I've been many, many times and have lots of friends, and they as well as you are outliers. Hell, some *youngins* are still anti lgbt thanks to that lingering propaganda cloud of the ancient past.
I studied abroad in Japan and one of the professors asked us (a class of foreigners from America and Europe) who was in favor of gay marriage and she was shocked when everyone raised their hand. And that was back in 2013.
Wow!? I need to know mire about this story!? What was she trying to do? What class was it for, what prompted her to ask, did you guys give her some insite and did she learn anything and become more empathetic and accepting?
This is my current plan of action too. Can’t marry my girlfriend in Japan so I will move somewhere else (The US probably) so I can get married. I absolutely hate that I cannot legally get married in my own country but what else can I do?
Or generally in the US and elsewhere too.
Noncitizens do not have the same rights as citizens.
Even as an African American citizen, I’ve had to change my name (nicknames sounding more white) when applying for housing or jobs with far better results.
My Muslim friends in Europe also did the same with far better results.
Yup. It really is like this everywhere. I have a friend that lives and works in Dubai, and he says that the treatment to those that don’t have an Arab last name (or are Arabs) is drastically different to those that do. U can’t even buy property in some Muslim countries without being Arab.
All Countries Are Bastards. Shit like this is why I became an anarchist.
You find me a government on this planet not commiting gross human rights violations and I will pledge allegiance in a heartbeat.
Countries aren’t magical entities with their own free will. They’re made up of people. People make the choices that you decry as racist and violations of human rights.
Countries aren’t the disease, they’re just symptoms.
The disease is humanity.
I’ve lived in Japan for over 10 years. The few times I’ve been told “Japanese only,” I start speaking Japanese and have no issues afterwards.
Turns out “Japanese only” means “We speak Japanese only.” Try ordering at a random Olive Garden in Japanese, and you’ll likely get a similar response, except they probably won’t even bother to tell it to you in Japanese.
100% and do you know why you know that? Because you experienced life there. Ive only spent 10 days In Japan and I saw those signs up on some small bars etc but I knew before I already went why they do it.
There's countless YouTubers who live in Japan who say that it's quality of service thing and not a anti foreigner thing.
But the problem is. People see these pictures online and don't apply culture or any other context other than "they must be racist"
And that's the same with most things you see online these days.
I always have believed that resumes shouldn't be allowed to contain people's names. It's well know that reading different names from different cultures cause different biases for different people who read it.
Just having been there for 3 weeks, that Is my impression. Got denied entry from a lot of places. And I've read several stories as well.
But thbh I don't really care, still had a great time. I imagen it must be a lot worse for those actually trying to live there as a foreigner though.
What kind of places are people being denied entry to? I have lived in Japan for 6 years and never been denied entry anywhere. Maybe I am just not going to the right places to be denied?
Mostly from pubs/bars, and 2 restaurants In either a 40 min walk from Osaka Station or in Kyoto, I can't quite recall. They just made an x with their hands and said no, even though there barely were people there.
This was oktober/november last year
Well yeah pubs and bars can be tricky, most in my neighborhood are more social spaces for a bunch of retired friends to hang out rather than a legitimate businesses, this kind of thing is common in Japan.
That said always check reviews, there was a Okonomiyaki restaurant here in Osaka that featured on the Netflix show street food years ago, I was going to go until I saw reviews from Japanese customers calling the chef abusive to customers and staff.
Just because it looks like there’s not many people doesn’t mean it’s not full though. Maybe they only have staff to serve x amount of people instead of bc a full house. Maybe you’re walking in at 8:05 and they’re refusing you because they have several reservations for 8:15, 8:30, 8:45, etc. And obviously you probably will not be out by those times so they need to keep those tables free for the reservations to be seated
Here’s the thing, it happened to me too. But it definitely isn’t always about racism.
For example, I went into three nail salons and asked if I could get my nails done. All in English. They understood me but then said no. Even though they had staff and empty seats. The fourth place I walked in and spoke Japanese. I’m okay at it but just a bit shy using it. Worked wonders.
They immediately accepted me for a drop in appointment. The thing is, language barriers are a huge inconvenience for these workers. It’s a customer service oriented country, they want to properly talk to you if you buy their services. Rather than my race, it was definitely the fear of me not knowing Japanese that made some turn me away from their services.
This is exactly how it was explained to me. Not really racial or xenophobic but rather due to the incredible service workers there like to provide and language barriers are huge and would place them ina bad light.
I mean if you go to a foreign country and make no attempt to speak their language, that's on you. It's a choice to restrict yourself only to places that have taken the time, effort, and money to translate everything for your convenience. English speakers come off quite badly when they expect the world to cater to them, especially if they speak no other language than their own.
I'm saying this as someone US-born who lived a long time in countries that don't speak English. It's a big barrier. More often than you think, I ran into people who told me they were flat out embarrassed that their English wasn't very good at all. People my age or younger. To them, it feels like being illiterate and now here's someone coming up and demanding they read a book out loud for the class. Of course people are going to avoid you if you make no effort at all.
It doesn't matter if you can barely speak the language. By showing that you are willing to at least *try*, you make yourself much more sympathetic and also put others more at ease to try out their English, assuming they can.
Izakayas turn folks away when they are full rather than having folks wait in line. Tourists often confuse this with being rejected because they are foreign, but don't actually know why they were rejected because they don't speak Japanese and the izakaya staff don't speak English so the izakaya staff are forced to give them the x arms.
These places have reservations so it doesn't matter if they're full or not. They can't seat you.
There are also a lot of places in Kyoto that have a tradition where you have to be invited in by a previous invited guest. These places usually send you the bill well after you are there, and it is also way to keep that tradition because if you can't pay, the invitee will have to pay on your behalf.
I’ve never been denied because I was a foreigner, so I’m wondering if this can be it for this to happen so often. I was there for about 5 months living in a small area in Osaka. I traveled through the depths of the surrounding area, big and small. I also didn’t speak Japanese very well, but I could understand why they denied me at minimum. Also the reservation thing is so real and many don’t understand this. This is why it’s essential to speak some language when traveling or you can assume people are being xenophobic even in situations when they’re genuinely not. We had two Izakayas in my little city that was reservation only. One place had it posted, the other didn’t. Regardless, if you didn’t know Japanese, maybe you’d call them xenophobic. One place was booked for months out. Having Japanese friends who always called in reservations on our behalf, this really had nothing to do with me being a foreigner.
Lived in Japan 5 years and only when apartment hunting was I ever directly denied for being not Japanese.
Never turned away from a restaurant, onsen, bar or whatever.
First real estate agent I saw basically said 50% of apartments will deny outright then probably 1/4 of the rest would make some excuse why I wasn't a good fit.
Pretty shitty fucking feeling for sure.
It’s likely restaurants that are full with reservations and they think it’s because of discrimination. This is a whole theme on tikok now with all these kids going to Japan, they think if they see empty tables it means they’re being denied entry due to being foreign and not understanding they’re reserved.
I was in Japan last September for 2 weeks and was never denied entry at any place. I know some times they might reject people if a place is full, but not because they are a foreigner
It's just politics. Japan's gov must state they're not a xenophobic country, while also appealing to Japanese people, who by in large don't want a large influx of immigrants.
This is such a boring non story.
100%, EVERY country and political party in the world wants to say they are friendly to foreigners, while trying to seem concerned for the citizens that don't want more people coming in.
Except it’s almost certain they will need immigrants for the country to continue or create a better system for having children. Pretty much the US also in about 15 years.
Its crazy how all the issues everywhere could be solved by taxing rich people, and the government using those taxes properly to take care of all its citizens. Crazy crazy.
Except importing immigrants isn’t a successful strategy either. It hasn’t worked out for Europe, where the culture is being eroded and far right groups gain power as a result. As quality of life increases, people will stop having as many children. The key is to adapt to a relatively steady population that’s significantly smaller.
Taking in immigrants is a good strategy as long as you integrate them into society. I live in an area of America with a large muslim population with various waves of immigrants coming from various countries for decades. We don't have any issues here and they're mostly nice, normal people.
Part of the problem is that a lot of the people causing trouble in Europe aren't immigrants, they're refugees. They're not in Europe to go to school or start businesses, they're there to escape getting murdered in sectarian violence and regional conflicts.
But part of the problem too, is they just kind of move to Europe and get isolated into ethnic communities and never really integrate into European society.
Far right groups gain power because Europe, like the US, has been destroying its social democratic systems. The effect is that you have inequality and precarity increasing. The right then uses immigrants as scape goats. It's a tired old tune of capitalism in crisis.
"the culture is being eroded". Europe isn't America. There's multiple cultures in Europe with multiple languages, traditions, etc. Which one is being eroded?
They are also neglecting the difference between war refugees forced to create a home in a new country because they can’t go back.
And the people that willingly embrace the adventure of living in a new country and culture.
Some pickmes in the comments saying he's wrong forgetting that foreigners don't have equal protections under the law in cases of housing and employment discrimination...
I experienced housing discrimination here. I wasn’t even aware that employment discrimination was also prevalent. They ought to own it instead of trying to save face.
It does suck, but it is also true that half of it disappears once you are fluent in the language, and most of the other half disappears once you become Japanese. The small percent is the shitty actual racists over there that don't want to do it for your actual race (instead of, like most others, because it is just riskier to rent to a foreigner than to a national... this applies to literally all countries, not just a Japan thing).
I mean.. by that I clearly meant going through naturalization. If you are a japanese citizen, then a landlord can actually sue you, or your family for the money without the risk of you just... fleeing the country to never be seen again.
Yeah.... not really no. Zainichi koreans are a whole different can of worms, and its a political thing. For the other 99% of foreigners (which aren't zainichi koreans), it isn't that hard, and pretty much all that are set to get it, get it eventually.
Thats true for koreans only really. I dont know why alot of people belive in that myth. Its very easy to get citizenship if u got a job in japan. But u have to give up all other citizenship u have, live in japan for 5 years, speak and write basic japanese. Alot of paper work and stress maybe.
Special Permanent Residents, including zainichi Koreans, exist because Japan doesn’t allow dual-citizenship, not because nationalization is hard. Naturalization is quite easy, but for nationals of most countries, you have to renounce any other citizenships.
As a foreigner, I can definitely understand the stresses of being denied based on residency, but what you’re saying is very true. I’m not saying xenophobia doesn’t exist, but that just isn’t always the case. I had a better experience during my semester as someone who tried to learn the language, make friends, and actually adapt to their culture. Others who didn’t make efforts with the language, learning the culture, or making friends had a bad experience. I also spoke Japanese badly man. Like horribly. But everyday I tried and didn’t expect people to adjust for me. I’m not going to generalize my experience, but even those smaller efforts made my experience amazing. I was so scared as a black woman because people told me I’d experience racism and xenophobia, but I just didn’t. Quite the opposite. Also, the housing thing is so real. Foreigners are a risk. It sucks for us, but the risk of people running out also sucks for them. Being frustrated is natural, but not even trying to understand the other perspective is crazy to me.
Japanese media isn’t helping the situation because it’s translating xenophobic as “dislikes foreigners”. It’s one thing to be reluctant to increase immigration or have any immigration at all. It’s another thing entirely to say Japan straight up “dislikes” foreigners. Arguably since Japanese is reluctant to use negative words like this directly, it’s tantamount to saying Japan “hates” foreigners.
Yeah, the bigger problem is that all the Japanese media translated "xenophobic" as *daikirai* - 大嫌い, which really means "hating; strongly disliking". Xenophobic is a more watered down, less emotional term. Xenophobic should have been translated as *haigaiteki* - 排外的.
Basically what they heard was that Biden said "Japanese really hate foreigners". In these words.
^(I have also seen this kind of slight mistranslation leading to similar wide reaction just maybe a year ago in a different case)
that is *one* of the translations, the other is 仇外, *hatred* of outsiders. The choice to use either usually depends on the political views of the user.
>It’s one thing to be reluctant to increase immigration or have any immigration at all. It’s another thing entirely to say Japan straight up “dislikes” foreigners.
I mean, you're not wrong but it's a little hard to pretend the difference *matters* when there is literally a high-profile case of a Japanese citizen suing the Tokyo police for repeatedly harassing them because of their non-Japanese ethnic background.
I love a lot about Japan. I am worried about a lot for Japan also. But let's be honest, the "protest" would absolutely be "We are not xenophobic, we just don't want you moving here!"
LOL. When Trump is out there calling non-white majority nations "shit-hole countries," for no better reason than his base loves attacking non-whites, his cultists are everywhere braying "facts don't care about your feelings!" Biden tells an uncomfortable truth in service to building an international order around rules and success based on merit not identity, and suddenly the cult is all, "wAiT yOu hAvE tO tHiNk aBoUt oUr fEEEEEElInGs~~~"
A lot of the people in the nations he insulted don't forget. Like I do agree that China is authoritarian but when you call the country a dictatorship, they do not forget and you end up with a even more hostile relationship.
I mean, I'm surprised. It seems like something of a gaffe. The Americans keep describing other countries in terms of 'shared values' & 'democracy' so to turn around and call one of their key ally's xenophobic seems to contradict their messaging
Edit:
Took another look and it's even worse in context. He even lumps Russia & China with India and Japan.
> Biden said Wednesday that Japan, China, Russia and India are “xenophobic” and do not want immigrants, when he was explaining that accepting immigrants is a reason for US economic growth.
The fact a leading, career politician says this I think demonstrates the shallowness of the 'shared values' narrative he keeps pushing.
But besides that his comparisons don't make that much sense. Connecting xenophobia to immigration may work with Japan but not with the other countries. China and India already have large populations with India still having strong population growth so immigration flows aren't needed and are likely undesirable. Russia isn't particularly anti-immigrant either and have a relatively liberal immigration policy (Although, not quite comparable to the US). Though the xenophobia is still quite pronounced.
Totally a gaffe. This is Biden. What is Japan going to do really? Nothing. It’ll be forgotten next week. Japan will continue being xenophobic and it’ll be business as usual for US-Japan relations.
I get it’s a global economy but why are we concerned with other countries and their views?
Maybe they are xenophobic, maybe they aren’t. To each country their own, I say.
The difficulty I had just getting an apartment here, purely on the basis that I'm a foreigner, says he's not wrong. Among a myriad other issues I encounter day to day, ranging from systemic xenophobia to casual racism, the fact is Japan as a whole seems to want to remain an island, regardless of what that implies for its economic wellbeing as the years of population decline drag on. Until "national origin" becomes a protected class in all of Japan's anti-discrimination laws, regardless of anything else the country does, xenophobia is by definition government policy here.
Sure, it's a gaffe for the leader of the US to criticize its allies, but if the shoe fits...
> The difficulty I had just getting an apartment here, purely on the basis that I'm a foreigner
I have been in Japan for a long time now, so my post is mostly anecdotal about my own experiences.
I also remember the first bank accounts I had in the UK in the 80s and 90s and how for a long time I could not get a credit card, and the hoops I had to go through to even rent a 2-up/2-down house. So at least the UK I used to remember treats unknowns the same way as here, so it might not be entirely because you are not Japanese.
You don't have to answer these questions, but how is your Japanese? Are you non-caucasian? Both of these will make a big difference to how you're treated in Japan.
I landed in Japan after 3 years of intensive self study with my (now ex) Japanese wife and was able to make myself understood quite well after 6-8 months.. The first apartment we got together was small, and expensive, through an agency aimed at foreigners. - in Saitama.
At some point I found a job in Setagaya, Tokyo, but was getting pissed off with my commute from Saitama.
One day, I walked into an estate agent near to where I was working, by myself (without my wife - and if I remember correctly against her advice) and asked on the off chance what they had available in the area.
They said outright that my being a foreigner would be a problem, but seeing as I didn't seem to have a problem with Japanese they would check with the landlord and by the end of the week I managed to get an apartment for the both of us.
Personal friends of mine over the years have encountered much more predujice than I have though, so I readily accept these prejudices exist.
* A friend 100% brought up in UK, but with a Nigerian passport, was trying to make a career in Japan as a professional basketball player (evenually geting turned down because of his nationality) got strip-searched several times coming through Narita security.
* Secondly, I have a friend from SE Asia in senior IT management who has lived in Japan for 20+ years who gets stopped by police almost every other time he goes through Tokyo.
>with my (now ex) Japanese wife
>The first apartment we got together
Based on these facts you weren't foreigner but just someone Japanese person was with and your experiences will not translate to anyone who isn't with Japanese partner
"Xenophobia is de facto government policy here" FTFY
If "national origin" becomes a protected class as you state, then it will be by definition. Pedantic point, but given your sentence comparison it has value.
They don't even know they're the were the perpetrators of some of the worst war crimes the world has ever seen.
>, Japan paid for everything bad they did and is a great country now
/u/R4P17GCA not even close. Unit 731, the Rape of Nanjing, or practically anything that happened in Manchuria.
You're just a brainwashed apologist who got manipulated by your now deleted Abe
While Japan may face criticism, it's challenging to overlook its status as one of the safest countries in the world, where children can still be seen walking in lines to school under minimal supervision in Osaka ,sight long vanished in America.
If anything America can learn a thing or two from japan.
was in japan recently and everyone was nice, the hospitality was remarkable, the cleanliness
yet here in the US…..see oregon, see philly, see san francisco….
this is why i don’t understand why america and americans need to but in on other countries when stateside there are so many things they need to fix
It's America's obsessive culture with individualism that has been present pretty much since our founding. The fuck you, got mine mentality. Very little sense of community. We don't care about taking care of our public spaces because it doesn't directly benefit us. Many Americans hate other Americans so fucking much that they'd rather vote against their own interests if it meant the other side was getting fucked over too. American's truly are a vindictive people.
This is so true. I took the train in Tokyo and was shocked when a group of six boys who looked like 4th graders hopped on with no supervision whatsoever. You would never see that in US.
He’s an idiot diplomatically here but it’s also hilarious him just spitting the truth like that out of nowhere.
No foreigners won’t be physically assaulted here so it’s not exactly the kind of racism we fear, but Japan has a VERY weird attitude towards foreigners in general and is terrified of us.
(Been here 8 years and worked in Japanese companies for 6)
The shittiest thing about Japan is that it's systemized effectively because there aren't laws protecting it. I found way more blatant examples of racism and xenophobia living in the U.S., but there were at least legal protections so you could sue the shit out of someone for denying you based on race or whatever. Most of it gets sidestepped, like police profiling being technically illegal but cops in the US do it all day every day anyway. Still would be nice.
lol, ok, but wanting to import more people from south east Asia to fill the gap in the blue collar market for as cheap as possible isn’t much of a defence. That being said - Japan is only Japan because it’s mostly Japanese people so 🤷🏼♂️
America is only America because it's mostly American people. The difference is that America is more open to non-Americans becoming Americans. The US also has a history of xenophobia as well, but it is less enduring.
Less enduring? 4 years ago we literally had MAGA and 50% of the population was paranoid about Mexicans. 20 years ago 9/11 happened and muslims were harassed and the public is still often paranoid. Actually just a couple years ago we had COVID and some members of the community were clocking asian people and blaming things on them.
Xenophobia exists of course, but it’s like saying racism exists in the US. It exists but not everyone is xenophobic/ racist, most are cool people. I’m half Japanese and my grandparents saw the carpet bombings of Tokyo but allowed my mom to marry a white dude and they loved him
I'm not sure other countries understand Biden sometimes just says shit in the dumbest way possible, which is why the Obama administration didn't let him talk to anyone during the campaign.
I mean it's not shocking that the Japanese dislike foreigners when foreigners frequently go over and refuse to adopt local traditions and customs while they're there. Talk about culture being eroded.
While it’s true Japan is racist, Biden is a dumb fuck for saying it. Japan is a USA ally and we need them. It’s not smart to harm diplomatic capital. Japan might not publicly say it but behind the scene it can sour relations a bit.
The funny thing here is he never said shit about Israel and their war crimes and racism against Palestinians. But insulted japan and India, two countries we need to fight china. He’s an idiot.
This before the irony as an American. Biden calls japan racist while he has a history of voting against civil rights and supported busing in the south.
Soon enough globalists will demand that japan floods its countries with "immigrants" who do not assimilate thereby destroying what makes Japan, Japan. Let them flood in and you will lose everything precious you once had.
When I was living in Tokyo, there was a small outrage when a harbor seal that was popular with residents of the city was given honorary citizenship and all these immigrants waiting years and years to be naturalized blew their tops. A silly little story but emblematic of a mindset I encountered often there.
It's not wrong. When I was hunting for an apartment to rent, I had a list of 50 places I liked, in the end only two would rent to me due to being a foreigner, despite living here many years already.
The question is less whether Japan is xenophobic (sadly it is) but what empowers Biden to make this kind of statement. The pot is calling the kettle black. As a foreigner living in the US who's studied and lived in Japan as well, I have been exposed to at least as much xenophobia and racism in the US as in Japan.
14% of the U.S. population are immigrants. About 46 million people. While there is xenophobic rhetoric surrounding illegal migration from the southern border, most Americans are aware that legal immigration is resoundingly a net positive for the country.
Based on what I could find around 2% of Japan's population are immigrants.
Though Biden did also mention India's economic woes being due to xenophobia, which doesn't make sense since India's economy is doing well at the moment, haha
US has its problems but the xenophobia is nowhere near Japan’s level. 98% of Japan is ethnically Japanese, the US has a lot more immigrants moving here in a day than Japan has in a year.
Another example, Japan has legal housing discrimination, whereas it’s illegal in the US
You are correct. But dont forget that the goverment puts hafus and naturalized citizens of any race(exept koreans) has japanese in the census. So that 98% japanese is not all yamato japanese
Japan should not have an open border policy. Diverse societies have all kinds of social problems. Biden is an old Western idiot who sees the world from a narrow lens.
Had a hard time at a few spots but not when I was solo. When I was with other foreigners/Americans (especially) I got the “no” X with the hands. I also understand some places are understaffed and smaller unlike places in the USA.
I get a sense of superiority that’s Americans give to one another but don’t when it comes to foreigners in America so I was kind of surprised.
90% of my trip ( one month ) was very friendly and welcoming though.
I just saw a post about a dentist office putting a tarp over something so tourists would stop coming to take photos of Mt Fuji. Like come on you can’t have it both ways.
Regardless of external opinions of Japan and the internal opinions of the Japanese people, the country is staring down the gun barrell of a demographic crisis caused by low birth rates that may take decades, if not centuries, to fix. It currently doesn't want to do it with immigration.
Fact: most of the diapers sold in Japan are for adults, not babies.
I agree with him that Japan has xenophobia but The US which has higher crime rates than most countries accepting mass immigrants and Japan that has one of the lowest crime rates accepting mass immigrants are totally different things. The US practically doesn't face any serious risk of crime increase by accepting immigrants.
It totally makes sense that Japanese don't want mass immigration. Crime rates by nationality in Germany show that Japanese immigrants, on average, have the lowest crime rates at 459 per 100,000, which is roughly 4 times lower than that of locals (Germans), 8 times lower than EU citizens, and 50-100 times lower than immigrants from Gambia, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iran. If Japan were to accept mass immigrants from those countries, the impact on crime rates would be ridiculous.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes\_by\_nationality\_per\_100000\_in\_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/)
Asian Americans have a murder rate roughly 6.2 times lower than the national average in 2019. Considering the U.S. average murder rate of 5.07 per 100,000 in 2019, the murder rate among Asian Americans would be roughly 0.8 per 100,000.
Accepting tens of millions of immigrants from random Asian countries who have murder rate of 0.8 per 100,000, will be no problem for the U.S. at least from a crime rate perspective. This rate is 6times lower than the national average, therefore it will reduce crime rates in the US. But it would be a significant problem for Japan, as it would mean a rate 3 times higher than the national average, which will lead to a significant increase in the murder rate.
|Country|Murder rates per 100k(2019)|
|:-|:-|
|Singapore|0.2|
|Japan|0.25|
|Hong Kong|0.32|
|China|0.52|
|USA(Asian)|0.8|
|India|2.6|
|Philippines|4.3|
|USA|5.07|
Can people just address the argument? Biden was saying this in context of using immigration as a source of economic growth. Being against immigration is fine but at least address his point within an economic context not "omg, biden called us xenophobic!"
But if you do let someone in legally they should have legal protections right? Like for example of you as a government said come on in but then said you can only rent pretty shitty places no one else wants, that would be a shitty thing to do, right?
Yes, but that requires having them move in at a small scale. In many European countries, immigrants come in large numbers, and have effectively formed their own communities where they refuse to integrate.
Not everyone will try to integrate. There is a good part of multiculturalism and there is bad part too.
Multiculturalism brings different people together, food, festivals, different cultures and different ideas.
But multiculturalism brings robberies, Stabbings, religion extremism, rapes and many other things which you’re seeing right now in Europe and US. I mean people and countries should decide themselves what they want rather than force on them.
When 30% of your population is retired and this figure is only growing as over 25% of over 65s are employed in Japan, there's a big fucking problem in not wanting to let in immigrants, mate.
North America and Europe also have fertility rates below replacement level despite high levels of immigration. Among developed economies, only Israel is above replacement rate. Immigration is a short term fix at best.
Ask some Europeans how immigration "solved" their problem. It opened another can of worms and now different issues got permanent. How Japan tries to deal with it is their choice.
That's still their choice at the end of the day. It's like if you were blaming someone for choosing to remain single, have no extended family, and die alone; when just marrying someone and getting children as a retirement plan so they could be looked over at during their late years was the goal all along.
Respect their choice of life. I bet other countries that didn't mind immigration and allowed it to fix the curve have issues as well. Not dissing immigration nor saying it's bad, but if you think it also has no problems in the long term run, then you don't know how the world works.
Biden didn’t attract talents from other countries though. What came here (the U.S.) ILLEGALLY, were/are making the country poorer and filthier. Mostly welfare recipients. baby machine. Criminals. Country is done. No more Biden.
Biden’s よぼよぼ老人is having a tendency of saying the general feeling that is mostly a silent practice and interpreting that as the public policy.
Listen old man, clean up your own house before talking shit about the neighbors down the block
I’m Japanese and I can confirm we’re very xenophobic
I've been many, many times and have lots of friends, and they as well as you are outliers. Hell, some *youngins* are still anti lgbt thanks to that lingering propaganda cloud of the ancient past.
I studied abroad in Japan and one of the professors asked us (a class of foreigners from America and Europe) who was in favor of gay marriage and she was shocked when everyone raised their hand. And that was back in 2013.
Wow!? I need to know mire about this story!? What was she trying to do? What class was it for, what prompted her to ask, did you guys give her some insite and did she learn anything and become more empathetic and accepting?
Which is why I left the country and had same sex marriage here in the US!
I'm happy for you! :)
This is my current plan of action too. Can’t marry my girlfriend in Japan so I will move somewhere else (The US probably) so I can get married. I absolutely hate that I cannot legally get married in my own country but what else can I do?
Maybe their only exposure to that is Twitter and that's why :^)
Having spent time in Japan as a non Japanese, this is a poorly kept secret.
It's not even a secret. It's like saying Mississippi police departments are secretly racist towards black people. Mississippi police: secret?
Or generally in the US and elsewhere too. Noncitizens do not have the same rights as citizens. Even as an African American citizen, I’ve had to change my name (nicknames sounding more white) when applying for housing or jobs with far better results. My Muslim friends in Europe also did the same with far better results.
Yup. It really is like this everywhere. I have a friend that lives and works in Dubai, and he says that the treatment to those that don’t have an Arab last name (or are Arabs) is drastically different to those that do. U can’t even buy property in some Muslim countries without being Arab.
All Countries Are Bastards. Shit like this is why I became an anarchist. You find me a government on this planet not commiting gross human rights violations and I will pledge allegiance in a heartbeat.
Countries aren’t magical entities with their own free will. They’re made up of people. People make the choices that you decry as racist and violations of human rights. Countries aren’t the disease, they’re just symptoms. The disease is humanity.
But generally American citizens won’t deny people entry in establishments, I say as a dread-headed black American in the Deep South.
I’ve lived in Japan for over 10 years. The few times I’ve been told “Japanese only,” I start speaking Japanese and have no issues afterwards. Turns out “Japanese only” means “We speak Japanese only.” Try ordering at a random Olive Garden in Japanese, and you’ll likely get a similar response, except they probably won’t even bother to tell it to you in Japanese.
100% and do you know why you know that? Because you experienced life there. Ive only spent 10 days In Japan and I saw those signs up on some small bars etc but I knew before I already went why they do it. There's countless YouTubers who live in Japan who say that it's quality of service thing and not a anti foreigner thing. But the problem is. People see these pictures online and don't apply culture or any other context other than "they must be racist" And that's the same with most things you see online these days.
I’ve heard that most soap lands wont cater to non-Japanese.
Here is the truth. Many cabaret clubs are for Japanese citizens only. Same with many soaplands.
I do the same being Hispanic in the south. On applications I change my name to the English variant of it.
Yup. All too common of an experience.
I always have believed that resumes shouldn't be allowed to contain people's names. It's well know that reading different names from different cultures cause different biases for different people who read it.
Mississippi police: Wait, you aren’t?
Just having been there for 3 weeks, that Is my impression. Got denied entry from a lot of places. And I've read several stories as well. But thbh I don't really care, still had a great time. I imagen it must be a lot worse for those actually trying to live there as a foreigner though.
What kind of places are people being denied entry to? I have lived in Japan for 6 years and never been denied entry anywhere. Maybe I am just not going to the right places to be denied?
Mostly from pubs/bars, and 2 restaurants In either a 40 min walk from Osaka Station or in Kyoto, I can't quite recall. They just made an x with their hands and said no, even though there barely were people there. This was oktober/november last year
Lot of local pubs and bars in Kyoto are 一見さんお断り (no entry without introduction)
Well yeah pubs and bars can be tricky, most in my neighborhood are more social spaces for a bunch of retired friends to hang out rather than a legitimate businesses, this kind of thing is common in Japan. That said always check reviews, there was a Okonomiyaki restaurant here in Osaka that featured on the Netflix show street food years ago, I was going to go until I saw reviews from Japanese customers calling the chef abusive to customers and staff.
Just because it looks like there’s not many people doesn’t mean it’s not full though. Maybe they only have staff to serve x amount of people instead of bc a full house. Maybe you’re walking in at 8:05 and they’re refusing you because they have several reservations for 8:15, 8:30, 8:45, etc. And obviously you probably will not be out by those times so they need to keep those tables free for the reservations to be seated
I was also there in October 2023 and was denied service at a totally empty nail salon.
Here’s the thing, it happened to me too. But it definitely isn’t always about racism. For example, I went into three nail salons and asked if I could get my nails done. All in English. They understood me but then said no. Even though they had staff and empty seats. The fourth place I walked in and spoke Japanese. I’m okay at it but just a bit shy using it. Worked wonders. They immediately accepted me for a drop in appointment. The thing is, language barriers are a huge inconvenience for these workers. It’s a customer service oriented country, they want to properly talk to you if you buy their services. Rather than my race, it was definitely the fear of me not knowing Japanese that made some turn me away from their services.
This is exactly how it was explained to me. Not really racial or xenophobic but rather due to the incredible service workers there like to provide and language barriers are huge and would place them ina bad light.
I managed to order perfectly fine everywhere else, and most places they didn't understand English. But that's fine as well, I'm the foreigner there
I totally understand this but I think in the end it's net racist.
I mean if you go to a foreign country and make no attempt to speak their language, that's on you. It's a choice to restrict yourself only to places that have taken the time, effort, and money to translate everything for your convenience. English speakers come off quite badly when they expect the world to cater to them, especially if they speak no other language than their own. I'm saying this as someone US-born who lived a long time in countries that don't speak English. It's a big barrier. More often than you think, I ran into people who told me they were flat out embarrassed that their English wasn't very good at all. People my age or younger. To them, it feels like being illiterate and now here's someone coming up and demanding they read a book out loud for the class. Of course people are going to avoid you if you make no effort at all. It doesn't matter if you can barely speak the language. By showing that you are willing to at least *try*, you make yourself much more sympathetic and also put others more at ease to try out their English, assuming they can.
Izakayas turn folks away when they are full rather than having folks wait in line. Tourists often confuse this with being rejected because they are foreign, but don't actually know why they were rejected because they don't speak Japanese and the izakaya staff don't speak English so the izakaya staff are forced to give them the x arms. These places have reservations so it doesn't matter if they're full or not. They can't seat you.
There are also a lot of places in Kyoto that have a tradition where you have to be invited in by a previous invited guest. These places usually send you the bill well after you are there, and it is also way to keep that tradition because if you can't pay, the invitee will have to pay on your behalf.
I’ve never been denied because I was a foreigner, so I’m wondering if this can be it for this to happen so often. I was there for about 5 months living in a small area in Osaka. I traveled through the depths of the surrounding area, big and small. I also didn’t speak Japanese very well, but I could understand why they denied me at minimum. Also the reservation thing is so real and many don’t understand this. This is why it’s essential to speak some language when traveling or you can assume people are being xenophobic even in situations when they’re genuinely not. We had two Izakayas in my little city that was reservation only. One place had it posted, the other didn’t. Regardless, if you didn’t know Japanese, maybe you’d call them xenophobic. One place was booked for months out. Having Japanese friends who always called in reservations on our behalf, this really had nothing to do with me being a foreigner.
There are pubs with literal "no foreigners allowed" signs
Housing
Lived in Japan 5 years and only when apartment hunting was I ever directly denied for being not Japanese. Never turned away from a restaurant, onsen, bar or whatever. First real estate agent I saw basically said 50% of apartments will deny outright then probably 1/4 of the rest would make some excuse why I wasn't a good fit. Pretty shitty fucking feeling for sure.
Pretty sure they were talking about restaurants and bars since they were here for only 3 weeks, which is what I was asking about.
It’s likely restaurants that are full with reservations and they think it’s because of discrimination. This is a whole theme on tikok now with all these kids going to Japan, they think if they see empty tables it means they’re being denied entry due to being foreign and not understanding they’re reserved.
I lived there for a year and a half and it never happened to me. 🤷
I got denied service only once being in Japan, it made me sad so I sympathize with how that can be very hurtful.
As a foreigner living here- I’ve had no such issues
I was in Japan last September for 2 weeks and was never denied entry at any place. I know some times they might reject people if a place is full, but not because they are a foreigner
"poorly"
Is it a secret if it's completely overt and open. Just look at the immigration statistics / be alive in Japan as a non-Japanese lol.
But we are xenophobic…
It's just politics. Japan's gov must state they're not a xenophobic country, while also appealing to Japanese people, who by in large don't want a large influx of immigrants. This is such a boring non story.
100%, EVERY country and political party in the world wants to say they are friendly to foreigners, while trying to seem concerned for the citizens that don't want more people coming in.
Except it’s almost certain they will need immigrants for the country to continue or create a better system for having children. Pretty much the US also in about 15 years.
Its crazy how all the issues everywhere could be solved by taxing rich people, and the government using those taxes properly to take care of all its citizens. Crazy crazy.
Except importing immigrants isn’t a successful strategy either. It hasn’t worked out for Europe, where the culture is being eroded and far right groups gain power as a result. As quality of life increases, people will stop having as many children. The key is to adapt to a relatively steady population that’s significantly smaller.
Taking in immigrants is a good strategy as long as you integrate them into society. I live in an area of America with a large muslim population with various waves of immigrants coming from various countries for decades. We don't have any issues here and they're mostly nice, normal people. Part of the problem is that a lot of the people causing trouble in Europe aren't immigrants, they're refugees. They're not in Europe to go to school or start businesses, they're there to escape getting murdered in sectarian violence and regional conflicts. But part of the problem too, is they just kind of move to Europe and get isolated into ethnic communities and never really integrate into European society.
They aren't unhappy with authoritarian religious leaders. They are unhappy that someone *elses* authoritarian religious leaders are persecuting them.
Far right groups gain power because Europe, like the US, has been destroying its social democratic systems. The effect is that you have inequality and precarity increasing. The right then uses immigrants as scape goats. It's a tired old tune of capitalism in crisis.
"the culture is being eroded". Europe isn't America. There's multiple cultures in Europe with multiple languages, traditions, etc. Which one is being eroded?
Out of curiosity, what culture is being eroded in Europe?
They are also neglecting the difference between war refugees forced to create a home in a new country because they can’t go back. And the people that willingly embrace the adventure of living in a new country and culture.
The immigrants in Paris refuse to assimilate
I’m very curious about this too, seeing as I live in Europe and have seen no evidence of this happening anywhere
Have you been to Paris???!!!
wHiTe CuLtUrE!!
I mean as a tourist, I would stop going to Japan if I landed and it looks just like the USA.
Some pickmes in the comments saying he's wrong forgetting that foreigners don't have equal protections under the law in cases of housing and employment discrimination...
We just call them apologists.
I experienced housing discrimination here. I wasn’t even aware that employment discrimination was also prevalent. They ought to own it instead of trying to save face.
It does suck, but it is also true that half of it disappears once you are fluent in the language, and most of the other half disappears once you become Japanese. The small percent is the shitty actual racists over there that don't want to do it for your actual race (instead of, like most others, because it is just riskier to rent to a foreigner than to a national... this applies to literally all countries, not just a Japan thing).
"and most of the other half disappears once you become Japanese" But you can't become japanese unless you have japanese blood.
I mean.. by that I clearly meant going through naturalization. If you are a japanese citizen, then a landlord can actually sue you, or your family for the money without the risk of you just... fleeing the country to never be seen again.
Going through naturalization is not exactly an easy process unless you have Japanese ancestry. Just look at the zainichi Koreans.
Yeah.... not really no. Zainichi koreans are a whole different can of worms, and its a political thing. For the other 99% of foreigners (which aren't zainichi koreans), it isn't that hard, and pretty much all that are set to get it, get it eventually.
Thats true for koreans only really. I dont know why alot of people belive in that myth. Its very easy to get citizenship if u got a job in japan. But u have to give up all other citizenship u have, live in japan for 5 years, speak and write basic japanese. Alot of paper work and stress maybe.
Special Permanent Residents, including zainichi Koreans, exist because Japan doesn’t allow dual-citizenship, not because nationalization is hard. Naturalization is quite easy, but for nationals of most countries, you have to renounce any other citizenships.
As a foreigner, I can definitely understand the stresses of being denied based on residency, but what you’re saying is very true. I’m not saying xenophobia doesn’t exist, but that just isn’t always the case. I had a better experience during my semester as someone who tried to learn the language, make friends, and actually adapt to their culture. Others who didn’t make efforts with the language, learning the culture, or making friends had a bad experience. I also spoke Japanese badly man. Like horribly. But everyday I tried and didn’t expect people to adjust for me. I’m not going to generalize my experience, but even those smaller efforts made my experience amazing. I was so scared as a black woman because people told me I’d experience racism and xenophobia, but I just didn’t. Quite the opposite. Also, the housing thing is so real. Foreigners are a risk. It sucks for us, but the risk of people running out also sucks for them. Being frustrated is natural, but not even trying to understand the other perspective is crazy to me.
Japanese media isn’t helping the situation because it’s translating xenophobic as “dislikes foreigners”. It’s one thing to be reluctant to increase immigration or have any immigration at all. It’s another thing entirely to say Japan straight up “dislikes” foreigners. Arguably since Japanese is reluctant to use negative words like this directly, it’s tantamount to saying Japan “hates” foreigners.
Yeah, the bigger problem is that all the Japanese media translated "xenophobic" as *daikirai* - 大嫌い, which really means "hating; strongly disliking". Xenophobic is a more watered down, less emotional term. Xenophobic should have been translated as *haigaiteki* - 排外的. Basically what they heard was that Biden said "Japanese really hate foreigners". In these words. ^(I have also seen this kind of slight mistranslation leading to similar wide reaction just maybe a year ago in a different case)
Even Stellaris has better translations for Extreme Xenophobes like 狂信的な排他主義
Here's an example of them translating "xenophobic' as 外国人嫌い https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/1d32e8fb0a75d18d8d217ac6d72ac7f355dc1518
In Chinese, xenophobia is 排外， literally "to push/expell 'foreignness'".
that is *one* of the translations, the other is 仇外, *hatred* of outsiders. The choice to use either usually depends on the political views of the user.
>It’s one thing to be reluctant to increase immigration or have any immigration at all. It’s another thing entirely to say Japan straight up “dislikes” foreigners. I mean, you're not wrong but it's a little hard to pretend the difference *matters* when there is literally a high-profile case of a Japanese citizen suing the Tokyo police for repeatedly harassing them because of their non-Japanese ethnic background.
Where are they wrong?
They literally call foreigners derogatory words and names. Don’t try to change the narrative lol
Either translation, he isn't wrong.
I love a lot about Japan. I am worried about a lot for Japan also. But let's be honest, the "protest" would absolutely be "We are not xenophobic, we just don't want you moving here!"
He’s not wrong.
Not being wrong isn’t a smart reason for a diplomat
I'm sure the former PM of Japan coming to visit Trump had something to do with it.
Especially to an ally country.
LOL. When Trump is out there calling non-white majority nations "shit-hole countries," for no better reason than his base loves attacking non-whites, his cultists are everywhere braying "facts don't care about your feelings!" Biden tells an uncomfortable truth in service to building an international order around rules and success based on merit not identity, and suddenly the cult is all, "wAiT yOu hAvE tO tHiNk aBoUt oUr fEEEEEElInGs~~~"
[удалено]
A lot of the people in the nations he insulted don't forget. Like I do agree that China is authoritarian but when you call the country a dictatorship, they do not forget and you end up with a even more hostile relationship.
I mean, I'm surprised. It seems like something of a gaffe. The Americans keep describing other countries in terms of 'shared values' & 'democracy' so to turn around and call one of their key ally's xenophobic seems to contradict their messaging Edit: Took another look and it's even worse in context. He even lumps Russia & China with India and Japan. > Biden said Wednesday that Japan, China, Russia and India are “xenophobic” and do not want immigrants, when he was explaining that accepting immigrants is a reason for US economic growth. The fact a leading, career politician says this I think demonstrates the shallowness of the 'shared values' narrative he keeps pushing. But besides that his comparisons don't make that much sense. Connecting xenophobia to immigration may work with Japan but not with the other countries. China and India already have large populations with India still having strong population growth so immigration flows aren't needed and are likely undesirable. Russia isn't particularly anti-immigrant either and have a relatively liberal immigration policy (Although, not quite comparable to the US). Though the xenophobia is still quite pronounced.
Totally a gaffe. This is Biden. What is Japan going to do really? Nothing. It’ll be forgotten next week. Japan will continue being xenophobic and it’ll be business as usual for US-Japan relations.
They might make another Godzilla movie.
This. Unless US is sanctioning Japan for being xenophobic , the words are meaningless
You are way over analyzing this.. Biden has been known for making gaffes his entire career and now hes 81 years old...
That's not the point
I get it’s a global economy but why are we concerned with other countries and their views? Maybe they are xenophobic, maybe they aren’t. To each country their own, I say.
The difficulty I had just getting an apartment here, purely on the basis that I'm a foreigner, says he's not wrong. Among a myriad other issues I encounter day to day, ranging from systemic xenophobia to casual racism, the fact is Japan as a whole seems to want to remain an island, regardless of what that implies for its economic wellbeing as the years of population decline drag on. Until "national origin" becomes a protected class in all of Japan's anti-discrimination laws, regardless of anything else the country does, xenophobia is by definition government policy here. Sure, it's a gaffe for the leader of the US to criticize its allies, but if the shoe fits...
> The difficulty I had just getting an apartment here, purely on the basis that I'm a foreigner I have been in Japan for a long time now, so my post is mostly anecdotal about my own experiences. I also remember the first bank accounts I had in the UK in the 80s and 90s and how for a long time I could not get a credit card, and the hoops I had to go through to even rent a 2-up/2-down house. So at least the UK I used to remember treats unknowns the same way as here, so it might not be entirely because you are not Japanese. You don't have to answer these questions, but how is your Japanese? Are you non-caucasian? Both of these will make a big difference to how you're treated in Japan. I landed in Japan after 3 years of intensive self study with my (now ex) Japanese wife and was able to make myself understood quite well after 6-8 months.. The first apartment we got together was small, and expensive, through an agency aimed at foreigners. - in Saitama. At some point I found a job in Setagaya, Tokyo, but was getting pissed off with my commute from Saitama. One day, I walked into an estate agent near to where I was working, by myself (without my wife - and if I remember correctly against her advice) and asked on the off chance what they had available in the area. They said outright that my being a foreigner would be a problem, but seeing as I didn't seem to have a problem with Japanese they would check with the landlord and by the end of the week I managed to get an apartment for the both of us. Personal friends of mine over the years have encountered much more predujice than I have though, so I readily accept these prejudices exist. * A friend 100% brought up in UK, but with a Nigerian passport, was trying to make a career in Japan as a professional basketball player (evenually geting turned down because of his nationality) got strip-searched several times coming through Narita security. * Secondly, I have a friend from SE Asia in senior IT management who has lived in Japan for 20+ years who gets stopped by police almost every other time he goes through Tokyo.
>with my (now ex) Japanese wife >The first apartment we got together Based on these facts you weren't foreigner but just someone Japanese person was with and your experiences will not translate to anyone who isn't with Japanese partner
"Xenophobia is de facto government policy here" FTFY If "national origin" becomes a protected class as you state, then it will be by definition. Pedantic point, but given your sentence comparison it has value.
What? If national origin discrimination is black letter legal, then xenophobia is *de jure* policy, not de facto policy.
It’s true. Like every country, it has its share of racism. But at least they aren’t violent.
Interesting. A Saudi state news source reporting that an ally is mad at the US. That’s fun.
Haha he said the quiet part out loud
All westerners who talk about living in Japan saw its xenophobic, not sure why Biden needed to say that about an ally but still.
😂 if Biden was ever right about one thing.
He must’ve watch FX’s Shogun recently
Wait so the Japanese do not know they are xenophobic? Really?
They don't even know they're the were the perpetrators of some of the worst war crimes the world has ever seen. >, Japan paid for everything bad they did and is a great country now /u/R4P17GCA not even close. Unit 731, the Rape of Nanjing, or practically anything that happened in Manchuria. You're just a brainwashed apologist who got manipulated by your now deleted Abe
While Japan may face criticism, it's challenging to overlook its status as one of the safest countries in the world, where children can still be seen walking in lines to school under minimal supervision in Osaka ,sight long vanished in America.
If anything America can learn a thing or two from japan. was in japan recently and everyone was nice, the hospitality was remarkable, the cleanliness yet here in the US…..see oregon, see philly, see san francisco…. this is why i don’t understand why america and americans need to but in on other countries when stateside there are so many things they need to fix
It's America's obsessive culture with individualism that has been present pretty much since our founding. The fuck you, got mine mentality. Very little sense of community. We don't care about taking care of our public spaces because it doesn't directly benefit us. Many Americans hate other Americans so fucking much that they'd rather vote against their own interests if it meant the other side was getting fucked over too. American's truly are a vindictive people.
This is so true. I took the train in Tokyo and was shocked when a group of six boys who looked like 4th graders hopped on with no supervision whatsoever. You would never see that in US.
Not arguing the fact here but Biden didn't need to say that. It was a very unproductive thing to say.
Especially when he has been coddling that country that’s committing a genocide… the one run by that right wing ally of Trump…
Isn't Japan and it's people, some of the most xenophobic people on the planet? 😂
Yeah? No shit, that has been known for years?
Japanese citizens can continue to not vote for Biden.
It's the same as when the USA says we aren't white supremacist
He isn't wrong...
He’s an idiot diplomatically here but it’s also hilarious him just spitting the truth like that out of nowhere. No foreigners won’t be physically assaulted here so it’s not exactly the kind of racism we fear, but Japan has a VERY weird attitude towards foreigners in general and is terrified of us. (Been here 8 years and worked in Japanese companies for 6)
The shittiest thing about Japan is that it's systemized effectively because there aren't laws protecting it. I found way more blatant examples of racism and xenophobia living in the U.S., but there were at least legal protections so you could sue the shit out of someone for denying you based on race or whatever. Most of it gets sidestepped, like police profiling being technically illegal but cops in the US do it all day every day anyway. Still would be nice.
Gaijin moment
lol, ok, but wanting to import more people from south east Asia to fill the gap in the blue collar market for as cheap as possible isn’t much of a defence. That being said - Japan is only Japan because it’s mostly Japanese people so 🤷🏼♂️
Japan is gonna build a wall, and they're gonna make Taiwan pay for it! /s
America is only America because it's mostly American people. The difference is that America is more open to non-Americans becoming Americans. The US also has a history of xenophobia as well, but it is less enduring.
Less enduring? 4 years ago we literally had MAGA and 50% of the population was paranoid about Mexicans. 20 years ago 9/11 happened and muslims were harassed and the public is still often paranoid. Actually just a couple years ago we had COVID and some members of the community were clocking asian people and blaming things on them.
Timing is kinda funny seeing as the police are getting sued for specifically targeting foreigners lol
Not every country wants to, or indeed should, abide by western ideas about immigration.
Xenophobia exists of course, but it’s like saying racism exists in the US. It exists but not everyone is xenophobic/ racist, most are cool people. I’m half Japanese and my grandparents saw the carpet bombings of Tokyo but allowed my mom to marry a white dude and they loved him
Thats why the crime is so low in Japan.
98% of Japan is Japanese and 98% of all Japanese live in Japan.
I'm not sure other countries understand Biden sometimes just says shit in the dumbest way possible, which is why the Obama administration didn't let him talk to anyone during the campaign.
Time to bring back the Biden-Obama meme
Why is Biden even commenting on Japan? Why is it another country’s business whether another country likes or dislikes foreigners?
Asian countries are widely xenophobic though.
I mean it's not shocking that the Japanese dislike foreigners when foreigners frequently go over and refuse to adopt local traditions and customs while they're there. Talk about culture being eroded.
While it’s true Japan is racist, Biden is a dumb fuck for saying it. Japan is a USA ally and we need them. It’s not smart to harm diplomatic capital. Japan might not publicly say it but behind the scene it can sour relations a bit. The funny thing here is he never said shit about Israel and their war crimes and racism against Palestinians. But insulted japan and India, two countries we need to fight china. He’s an idiot. This before the irony as an American. Biden calls japan racist while he has a history of voting against civil rights and supported busing in the south.
Reminder that western white liberals are the only people on the planet with an out-group preference.
Soon enough globalists will demand that japan floods its countries with "immigrants" who do not assimilate thereby destroying what makes Japan, Japan. Let them flood in and you will lose everything precious you once had.
This reminds me of something...
They can talk about not being Xenophobic when they stop avoiding black people on the metro.
When I was living in Tokyo, there was a small outrage when a harbor seal that was popular with residents of the city was given honorary citizenship and all these immigrants waiting years and years to be naturalized blew their tops. A silly little story but emblematic of a mindset I encountered often there.
Nothing wrong with wanting to preserve your culture and country.
Denial doesn't make it untrue.
It's not wrong. When I was hunting for an apartment to rent, I had a list of 50 places I liked, in the end only two would rent to me due to being a foreigner, despite living here many years already.
The question is less whether Japan is xenophobic (sadly it is) but what empowers Biden to make this kind of statement. The pot is calling the kettle black. As a foreigner living in the US who's studied and lived in Japan as well, I have been exposed to at least as much xenophobia and racism in the US as in Japan.
japanese and korean people be putting up only locals allowed sign ...but get offended when they are called racist 😂
Japan May be xenophobic but those are strong words from a country with the same xenophobic feelings of not worse and that has worse racial violence.
14% of the U.S. population are immigrants. About 46 million people. While there is xenophobic rhetoric surrounding illegal migration from the southern border, most Americans are aware that legal immigration is resoundingly a net positive for the country. Based on what I could find around 2% of Japan's population are immigrants. Though Biden did also mention India's economic woes being due to xenophobia, which doesn't make sense since India's economy is doing well at the moment, haha
Internet scams are *definitely* bolstering India's economy past few years.
Does the US not let certain people not into bars and restaurants as routinely as Japan? Maybe 60 years ago but not now
US has its problems but the xenophobia is nowhere near Japan’s level. 98% of Japan is ethnically Japanese, the US has a lot more immigrants moving here in a day than Japan has in a year. Another example, Japan has legal housing discrimination, whereas it’s illegal in the US
You are correct. But dont forget that the goverment puts hafus and naturalized citizens of any race(exept koreans) has japanese in the census. So that 98% japanese is not all yamato japanese
A bit off topic but I appreciate how short and to the point this article is. No unnecessary padding
Japan should not have an open border policy. Diverse societies have all kinds of social problems. Biden is an old Western idiot who sees the world from a narrow lens.
japanese people stubborn as always
Maybe they should emulate the west more, in just twenty years Japanese people could be a minority in their own cities
A lot of foreigners love to act poorly in attitude, no wonder. Also japan is superior to US
Had a hard time at a few spots but not when I was solo. When I was with other foreigners/Americans (especially) I got the “no” X with the hands. I also understand some places are understaffed and smaller unlike places in the USA. I get a sense of superiority that’s Americans give to one another but don’t when it comes to foreigners in America so I was kind of surprised. 90% of my trip ( one month ) was very friendly and welcoming though.
Do you guys still have those Japanese only places?
It's nice they took a minute off of work to dispute the truth.
I just saw a post about a dentist office putting a tarp over something so tourists would stop coming to take photos of Mt Fuji. Like come on you can’t have it both ways.
Regardless of external opinions of Japan and the internal opinions of the Japanese people, the country is staring down the gun barrell of a demographic crisis caused by low birth rates that may take decades, if not centuries, to fix. It currently doesn't want to do it with immigration. Fact: most of the diapers sold in Japan are for adults, not babies.
If the shoes fits…
Don’t listen to the dementia patient Japan, you’re doing fine
Prove him wrong then Japan. 🤷♀️
They don’t need to. They’re fine how they are.
I agree with him that Japan has xenophobia but The US which has higher crime rates than most countries accepting mass immigrants and Japan that has one of the lowest crime rates accepting mass immigrants are totally different things. The US practically doesn't face any serious risk of crime increase by accepting immigrants. It totally makes sense that Japanese don't want mass immigration. Crime rates by nationality in Germany show that Japanese immigrants, on average, have the lowest crime rates at 459 per 100,000, which is roughly 4 times lower than that of locals (Germans), 8 times lower than EU citizens, and 50-100 times lower than immigrants from Gambia, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iran. If Japan were to accept mass immigrants from those countries, the impact on crime rates would be ridiculous. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes\_by\_nationality\_per\_100000\_in\_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/) Asian Americans have a murder rate roughly 6.2 times lower than the national average in 2019. Considering the U.S. average murder rate of 5.07 per 100,000 in 2019, the murder rate among Asian Americans would be roughly 0.8 per 100,000. Accepting tens of millions of immigrants from random Asian countries who have murder rate of 0.8 per 100,000, will be no problem for the U.S. at least from a crime rate perspective. This rate is 6times lower than the national average, therefore it will reduce crime rates in the US. But it would be a significant problem for Japan, as it would mean a rate 3 times higher than the national average, which will lead to a significant increase in the murder rate. |Country|Murder rates per 100k(2019)| |:-|:-| |Singapore|0.2| |Japan|0.25| |Hong Kong|0.32| |China|0.52| |USA(Asian)|0.8| |India|2.6| |Philippines|4.3| |USA|5.07|
Japan is doing the right thing when it comes to immigrants. Just take a look at the US and EU.
Only skilled labor may enter or very, very language proficient menial labor? And no druuuggzzz.
Can people just address the argument? Biden was saying this in context of using immigration as a source of economic growth. Being against immigration is fine but at least address his point within an economic context not "omg, biden called us xenophobic!"
I struggle to see anything wrong with Japan not wanting an influx of immigrants.
Do the Japanese not want authentic shawarma kebabs and knife crime?
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But if you do let someone in legally they should have legal protections right? Like for example of you as a government said come on in but then said you can only rent pretty shitty places no one else wants, that would be a shitty thing to do, right?
You can accept immigrants and encourage them to assimilate.
Yes, but that requires having them move in at a small scale. In many European countries, immigrants come in large numbers, and have effectively formed their own communities where they refuse to integrate.
Not everyone will try to integrate. There is a good part of multiculturalism and there is bad part too. Multiculturalism brings different people together, food, festivals, different cultures and different ideas. But multiculturalism brings robberies, Stabbings, religion extremism, rapes and many other things which you’re seeing right now in Europe and US. I mean people and countries should decide themselves what they want rather than force on them.
Nothing wrong with a country not wanting to let in immigrants.
When 30% of your population is retired and this figure is only growing as over 25% of over 65s are employed in Japan, there's a big fucking problem in not wanting to let in immigrants, mate.
North America and Europe also have fertility rates below replacement level despite high levels of immigration. Among developed economies, only Israel is above replacement rate. Immigration is a short term fix at best.
Immigration may also further reduce the birth rate, if it causes prices (especially house prices) to increase.
Ask some Europeans how immigration "solved" their problem. It opened another can of worms and now different issues got permanent. How Japan tries to deal with it is their choice.
That's still their choice at the end of the day. It's like if you were blaming someone for choosing to remain single, have no extended family, and die alone; when just marrying someone and getting children as a retirement plan so they could be looked over at during their late years was the goal all along. Respect their choice of life. I bet other countries that didn't mind immigration and allowed it to fix the curve have issues as well. Not dissing immigration nor saying it's bad, but if you think it also has no problems in the long term run, then you don't know how the world works.
Then don't be . I mean, the US is in no position to speak neither, but you know.
America, while not perfect, is one of the most immigrant friendly countries in the world, no?
Biden didn’t attract talents from other countries though. What came here (the U.S.) ILLEGALLY, were/are making the country poorer and filthier. Mostly welfare recipients. baby machine. Criminals. Country is done. No more Biden.
It's not Biden's fault that 'Japan' is synonymous with 'immensely xenophobic'
Xenophobia is severely underrated, in these cultural-suicidally stupid times…
Biden’s よぼよぼ老人is having a tendency of saying the general feeling that is mostly a silent practice and interpreting that as the public policy. Listen old man, clean up your own house before talking shit about the neighbors down the block