|
I was reading an article on The Japan Times (a Japanese news website
written in English),
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fb20050130a1.htm
, about racial discrimination in Japan, in particular the public baths,
hot springs, bars and restaurants that won't let in foreigners (even ones
who can speak Japanese and are long-term residents of Japan). The article
had a link to the writer's site, http://www.debito.org/ , which described
in detail the problems foreigners (gaijin) have in Japan, and the movement
to fight racial discrimination. It does make me sad that such racism
exists, as it's completely illegal to bar entry into a public place in
Britain based on racial discrimination.
Luckily, aside from the constant stares, dirty looks from old women, being
followed around in shops and getting hassled in the street from random
strange men wanting a free English lesson, I haven't experienced any
serious racial discrimination. But, I do think that in some areas it is a
problem, and the biggest problem is that Japan refuses to admit it has
this problem.
It made me remember something from my visit to Tokyo. While I was waiting
at the airport for my flight back to Kumamoto, I was watching the TV
broadcasting lots of random adverts, and one of them was an advert
welcoming and encouraging foreigners to visit Japan. It was all in
Japanese but with English subtitles, and featured the Japanese Prime
Minister Koizumi saying why Japan was so great an extending his welcome to
foreigners. It then cut to a load of people from all over Japan saying "Yokoso"
(welcome).
This should have giving me a nice, warm, glowing feeling inside for being
so welcome in Japan - if it wasn't for the fact that the advert was
blatantly aimed at Japanese people, not foreigners. No-one outside Japan
(except perhaps for Koreans and Chinese) is likely to know who Prime
Minister Koizumi is: if they wanted to attract the attention of
foreigners, they should have used a well-known celebrity like Beat
Takeshi. Moreover, it was all in Japanese, being shown amongst other
adverts purely in Japanese with no subs, and aimed at Japanese people. And
to top it off, it was being shown in Japan! One would assume that if a
foreigner sees it, he's already in Japan!
So yes, it's sad that the government are producing these adverts in an
effort to make their party seem cosmopolitan and internationalised towards
the Japanese people whose votes they need, while ignoring the real racial
discrimination problems that exist.
However, just so I don't seem like I'm moaning, I do have to admit for the
most part, the Japanese individuals I've met are great and probably aren't
even aware of this discrimination. And Kumamoto is also pretty
problem-free compared to other areas - I haven't been barred entry
anywhere yet. And as for the whole of Japan, I can safely say that there
are less racial problems than in other parts of the world. Like the
southern US, where there's still an obvious black/white divide. So I
should count myself lucky.
|
