the best experience of my life, i know a little bit of Japanese and seriously everyone was nice to me, i never saw anything like avoiding me, the first month i got a Japanese girlfriend, and a Japanese friend who let me stayed in his home one night in Kyoto, (and play super smash) it was seriously amazing, again, two months might be no enough, so take it with a grain of salt, also...I am Mexican.
If you dont speak Japanese, you cant pick up on most of the shit people say about you to yur face in public or when theyre being rude by japanese standards. ignorance is bliss when it comes to japan.
Those girls must have been quite confused, when you entered their class. I mean, you are an American guy coming to Japan and after three months with having learned some basic Japanese you tell them you came to their class to study the Korean language. Sorry, but that must have sounded like an excuse. I’m sure the girls were upset, because they expected you hitting on them, and so you did with asking for a girl’s Line after she already avoided you. I think the teacher should have told you to get a decent level in Japanese first, so that you can follow her explanations and try to reach the Korean language level of the class in self study before entering. With that kind of preparation things might have gone more smoothly, although still difficult.
that's the thing though, nobody tells you this stuff when you start Japanese university. Or at least not my university. Like they should have "Japan 101" with a whole list of stuff not to do, but they sort of just set us free without giving us any guidelines of how to act, so you end up doing this that you didn't assume where taboo.
I've had experiences with Japanese making me feel bad for just being there, and mentioning it to other expats who showed no sympathy. I don't need to say what I thought of these Japanese. It also seems many expats don't don't criticise Japan because they're afraid of the consequences, they don't want to give up their comfortable lives, it's weak.
This video is poorly done, updated version here:
ruclips.net/video/deMIW8gHmUc/видео.htmlsi=5mrNIXwH-1eeVnM8
I am a black American. Served 6 years in Japan in the US Navy before transferring to Bahrain currently. I quickly became aware of the feelings you put out in your video. Most people don’t want to admit what’s wrong with Japan. Don’t know why but there are always excuses made for them whether that be because of their culture or that they don’t experience other races of people…which I think just isn’t true in today’s time. You cant reason with it bro, I’m sorry you experienced this. But Japanese people will always be protected and given the benefit of the doubt.
man black in japan is bad..they racist like koreans im white they did not sit next to me or go same elevator like im stink
typical american
racist😂
"You must give up your house" US
"No" JP
"Wasaaahhhh" US
Okinawa Mines was a W btw
.t chair force paps in the Pacific
You're 100% correct. Before I moved to Japan, I just dismissed all criticism of Japan as Americans complaining about non-sense. It took for me to live here for me to fully understand why people complain. And it's real frustrating that they get the benefit of the doubt while we Americans get called all kinds of things (stupid, racist, ignorat, etc), when we treat people way better overall.
Imagine if we started denying housing to people simply because they're a foreigner...
@@jezzaroddy We should, Japan is normal and America should return to normalcy
Being socially brave in japan can often times be a detriment. Those who don't speak up and just stay in their lane are typically rewarded.
I'm currently doing my PhD here in Japan, and so far it's been one year. And recently I've been thinking that I don't want to stay in Japan after my studies. I've had similar experiences as you, and I've accepted that I am not Japanese nor is it possible for me to become "Japanese". It's sad since I realized in all countries there is both xenophobia and racism to varying degrees, and often if you move to another country your success of integration/assimilation often depends on if you come from a similar culture and ethnic group (Ex. Like going from Canada to USA, or Canada to somewhere in EU if you look European, or like China/Korea to Japan). I think countries like USA and Canada are unique in that they can easily absorb new people into their existing culture. Although I have some complaints about this since Canada will say things like "we have no culture, we are a post-nation" which I think is damaging for Canadians who aren't connected to any recent immigrant group/roots. To be fair Canada is also not the friendliest country, as people socialize like bears or in bubbles, and those bubbles do not mix. Besides this, I will say Japan is not a "nation" but a "tribe", and I sadly acknowledge that "tribes" do exist everywhere and that this is human nature. Like so far I've had fun in Japan while studying here, I've made a bunch of friends with both Japanese and other international students, I even have a JP gf (which I don't think will work out since she doesn't want to leave Japan), but at the same time I struggle to see myself living here. Anyway, Japan is still a great country and has achieved alot, I will always hold a good opinion of Japan, I will be friends with Japanese, I will still enjoy their culture, like their traditional culture/shrines/temples/castles, but it is not my home, and I will go somewhere else after I graduate. Thanks for sharing your story.
Weak
Great comment. I have no personal experience on this subject, but this seems like the most level-headed comment I've heard so far about xenophobia in Japan and in general.
@Scott-if3ce nation and tribe are interchangeable
You mean country
@@longiusaescius2537 Oh I see, thanks
@@Johnnyvtg Thanks for the comment. But yeah, 'tis is life, it can't be helped
From my perspective after living in Japan for a year, I think it's hard to find a true friend. It made me feel lonely.
Many people will tell you that they are your "tomodachi" but they never really show it.
When I worked in a Japanese company, other foreigners seemed to be pushed aside, they often ate alone, they didn't talk to Japanese people. I like to get out of my comfort zone, I can communicate in Japanese, so I tried many times to make friends with Japanese people in the company, I even managed to go out for dinner after work three times but that was it.
When I wanted to go to the station with someone after work, they would often say "I have to stay longer, go alone", and then leave the company and go to the station alone 2 minutes later. It was a very lonely feeling that a Japanese person would rather go alone or with another Japanese person than talk to you on the way to the station. I felt like a lot of Japanese people had the attitude of "I'm at work, so I have to be nice to you and talk to you, but you're a stranger to me when I get off work." It was so pathetic that when another foreigner from Europe showed up at the company, the Japanese would tell me "Hey, you must be happy that there's a new foreigner from Europe. You've already made friends with that European guy." I felt like an animal in a zoo that can only be friends with members of its own species. I didn't come to Japan to seek friendship with foreigners. When I left that company they said goodbye to me nicely and of course said "we'll go eat and drink together again" and of course never spoke to me again.
It's also funny that most of the Japanese people at work would ask me for my Instagram. They'd say "let's go out for a meal sometime," and I'd say, "Sure, I'd like to go out, let me know when you plan to go out," and of course they never even used their Instagram to invite me to a meeting, but I saw in the stories that they often went out with other Japanese people from the company.
For many Japanese people, Tatemae, or the "public face," is very strong. People will pretend to like you and you won't be able to tell who your real friends are. I've dated many girls who, after 3 dates, were already planning their next date, trips together, and one even wanted to marry me, only to block me without explanation a few days later. A Japanese person will never show you true feelings, so the only chance to make friends with a Japanese person is with a Japanese person who doesn't think like a Japanese person. It's hard to find such people, but during my stay I found two such people and I really felt like I was their friend. One of them is now my girlfriend. How to recognize such people. Like I said, Japanese people with tatemae will never be your friends. You need to meet a Japanese person who will show you the honne's "true face". Such a Japanese person will tell you what they think, for example "you look ugly in this, you are stupid, don't say such things, stop doing that, you are an idiot, you should shave your beard, I don't like this movie, I don't like this food, let's eat something else" and things like that. Most Japanese people will not tell you what they think, so if you are from outside of Asian countries and you are raised in a culture where people clearly state their opinions, you will not be able to make friends.
Sadly that can be true. There might be some communities which accept you as a truly belonging member in Japan, but it must be hard work to find one.
And, as a Japanese who have an experience of living in the states, I feel that Japanese people are prone to be ignorant about how mentally hard living abroad can be. But I believe if they had had experienced feeling alone outside Japan, they would have been more kind and friendly to you.
I’m living in Malta but I’m from Switzerland.I meet young girl who takes intensive English classes before she start her job in Japan.I teach her how to deal with things in Malta and also I helped her with everything by the time she decide to visit Switzerland,before her departure to Canada for first job.I help with sim, hotel,public transport,I Answear all questions how to visit france 🇫🇷 over border and what to see there.Her school friend lived and study in Switzerland but she Answered her questions ones a Week! After she comeback to Malta from Switzerland and flew to Canada I told her that her Mum and Dad must be proud of her because she doing so well. But that Japanese girl who I helped so much never replied to me anymore.
Tatemae
Honne 😮
@@saxophoneplaya Of course geography has many things to do with Japanese mental culture, but I believe culture changes at some point, affected by global network today.
One thing I've noticed in the workplace is that you'll hardly make true friends there. This applies to any situation and anywhere.
It gets worse if you're the newbie in the place. And a shy person like me won't be able to make friends easily with someone and fit in.
I don't experience racism where I live, but I carry this feeling of not belonging to my own country and to places that should be familiar to me. Just don't worry about not making friends, this is common.
Friends come with time.
I related to this a lot. A lot of this reminded me of experiences I had when I lived there. Especially the bit about how there’s often this taboo among expats about criticizing the place, as if to acknowledge any failings in Japanese culture is somehow either disrespectful, or an admission of personal weakness.
My favorite Canadian!
Wait, what? JJ lived in Japan!?
I feel like I'm always missing out on the most important bits of lore
oh hey, it's JJ
What is there to criticize?
immigrants are immigrants no need to glaze them
This is literally how it feels being black in a semi well off area in American suburbs. i hated high school
Have you tried being normal?
@@longiusaescius2537 shut up french
@@longiusaescius2537 have you?
It really sucks that people are so cruel, and so many dont seem to have any empathy or humanity. It really shows their soul is rotten
@@doriangel97 For those used to privilege, equality feels like oppression
Man this hit me really bad, Im asian, born in asia, studying Japanese. In one hand I totally get the mindset of the Japanese, even understanding it, but in the other hand, yes it is still xenophobia, especially that part "It is because you are not Asian". It made me feel so bad because I actually sympathize with that, most asian countries are very ethnically harmonize and don't get educated about racism as much as in the west, and Japan is even more than that
@songandwind72 because they are closer to the west I think. And I also dont like the recent trend of isolating Japan and Korea from Asia when talking about negativity, If you visit China for a while you wont experience much racism, they will always smile at you and such, but it comes out when you live there long enough
@songandwind72”not so much in other Asian countries” 😆 they are just better at hiding it.
To be honest this isn't about Japan, you would get a similar experience in any part of the world in a room full of female K-POPers.
Exactly
Exactly
Heaven forbid
I mean yea they don't like men unless they're a hot Korean boy lol
thank you for sharing your experience in japan. As a person thinking about living in that country, stories and videos like these help me get the full picture and prepare me for the reality that's waiting for me.
Imagine a room full with 20 western guys ... and then a japanese girl walks in...!
that sounds like hell for her
she'd get assaulted
first we have to prove that the room actually exists
I don't think it would be nearly as bad
Having witnessed this, nothing weird happened
I was raised in Japan as a foreigner and actually used to get bullied when I was a kid, no joke ...
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Seems that your parents couldn’t care less about what would happen to you being a non-Japanese in all-Japanese school.
@@rsuriyopMaybe his parents were in the service and he had no choice 🤷🏻♂️
@@Chr1s808 Yeah and we wouldn’t have bases in Japan if not for their ww2 atrocities.
If they stare, just wink and blow them a kiss. I always do that and they don’t dare to stare back☺️🎉
I smile wink and give a short bow. I love the reactions.
➰🗿🌊
I feel like they could call authorities on you, doing that could make them feel unsafe
Do the Jetstream Sam smile.
I only went to Japan for a 2 week vacation, but I did have an experience like this. On my last day, I was on my way to the airport, it was early morning and this train station was almost empty. That's when a middle-aged Japanese man approched me and pushed me pretty hard, with both hands. Somehow I managed not to fall down. And then he just kept walking. Note that it's not like it was crowded and he needed space. It was a conscious effort to attack me. Now, I'm just a skinny girl so I definitely was no match for him. Tbh I was also just surprised and didn't react. I later learned this is called "butsukari otoko" and they usually attack women, apparently they do that to Japanese women too. So at first I thought it was an act of racism (I'm white), but it was most likely an act of misogyny or a mix of both.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I saw this happen at the train station in Tokyo! An older Japanese man pushed an African American man out of the way, in the same way as you described!
Why?
This happened to me too. Im a black woman btw. :-( i was really confused and scared when it happened, and angry too. what the hell. all my life in dagerous west and never once have i been physically assaulted by anyone, but in japan it happened. it was scary, but when i told others about it they acted like it was normal, which left me even more confused. i only learned about "butsukari otoko" online because it bothered me for weeks so i kept trying to understand,
As a black guy, I wish all white people from america could live in Japan for one week just to see how it feels to be us sometimes.
This ^
It won't do a thing , even in Japan you'll find people like this white man entitled and arrogant.
As a black girl in Utah the way the Japanese treated him is EXACTLY how I was treated here!
Blacks destroy every city they are a majority in. They bring it on themselves
I hate to break it to you but white people also face discrimination: most especially if you’re GAY.
Let me tell you, as a Black American, i experience ignorance my entire life... Even just recently, one of my patients asked me to see my medical license before i could exam her.
Most of the time, i don’t even react or even notice racism because i grew up with it.
But at least when I’m in Japan, i feel like I’m on an even playing field as other Americans.
I think your experience was good for you. I feel like everyone should experience racism at least once so they can understand how others feel.
My experience with Japan is that it takes some time for them to get used to you and become friends. But once you become friends, it’s so nice being around them. You stay friends through decades!
You're entering koreaboos kpop bts fans Korean class , unless you're jin, jun kook you're not welcome
he's not there to hit on them but to learn korean
so you trashed the Genki textbook?
that's a preview for a later video
Test
Took me 7 tries to get accepted to an apartment. They only accepted on the condition that I pay $200 extra purely for being a foreigner.
People avoiding me on trains is just a perk. Thanks for legroom!
only 10% of apartments in tokyo accept foreigners, and of that, there are often conditions like you pay double "thank you" money or higher deposit or be of specific racial groups or from certain countries or speak japanese. In comparison, 20% of tokyo apartments accept pets :-) it is easier to find an apartment for a dog than it is to find one for a foreigner, and Japan should be ashamed of that. In my last week in Japan on the english teaching program, my students asked me if i had any complaints about japan, things i felt were not right and needed to change. And i told them, 40 students in the class and in front of the teacher, that i think japans biggest obstacle to itself right now is xenophobia. they applauded me btw. Im proud of my students cause i chipped away at their prejudices for years haha
I am PhD student at Japanese uni and I have gotten weird reactions from Japanese people because I am studying Mandarin (I'm already at a pretty advanced level in Japanese). It seemed like this came from a mix of anti-Chinsee racism and insecurity in their own foreign language abilities. Most of the people in question are essentially monolingual despite years of English education. So, a foreigner learning multiple languages might be perceived as making them look bad.
Why? Mandarin is literally the 2nd most popular languages in the world
In Singapore we are taught in mandarin
I personally think it’s a cool language
I feel a bit hurt because I’m half Chinese and hearing this is a bit offensive to me
I’m proud to be both Thai and Chinese though
But damn giving you bad looks because you learn mandarin is bit too much no?
What is even more surprising is that their culture was influenced by Chinese
Those chopsticks , Kanji , the buildings , and many other things and yet they are racist to Chinese like ????? Without us or our ancestors they will not have all this cultural influences
Welcome to being Black almost anywhere
I had a white co-worker that used to live here in Japan, and he said after 5 years here, he would tell his black friends, "Dude, now I finally understand what it feels like to be black in Japan."
Btw, I'm sorry that black people always get it the most. As a Puerto Rican, I've experienced some stuff, but I don't understand why yall just get it the worst.
@@jezzaroddycause the media paints us in a bad light and because we look different
@@EveofPyrite ya I hate that shit. It irks me even more cuz the black community is the one that has accepted me the most. So I get mad when the media conveys this negative image.
Johnny Somali is why i like how japan thinks, its pattern recognition
@@EveofPyrite >media paints us
>statistics proving high crime rate
Yeah, sure.
Xenophobia and racism exist in every country. This is my opinion. I think underrated countries like Taiwan are more accepting and less toxic than the popular ones, such as South Korea and Japan.
if taiwan is accepting why cant japan and south korea be that kind and south korea and japan they dislike like each other horribly same with china
You forgot China too I’ve been to Shanghai and Beijing People were friendly and more welcoming the best people I’ve met despite all those negative news towards them
@LollipopLop China is a popular country and Taiwan, Malaysia and some others are not popular.
Taiwan will be little different from Japan and Korea. Japan and South Korea are popular places, so bad stories are more likely to be shared on social media. If Taiwan becomes as popular as Japan and Korea, bad experiences will be shared on social media just like in Japan and Korea. Similarly, the US has a bad reputation because the US is the most famous country in the world.
My parents are both immigrants from Bangladesh, I was born in Sweden and in all my years living here I have never experienced the racism you describe, in fact i would lowkey say i haven't experienced it at all. Maybe some old people staring at me in smaller towns but that's the extent of it. So yeah that's kinda crazy ngl
Recently returned from Japan and I often met with teachers there. One thing I was warned not to fall into was the gaijin drinking cycle. Friends from abroad who only ever hang out at bars and parties. I was told it can really depress you.
I wonder how these experiences relate to gender, like how would some of this stuff go as a woman. It's just a thought i have because most of the time i hear of these experiences it's from guys
I have a feeling this is more gender related than race. I lived in Japan for many years, and I saw a lot of separation by gender. Like when you go out to do karaoke, you often only see groups of just girls, or just guys. If it was a class full of guys, I don't think they would have treated him that way.
Yeah I think like 90% of the “discrimination” stories people have in Japan are from guys… never heard of a woman (white woman at least) being treated like this. I think they view us as less of threats, cleaner, etc
I've known a few that have had bad experiences. A good handful of western girls in my university were treaded really creepily by Japanese guys
A girl got spit at by some young guys who were acting like “ thugs “ kind of. I felt so bad when I watched that video. Some Japanese people are ruthless. I’ve already heard and seen so many videos and stories about their experiences. Not all Japanese people are like that but sadly their are a lot who are. I don’t want to be ignorant because I never even went there to even say anything I’m just going off of what I seen in video as it’s physically happening.
@@Sakura_1-h4hthat sounds absolutely terrible. I couldn’t imagine something so terrible like that.
As someone who wants to go to japan, study and continue my life there, something just makes me feel sad about that decision because of how Japanese people might treat me there, some might try to talk to me or some would just ignore me. That makes me feel sad because I'm more of an extrovert so I can't stand being alone for a second. My parents say that in the future Japanese people might start talking to foreigners casually. I honestly believe that and I hope that happens soon! Great vid btw 😁😁😁
Hell no
It's interesting this was recommended to me, im creating a story about a high school graduate from America who starts her college journey in Japan. So, this video is actually eye-opening. I plan on this being a manga and a novel
Just a Japanese strolling through, I'm honestly sad that xenophobia actually exists while we're not aware of it. I purposely learnt English to base off my personality, but eventually used it as an actual tool to talk with the homies. AND SURPRISINGLY ENOUGH, I got really good English scores both in the writing and speaking aspects, to the point where I almost forgot my mother tongue. The reason why xenophobia exists is because of the intrasocial influences to think that the majority of foreigners are seen as creepy. But man, ain't just that. Probably because of the language barrier as well, being someone who used to suck at English back in the olden days kinda got me fearful if I make any mistakes, even misunderstanding some things as well
Just to close it off, don't think of it as xenophobia, we aren't just as educated on the language and haven't got used to seeing foreigners (especially white people). So don't take it to heart. We want to be open about stuff, but the language barrier and stuff makes it even harder. Good thing I got outside influences to build who I am today
You are white ffs, when did u start beliving u are yellow damn... Love from Romania !!
@yuzuruizumieggy Imagine not making it so hard bro
Loving your family isn't h ating the neighbors
ruclips.net/video/XuCtoG8806c/видео.htmlsi=h9yG7OQOPsXn0aS7
You are wrong. I've lived in Japan for 30 years. Japanese people are really racist. Like I pay taxes but I can't vote. I want to rent a place but no because I'm white. I sit down at a table and people get up and move. (no I don't smell or look bad, I've had more lovers outside Japan than you ever will in the world).
As an English teacher, I totally understand what you mean when you talk about the fear of making mistakes in English. I wish the teachers here would tell students that we foreigners don't care about mistakes in grammar. We just want to talk. Japan would be a much better place with everybody speaking broken English to us than totally being isolated.
@@jezzaroddy Nah, that would be lowering the bar and cringe
I empathise with you. Felt this after about 2 months in Japan. It's a very upsetting and crippling feeling. Then I realised the country was not for me.
Fortunately, I visited Bangkok before. 2 years here now and never experienced racism. The Thai people are very welcoming, and most of the things I like about Japan is here too. Stay strong dude!
yeah I lived in Japan and I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. and just as JJMcCullough said the worst part of all is you MUST NOT criticize anything that happens to you by any means, because if you do IT'S YOUR FAULT, and both the locals and the gaijin all take this stance. it's a weird cult-like mentality.
I mean that's pretty much how the west views vvomen. Innocent by default, all the time. Criticize them once and it's your fault since you shouldn't have been a "sexist inceI".
btw, the victim blaming "its your fault" happens wrt every wrong in japanese society. PM got shot? its his fault. girl got S-Aed, totally her fault. Kid got bullied? Kids fault. Foreigner got discriminated - their fault.
thats why you have got to call people out on their bullshit especially foreigners to toe that line.
this is very similar to what im experiencing now. i live in china and just like you, study in foreign studies university, so there are more foreigners here than chinese people. all of my classmates are not chinese and they are nice, very welcoming and friendly. my japanese classmates though? every time i speak to them i feel like an intruder, they look down on everyone who is not asian. this japanese girl (who i considered to be my friend) would just organise all those fun activities and she ONLY invites koreans/japanese. in your video you said that "that's because you are not asian" but trust me they hate other asians as well, just not so openly. this nation is so racist it feels illegal. i actually confronted my classmates about it and they said "oh it's because they are not clean" and yeah, "they" is basically everyone besides japanese people
it feels almost comical on the contrast to how chinese people treat foreigners and we literally live in china/////
i wish we could talk about this more openly because i dont see why i cant share my concerns with others w/o coming off as rude. they'd be talking about chinese people having no manners (living off of chinese government money btw) and then only speak japanese to others like if you don't know it you are not even worth talking to
sorry for any mistakes english is not my first language!
also a lot of ppl here say that its "only natural" very "normal" and "its their culture" but i dont think being racist can be accepted as a norm in 2024. sure blame foreigners for not knowing the etiquette but in my case i dont even live in japan and i still need to follow their rules???
dont get too fancy, racism exists in china too. true though, it is not as vocal and obvious as in jp.
Aren't Chinese Asians too? Why they don't accept you?
@@1regre777 This is not normal not even in Japan. I wish I knew what these girls thinking.
I'm confused. Are you saying that a Japanese girl studying in China has no right to decide with whom she wants to hang out?
As an introvert day to day and extroverted when drinking alcohol I felt like I fitted right in (This applies mostly to Tokyo)
Kansai region is completely different and is more friendly in a way you can just approach anyone and they will speak to you and not try to avoid you.
Thank you for making this video. As a white man (literally blonde hair) I have an interest in Japanese culture and have even been self studying the language for 4 years now. I used to want to live there but I have since changed my mind after hearing all these foreigner racism / Japanese xenophobia stories. Yours is just one of the many that I have heard. It's clear they don't want us there. I'd still like to visit, but living there is out of the question now, and I guess I understand. I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but thanks again for sharing.
I am sorry this happened xS i have found the only place i tend to make friends is at language exchange events.. because the people who attend these want to learn english they tend to be open minded and friendly towards foreigners.
I contacted a realtor to find an apartment in Nagoya. He drove me round several places. Unbelievable hole in the floor toilets. Eventually he was about to contract me but had a message from the owner that he didn’t want a foreign tenant. I found a place myself but still was demanded to pay the realtor.
I find it hilarious that people are judging his ability to assimilate when he was already been stared at and avoided before he even did anything. 🤷♂️
I experienced something eerily similar with Koreans Chinese and European foreigners in a language school in Japan and in fact I got ill and almost passed out in the street and the only person that helped me out was a Japanese girl that could barely speak or understand english, but it was just enough to ask her to call the school manager and tell him I needed help (my phone plan actually expired and couldn't call anyone), other foreigners told me ""they were late and they couldn't help me"
What I learned is that when Japanese specially silly young girls say that they love "Americans" they mean Brad Pitt not us so we are subject to earn people's friendship just like regular people and sometimes people simply doesn't like us either because of how we look speak move or talk, certain faces make people believe we are arrogant or dangerous or boring is like going back to high school.
Having those Genki books in the bin in the background speaks to my soul
Genki is a terrible textbook
I completely agree. I’m half Japanese but can’t speak much of the language and I have definitely experienced the subtle differences in how I’ve been treated compared to full Japanese people. It’s hard as I feel so much belonging here as I have grown up with my Japanese mum and Japanese culture but I know that I am not seen (and treated) like everyone else. My goal has always been to live and work in Japan but after being in the country for the last month, my mind has definitely changed.
Man seeing so many comments justify that behavior shocks me. I haven't visited Japan (yet), so I have a limited perspective on the issue, but in my eyes it isn't that hard to be understanding towards people who come from other cultures. Of course one should learn the basic etiquette of a country he or she is moving to or visiting, but as a human being one should also be able to try and understand others, and see that difference does not warrant hostile or rejectful behavior. A foreigner is bound to make some mistakes or do things that might seem out of the ordinary for a japanese person, but is it that hard to understand that they likely don't have any harmful intentions? This is just straight up racism, even if that is somewhat accepted in some parts of Japanese culture.
@@Thomas48484 THANK YOU!
Assuming it happens to all foreign-nationals is your first mistake. People are accepted or rejected by their own behavior, mannerism, mindset, personality, culture, skill, education etc. If you think that is "straight up racism," Japan is definitely not the country for you.
When I was growing up we had a naturalized citizen from Finland serving in the Upper House; an Armenian mathematician teaching at a Japanese university (who later became the Armenian Ambassador to Japan); Georgian, Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, and Hawaiian Sumo wrestlers; naturalized Brazilian football players on national team; a number of successful Taiwanese and HK-Chinese singers; and a Brit named Peter Barakan hosting a TV show introducing foreign documentaries.
There were a number of Americans on Japanese TV as well. There is a Harvard graduate named Patrick Harlan who is also a TV personality, commentator, and comedian. We also have an Uzbek/Uyghur naturalized citizen currently serving as Member of Parliament. She used to work for the Bank of Japan and later the United Nations before running for office.
And if go a bit future back, the gentleman who created Cup Noodles (ANDO Momofuku) is originally from Taiwan. The person who founded "Lotte Group" was a Korean migrant to Japan. He made his money selling gum and chocolate in the post-war era. And one of the richest and successful businessman in Japan (SON Masayoshi) is the son of a Korean migrant. He's the founder of Softbank.
You should take a look at "GAGA Channel." Gagamaru was a really well-loved SUMO wrestler from Georgia. And then you'll know what type of foreigners are accepted in Japan. Many of the people who are interviewed in his channel are also from various countries.
@@yo2trader539 My point was not that it's wrong for a different country to have different morals and behavioral standards, but that a person should generally be able to understand that one who comes from another culture might behave differently to them, and that the difference in appearance or behavior is not always intentional.
It's impossible to act completely identical to how an average Japanese person would, or know the entirety of their etiquettes and morals by heart when you're someone who's still new to their culture. Just like a language, it takes time to adapt to a new culture. Just because some of the people you mentioned in your comment were succesful and accepted in Japan, does not mean that they didn't go through trial and error to learn the Japanese way of handling things.
There's also a difference in shunning someone who intentionally acts disrespectful towards or is unwilling to learn your culture and someone who has good intentions at heart. Also in this case there were way less variables at play, FreeBird seemed to be immediately judged based on his appearance alone.
If I met someone who was American and they did something which is considered rude here, I wouldn't distance myself or act in disgust/anger towards them. I'd simply inform them of what they did and why we find that thing to be rude and if they aren't willing to change after, then it'd understandable for me or someone else to not like said person.
Edit: Also Japanese people tend to romanticize Americans they see on TV (Especially with celebrities), in the same way a lot of Western people do with Japanese media, so that's not always an accurate representation of how a random guy in Japan should act.
@@Thomas48484 Again, you're comparing Japan with another country. Nobody knows or cares how things are done in other countries, just like most American wouldn't care how things are done in foreign countries, including your closest neighbors.
And perhaps you were never discriminated in your own country. Japanese visitors have plenty of stories that they can tell you, be it in the US, France, Canada, etc. Sometimes waiters don't even taken your orders. Sometimes they're assaulted on the streets. Sometimes they're made fun with Asian-sounding greetings, or other hand gestures. Sometimes cops pull you over.
So when some White American dude talks about Racism based on his experience in a school classroom...it's beyond funny. Doesn't he know Asian people are getting assaulted on the subway in the US just because they're Asian? What kind of bubble is he from?
Let me it put more bluntly. Japanese society accepts foreigners who are compatible with and can contribute to Japan. In other words, those who can assimilate culturally and integrate socially. I have no doubt every one of them went through an acclimatization period. Some probably took longer than others. Some probably struggled more than others. But Japanese society only accepts and appreciate those who made the effort.
I know many people who left after a few years because they weren't compatible with Japan, or couldn't find a foothold. It could be for family reasons, personality, career ambitions, financial goals, skillset, education-level, social values, sexual orientation, etc, etc.
I also suspect liberal/woke segment from Western Europe, North America, or Australia generally won't do that well in East Asia, especially because they're seen as too alien. This is based on my observation of people from Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union who blend in as if they were raised here. They tend to be more socially conservative and respect and value traditions of various cultures including their own. And Slavic speakers are exceptionally good with languages.
Of all the people I've met in Japan, the ones who impressed me the most were from Central Asia. There are Uzbeks and Kazakhs who have near-native fluency in Japanese language and culture. But they grew up speaking Uzbek/Kazakh (i.e. Turkic), attended Russian-language schools since childhood, learned English via Russian language, and mastered Japanese in university. Japanese is their 4th or 5th language, yet they able to understand it better than most foreigners from English-speaking counties. They are language geniuses.
I also know people who visited on vacation just once, and realized Japan is where they want to be and have stayed for decades, received Permanent Visa, and eventually naturalized citizens. There is an interesting Brazilian teacher who teaches Japanese to Brazilians in Japan. Her ex-husband was a Japanese Descendant (i.e. Nikkei-Brazilian) so they came together to work hoping to save some money. Her Japanese Descendant husband couldn't stand Japan, but she loved it, learned the language, and now she's a language teacher in Japan, while her ex-husband is back in Brazil.
So you see, it's not our job to change for your benefit. Neither is it your job to change for the benefit of foreigners. By the way, from what I understand of American history on immigration, I'm pretty certain it was never easy for Irish, Italian, Polish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Mexican immigrants to adjust to America. It took an entire generation or two to be accepted in their newly adopted country that they called home.
i'm a canadian and i LOVE japan and japanese culture. it may not have been a plan of mine to life there years ago but seeing the declining state of my country it is becoming more appealing by the day. i'd rather live in a place where i am ignore but safe rather than a place where i am not ignore but unsafe.
Frankly, the way you think...is too alien for most Japanese people. The interpretation of events is also very American, and interesting and funny from a Japanese perspective. "You're Non-Asian" isn't just your appearance. It's referring to your culture, mannerism and mindset.
In terms of cultural proximity, we see people from China and South Korea and think that their behavior and mindset is from an alien planet. We see Americans and think they're from another galaxy. And obviously, Japanese people only appreciate and accept foreigners who are assimilated culturally. I have a suspicion that your experience may not have been different even if you were Asian-American. It's not because you're a foreigner, it's because you're an American.
I've studied and worked with Russians, Turks, Mongolian, Uzbeks, Kiwis, Malaysians...but they're far more assimilated than you were. Turks, Mongolians, Koreans are almost near-native speakers. And people former Soviet Union and Slavic-countries in general have excellent language training in their home countries, and have enormous flexibility and integrate incredibly well into Japan. Americans usually can only survive in an English speaking expat bubble.
A Japanese person will never assume that things in the US will be the same as in Japan. After all, they're fully aware they're living in a foreign country. The way you assume that you should be treated just like how you would be in the US, or complain how behavior and norms are different from what you know back home....sounds American. A very alien mindset in Japan. People in Japan have zero obligation to you.
I took Mandarin in college as a second-foreign language, and there was a South Korean student in my class. We all studied and struggled together for two years. She was born, raised, and educated in South Korea, and came to Japan for her undergraduate studies. It's not like she was particularly in to Mandarin or Chinese culture. But a second foreign language was mandatory in my school, so she chose Mandarin/Chinese hoping to improve her understanding of KANJI.
She took Japanese in her highschool in South Korea. She wasn't a native Japanese speaker, but fluent enough to be accepted as a full-time student in Japan. She struggled with KANJi more so than native-Japanese speakers...but she got along perfectly with everybody in class. We used to hang out after class almost every week. Sometimes our Chinese professor joined us in our "study group" (aka drinking party) gathering too.
She knew all the best affordable Korean restaurants in Tokyo, and she's the reason why I still enjoy マッコリ (makgeolli). I think it helped her that there were certain common phrases and words that she recognized in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Learning KANJI definitely helped improve her Japanese reading/writing. By the time she finished university, she was near-native in her Japanese.
What made it even more interesting was our "Chinese" professor was actually an ethnic-Korean or 朝鮮族 from Northeast China (aka Inner Manchuria). He explained to us about various minorities in China, and how they're educated, what languages they learn, or how the Chinese university exam system works, etc. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that a significant portion of Chinese nationals living/working in Japan are ethnic-Koreans and Mongols, or that some of them study Japanese in high-school, or that it's one of the elective languages for university exam in China.
I'm not American and I can see the American mindset here.
When you are in another country, you will always act differently from the standards of what is considered normal for that country.
And this is valid for any place, even for different regions within one county. It's a set of factors.
Yeah, you're insufferable.
I’m an American, I don’t understand this guy’s mentality with going to another country to study and not learning the language well enough or customs at all and then being surprised that people are put off by him.
Not like I understand Japanese norms or culture super well, but I feel like he was pretty oblivious in this scenario.
A 21 year old kid is not at all representative of long term American expats. Your "Lol that's sooo American" attitude is ignorant and disrespectful to all the American expats that try very hard to integrate and still feel like outsiders.
In the west we have a word for that.... "narrow minded" meaning you lack the complexity of thought, empathy and open-ness to understand the world from another perspective to the point where you refuse to see the humanity in someone else, ignoring the 99% similarities to hyperfocus on the 1u% differences. and that's not a good thing to be. Its considered an extremely primitive way of thinking.
I hear you! I went through similar experiences in Japan & elsewhere. Racism & other forms of prejudices exists everywhere at various degrees. I'm of mixed Japanese and Chinese decent born in the Philippines. Both of my parents' families moved to the Philippines a generation or two before the start of WW2. There will be people who read this will say how is that possible? Those people most likely never left their social bubble/never left the city or state they reside/don't know how the world works. Enough of my rant. I move on. I immigrated to the USA with my family. Growing up I was shunned at my Catholic school because my parents were not doctors, being the FOB (fresh off the boat), give hefty donations to the school & treated bad for being of Asian decent. My army experience (enlisting in 1988 and becoming an officer in 1992) the racism level was up a rank. I had fellow soldiers who witnessed how I was treated just say "you were just born the wrong race. But we accept you." I visited the Philippines with my family. My cousins who are Filipino (born and raised there) tell me "you can never be one of us no matter how hard you try; Japanese boy." "Japanese boy" was said in a sneering way. My brother was about to say something and my dad pulled him aside and had a talk with him afterwards. Fast forward in time to Japan. It was 2014. I had already had a combat tour in Afghanistan, lived in Germany, did stuff in Afghanistan and Iraq as a PMC. Before arriving my uncle who retired from a Tokyo company and moved to the Philippines for cheap living gave me what to expect. I experienced "bad Japan" in my first year of living here. My group was harassed by Bozozoku every other night. My workplace had local communist protesters. Kyoto is the capital of communism in Japan btw. Yes there are communists in Japan. There was little to no English support (a motivator to learn 日本語。We lived in the countryside of Kyoto Prefecture. There was a sign put up in the apartments we moved to saying "American soldiers go home." I heard about there was Japanese language lessons offered and I sign up at town hall. The gentleman who worked there said to me in perfect American English "We don't teach the likes of you. " The likes of me?" When I told him my family if originally from Chiba-ken; it only fueled his hatred in my direction. Yes hatred not dislike. It's countryside Japan. My group are the first Americans since the post WW2 occupation. A year and half later I had a private tutor for a year before I got transferred to work in Eastern Japan closer to Hokkaido. I started to experience "good Japan" after traveling outside the area I lived. I ventured to Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Hamamatsu, Tokyo, Chiba-ken, Saitama-ken, Sendai & Sapporo just to name a few. I found my nichè in gaming, fitness & martial arts (started martial arts in the military & still continue in Japan). As an American living in Japan for the past 10 years; all I can say is take the good with the bad. Don't bother with people in the honeymoon period. If they break away from their delusions they will either leave with a bad taste or adjust to life here. I still find myself saying to myself time to time "why Japanese people why....." Learning the language is a slow burn for me but I learn. I have co-workers married to local national have been in Japan longer than me and the only word they know is konnichiwa こんにちは。That's just my life. I like K-pop too. I like heavy metal & goth more.
A lot of the time I’ve noticed that when something seems outrageous or gross it gets called American. So while English is used to make products seem a lot better than they actually are. There’s this other layer that associates it with the ‘barbarians’ from the west.
Written English or loan words are okay, prestigious in some cases.
However the people who speak the language natively are not seen the same way. I guess paper is less intimidating than the real thing.
I've never been to japan before, but I'm currently doing the whole immersion thing (your videos and a few other channels are my exceptions though) and I gotta be honest, the more I learn about japan on a more deeper level the less I'm starting to like it. Definitely going one day tho. I'm possibly even whiter than you are so hopefully I'll have some funny discriminatory stories to share. Great video
Because you treat Japan not as a country with it's good and bad and more like a theme park where everyone is there to make you happy.
@@kos2919 What the fuck? No. I learn more about the fucked up aspects of their culture, the strict copyright laws (judging from their youtube videos) and the prevalence of the rotten filth that is the yukkuri scene. I am not some weeb, just a guy.
Like I literally went into it *knowing* about the xenophobia, the justice system, the work hours and not even being a particularly big anime fan. The more I learned after that is what is making me a little averse
@@PunishedSpindle300 "Man went to other country, still shocked that they're different than his"
And? What so different than an Asian guy like me coming to USA, got shocked with gang culture in Boston, and yet still enjoying my time there.
Growing up means knowing the value of other countries can be quite different. It's not our job to dictate them. This isn't pre-WW2 colonizing mentality anymore.
@@kos2919 What the hell are you yapping about man 🤣
@@PunishedSpindle300 what is this "yukkuri" scene? i have never heard of it before.
I can relate. I also lived in Japan as an exchange student and had similar negative experiences, but they were rare, and thankfully, most of my interactions with the Japanese people, and East Asians in general, were quite positive. Actually, the ones I had the most trouble with were other foreigners, specifically Western Europeans. You see, I'm a Jew, and let me tell you, the Japanese dislike of foreigners I'd sometimes encountered was nothing compared to the Nazi-level anti-Semitism I had to put up with from European fellow students, primarily those from the UK and Spain.
yo that is wild.
Fwiw (I wasn’t there) the teacher herself didn’t sound racist but she was very honest with you 😅 Probably had a しょうがない attitude about her students and didn’t want to try to disrupt the classroom 和
As a Japanese person, I feel very sad that something like this happened. If I were to explain it, Japanese people are extremely shy and generally do not like to communicate with people they do not have much contact with. That may have been a factor in my cold response. I think it could have happened even if you were Japanese. I also attend a university with many foreign students, but the cultural differences and language barriers are so big that I find it difficult to make friends overseas even though I want to. I hope that this will help ease the pain of the troubles and discrimination that you have experienced in Japan, even if only a little. Please feel free to comment if you find any cultural differences or translation errors.
(This translation uses Google Translate)
I would comment “yayyy” over a new video coming out but with the subject matter i decided that might not be the best idea
(And im guessing this is about that one story you told on stream that one time?)
@@jan_Soje yes exactly
Try being a foreigner with a tattoo in the Kansai country side who’s Fiancés parents don’t want you there
「我慢しなさい」
「しょうがない」
私：😅🥲
Recently I was reading Based on a True Story: A Memoir by Norm Macdonald and found this quote;
"Then the cat slung the dead mouse into the short hay and strolled away. This
last moment was what surprised and frightened me the most. This whole
endeavor had nothing to do with food. And this is when I learned that
hardscrabble truth: There is a difference between what a thing is and what it
appears to be"
It is a pattern that to grow, one must sacrifice purity and innocence for the sake of disruption and corruption. The void that these corruptions leave is where we can adapt and learn. Many Japanese don't want corruption of their little burble and mask, and are willing to use violence (as not all violence is physical) to defend appearances. But as the cat of the quote just follows its nature and not human moral, social norms follow history and geography. As such, the reasoning of 'you are not Asian' makes sense by no making any sense.
But what is our paper in this amalgamation of factors that define culture? What can we do as members of other culture?
Well, maybe we can find answers in the way Norm Macdonald presents us the cat;
' I see the cat, who’s licking himself and swatting horseflies with his tail
as he lies beneath an improbably large maple tree that is blighted and dying. I
look up the tree and see there is something up high too, hiding in one of the
crooks of its reaching branches.
Something that is watching.
And the back of my head hits the headrest as I see that the thing in the
tree is me."
You mention that the Japanese students at your university wanted to learn korean because they were K-pop fans, and you found that cringe (5:59). At the start of the video, one of the main reasons you wanted to learn Korean was K-pop (2:14). How do you reconcile with these two contradictory thoughts.
Think at 2:14, he implied that he got into learning Korean from K-pop and then found the Korean culture interesting and so kept learning Korean then at 5:59 he said the japanese girls were only interested in Learning Korea because of K-pop and they weren’t interested in other aspect of Korean culture. Which then he said only wanting to learn Korean because of K-pop was cringe sort of like how some people want to learn Japanese only because they are a fucking weeboo
I feel like this is more of a 'being a minority' thing than a Japan thing, but it is certainly easier to be a minority in Japan than the US, Aus etc.
Overall, great video, though the thumbnail was a bit clickbaity.
How is it easier?
I am Sri Lankan, and I have a part-time job in a Convenience store. I do speak Japanese fluently. Man, I was shocked one day. When I gave the remaining money to a lady customer she refused to take it in her bare hand. She asked me to keep the money on the Table. Then she took it. I was shocked and upset. She came again to the store. I did not go to help. One of the Japanese lady crew members did the bills. But this time, that rude customer took the remaining money and receipt from her. Man, I was totally down. I had a big respect to the Japanese before I came to Japan. There are a bunch of foreigners in Sri Lanka too. We never ever do this kind of thing to foreigners. This is so Rude :/
bro, that ur mistake, if I remember in a lot of places om Japan the cashier cant give money direct to customer hands.
I'm sure your employer taught you to use the tray for handling money. Whether you're in a Japanese bank, department store, hotel, or postal office...it's the same. It would considered poor manners to give money by hand in Japan.
Yes some japanese people are racist - but just when you have an obvious racist situation against you - reply back !
@@Pincherfods33 Yes they can. Bcz of COVID there were some restrictions, but not now..
@@yo2trader539 I have never seen that in the convenience store. I have been here almost 5 Years. People are in a hurry. They have no time to collect money one by one.
When a Japanese person is ignoring you, just say おまえ…あほですか「omae... aho desu ka」and then they'll probably talk to you then.
I know what that phrase means!
@@FreeBirdJPYT ehhh...😅
As a non-Japanese Asian person. I think using the word "racism" might not be literally correct. Japanese also discriminate against other non-Japanese Asian people too (which are the same race as Japanese). You are discriminated not because of you're white but because of you're non-Japanese (regardless of your race). They will only be nice to you if they can get money for you (e.g.as a tourist). But when you hear Japanese talking to each others or interview about foreigners, more often than not, they likely to have discrimination opinions and negative attitude against foreigners. You'll hear these a lot if you watch Japanese-only language media.
I experience racism at post Katrina New Orleans, a time where most left were poor black people who couldn't afford to leave. I was called racist names and insulted to my face a number of times. I never new how much it sucks to be treated like that.
negative canthal tilt oppression actually
I stayed in Japan 1.5 years. On the whole, it was a wonderful experience. But I did experience racism time to time - the more subtle kind. I could relate to your video. Sorry you went through that.
One of my oddest experiences was when a girl I hadn't seen before ran past me and kept running, occasionally looking over her shoulder. I thought that was odd. Then I realised she was running away from me. Oh, I hadn't even realised she existed until a moment ago, but she was terrified of me. Weird.
But it is what it is. As a foreigner, you have to know your place as an honoured guest. Often I had to talk to people in English even though my Japanese was better than their English because it would confuse them otherwise.
If you are still interested in learning Korean check out the Sejong Institute, I took it there and absolutely loved it and its all different people in the class. My class had people from USA, South America, India, Europe etc. I'm not east Asian and felt really comfortable in the class.
Bro, I'm suprised you didn't expect that situation to happen..
I feel you about scratching korean culture with just the kpop though
I know nothing about japanese customs, but the girl tried to get away from you the whole class, and you ask for her number in the end, the result was kinda predictable 😂
Idk what he was expecting
The Video:👨🗣
Me:Looking at 🗑
The textbook title is also interesting lol GENKI!!
I learned Korean before coming to Japan, I can second that being a Korean learner in Japan as a foreigner (especially male) is straight up pain in the ass. Most ironic part is that I do have some Korean friends irl (and chat with them in Korean) but I 100% cannot blend in Korean-study group in Japan (oh and some of the groups would just refuse male or non-Japanese/non-Korean to join in first place). If I didn't learn Korean in my home country I will never be able to learn Korean
The weirdest part is that none of your foreign friends understood. That is very weird. In the other classes, do you feel like the students didn't treat you as oddly? I hope other classes of majority Japanese classes treated you more warmly.
I took a class in Mandarin Chinese where most of the students were Japanese and it had a similar vibe.
Algorithm knows. I’ve been an exchange student in Thailand for 3ish weeks now. Same feeling. I’m a 210lbs white guy. Yep, I’m like a circus animal to some people.
yes they did not sit next to me in train or elevator
My first thought was that it's a language class and they don't want to make a mistake in front of the foreigner. But Japanese society is insular and perhaps it was just racism.
Lumping everything outside as one thing "foreign culture" is very American. They are interested in Korean culture, that doesn't mean they are interested in any other culture, or even "foreign cultures" in general. You're just a random foreigner from a culture they have zero interest in, and thus treated so.
Yeah, forget human decency if you’re not interested in someone’s culture
Not problematic at all 😂
Weebs will defend anything japan does
No it's very Japanese. Gaijin.
Bro do you know japan
@@1313tennismanI do
I’m learning Japanese, 5 months so far. Have ADHD so I am assuming it’s gonna take me triple time to learn. I estimate at least becoming almost fluent at least within 10 years. I plan on moving there when I’m older around 50s, by a nice house in a small city. I’ve heard that things aren’t so bad outside of the major cities like Tokyo. I’ll probably get a job at the local コンビニ. And move out my life until I am not here anymore.
I can agree that they were being racist but the whole “the koreaboos don’t wanna talk to me” situation is hilarious. 😂 the teacher was flat out like “naw but you ain’t asean tho”
I remember being ghosted as in trying to ask for help in japanese to a local and being absolutely ignored and I was like shit this stuff does happen, but also some japanese people were really happy to talk with me
I went to Korea and Japan, but I have to say the place where I feel as you described was more in Korea, but in japan not too much, maybe because people dont talk too much
I've heard korea is racist asf. Never been but South Korea and the DMZ has been on my bucket list for years.
So, did you get the girl's Line eventually? /s
of course not
@@FreeBirdJPYTbro fumbled!
Mixed Asian here born And raised in the U.S. I experienced racism and xenophobia my entire life. I’m writing this comment while on vacation in Japan. I know what it feels like. It is cruel as it got it from both sides. Very cruel. May the world evolve into something g better?
@@michaelbui6618 I hope so. Someone should be judged by a content of their character, not by the color of their skin.
im American i dont dislike japan of culture i do watch some anime manga and i like japanese women but their xenophobia/racism has to end in their culture
Japanese folks might seem super friendly on the surface, but there's often a hidden layer of jealousy and resentment towards foreigners, which seems to come from their own insecurities and strict way of life. After living and working in Japan for a decade and being married to a Japanese guy, I've seen this firsthand. Sometimes, their condescending or rude behavior feels like a way to push foreigners to leave sooner. Because of that, I’m totally set on sticking around for as long as I can, just to ruffle some feathers.
I'm sorry for you. I hope your experience next time is better.
appreciate you adding your perspective
I’m really sorry that you experienced that. I would have cried in the bathroom I’m not gonna lie 😭 I’m such a people pleaser as it is so I can’t even imagine being treated as if I was some alien. I would be so hurt I really have to admit to that😣
When I went to Japan for a year I came there KNOWING I would ALWAYS be seen as a foreigner. I knew how things would be and I accepted it. I get extra attention and sometimes even get random discounts just because I’m black. It’s nice. I know I’m not Japanese and I never want to be Japanese. I stayed there because it was fun and I plan on coming back. Don’t come here if you are trying to live here as an actual citizen, like you are actually Japanese. You will NEVER be Japanese. If you accept that you’ll have a lot more fun. Take pride in who you are. I’d say it’s even more fun not being Japanese. The average Japanese life seems so boring and being a BLACK foreigner in Japan makes it so much more fun. Take advantage of your nationality and have fun! I’m an extrovert though so that counts for it too. If you are an extrovert in an introverted environment it can really make things fun. Makes getting girls easier too.
I fully agree with this, and after a couple months this is the attitude that I started to take.
Living in Japan as a foreigner, you literally have no human rights. You exist solely by the grace of the government. I am also a black woman and in the end, all things considered, and gettign fed up of listening to the racist conversations of other people every daaaaay who assume you dont understand japanese, i decided to leave lol. I had a good time but the pain got painful.
Lived in Japan 7 years love it. Had similar problems but than had more fun’s than hatters caz was always
A nice and smiley to everybody. But had a lot of hate when I was with Japanese girlfriend. Everybody were saying to her that what is she got to do with me and do I pay her money to be with me? But they didn’t know I speak Japanese and could understand. Plus I think confidence and your spirit strength are important in that country! They sense it very well that’s why they stare a lot on you. But if you don’t give afraid looks they will avoid you. I have a lot of stories from Japan. Bad and good. Best time in my life I think…😊
As a non-Japanese I can't say for certain, but it really sounds like the problem there was less about you being foreigner and more about you being a guy. If you were Japanese you'd probably know better of what to expect, but wouldn't get a much better experience, as I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the ever-increasing divide/disconnect between genders in Japanese culture (birthrates ain't dropping for no reason).
hey freebird this the reason why eastern culture and western culture will never be united as a single culture? i dont want to be labeled as foreigner but we need a single earth country without problems sometimes i ask myself why cant japan be like the western culture?
The East and the West do have their differences, and I don't foresee them uniting as one large cultural complex, like how Europe and America/Australia/Canada are, or like the Islamic world or the Indian Subcontinent. And that's fine. People don't need to all be the same to coexist.
Thank you for sharing this story, and I am sorry you were treated so awfully in your time studying abroad. I still hope you keep the same interests and you can achieve your goals.
What I get from this is, like you walked into a group of very close friends, partners in crime, and you're not. But there in Japan its not really like that but it manifests like that.
Thank you
Nothing to do with racism. Why would you take the teacher's opinion as gospel? University girls, especially those vacuous enough to be into K-pop, are some of the most judgmental people around. You were not chad enough for them and they don't even want to be seen near you, let alone interact with you. You are the human equivalent of Paris syndrome to them, serving as a stark reminder of the disappointment of reality.
It's possible to overcome inherent nature with charm and social grace, obviously aided by knowing the language, but basically you jumped into the deep end and drowned. It would have been the exact same experience as a male of any race or nation with what you were/are working with. Japanese beta men get the same treatment they just recognize their place.
This is your mind on inceldom
The are the most terrible person in the world and politeness doesn't make them kind person's. They are dealing with tourist people all around the world for decades they have to get over their obsession.
I’ve been the only black person in my entire school and I’ve experienced the exact same. You get used to it. I’ve seen people move their cars back when I pass by and lock their car doors. It sucks at first but it kinda just becomes the norm.
Dont let it become the norm. Its not normal.
I think you’re conflating racism with people being awkward around someone from a foreign background. Especially if they grew up in a country in which 98% of folks share the same heritage. It’s uncomfortable to collaborate with people you can’t communicate with, you said yourself that your Japanese wasn’t great at the time. It’s awkward, and I don’t think it comes from your race, gender, or ethnicity.
You suddenly showed up in their class halfway through the semester, and perhaps they were anxious that they’d have to try communicating with a foreigner on top of learning Korean.
I feel like you might’ve read into the situation a little too much, however it’s your lived experience, and I appreciate you sharing it. It’s good that people speak up about their experiences.
I’ve lived in Japan for 8 years, and I can’t say I’ve been privy to any direct racism.
Being uncomfortable with people who don’t share the same heritage as you isn’t a result of racism?
Visibly recoiling from someone and refusing to help them isn’t a result of racism?
Running away from someone without saying a word after grabbing someone looking terrified isn’t a result of racism?
Continuing to be stared at and avoided repeatedly and then having it confirmed by someone from there that it’s because of your race is not a result of racism?
Ok Jan 🙃
@@Princetonian4eva Please read my post again.
Being afraid that you can’t communicate with someone (especially when that’s what you’re supposed to be doing in a class), shows disdain towards socially awkward situations, regardless of that person’s background. Certainly not towards the person for being Caucasian.
Racism, as I understand its definition, is harboring prejudice towards a certain race or group based on their skin color, background, or ethnicity.
Perhaps the definition of racism must be agreed on before further conversation can be had, however that itself is an intriguing topic I’d love to discuss.
This soo much
I'm glad these videos are coming out more and more. I haven't had this exact experience. With women, I've actually been lucky enough to only be around those that find me attractive 😂
But, I have experienced denial of housing simply for being a foreigner and just TONS of rude people, including some trying to start fights with me.
Wtf? Tom Macdonald makes music about being against racism. So what up?
Yeah, that was a big miss.
I am a Japanese and I think she could not speak English at all. When I was seriously studying German, I could not speak English at middle school level. My brain rejected English, even if understanding English promote me to learn German. Now, I have given up learning German, so I am open to both languages.
And many Japanese find it impossible to learn two foreign languages at the same time. So, she may feel that you are not serious about learning Japanese as a student. Unless you make an effort to learn Japanese seriously（まじめに頑張っている）, many people will not want to cover the losses caused by your poor Japanese language skills. Help is not free in Japan. Many people will only help you if it will bring you benefits.
I also did not know that learning two or more foreign languages at the same time is natural in other countries, so we need to understand it.
Did you register for the class and paid for the corresponding units?
I mean I was only two months here, it might be not enough but i had the best experience of my life, i know a little bit of Japanese and seriously everyone was nice to me, i never saw anything like avoiding me, the first month i got a Japanese girlfriend, and a Japanese friend who let me stayed in his home one night in Kyoto, (and play super smash) it was seriously amazing, again, two months might be no enough, so take it with a grain of salt, also...I am Mexican.
Still in a honeymoon period + haven't experienced enough Japan out there yet
If you dont speak Japanese, you cant pick up on most of the shit people say about you to yur face in public or when theyre being rude by japanese standards. ignorance is bliss when it comes to japan.
I felt like this guy to some extent when I was living in Seoul, Korea.
@@RealMNeutral31 I released a follow up to this video on my channel
Oddly enough people can still live with or without Japan if things get you too much.
Those girls must have been quite confused, when you entered their class. I mean, you are an American guy coming to Japan and after three months with having learned some basic Japanese you tell them you came to their class to study the Korean language. Sorry, but that must have sounded like an excuse. I’m sure the girls were upset, because they expected you hitting on them, and so you did with asking for a girl’s Line after she already avoided you.
I think the teacher should have told you to get a decent level in Japanese first, so that you can follow her explanations and try to reach the Korean language level of the class in self study before entering. With that kind of preparation things might have gone more smoothly, although still difficult.
that's the thing though, nobody tells you this stuff when you start Japanese university. Or at least not my university. Like they should have "Japan 101" with a whole list of stuff not to do, but they sort of just set us free without giving us any guidelines of how to act, so you end up doing this that you didn't assume where taboo.
I've had experiences with Japanese making me feel bad for just being there, and mentioning it to other expats who showed no sympathy. I don't need to say what I thought of these Japanese. It also seems many expats don't don't criticise Japan because they're afraid of the consequences, they don't want to give up their comfortable lives, it's weak.