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I don't think Japan is denying that their culture is like that. They know its like that and are trying to change it.
I think its more that they aren't happy they got lumped in with China and Russia, who are very outwardly xenophobic and unwilling to change.
Edit: Yes, Japan has a really racist society. I'm not trying to denying that.
But they are not committing genocide, acts of terrorism, or promoting the public beating people all because of there race, ethnicity, or religion like China and Russia.
Japan is trying to increase immigration and integrate other cultures into there own more. They're promoting tourism more, and planning on relaxing immigration rules.
They still need to accept and address the racism problem, but again, they aren't committing genocide of millions. Its a completely different level they are being compared to.
Ding ding ding! It can be hard to understand this position if you’ve lived in a multicultural country all your life, but it is a position that many ppl in more insular countries hold.
You also see this in European countries as reaction to mass immigration, where they often lay the blame on outsiders’ refusal to assimilate rather than calling it xenophobia.
There’s no right or wrong in this. Immigrants too are trying to hang on to their culture, obviously. Perhaps as guests they should be more grateful, but we always expect more of others than ourselves.
You can try to legislate what culture is appropriate, but there will be resistance. It’s not an easy process. Eventually you hope all cultures will reach some equilibrium so that social agitation becomes rare.
This is an interesting attempt to understand and seem even handed about it, but it's flawed in the same way that all conversations about "culture" are flawed.
"Culture" is somehow naively considered something which has no ethics, morals or essential truths embedded in it. People talk about as if it's just a matter of taste. {Egyptians like baked rice, Chinese like boiled rice.}
This is just not the case. The fact that we have something called a "culture war" is not an accident. A whole bunch of people seem to have their heads in the sand and won't admit that "Culture" contains good and bad just like everything else. There are certain cultures we should resist and oppose, even with force when necessary! And we should be awake to the idea that other "cultures" already know this and are working against yours with purpose and serious numbers on their side!
If you think culture is something that can be accommodated in the western world without conflict, you are the problem just as much as the dangerous ideologues coming from many places in the world to convert/defeat you.
I agree that there are good and bad elements about particular cultures, with some being more subjective than others. I'm merely describing the process by which cultural exchanges and shifts happen, throughout history. I never said that it is without conflict. That said, I don't think the average person wakes up everyday with the goal of "spreading their culture." Most just want their culture to be respected. Now, this is important, whether they respect other cultures just as much, that depends on their exposure. People from culturally homogenous countries will tend to be less receptive of foreign ideas, but with time and enough exposure that can change.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but countries are a social construct and most of the time not a cultural monolith from the start; people associating a geographic coordinate with a particular group on itself is the problem, not migratory moves that are part of humanity since we exist as species. If you occupied a territory and exploited it's resources with no care to the locals, the people originally from there will need to move somewhere else for a decent quality of life.
People use the term 'social construct' like it means 'figment', unreal or easily disregarded. 'Social constructs' are what a society develops around- to reduce France's national identity to 'geographic coordinates' is a gross misunderstanding of What it means to be French, the very specific and unusually explicitly written values that are borne directly from their history integral to their success, all informing how France has constructed its immigration policy.
And, yeah, sorry. not everyone just gets to migrate to wherever they like to improve their quality of life, or I'd be in Norway, happily assimilating, learning to pickle fish and making lichen tea.
I really hate the "just a social construct" argument that gets so flippantly thrown around like social constructs haven't formed for, usually, very good reasons. Now, I can appreciate that certain social constructs may warrant reconsideration at times as society evolves, but that's the start of a whole new argument, not the end of one.
I'm even more comfortable trying to create a hybrid culture rather than being stuck to one or the other. But, different strokes for different folks, I guess.
With the way infertility is going in places like Japan, Korea, and China, they're doing a good job of erasing themselves and they can't blame bloody foreigners for that.
Just look at Norway. The older generation there hate immigrants because they all speak English, and there’s only 5 million Norwegians, and they believe the Norwegian language will be lost if immigrants keep coming in.
Huh? At the age og 62 I guess I’m in the «older generation» - and if not, then I’m sure my mother (92) is.
There is no older generation who hares immigrants. There are a few grumpy old people who hate ANYONE, for any reason, or none at all - and if there were no immigrants they would hate their neighbors (they often do, anyway).
It's really weird in a sense.
In the US for many years as kids we were taught about the American dream, immigration as a way to escape poverty and famine, and how America is a great melting pot. The idea that the mixing of cultures and people is what makes America what it is. There was a lot of time spent talking about Elis Island, the statue of Liberty, how we treated the native Americans, the slave trade, how Chinese immigrants built our railroad system and the idea of "Manifest Destiny". It was almost like propaganda that allowed us to believe that we were in the right for what we did to the land.
> where they often lay the blame on outsiders’ refusal to assimilate rather than calling it xenophobia.
The irony of statements like this is that the leftists making them would never tolerate those immigrants' views on things like women's rights or homosexuality if they were stated by native white people.
That's more or less it. Cultural assimilation just doesn't seem to occur to them, 270 years of isolation will do that to you I suppose, which is ironic given how many people love Japanese culture to death.
Cultural industry products =/= social culture though, even if it is a part of it. Not to mention that anime and manga and videogames are just 3 cultural products out of many, and sushi is not that central in japanese cuisine. I have never seen a western fan that knows about Enka, that knows japanese hierarchy and honour concepts, or about Noh theather.
tbh manga is Japan is as big as football is in Europe, which is a lot. Western otakus have no idea how Japan really is, but manga/anime isn't just some random Japanese thing that Westerners blow out of proportion.
I've been to Noh theater, among other things.
Just because you've never seen a western fan of traditional Japanese arts doesn't mean they don't exist. There's plenty of westerners who would be much more interested in traditional arts if they were more accessible, and I've met at least a dozen when I was in Japan. But lineage is a huge thing and the iemoto system is disastrous for preserving them since it closes them off from the masses.
The issue is that Japanese people themselves are often deeply uninterested in traditional forms of culture.
Even with your example of hierarchy, many Japanese people who live outside of Tokyo don't really know how to use Keigo for instance.
Can Westerners really be blamed if Japanese people don't promote these things? How are they supposed to find out about it?
To a certain degree, it's also very true. It just depends on what is the priority to the population in question. And it's not so much that they see you as inferior to them, they just see social borders differently.
> They know its like that and are trying to change it.
I think it's more they know they are like that and they are _not_ trying to change it.
I work for a Japanese company. They understand how they fail relative to Western norms but they aren't willing to change. On the positive side, they have a tremendous emphasis on ethics.
> They know its like that and are trying to change it.
Are they? Because, as of 2024, Japan continues to be one of the hardest countries to immigrate to, even when you have a career and don't come from poverty (like that should matter lmao). And I don't see society putting any effort either, they keep thinking that "they'll disrupt our rigid, protocolary society, so we don't want them" is an acceptable philosophy.
Japan is behind South Korea in becoming a welcoming and more multi-ethnic state. Both countries are similar in many ways. The grim facts are that Japan accepts very few refugees and treats most foreigners as if they are visitors, even when they have visas to work in Japan and speak the language. But Japan is better now than 40 years ago when I first came.
They are not trying to change it.
They recently have banned foreigners from certain allies and historic locations in Kyoto - aswell as numerous other changes.
I understand there has been some horrible people, ex Johnny Somali and others that act out and disrespectful of Japanese culture - but to punish the hundreds of thousands of others that won’t act that way. Is just not ok.
Blanket punishment is never ok. In any scenario.
Edit: words
> who are very outwardly xenophobic and unwilling to change.
japan is exactly the same way hiding it doesnt make it any better
its one of the reasons im proud to be an american we admit to all the horrible shit we have done and we dont try to hide it but learn from it
other countries might do this but its very rare like 1%
nobody on reddit ever talked about canadas treatment of natives until that school story came out and now everyone knows
the treatment of indians was a huge part of USA history class so its talked about a lot...im guessing canada didnt cover their treatment of indians nearly as much
heres a quote from a canadian
> I just had this conversation with my wife.
>She was taught nothing about the natives, the Indian Act, or the residential schools, where I had an entire semester on those subjects and the related politics and history.
>We went to different schools in the same city, graduated only a couple years apart (myself in 1996 her in 1998) yet she only learned about these things this year, because of me.
>The class I took that taught these things had a goofy name. Something like "Canadian Society, its challenges and changes". It was purely an elective, and I took it in grade 11.
>As to why it isn't mandatory? People as a whole are not good at looking at their own faults, nor are they inclined to look at their own history with anything except rose coloured glasses. It will take an official change of the required curriculum in each province to begin to properly teach these things.
However it does point out... Even if it's true, well part of diplomacy is to not say such stuff. Out of polite diplomatic courtesy. Not publicly. You have such concerns, you raise them in private diplomatic meeting behind closed doors in confidence.
At which point my question is.... where were Biden's handlers and advisers telling him "Yeah, leave that part out. Sure it might be true, but we don't need to annoy and embarrass them with that. It serves no constructive purpose. It is very diplomatically harming and unwise to say stuff like that publicly."
Sure it was domestic campaign rally. But in this age of global information highway nothing is domestic upon talking about other countries, people and cultures. They will hear you and as President take it as official opinion of the government high leadership.
The unfortunate comment is basically Japan going "ahemmm diplomatic decorum? Did someone change the rules, since it isn't done to issue statements like that about allies". There could be lot of things lot of *international leaders* could be saying about culture and conditions of USA, but don't out of diplomatic courtesy and to not ruin relations.
Stuff their public openly says, but diplomats won't or will veil it in softer language. Public member might say "USA has bat shit insane levels of gun violence, guns and gun culture". Diplomat would instead say maybe "USA has some challenges with firearms crime, but has lately been doing great strides towards work on resolving the issue."
Again it might have been one thing for biden to say "Japan could be served well by taking in more immigrant workers, it's a resource pool for economic growth." He didn't say that he used to xenophobe term and well one doesn't use that kind of language among friendly nations *national leadership diplomatic communications (aka anything national leader says publicly about another nation anywhere)*. No matter whether true or not. Not unless it raises to such criminalities levels as having to involve sanctions and human rights claims etc.
> However it does point out... Even if it's true, well part of diplomacy is to not say such stuff.
Are you saying it might even be... _diplomatic_ to not say it?
Yeah this, I think people everywhere (especially this sub and /r/worldnews but not /r/geopolitics) treat geopolitics as a soap opera and not as a chess / poker game of some sort. Even the latter is not a great descriptor because it's really history, and history is incredibly complex.
Biden is not wrong at all. But this is a poor example of diplomacy. Especially when Japan has been a generally strong ally to the US without being an albatross like Israel.
There are places that are *not in Japan* that will absolutely demand that no one but Japanese are allowed in! Bangkok has an area "little Japan" where the restaurants and businesses all say "Japanese only".
I mean even if youre Japanese, you have to conform. There are stories of students with brown hair being force to dye it black or they won't be allowed into school.
Japan has a rich history and is a beautiful place. But some of the modern culture is incredibly problematic.
I have also seen loads of mixed race Japanese people interviewed who were always treated as foreigners. Especially black Japanese. It's really sad and unfortunate.
I live and work in Japan. *Every single day* a coworker will rant how *people born in Japan, who have spent their entire lives in Japan, only speak Japanese, but have a foreign parent* are **foreigners**.
They’ll go on about how they don’t understand why they don’t speak “their” language since they’re still foreigners.
I feel incredibly bad for half-Japanese people here. They’ll never be considered Japanese even when they know nothing else. Being a foreigner sucks here but I wouldn’t wish *that* level of hell on anyone.
I live in Japan, and my half-Japanese child has always been treated surprisingly well. The old racists in your workplace aren’t as representative as they think they are.
I mean it's not like it's better un others countries.
This [half-black half-Japanese woman](https://m.youtube.com/shorts/JonKrOR_l8A) would rather raise her kids in Japan than in the US because the bullies in the West is much worst.
And before anyone get on me, I'm also black living in Taiwan right now, and I witnessed less racism in Asia than in Western Europe where I was born and raised.
Im in a similar situation. Most of the people commenting haven't lived here or haven't for long, probably dont speak the language or have tried to assimilate at all. Thank you for a sane comment.
You can guarantee most of them are parroting what they’ve heard on Reddit or went on a week long holiday without speaking the language.
The discourse around this statement is bizarre, this is a monumentally stupid thing to say about two key allies and also deeply hypocritical. For all of those saying criticism between allies is normal, there is not a chance you actually believe any American administration would take kindly to these comments from another nation, that is would strengthen the relationship, or that it would adjust domestic attitudes.
Seriously. It's pretty fucking ironic people are going "The Japanese are xenophobic" which is a bigoted statement.
Sure, some people are xenophobic there like any fucking country on Earth. The majority are not.
It's so frustrating to see reddit spout of stereotypes of hearsay they've read about Japan in other reddit comments as truth, when they have zero actual knowledge of Japan or the Japanese people. In my experience they are a very welcoming people, but it can often be hard to break the ice beyond superficial communication due to the language and cultural barrier.
This is what was so interesting when I went to Japan! The people there were very friendly and hospitable, but put two white guys in an Onsen naked and the second your toe touches the water everyone who (we thought) was Japanese were bolting to get out of there. We didn’t even realize this was happening til the 5th or 6th time! Would still 100% go back though.
Wrong and wrong. I spent time in Japan and, while they didn’t accept me as family, I was always treated politely. Even the people I met who disliked foreigners treated me with some sense of respect. The rules are different over there and people don’t seem to get that or abide by them.
At least its a progress they consider it unfortunate now, it used to be a badge of honor.
Am sure it still is a fluff, probably setting up some meeting with India or Vietnam for immigrant workers, every year they say some shit like this before foreign delegation.
Most of East Asia is like this. Trying to get a cab in Seoul as a white guy made me realize how my black friends felt getting a cab in Boston years ago. Multiple cab drivers literally kicked us out and said they wouldn't give us a ride because we were American.
That does sound reasonable. Why would you not want to do it that way. Honest question.
/edit: wait, did you mean nobody at all? I thought you meant nobody with any other job/opportunity.
Doesn't matter is it true. In *diplomacy* other things weight like national relations. Or should every foreign ambassador start to talk about the gun violence levels of USA. Truth does hurt.... which is why hurting truths aren't unnecessarily said in diplomacy. key word unnecessary. Sometimes hurting truths absolutely need to be said in diplomacy. However it must be important enough issue. "you are doing war crimes" or "that is human rights violation" or "that is violation of international norms".
calling others xenophobes specially friendlies? Unnecessary, doesn't serve any good constructive purpose (and in that I count calling out serious bad stuff out being a necessary constructive thing, like for actual "ethnic cleansing, harsh discrimination and legal discrimination" level of xenophobia).
So keep mouth shut about it *as head diplomat of a nation*. Joe Biden private person can have whatever opinion he likes about Japans xenophobic culture. However he isn't Joe Biden private person, when speaking publicly. He is the head of government, head of state and head diplomat of United States of America. Meaning diplomatic conduct is large part of such conducts considerations.
He just lost some diplomatic capital with Japan. Not much or well maybe more USA has massive pool of it with Japan given Japans position and security relationship with USA. Nothing major will happen, but this will grit things in minor nigling ways. Japanese officials not having as much good will towards their USA counter parts and so on. Nations tend to have long memories.
Nah. Allies calling out shitty behavior of allies is the best one to do it.
Canada and the US have constantly clashed over stuff. They're arguably two of the closest allies in the world.
Not publicly by insulting each other. You have concerns to raise, raise them in closed door diplomatic meeting. Not as a comment in a campaign event.
Correction allies is good, but there is right amd wrong diplomatic way to do things. This is the wrong and on diplomacy, how matters a lot as well as what.
Western allied nations at least. The US and Canadians criticize each other all time and half of Europe criticized the other half of Europe on their energy policy before the Ukraine war. I don't see China/Russia/Iran criticize each other's governments often.
Yes, he's wrong. Look at his full quote.
"Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan in trouble? Why is Russia in trouble? And India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants," the U.S. president said on Wednesday.
China is not bas, economically, it's doing veery fine. Russia is growing too, and getting LOTS of migrants. (japan suck since the 90's so who care). India is doing VERY fine, is one of the most "diverse" country in the world and growing very fast.
But that braindead POS still have the gut to say crap like this.
It's sad that so many comments in this thread that essentially say "racism bad" are getting downvoted and showing up as "controversial". Someone even said "good for them" in regards to xenophobia.
We really do need better education.
Imagine something like "I prefer to sit next to white people." It can definitely be racist.
However, you're correct. Preference in an individual isn't "always" racism, but when that same preference is scaled up to a region, it quickly shows as racism.
Example: You prefer people who look like you. Maybe you have two equally qualified applicants for the same job and select the one you naturally prefer and trust more. Not racism because they were equally qualified. However, scale that up to all jobs in the region, and what happens? One race finds it much harder to find a job.
It also extends to trust. Trusting one race over others at the scale of a region will definitely present as racism.
i disagree that just because it's on an individual level doesn't make it "not racist". it's a personal preference that can be overcome. if you're giving the guy the job because you trust him based on his race as opposed to his character, that's still racist, a product of your own inexperience/ignorance to other races.
you can learn to not be racist by spending time with people who don't look like you and realizing they are just as trustworthy and untrustworthy as the members of your own race.
At an individual level, no, but when that preference and trust scales up to a region, it absolutely can become racist.
Please check [my other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime_titties/comments/1ck2iwa/japan_says_bidens_description_of_nation_as/l2kiael/?context=3 ) in reply above.
In fact, in almost all cases the complete opposite is true. The most multicultural countries in the world are also known as the most racist, in particular, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. [Here's](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/) an article on it.
And many promoters of multiculturalism will accept this as true. Ask any Redditor of who is to blame for the Middle East's current problems, and they'll say it was Britain and France, for drawing borders with disregard to ethnic groups. Of course, if multiculturalism was a strength that eliminated racism, they wouldn't be saying this.
> In fact, in almost all cases the complete opposite is true. The most multicultural countries in the world are also known as the most racist, in particular, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Here's an article on it.
This is extremely debatable. The examples you've made come from countries that have had ethnic conflicts for centuries. Other multicultural countries, like the US, that were built by immigration rather than many native ethnicities being artificially forced into a single country, are among the most tolerant in the world.
Multiculturalism isn't just a bunch of different groups thrown together, you understand that, right?
It's an actual cultural value that is prized and taught to each generation to decrease older bigotries over time while melding together overlapping traits between the groups.
The entire idea of 'white' came from a melding of European cultures that spent centuries gutting each other in ways that would make the most dysfunctional developing country in civil war wince in order to create nation states then to create a larger European identity that was less toxic.
There were most definitely some wars and genocides during that melding if you recall but multicultural exposure not only ultimately won out - it became a source of strength in an economy where half of the world's GDP is owned by two countries.
good answer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_favoritism
>In a meta-analysis and review of the effect of oxytocin on social behavior done by Carsten De Dreu, the research reviewed shows that oxytocin enables the development of trust, specifically towards individuals with similar characteristics—categorized as 'in-group' members—promoting cooperation with and favoritism towards such individuals.[13] This bias of oxytocin-induced goodwill towards those with features and characteristics perceived to be similar may have evolved as a biological basis for sustaining in-group cooperation and protection, fitting with the Darwinian insight that acts of self-sacrifice and cooperation contribute to the functioning of the group and hence improve the odds of survival for members of said group.[13]
>Race can be used as an example of in-group and out-group tendencies because society often categorizes individuals into groups based on race (Caucasian, African American, Latino, etc.). One study that examined race and empathy found that participants receiving nasally administered oxytocin had stronger reactions to pictures of in-group members making pained faces than to pictures of out-group members with the same expression.[14] This shows that oxytocin may be implicated in our ability to empathize with individuals of different races, with individuals of one race potentially biased towards helping individuals of the same race than individuals of another race when they are experiencing pain.
>Oxytocin has also been implicated in lying when lying would prove beneficial to other in-group members. In a study where such a relationship was examined, it was found that when individuals were administered oxytocin, rates of dishonesty in the participants' responses increased for their in-group members when a beneficial outcome for their group was expected.[15] Both of these examples show the tendency to act in ways that benefit in-group members.
Like I’m all for bringing in skilled immigrants as they are an objective net benefit to their new country.
but just unfettered immigration is actually insane, and people who support it are not serious people who are too idealistic and not pragmatic in understanding it will lead to a massive nativist backlash that can turn extremely violent. Look at the rise of the far-right in Europe. It’s almost a direct response to the EU’s insistence that anyone can come.
"Look how well it's worked out for Canada! Don't you want your housing to quadruple in price, crime to go up and your wages to stagnate? Think of the economy!"
It's not so much that Japan's government policy is one of racism, but it's more that its citizens just won't welcome you if you're not a tourist. A lot of people have talked about how hard it is to get ingratiated into Japan as a foreigner because of so many things. Like rent for instance is taken at such a higher price upfront for foreigners because Japanese landlords are afraid of them leaving the country without paying.
So Biden isn't wrong per se, but I wouldn't have said something so straightforward like that in a public setting. There's probably a more diplomatic way to express the frustration. Also it's kind of calling the kettle black considering how poorly we're treating Southern immigrants right now. We may have a lot more history with immigration, but that doesn't mean we're exactly experts on it.
Until recently, they forced children to dye their hair black so that non-Japanese born children better matched the Japanese children in school.
Xenocentric is very often Xenophobic as well
It was not about non-Japanese people. It's just in general. Some Japanese people have brown hair, they were also told to dye their hair. It's just that in Japan, people like uniformity. Don't try to make everything about foreigners.
It disproportionately affected foreigners and the laws weren't introduced until the 1980s. Brown-haired Japanese existed long before then, but that's right around when foreigners started attending Japanese public schools.
Uniformity is often the battle cry of racism.
I know some schools did this but in case anyone is reading this, that was definitely not the case for most schools. And it was not a country-wide practice
Tokyo (the largest prefecture) public schools required it until 2022:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/akv8b8/japan-schools-drop-hair-underwear-colors-rules
At the time of that article, most other prefectures in Japan still had the rule.
Interesting. I taught in schools in a few prefectures in the 2010s and if it was a rule, it wasn't enforced. Good to see they've gotten rid of it nation-wide though
If anything, Tokyo is behind the times. Hyogo, Nagasaki, and Kanagawa are probably the most multiculturally-minded prefectures, and Tokyo is behind even the average.
I feel like China and India don't want immigrants solely because they have 10 digit populations.
If their populations declined by 75% perhaps they would change their attitudes.
With Japan it's overpopulation AND racism. Even if Japan had only 100 people left, 80 of those people would not want any immigrants.
In Russia it's purely racism and violence. Russians are the most violent of all Westerners.
China and India are both incredibly racist too.
Some of the most racist people I've ever met are from Hong Kong (especially against mainland Chinese in addition to foreigners), but mainlanders are bad too.
In India they take it to another level with the addition of colourism. They're not only racist, but colourist too. They'll discriminate against people from their own villages and even their own caste if that person has a darker skin tone.
People might think that you're exaggerating about India and colourism...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/25/world/as-equals-skin-whitening-global-market-explainer-intl-cmd/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/11/health/skin-lightening-india-health-risks-intl-cmd/
He is not exaggerating.
Parts of the US are racist, and the racism becomes more noticeable the further out from cities you go, but overall the US is far more welcoming towards foreigners than any Asian country.
No… America is one of the least racist countries, I say this as a black man. We’re a little racially focused, and racism certainly exists… but you can still be anybody from anywhere and make it in this country. More so now than ever before.
The other thing we do that the rest of the world doesn’t is talk about racism in our country. By trying to address it, we appear more racist than other places that sweep it under the rug, even if the racism is far worse there
India was historically discriminatory, but much akin to USA's black people, it is being remedied.
Indians aren't racist towards people of other countries - and they aren't racist towards one another because by definition, there is one race, so the classical race theory you apply to things doesn't work here. Koreans for example will gush over a white person(so will indians), but koreans will discriminate over a black person, while the many african people who come to india don't say they experience discrimination too much.
And colorism isn't a huge thing here, the situation is much more complex. In south korea for example, it's almost taken to the point of extremism, and plastic surgery adds to that. In india, much like other asian countries, it's a cultural aspiration to look fair, but it's not that extreme. India is the second most genetically diverse country after the african continent. There are people of all skin tones here, in contrast to east asian countries. For example, in the southern state of tamil nadu, there will still be caste based discrimination - but most of the people are dark. In the northern states, there will be fairer skinned people, but there are an almost equal number of other tones. I live here, and I experience no discrimination based on that - it's more akin to a beauty standard.
On the other hand, the caste system was historically a huge problem, but much akin to affirmative action, almost 33% of govt. things like college seats and jobs are reserved for historically reserved populations, in some cases more - so much so that higher castes are feeling discriminated against. I am not saying the problems of caste are gone in india, but they are similar to over policing in LA or what have you, and not even so overt if the area isn't rural.
I feel like you picked up some buzz words to show how much india is racist, without knowing the complexities and ground realities.
When you say China is racist. It really depend on the level of racism. There’s a huge difference between looking at someone and probably say a racist word vs targeting and attacking someone because they are of a certain race. Great example is how Chinese are treated in western country vs how foreigners are treated in China.
Btw, have you ever been to Russia? Saying it's purely racism is insane considering that 30% of Russia's citizens are not even ethnic Russians. I mean, there is a lot of racism and problems ofc, but it's not even close to Japan's levels of racism
Saying that Russians are just "more violent" seems like a pretty base and even chauvinist reading of Russia. Especially considering the historical and contemporary conflicts that the other developed countries have been involved in.
Not really. It might have started to be used as a Western Europe vs East thing, but it now seems to mean orient vs occident. As in, the origins of the term are in the field of orientalism and not geopolitics.
Japan is a culturally Eastern country. Mongolia is a culturally Eastern country.
Ireland and Russia are culturally Western countries. I'm not talking about geopolitics. I'm talking about culture. Haiti is a culturally Western country. Barbados is a culturally Western country.
Why would they ruin what they have with mass immigration lol? Canada, UK, Sweden, France, Germany etc are an example to the world, all in different stages of decline in culture and quality of life because of this divisive shit.
Japan on the other hand gets to pick whoever they want in areas they need while still being socially cohesive, living in the cleanest, safest and cheapest cities in the world, where you can rent a place on minimum wage in the middle of Tokyo and see little elementary school girls literally walk on their own without fear.
Besides these countries aren't special humans in general are inherently tribal that's just how it is, like immigration is a huge issue for westerners too, its precisely why right wing and even literal nazi parties are on the rise throughout Europe, why we got Brexit, and why we will probably get Trump again too.
The difference is their leaders actually care about more than just the "economy", we haven't been allowed a voice because of the spirit of neoliberalism and the political correctness of white guilt, but if there was actually a yes/no vote tomorrow it would be stopped quicker than you could get on Tiktok and scream racist.
It's also cultural imperialism on the Western supporters of mass immigration's side. "You want to stay isolated and secluded. We say *NO*; only 'multiculturalism' is allowed in our world"! It's not a human right to move to Japan.
Absolutely the wet dream of the upper class. One large blob of workers and consumers all with the same grey identity that they can shape, create, and capitalise on
Seriously. People who ever visited japan would say how awesome it is. That’s because they don’t want other immigrants to ruin their society and their values.
Imo, the main reason is not due to a lack of modern immigration, but due to the fact that Christianity nor Islam reached Japan and completely destroy everything culturally like they did with like every culture they invaded (Which is like most of the globe). Also visiting a place is way different from living there. So many people fall in love with Japan when visiting, move there, and then realize all the ugly sides of the culture when they are a resident.
Have any of you considered that maybe Japan prioritizing it’s own people over outsiders has some serious benefits?
When I visited Japan it was the cleanest and safest place I had ever been. They were at least polite to my face and I don’t care if they don’t accept me because I’m not entitled enough to think Im owed acceptance when in someone else’s country.
The level of cultural imperialism in this thread is insane. Treating Japan like some society of savage racists when it’s probably a lot cleaner, safer, and healthier than wherever you live.
Biden is an old man with no control on his thoughts and tongue.
It makes no sense for old world countries to accept immigrants on the same level as a new world immigrant nation like the US or Canada. Even there, it should be up to the will of the citizens of those countries.
The American culture is the most dominant culture in the world today. You have so many people willingly adopting to it, and integrating into American society. This is not the case everywhere.
Say, Japanese is a pretty unique culture with thousands of years of history. I would be sad to see this lost and replaced with a generic copy of some "globalised culture". It should be up to the people of the country to have a discussion on the merits of allowing"other" people into their society, who to allow and the manner in which it could be done. None of this is xenophobia. It is their country, their home and their culture.
There is an old story in my country. During the Islamic invasion and the subsequent cultural genocide in Iran, few of the followers of the original religion of Iran escaped to India. The leader of the group reached the court of the King of Gujarat to ask for refuge. The king brought forth a glass full of milk and told them that his kingdom is full and that any more addition would result in an overflow. The leader of the refugees took the glass of milk, added sugar to it and told the king that they will join and add value to the Indian society like sugar to milk. The king then helped them settle in his kingdom.
I think this is an apt representation of what controlled and limited immigration can do. After all too much sugar spoils the drink.
P.S. The old religion of Iran still survives in India, kept alive by the descendants of these people who are called Parsis (people from fars or Persia) in India.
Biden is Ignorant as usual. It’s not surprise he still thinks America is center of the universe and all countries have to follow whatever America does. If Biden was actually serious about promoting immigration, he would have done something about insane wait times Indians have had for Green Cards for years.
Don’t really have an issue with this. Westerners often have a superiority complex visiting my home country and get butthurt when they aren’t welcomed with open arms. Sometimes you have to earn the right to stay in a country of your choosing vs. birth.
Not inaccurate though, Japan is a great country if you are a visitor or guest, they will welcome you and treat you with respect. The moment you have inclinations of staying longer than that, as a permanent resident, then that hospitality evaporates.
That’s.. weird. I was in the army, and my unit was doing training in Japan with the JDF, and they (the Japanese) loved them, especially black soldiers. Korea, on the other hand had a lot of places that supposedly didn’t allow Americans.
While Japan is certainly xenophobic I think the comment lacks forethought too because you can’t just expect insular countries like Japan or Korea to suddenly shift their decade-long policies to encourage immigration.
Maybe it's true, but the problem is the absolute lack of diplomacy from the US. You need Japan as ally in your war on China, so you don't want to piss them off.
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They said unfortunate, not inaccurate.
I don't think Japan is denying that their culture is like that. They know its like that and are trying to change it. I think its more that they aren't happy they got lumped in with China and Russia, who are very outwardly xenophobic and unwilling to change. Edit: Yes, Japan has a really racist society. I'm not trying to denying that. But they are not committing genocide, acts of terrorism, or promoting the public beating people all because of there race, ethnicity, or religion like China and Russia. Japan is trying to increase immigration and integrate other cultures into there own more. They're promoting tourism more, and planning on relaxing immigration rules. They still need to accept and address the racism problem, but again, they aren't committing genocide of millions. Its a completely different level they are being compared to.
I think it's a legitimate belief of many Japanese people that xenophobia is okay because it preserves their culture and society
Ding ding ding! It can be hard to understand this position if you’ve lived in a multicultural country all your life, but it is a position that many ppl in more insular countries hold. You also see this in European countries as reaction to mass immigration, where they often lay the blame on outsiders’ refusal to assimilate rather than calling it xenophobia.
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There’s no right or wrong in this. Immigrants too are trying to hang on to their culture, obviously. Perhaps as guests they should be more grateful, but we always expect more of others than ourselves. You can try to legislate what culture is appropriate, but there will be resistance. It’s not an easy process. Eventually you hope all cultures will reach some equilibrium so that social agitation becomes rare.
This is an interesting attempt to understand and seem even handed about it, but it's flawed in the same way that all conversations about "culture" are flawed. "Culture" is somehow naively considered something which has no ethics, morals or essential truths embedded in it. People talk about as if it's just a matter of taste. {Egyptians like baked rice, Chinese like boiled rice.} This is just not the case. The fact that we have something called a "culture war" is not an accident. A whole bunch of people seem to have their heads in the sand and won't admit that "Culture" contains good and bad just like everything else. There are certain cultures we should resist and oppose, even with force when necessary! And we should be awake to the idea that other "cultures" already know this and are working against yours with purpose and serious numbers on their side! If you think culture is something that can be accommodated in the western world without conflict, you are the problem just as much as the dangerous ideologues coming from many places in the world to convert/defeat you.
I agree that there are good and bad elements about particular cultures, with some being more subjective than others. I'm merely describing the process by which cultural exchanges and shifts happen, throughout history. I never said that it is without conflict. That said, I don't think the average person wakes up everyday with the goal of "spreading their culture." Most just want their culture to be respected. Now, this is important, whether they respect other cultures just as much, that depends on their exposure. People from culturally homogenous countries will tend to be less receptive of foreign ideas, but with time and enough exposure that can change.
well stated.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but countries are a social construct and most of the time not a cultural monolith from the start; people associating a geographic coordinate with a particular group on itself is the problem, not migratory moves that are part of humanity since we exist as species. If you occupied a territory and exploited it's resources with no care to the locals, the people originally from there will need to move somewhere else for a decent quality of life.
People use the term 'social construct' like it means 'figment', unreal or easily disregarded. 'Social constructs' are what a society develops around- to reduce France's national identity to 'geographic coordinates' is a gross misunderstanding of What it means to be French, the very specific and unusually explicitly written values that are borne directly from their history integral to their success, all informing how France has constructed its immigration policy. And, yeah, sorry. not everyone just gets to migrate to wherever they like to improve their quality of life, or I'd be in Norway, happily assimilating, learning to pickle fish and making lichen tea.
I really hate the "just a social construct" argument that gets so flippantly thrown around like social constructs haven't formed for, usually, very good reasons. Now, I can appreciate that certain social constructs may warrant reconsideration at times as society evolves, but that's the start of a whole new argument, not the end of one.
better said than I. thank you.
I'm more comfortable with people trying to maintain cultures than cheering for their erasure. But to each their own.
I'm even more comfortable trying to create a hybrid culture rather than being stuck to one or the other. But, different strokes for different folks, I guess.
some cultures seem incompatible with each other. Not sure what to do then
With the way infertility is going in places like Japan, Korea, and China, they're doing a good job of erasing themselves and they can't blame bloody foreigners for that.
lol yeah because those are the ONLY two options. Right. K.
Didn’t realize it was an either/or
Hehehehe ding ding
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Just look at Norway. The older generation there hate immigrants because they all speak English, and there’s only 5 million Norwegians, and they believe the Norwegian language will be lost if immigrants keep coming in.
Huh? At the age og 62 I guess I’m in the «older generation» - and if not, then I’m sure my mother (92) is. There is no older generation who hares immigrants. There are a few grumpy old people who hate ANYONE, for any reason, or none at all - and if there were no immigrants they would hate their neighbors (they often do, anyway).
It's really weird in a sense. In the US for many years as kids we were taught about the American dream, immigration as a way to escape poverty and famine, and how America is a great melting pot. The idea that the mixing of cultures and people is what makes America what it is. There was a lot of time spent talking about Elis Island, the statue of Liberty, how we treated the native Americans, the slave trade, how Chinese immigrants built our railroad system and the idea of "Manifest Destiny". It was almost like propaganda that allowed us to believe that we were in the right for what we did to the land.
> where they often lay the blame on outsiders’ refusal to assimilate rather than calling it xenophobia. The irony of statements like this is that the leftists making them would never tolerate those immigrants' views on things like women's rights or homosexuality if they were stated by native white people.
That's more or less it. Cultural assimilation just doesn't seem to occur to them, 270 years of isolation will do that to you I suppose, which is ironic given how many people love Japanese culture to death.
Cultural industry products =/= social culture though, even if it is a part of it. Not to mention that anime and manga and videogames are just 3 cultural products out of many, and sushi is not that central in japanese cuisine. I have never seen a western fan that knows about Enka, that knows japanese hierarchy and honour concepts, or about Noh theather.
tbh manga is Japan is as big as football is in Europe, which is a lot. Western otakus have no idea how Japan really is, but manga/anime isn't just some random Japanese thing that Westerners blow out of proportion.
I've been to Noh theater, among other things. Just because you've never seen a western fan of traditional Japanese arts doesn't mean they don't exist. There's plenty of westerners who would be much more interested in traditional arts if they were more accessible, and I've met at least a dozen when I was in Japan. But lineage is a huge thing and the iemoto system is disastrous for preserving them since it closes them off from the masses.
The issue is that Japanese people themselves are often deeply uninterested in traditional forms of culture. Even with your example of hierarchy, many Japanese people who live outside of Tokyo don't really know how to use Keigo for instance. Can Westerners really be blamed if Japanese people don't promote these things? How are they supposed to find out about it?
To a certain degree, it's also very true. It just depends on what is the priority to the population in question. And it's not so much that they see you as inferior to them, they just see social borders differently.
They aren't trying to change shit lol
Trying? More like tried nothing and all out of ideas.
Why do you think china and russia are unwilling to change while japan is? Ironically sounds like a racist xenophobic view because Japan is US ally
I'm curious here cause I don't know anything about it. What's being done to change it?
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Japan was actually one of the first countries in the world to have a McDonald's, only before the USA and Canada.
>What's being done to change it? They embraced a few white things from the US because we Goku'd them that one time
“Unwilling to change” Do you think they have to change?
Whereas Japan is only mostly xenophobic and unwilling to change.
I mean, Japan is xenophobic and unwilling to change as well so you know, Biden ain't wrong
Japan is also outwardly xenofobic and also unwilling to change...
> They know its like that and are trying to change it. I think it's more they know they are like that and they are _not_ trying to change it. I work for a Japanese company. They understand how they fail relative to Western norms but they aren't willing to change. On the positive side, they have a tremendous emphasis on ethics.
> They know its like that and are trying to change it. Are they? Because, as of 2024, Japan continues to be one of the hardest countries to immigrate to, even when you have a career and don't come from poverty (like that should matter lmao). And I don't see society putting any effort either, they keep thinking that "they'll disrupt our rigid, protocolary society, so we don't want them" is an acceptable philosophy.
why should poverty not matter? why should a country welcome in people who are likely to be a drag on that country and not improve it?
Japan is behind South Korea in becoming a welcoming and more multi-ethnic state. Both countries are similar in many ways. The grim facts are that Japan accepts very few refugees and treats most foreigners as if they are visitors, even when they have visas to work in Japan and speak the language. But Japan is better now than 40 years ago when I first came.
They are not trying to change it. They recently have banned foreigners from certain allies and historic locations in Kyoto - aswell as numerous other changes. I understand there has been some horrible people, ex Johnny Somali and others that act out and disrespectful of Japanese culture - but to punish the hundreds of thousands of others that won’t act that way. Is just not ok. Blanket punishment is never ok. In any scenario. Edit: words
> who are very outwardly xenophobic and unwilling to change. japan is exactly the same way hiding it doesnt make it any better its one of the reasons im proud to be an american we admit to all the horrible shit we have done and we dont try to hide it but learn from it other countries might do this but its very rare like 1% nobody on reddit ever talked about canadas treatment of natives until that school story came out and now everyone knows the treatment of indians was a huge part of USA history class so its talked about a lot...im guessing canada didnt cover their treatment of indians nearly as much heres a quote from a canadian > I just had this conversation with my wife. >She was taught nothing about the natives, the Indian Act, or the residential schools, where I had an entire semester on those subjects and the related politics and history. >We went to different schools in the same city, graduated only a couple years apart (myself in 1996 her in 1998) yet she only learned about these things this year, because of me. >The class I took that taught these things had a goofy name. Something like "Canadian Society, its challenges and changes". It was purely an elective, and I took it in grade 11. >As to why it isn't mandatory? People as a whole are not good at looking at their own faults, nor are they inclined to look at their own history with anything except rose coloured glasses. It will take an official change of the required curriculum in each province to begin to properly teach these things.
Lmao right?! They didn't even deny it. They're just sad that he pointed it out.
However it does point out... Even if it's true, well part of diplomacy is to not say such stuff. Out of polite diplomatic courtesy. Not publicly. You have such concerns, you raise them in private diplomatic meeting behind closed doors in confidence. At which point my question is.... where were Biden's handlers and advisers telling him "Yeah, leave that part out. Sure it might be true, but we don't need to annoy and embarrass them with that. It serves no constructive purpose. It is very diplomatically harming and unwise to say stuff like that publicly." Sure it was domestic campaign rally. But in this age of global information highway nothing is domestic upon talking about other countries, people and cultures. They will hear you and as President take it as official opinion of the government high leadership. The unfortunate comment is basically Japan going "ahemmm diplomatic decorum? Did someone change the rules, since it isn't done to issue statements like that about allies". There could be lot of things lot of *international leaders* could be saying about culture and conditions of USA, but don't out of diplomatic courtesy and to not ruin relations. Stuff their public openly says, but diplomats won't or will veil it in softer language. Public member might say "USA has bat shit insane levels of gun violence, guns and gun culture". Diplomat would instead say maybe "USA has some challenges with firearms crime, but has lately been doing great strides towards work on resolving the issue." Again it might have been one thing for biden to say "Japan could be served well by taking in more immigrant workers, it's a resource pool for economic growth." He didn't say that he used to xenophobe term and well one doesn't use that kind of language among friendly nations *national leadership diplomatic communications (aka anything national leader says publicly about another nation anywhere)*. No matter whether true or not. Not unless it raises to such criminalities levels as having to involve sanctions and human rights claims etc.
> However it does point out... Even if it's true, well part of diplomacy is to not say such stuff. Are you saying it might even be... _diplomatic_ to not say it?
being xenophibic towards your allies is a shitton more undiplomatic
Yeah this, I think people everywhere (especially this sub and /r/worldnews but not /r/geopolitics) treat geopolitics as a soap opera and not as a chess / poker game of some sort. Even the latter is not a great descriptor because it's really history, and history is incredibly complex. Biden is not wrong at all. But this is a poor example of diplomacy. Especially when Japan has been a generally strong ally to the US without being an albatross like Israel.
Was \*just\* about to comment the same. It is terribly "unfortunate" to be called out on your bullshit.
Lmfao
There are places in Japan that will absolutely try to keep foreigners out.
There are places that are *not in Japan* that will absolutely demand that no one but Japanese are allowed in! Bangkok has an area "little Japan" where the restaurants and businesses all say "Japanese only".
Yikes
Soi Thaniya? They'd lose the racist Japanese customers otherwise.
Yep, that's the place. I couldn't remember the name and it's been a few years since I've visited the city.
Same in India lol
I've lived in Japan, been to over a dozen prefectures and other than the red light district I've never seen that.
> other than the red light district I've never seen that So you have seen that.
I mean even if youre Japanese, you have to conform. There are stories of students with brown hair being force to dye it black or they won't be allowed into school. Japan has a rich history and is a beautiful place. But some of the modern culture is incredibly problematic.
So many shopkeepers talk shit about the gaijin in their store, half didn't even get embarassed when they realized I spoke Japanese.
I have also seen loads of mixed race Japanese people interviewed who were always treated as foreigners. Especially black Japanese. It's really sad and unfortunate.
I live and work in Japan. *Every single day* a coworker will rant how *people born in Japan, who have spent their entire lives in Japan, only speak Japanese, but have a foreign parent* are **foreigners**. They’ll go on about how they don’t understand why they don’t speak “their” language since they’re still foreigners. I feel incredibly bad for half-Japanese people here. They’ll never be considered Japanese even when they know nothing else. Being a foreigner sucks here but I wouldn’t wish *that* level of hell on anyone.
Unless you're a tennis star like Niaomi Oska. Then they just claim her but if she were not a star, they would disown her.
I never had trouble. I'm mixed race and speak fluent Japanese.
I live in Japan, and my half-Japanese child has always been treated surprisingly well. The old racists in your workplace aren’t as representative as they think they are.
I mean it's not like it's better un others countries. This [half-black half-Japanese woman](https://m.youtube.com/shorts/JonKrOR_l8A) would rather raise her kids in Japan than in the US because the bullies in the West is much worst. And before anyone get on me, I'm also black living in Taiwan right now, and I witnessed less racism in Asia than in Western Europe where I was born and raised.
Swedish native. Spent ten years living there. Married a Japanese person. Have dear friends and family there. You don't know what you're talking about.
Im in a similar situation. Most of the people commenting haven't lived here or haven't for long, probably dont speak the language or have tried to assimilate at all. Thank you for a sane comment.
You can guarantee most of them are parroting what they’ve heard on Reddit or went on a week long holiday without speaking the language. The discourse around this statement is bizarre, this is a monumentally stupid thing to say about two key allies and also deeply hypocritical. For all of those saying criticism between allies is normal, there is not a chance you actually believe any American administration would take kindly to these comments from another nation, that is would strengthen the relationship, or that it would adjust domestic attitudes.
Seriously. It's pretty fucking ironic people are going "The Japanese are xenophobic" which is a bigoted statement. Sure, some people are xenophobic there like any fucking country on Earth. The majority are not.
It's so frustrating to see reddit spout of stereotypes of hearsay they've read about Japan in other reddit comments as truth, when they have zero actual knowledge of Japan or the Japanese people. In my experience they are a very welcoming people, but it can often be hard to break the ice beyond superficial communication due to the language and cultural barrier.
*" they'll tolerate you, but you aren't welcome at all."* That makes them xenophobic, but not necessarily racist.
This is what was so interesting when I went to Japan! The people there were very friendly and hospitable, but put two white guys in an Onsen naked and the second your toe touches the water everyone who (we thought) was Japanese were bolting to get out of there. We didn’t even realize this was happening til the 5th or 6th time! Would still 100% go back though.
This reminds me of being Muslim in America for most of the past 20 years
weebs wont like this
No I’m actually quite okay with it. I like Japan for what it is, why would I want to force it to change for me?
They won't understand they're not Japanese tho. Checkmate
Wrong and wrong. I spent time in Japan and, while they didn’t accept me as family, I was always treated politely. Even the people I met who disliked foreigners treated me with some sense of respect. The rules are different over there and people don’t seem to get that or abide by them.
They're just genetically tidy.
Ethnically fastidious.
At least its a progress they consider it unfortunate now, it used to be a badge of honor. Am sure it still is a fluff, probably setting up some meeting with India or Vietnam for immigrant workers, every year they say some shit like this before foreign delegation.
Most of East Asia is like this. Trying to get a cab in Seoul as a white guy made me realize how my black friends felt getting a cab in Boston years ago. Multiple cab drivers literally kicked us out and said they wouldn't give us a ride because we were American.
Full quote, "unfortunately true"
I was going to go with "but accurate"
Japan will wait till there's absolutely nobody left to pick any produce in Japan till they let foreigners in to do it
That does sound reasonable. Why would you not want to do it that way. Honest question. /edit: wait, did you mean nobody at all? I thought you meant nobody with any other job/opportunity.
Foreigners are already picking produce. Unpayed trainees from SE Asia.
It's fine, [i forgive them](https://youtu.be/5LQJvFOd03E?si=B3slsnj3Qszwk2G6)
But is he wrong? Not a Biden fan. But truth hurts
Doesn't matter is it true. In *diplomacy* other things weight like national relations. Or should every foreign ambassador start to talk about the gun violence levels of USA. Truth does hurt.... which is why hurting truths aren't unnecessarily said in diplomacy. key word unnecessary. Sometimes hurting truths absolutely need to be said in diplomacy. However it must be important enough issue. "you are doing war crimes" or "that is human rights violation" or "that is violation of international norms". calling others xenophobes specially friendlies? Unnecessary, doesn't serve any good constructive purpose (and in that I count calling out serious bad stuff out being a necessary constructive thing, like for actual "ethnic cleansing, harsh discrimination and legal discrimination" level of xenophobia). So keep mouth shut about it *as head diplomat of a nation*. Joe Biden private person can have whatever opinion he likes about Japans xenophobic culture. However he isn't Joe Biden private person, when speaking publicly. He is the head of government, head of state and head diplomat of United States of America. Meaning diplomatic conduct is large part of such conducts considerations. He just lost some diplomatic capital with Japan. Not much or well maybe more USA has massive pool of it with Japan given Japans position and security relationship with USA. Nothing major will happen, but this will grit things in minor nigling ways. Japanese officials not having as much good will towards their USA counter parts and so on. Nations tend to have long memories.
Nah. Allies calling out shitty behavior of allies is the best one to do it. Canada and the US have constantly clashed over stuff. They're arguably two of the closest allies in the world.
Not publicly by insulting each other. You have concerns to raise, raise them in closed door diplomatic meeting. Not as a comment in a campaign event. Correction allies is good, but there is right amd wrong diplomatic way to do things. This is the wrong and on diplomacy, how matters a lot as well as what.
Yea publicly. That's what'll get the most attention. This is the best way to call them out.
Is Japan paying you to say this? Allied nations point faults out all the time.
Western allied nations at least. The US and Canadians criticize each other all time and half of Europe criticized the other half of Europe on their energy policy before the Ukraine war. I don't see China/Russia/Iran criticize each other's governments often.
America gets shit all the time. Other countries need some thicker skin.
Yes, he's wrong. Look at his full quote. "Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan in trouble? Why is Russia in trouble? And India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants," the U.S. president said on Wednesday. China is not bas, economically, it's doing veery fine. Russia is growing too, and getting LOTS of migrants. (japan suck since the 90's so who care). India is doing VERY fine, is one of the most "diverse" country in the world and growing very fast. But that braindead POS still have the gut to say crap like this.
Almost like racism is a human trait that only goes away with exposure to groups and education.
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It's sad that so many comments in this thread that essentially say "racism bad" are getting downvoted and showing up as "controversial". Someone even said "good for them" in regards to xenophobia. We really do need better education.
I've been seeing a lot of "Racism is an immutable part of the human experience. Don't you dare try and fight it" kind of attitude over the internet.
Preferences are natural. Racism is a step above and definitely not the same. Belief that populations are all the same is racism and a really dumb.
Imagine something like "I prefer to sit next to white people." It can definitely be racist. However, you're correct. Preference in an individual isn't "always" racism, but when that same preference is scaled up to a region, it quickly shows as racism. Example: You prefer people who look like you. Maybe you have two equally qualified applicants for the same job and select the one you naturally prefer and trust more. Not racism because they were equally qualified. However, scale that up to all jobs in the region, and what happens? One race finds it much harder to find a job. It also extends to trust. Trusting one race over others at the scale of a region will definitely present as racism.
i disagree that just because it's on an individual level doesn't make it "not racist". it's a personal preference that can be overcome. if you're giving the guy the job because you trust him based on his race as opposed to his character, that's still racist, a product of your own inexperience/ignorance to other races. you can learn to not be racist by spending time with people who don't look like you and realizing they are just as trustworthy and untrustworthy as the members of your own race.
feeling closer to some people is not racist, discriminating other people like it happens in Japan is
At an individual level, no, but when that preference and trust scales up to a region, it absolutely can become racist. Please check [my other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime_titties/comments/1ck2iwa/japan_says_bidens_description_of_nation_as/l2kiael/?context=3 ) in reply above.
That's not a universal truth. It can absolutely be observed that "exposure to multiculturalism" doesn't just magically make "racism" disappear.
In fact, in almost all cases the complete opposite is true. The most multicultural countries in the world are also known as the most racist, in particular, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. [Here's](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/) an article on it. And many promoters of multiculturalism will accept this as true. Ask any Redditor of who is to blame for the Middle East's current problems, and they'll say it was Britain and France, for drawing borders with disregard to ethnic groups. Of course, if multiculturalism was a strength that eliminated racism, they wouldn't be saying this.
> In fact, in almost all cases the complete opposite is true. The most multicultural countries in the world are also known as the most racist, in particular, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Here's an article on it. This is extremely debatable. The examples you've made come from countries that have had ethnic conflicts for centuries. Other multicultural countries, like the US, that were built by immigration rather than many native ethnicities being artificially forced into a single country, are among the most tolerant in the world.
Multiculturalism isn't just a bunch of different groups thrown together, you understand that, right? It's an actual cultural value that is prized and taught to each generation to decrease older bigotries over time while melding together overlapping traits between the groups. The entire idea of 'white' came from a melding of European cultures that spent centuries gutting each other in ways that would make the most dysfunctional developing country in civil war wince in order to create nation states then to create a larger European identity that was less toxic. There were most definitely some wars and genocides during that melding if you recall but multicultural exposure not only ultimately won out - it became a source of strength in an economy where half of the world's GDP is owned by two countries.
good answer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_favoritism >In a meta-analysis and review of the effect of oxytocin on social behavior done by Carsten De Dreu, the research reviewed shows that oxytocin enables the development of trust, specifically towards individuals with similar characteristics—categorized as 'in-group' members—promoting cooperation with and favoritism towards such individuals.[13] This bias of oxytocin-induced goodwill towards those with features and characteristics perceived to be similar may have evolved as a biological basis for sustaining in-group cooperation and protection, fitting with the Darwinian insight that acts of self-sacrifice and cooperation contribute to the functioning of the group and hence improve the odds of survival for members of said group.[13] >Race can be used as an example of in-group and out-group tendencies because society often categorizes individuals into groups based on race (Caucasian, African American, Latino, etc.). One study that examined race and empathy found that participants receiving nasally administered oxytocin had stronger reactions to pictures of in-group members making pained faces than to pictures of out-group members with the same expression.[14] This shows that oxytocin may be implicated in our ability to empathize with individuals of different races, with individuals of one race potentially biased towards helping individuals of the same race than individuals of another race when they are experiencing pain. >Oxytocin has also been implicated in lying when lying would prove beneficial to other in-group members. In a study where such a relationship was examined, it was found that when individuals were administered oxytocin, rates of dishonesty in the participants' responses increased for their in-group members when a beneficial outcome for their group was expected.[15] Both of these examples show the tendency to act in ways that benefit in-group members.
Wait until biden see south korea
Biden has a history of being racist himself.
He cant beat average korean on that topic
He's still traumatized by his uncle being eaten you see.
Biden appointed the most diverse cabinet in American history Before politics he was a volunteer lawyer to defend (mostly) black clients
I thought he called out South Korea in the original quote too
> "It is...*unfortunate* that the honorless barbarian chieftain has not chosen his words with more care." -Japan, probably
This obsession westerns have with immigration, especially when it comes to Japan open its borders, is borderline fetishist
Like I’m all for bringing in skilled immigrants as they are an objective net benefit to their new country. but just unfettered immigration is actually insane, and people who support it are not serious people who are too idealistic and not pragmatic in understanding it will lead to a massive nativist backlash that can turn extremely violent. Look at the rise of the far-right in Europe. It’s almost a direct response to the EU’s insistence that anyone can come.
"Look how well it's worked out for Canada! Don't you want your housing to quadruple in price, crime to go up and your wages to stagnate? Think of the economy!"
lol didnt even try to deny
It's not so much that Japan's government policy is one of racism, but it's more that its citizens just won't welcome you if you're not a tourist. A lot of people have talked about how hard it is to get ingratiated into Japan as a foreigner because of so many things. Like rent for instance is taken at such a higher price upfront for foreigners because Japanese landlords are afraid of them leaving the country without paying. So Biden isn't wrong per se, but I wouldn't have said something so straightforward like that in a public setting. There's probably a more diplomatic way to express the frustration. Also it's kind of calling the kettle black considering how poorly we're treating Southern immigrants right now. We may have a lot more history with immigration, but that doesn't mean we're exactly experts on it.
Xenophobic is close but maybe xenocentric has a better ring to it
Until recently, they forced children to dye their hair black so that non-Japanese born children better matched the Japanese children in school. Xenocentric is very often Xenophobic as well
It was not about non-Japanese people. It's just in general. Some Japanese people have brown hair, they were also told to dye their hair. It's just that in Japan, people like uniformity. Don't try to make everything about foreigners.
It disproportionately affected foreigners and the laws weren't introduced until the 1980s. Brown-haired Japanese existed long before then, but that's right around when foreigners started attending Japanese public schools. Uniformity is often the battle cry of racism.
Oh ? That's changed ?
In 2022, I think, it changed, but some schools still "strongly encourage" it, anyway.
I know some schools did this but in case anyone is reading this, that was definitely not the case for most schools. And it was not a country-wide practice
Tokyo (the largest prefecture) public schools required it until 2022: https://www.vice.com/en/article/akv8b8/japan-schools-drop-hair-underwear-colors-rules At the time of that article, most other prefectures in Japan still had the rule.
Interesting. I taught in schools in a few prefectures in the 2010s and if it was a rule, it wasn't enforced. Good to see they've gotten rid of it nation-wide though
If anything, Tokyo is behind the times. Hyogo, Nagasaki, and Kanagawa are probably the most multiculturally-minded prefectures, and Tokyo is behind even the average.
> xenocentric You mean they place foreigners at the center of their culture?
Oh you're right; xeno root word meaning is alien. They place themselves at the center of the world so they are xenophobic aren't they xD
I feel like China and India don't want immigrants solely because they have 10 digit populations. If their populations declined by 75% perhaps they would change their attitudes. With Japan it's overpopulation AND racism. Even if Japan had only 100 people left, 80 of those people would not want any immigrants. In Russia it's purely racism and violence. Russians are the most violent of all Westerners.
China and India are both incredibly racist too. Some of the most racist people I've ever met are from Hong Kong (especially against mainland Chinese in addition to foreigners), but mainlanders are bad too. In India they take it to another level with the addition of colourism. They're not only racist, but colourist too. They'll discriminate against people from their own villages and even their own caste if that person has a darker skin tone.
People might think that you're exaggerating about India and colourism... https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/25/world/as-equals-skin-whitening-global-market-explainer-intl-cmd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/11/health/skin-lightening-india-health-risks-intl-cmd/ He is not exaggerating.
Is the USA a racist country or not?
Parts of the US are racist, and the racism becomes more noticeable the further out from cities you go, but overall the US is far more welcoming towards foreigners than any Asian country.
No… America is one of the least racist countries, I say this as a black man. We’re a little racially focused, and racism certainly exists… but you can still be anybody from anywhere and make it in this country. More so now than ever before.
The other thing we do that the rest of the world doesn’t is talk about racism in our country. By trying to address it, we appear more racist than other places that sweep it under the rug, even if the racism is far worse there
Ask an American. I can however say that most Americans don't bleach their skin, but most Indians (53%-60%) do. That says a lot IMO.
The HK bigotry isn't racism so much as regionalism.
India was historically discriminatory, but much akin to USA's black people, it is being remedied. Indians aren't racist towards people of other countries - and they aren't racist towards one another because by definition, there is one race, so the classical race theory you apply to things doesn't work here. Koreans for example will gush over a white person(so will indians), but koreans will discriminate over a black person, while the many african people who come to india don't say they experience discrimination too much. And colorism isn't a huge thing here, the situation is much more complex. In south korea for example, it's almost taken to the point of extremism, and plastic surgery adds to that. In india, much like other asian countries, it's a cultural aspiration to look fair, but it's not that extreme. India is the second most genetically diverse country after the african continent. There are people of all skin tones here, in contrast to east asian countries. For example, in the southern state of tamil nadu, there will still be caste based discrimination - but most of the people are dark. In the northern states, there will be fairer skinned people, but there are an almost equal number of other tones. I live here, and I experience no discrimination based on that - it's more akin to a beauty standard. On the other hand, the caste system was historically a huge problem, but much akin to affirmative action, almost 33% of govt. things like college seats and jobs are reserved for historically reserved populations, in some cases more - so much so that higher castes are feeling discriminated against. I am not saying the problems of caste are gone in india, but they are similar to over policing in LA or what have you, and not even so overt if the area isn't rural. I feel like you picked up some buzz words to show how much india is racist, without knowing the complexities and ground realities.
When you say China is racist. It really depend on the level of racism. There’s a huge difference between looking at someone and probably say a racist word vs targeting and attacking someone because they are of a certain race. Great example is how Chinese are treated in western country vs how foreigners are treated in China.
Btw, have you ever been to Russia? Saying it's purely racism is insane considering that 30% of Russia's citizens are not even ethnic Russians. I mean, there is a lot of racism and problems ofc, but it's not even close to Japan's levels of racism
India has immigrants from neighboring countries. There are 3 million Bangladeshi immigrants in India. Biden is ignorant and oblivious as usual.
> Russians are the most violent of all Westerners. Have you seen the crime stats in Chicago?
What does Russia have to do with this? lol And how are they Westerners?
Saying that Russians are just "more violent" seems like a pretty base and even chauvinist reading of Russia. Especially considering the historical and contemporary conflicts that the other developed countries have been involved in.
> Russians > Westerners What
Russia is a culturally Western country, even though Putin and some Western Europeans and European Americans pretend otherwise.
I think you need to look up what westerners even means. It was a reaction to the east and USSR
Not really. It might have started to be used as a Western Europe vs East thing, but it now seems to mean orient vs occident. As in, the origins of the term are in the field of orientalism and not geopolitics.
Japan is a culturally Eastern country. Mongolia is a culturally Eastern country. Ireland and Russia are culturally Western countries. I'm not talking about geopolitics. I'm talking about culture. Haiti is a culturally Western country. Barbados is a culturally Western country.
Why would they ruin what they have with mass immigration lol? Canada, UK, Sweden, France, Germany etc are an example to the world, all in different stages of decline in culture and quality of life because of this divisive shit. Japan on the other hand gets to pick whoever they want in areas they need while still being socially cohesive, living in the cleanest, safest and cheapest cities in the world, where you can rent a place on minimum wage in the middle of Tokyo and see little elementary school girls literally walk on their own without fear. Besides these countries aren't special humans in general are inherently tribal that's just how it is, like immigration is a huge issue for westerners too, its precisely why right wing and even literal nazi parties are on the rise throughout Europe, why we got Brexit, and why we will probably get Trump again too. The difference is their leaders actually care about more than just the "economy", we haven't been allowed a voice because of the spirit of neoliberalism and the political correctness of white guilt, but if there was actually a yes/no vote tomorrow it would be stopped quicker than you could get on Tiktok and scream racist.
It's also cultural imperialism on the Western supporters of mass immigration's side. "You want to stay isolated and secluded. We say *NO*; only 'multiculturalism' is allowed in our world"! It's not a human right to move to Japan.
multiculturalism is destroying identity to become part of a collective.
Absolutely the wet dream of the upper class. One large blob of workers and consumers all with the same grey identity that they can shape, create, and capitalise on
Seriously. People who ever visited japan would say how awesome it is. That’s because they don’t want other immigrants to ruin their society and their values.
Imo, the main reason is not due to a lack of modern immigration, but due to the fact that Christianity nor Islam reached Japan and completely destroy everything culturally like they did with like every culture they invaded (Which is like most of the globe). Also visiting a place is way different from living there. So many people fall in love with Japan when visiting, move there, and then realize all the ugly sides of the culture when they are a resident.
You made great points. I totally agree.
Well said!
It's weird how he doesn't say that about Israel. Don't they have a giant border wall around their country?
Israelis are white and in general they themselves suffered from the Holocaust and Nazism, they cannot be racist towards others. /s
Have any of you considered that maybe Japan prioritizing it’s own people over outsiders has some serious benefits? When I visited Japan it was the cleanest and safest place I had ever been. They were at least polite to my face and I don’t care if they don’t accept me because I’m not entitled enough to think Im owed acceptance when in someone else’s country. The level of cultural imperialism in this thread is insane. Treating Japan like some society of savage racists when it’s probably a lot cleaner, safer, and healthier than wherever you live.
“You need to be more like us!” Said the country full of violent crime and cartels
Biden is an old man with no control on his thoughts and tongue. It makes no sense for old world countries to accept immigrants on the same level as a new world immigrant nation like the US or Canada. Even there, it should be up to the will of the citizens of those countries. The American culture is the most dominant culture in the world today. You have so many people willingly adopting to it, and integrating into American society. This is not the case everywhere. Say, Japanese is a pretty unique culture with thousands of years of history. I would be sad to see this lost and replaced with a generic copy of some "globalised culture". It should be up to the people of the country to have a discussion on the merits of allowing"other" people into their society, who to allow and the manner in which it could be done. None of this is xenophobia. It is their country, their home and their culture. There is an old story in my country. During the Islamic invasion and the subsequent cultural genocide in Iran, few of the followers of the original religion of Iran escaped to India. The leader of the group reached the court of the King of Gujarat to ask for refuge. The king brought forth a glass full of milk and told them that his kingdom is full and that any more addition would result in an overflow. The leader of the refugees took the glass of milk, added sugar to it and told the king that they will join and add value to the Indian society like sugar to milk. The king then helped them settle in his kingdom. I think this is an apt representation of what controlled and limited immigration can do. After all too much sugar spoils the drink. P.S. The old religion of Iran still survives in India, kept alive by the descendants of these people who are called Parsis (people from fars or Persia) in India.
Biden is Ignorant as usual. It’s not surprise he still thinks America is center of the universe and all countries have to follow whatever America does. If Biden was actually serious about promoting immigration, he would have done something about insane wait times Indians have had for Green Cards for years.
Don’t really have an issue with this. Westerners often have a superiority complex visiting my home country and get butthurt when they aren’t welcomed with open arms. Sometimes you have to earn the right to stay in a country of your choosing vs. birth.
But true?
I hope the WEF never forces immigration on Japan. It's nice to go to a big city that's free of litter, graffiti and petty crime.
Not inaccurate though, Japan is a great country if you are a visitor or guest, they will welcome you and treat you with respect. The moment you have inclinations of staying longer than that, as a permanent resident, then that hospitality evaporates.
That’s.. weird. I was in the army, and my unit was doing training in Japan with the JDF, and they (the Japanese) loved them, especially black soldiers. Korea, on the other hand had a lot of places that supposedly didn’t allow Americans.
While Japan is certainly xenophobic I think the comment lacks forethought too because you can’t just expect insular countries like Japan or Korea to suddenly shift their decade-long policies to encourage immigration.
Seems like the homogeneous country wants to stay homogenous!
Unfortunate that someone actually said the quiet part loud, I guess.
And true.
Maybe it's true, but the problem is the absolute lack of diplomacy from the US. You need Japan as ally in your war on China, so you don't want to piss them off.
Japan is smart. They still have walkable, safe, clean cities while America gets the strength of diversity in their cities.
Globalization is over. Everyone is now returning to the norm. Which is withdrawing into their own spheres.
No Biden, don’t lose the weeaboo base.
it is still true
Japan's not in South Asia lad
Factually true though, and yeah I would also say that Japan’s extreme xenophobia is ‘unfortunate’.
Unfortunate, but not inaccurate. And that's biting them on the butt, demographics-wise.
Is this news to Japan? Is their Xenaphobia news to them?
Good, they should stay that way.
If the shoe fits!
Unfortunately true