tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post7532901100331085703..comments2024-02-15T04:42:41.606+00:00Comments on James' Empty Blog: Shocking levels of racism in Japanese hotelsJames Annanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-39174774018500794012011-04-25T09:21:33.024+01:002011-04-25T09:21:33.024+01:00I think you need to look up "racial discrimin...I think you need to look up "racial discrimination" in a dictionary, and not in some special Japanese one that defines it as "discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or nationality except when a Japanese person does it, because then it's only because they know foreigners cause trouble".James Annanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-75376201976059087332011-04-24T16:22:20.717+01:002011-04-24T16:22:20.717+01:00I understand it may feel offensive when you see th...I understand it may feel offensive when you see those signs up but its because Japanese people know that foreigners do mess up things. Manners, and etc. Just like foreigners in the USA they may seem rude to YOU but thats because that's their manners in their country. so thats when foreigners have to think. Japan isn't racist. Many some people yes but they just want to protect their privacy and area. Of course if you show them your Japanese manners and stuff most likely they will let you in ^^. I'm Japanese but also part european so I dont look full Japanese (my nose is pretty tall like many americans or europeans) but I can speak Japanese fluently and I know the culture and manners very well so they will easily let you in. <br /><br />Its just how you look at it an d how you behave. They aren't trying to be racist. <br />but of course this may not work for everyone...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-80915815049154052132010-01-07T06:50:47.951+00:002010-01-07T06:50:47.951+00:00A common enough story, I think - if I'd made a...A common enough story, I think - if I'd made a real effort to settle in culturally and socially, I'd find it pretty depressing. However the language barrier, coupled to the lack of any possibility of a secure job, is a good enough excuse for us to stick at being the perennial gaijin, and this also seems to suit the institute, for the time being at least.James Annanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-417765991791798062010-01-07T00:30:40.051+00:002010-01-07T00:30:40.051+00:00Well, a bilingual American friend of mine lived th...Well, a bilingual American friend of mine lived there from, oh, the mid-80s until the mid-90s and left in large part because he just got totally burned out on being treated like, well, a gaijin. He married a korean woman whose family has lived in Japan for three generations (they speak Japanese at home, even now that they've moved to the states), and of course that just made things worse.dhogazahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589109126483161671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-43425698597345251402010-01-06T12:36:47.994+00:002010-01-06T12:36:47.994+00:00I believe the particular speciality in Hokkaido is...I believe the particular speciality in Hokkaido is <a href="http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html" rel="nofollow">racist onsens</a>, not hotels. However "no foreigners" signs crop up in random places across Japan (they are near-ubiquitous in property rental), and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku" rel="nofollow">sakoku</a> can hardly be attributed to the Russians! The simple fact is that many Japanese simply don't see there being anything wrong with such discrimination, and (with a few rare exceptions) there is no law against it. In surveys, only about <a href="http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/2007/08/most-japanese-think-that-foreigners-are.html" rel="nofollow">half of them consider foreigners to be deserving of human rights</a>.James Annanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-21333720710336687162010-01-06T12:12:28.109+00:002010-01-06T12:12:28.109+00:00A friend who has spent a long time in Japan said t...A friend who has spent a long time in Japan said that this practice seems to have started a while back in Hokkaido as a reaction to highly inebriated and deeply embarrassing Russian seamen ruining the (domestic tourism) reputation of local hotels.<br /><br />(Not to excuse the "no gaijin" practice at all - it's a huge overreaction - but to explain its apparent origin.)matt andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923808645136941203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-24211371683525675862010-01-06T01:33:25.503+00:002010-01-06T01:33:25.503+00:00Anna, thanks for the link. It's all rather urb...Anna, thanks for the link. It's all rather urban round these parts, but rural parts of Japan have a very different lifestyle.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Brutally mangling <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France" rel="nofollow">Anatole France</a>, the law in its majestic equality allows even the wet as well as the dry to sleep in hotels in Japan :-)James Annanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-77943995130415074302010-01-05T20:07:13.763+00:002010-01-05T20:07:13.763+00:00Maybe that hotel had a policy against
wet.Maybe that hotel had a policy against<br /><br />wet.David B. Bensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02917182411282836875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9959776.post-11762829111280585772010-01-05T18:36:53.380+00:002010-01-05T18:36:53.380+00:00James, a heads-up if you don't already know of...James, a heads-up if you don't already know of fellow gaijin Robert Brady's blog <a href="http://pureland.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">Pure Land Mountain</a>. (Do you have <a href="http://pureland.blogspot.com/2009/11/true-evolution-hope-is-good-though-not.html" rel="nofollow">monkey problems</a> too? )<br /><br />(also: <a href="http://pureland.blogspot.com/2009/11/getting-warm-living-out-here-on.html" rel="nofollow">firewood</a>)Anna Hayneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com