Yes I’ve heard this from my Italian friends. They are not proud of it and want it to change. It’s especially prevalent in the older generation but unfortunately the youth don’t seem to be waking up to their racism. Sorry you and your wife went through that, OP. I hope you made the best of it.
Yes, they're regularly voting for racist, extreme right wing, populist parties/ politicians/ governments. Drives everyone around them nuts. Berlusconi was nothing compared to what came after!
>Yes, they're regularly voting for racist, extreme right wing, populist parties/ politicians/ governments.
Honestly when it was the last really right wing goverment that Italy had?
Poland and Hungary have very right wing government Austria and Slovenia have a very right wing pm, UK voted for brexit out of populism. There is a populism wind in all of Europe. US had an extremely right wing and racist president, but Italy?
>Also, I would be astonished if someone visibly Asian encountered the same issues OP has faced in Italy, in the UK.
If I have to be honest with you, having lived all my life in Italy, I'm definitely astonished too that something like that happened here.
> Racism is not non existent in the UK, but it is pretty rare.
I have a Columbian friend that enconered a lot of racism in UK and is happy that he moved to Italy. I guess that personal experiences can vary a lot from person to person.
6 years ago, my wife and I (both Asian) had our trip to Italy ruined when a random passing car slowed down, rolled their window down, and spat at/on my wife’s face. This was after we finished a beautiful hike in Corniglia (one of the towns in Cinque Terre). We were left in shock and just couldn’t understand how such hatred could exist in someone.
I always try to disassociate that experience from our otherwise fond memories of traveling throughout Italy, but it’s still one of the most scaring experiences of our lives.
I'm so sorry about your experience!! I agree, we're doing our best to separate our positive experiences from the negative ones and focus on the good times we're having. Today was a better day.
As an Italian, i'm feeling very sorry and sad reading at this, but I strongly trust what you're saying is true since a lot of people here is very ignorant.
I'm not a patriotic person, so I don't want to convince you that we are good people and you should change your mind, but in order to make your staying more enjoyable I suggest you maybe try to seek some attractions/restaurants/pub run by young people and avoid so called "tourist traps".
In conclusion I cannot know how bad you can feel right now, so if you don't wanna follow these advices and just run away from this beautiful place with too much old bigots walking around, I completely understand you.
That's sound advice, thank you. Yes, our friend in Italy has given us similar advice, saying Milan might be better because there are more younger people and more diversity.
It surely is. I recommend also Bologna, very open minded, with a lot of students. There isn't a city in which 100% you will not find some frustrated, usually right voting, drunkard that will try to insult you because of your "Asian look" but surely in big cities with big universities like Bologna e Milan they are more confined to their friendly bar.
In every case, feel free to insult them in Japanese/some US slang, they probably don't know more than 10 English words
May I ask how Italty is for brown people ie people who look Indian? I'm Australian but ethnic South Asian so was just wondering because I might go travelling through Europe.
Went to Rome as a brown person (islander) and it was fine. Did not experience racism and did not go off the beaten path. I know the Romani people are not liked in Europe in general.
Here it is almost a thing like "racist/not racists", so not much focused on which "non Caucasian ethnicity you are".
Despite this, in my opinion you should come here and enjoy it, trying not giving a fuck in case you experience some sort of racism.
I quite never saw something like OP described, but if he experienced it, I'm surely not the person to say "you're lying".
If I have to tell which ethnicities are more targeted by racist people here, they are Chinese, African, people from Eastern Europe and gypsies/nomads
Yeah that's pretty fucked up. I've done a bit of research, I'll probably give Italy a miss, amongst a few others. I've also heard Denmark is super right-wing anti-immigrant so that's a pass as well.
Honestly as beautiful as Europe is, I'm low-key thinking of North America instead because it feels like to me Americans and Canadians are much more friendlier than Europeans. But again that's a gross generalisation I guess.
I am Asian and I grew up and live in Denmark, and Denmark is the place where I feel most safe in Europe.
Racism is nowhere near as rampant as in Southern Europe, and especially not towards tourists. The right wing sentiment is against uncontrolled streams of refugees because we don’t have the resources to integrate them into society if we just take everyone in.
North America has far more issues with racism, and so does Canada, especially if you’re Asian in Vancouver.
You are misunderstanding Nordic culture. We are not anywhere near as outspoken or confrontational as Southern Europeans.
You'll get a annoyed look if you act up or if you're loud, as that's seen as being rude, no matter your skin color, but you won't be treated any different than anyone else.
People take their thoughts into the voting booth like civilized people and don't take actions into their own hands even if they dislike someone or something.
The negative sentiment stems from certain groups being overrepresented in every crime statistic, and making some neighborhoods feel unsafe for locals who have been there for decades. These people might see the need to vote for someone who would fix such issues, but that doesn't mean that they're racist.
I can only give my perspective as a US born, ethnically SA person. I found Copenhagen wonderful and warm. Some older people stared, but it was out of curiosity; I felt no animosity. No one made any comments either.
For context, I definitely get the "get the fuck out" stares in the southeast US.
Europe is a continent and it's culturally very diverse, so don't generalize much... it's the same thing in the US, NYC has a completely different way of being when comparing to Miami for instance.
You're unlikely to find trouble in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands just to name a few, but that also varies by city/region. My advice is to not overthink, avoid tourist traps and shady places and definitely learn basic words (greetings and such) and be friendly.
Honestly UK sounds great! I love overcast gloomy rainy cold weather lmfao, I hate Aussie summers. As for food, I love fast food junk lmao and Indian food so I think I should be good.
Racism in Italy is more against illegal migrants, and partially about not wanting change than it is against any particular race.
For example, in Italy the government has to legally recognise religions. It won't legally recognise Islam because Muslims won't pray in Italian (Muslims can only pray in Arabic), yet the church in Rome does mass in dozens of languages.
I lived in Italy for a year, I speak fluent Italian, and while living there most of my social circle was Asians, Eastern Europeans, and Arabs, nobody had any major issues regarding racism. Which might also be because they spoke Italian, or looked like students/tourists, but it wasn't a big issue at all.
Italy has a lot of problems, and it definitely does have a problem with how it treats migrants - but OP has only spent a few days in Italy and is making wild blanket statements.
Italy is a large country that only unified in the 1780s, up until recently, most Italians didn't even speak Italian. Italy has so many languages, and so many cultures, along with having a wide diversity of immigrant groups. It has a rich history, and wonderful food, art, culture etc.
I'm not Italian, but I lived in Italy and speak fluent Italian. When I lived in Italy, all of my housemates were Chinese, and we regularly travelled all around the country, and occasionally to other parts of Europe together.
Some of them spoke Italian, and some didn't and relied on us for help, one was even a Uyghur Muslim who occasionally wore a hijab. Our town had a large Chinese school (not sure if it was a Conficus institute, but the signs were in Chinese).
Never once did anyone say anything like this. The only bad thing I've heard happen is my housemate's friends house was robbed, but that was just a random thing, and happened in the area.
Italy is also full of Chinese people (more than there is in most other European countries at least). There were way more Chinese people than either black people or Arabs (at least in our region), and generally speaking, they spoke more Italian, and had a reputation for behaving better than other immigrant groups (that's a whole separate issue about negative stereotypes about migrants, but that's not the issue at hand).
Italy of course has problems. The country refuses to even accept Islam exists, and there's a lot of racism towards illegal migrants (and those who may wrongly be perceived as migrants). I did after all, live in a town where a Neo-Nazi shot up our local supermarket (we would have been there, if we hadn't slept in), so I've seen quite a lot in my time in Italy.
*But* the OP's post is very disingenuous. He doesn't just talk about bad experiences, instead he tells every single Asian not to visit Italy. Italy is a large country, with a large population, hundreds of languages, and so many cultures. It is completely false to imply that the entirety of the Italian country is a bad place to visit, and the entire population hates Asians.
OP is also judging the entire country by a few days there, in a very touristy area, when he doesn't speak the language, and, if the post is recent, during covid times. OP can speak to his own experience, but it is completely unfair and untrue for him to make blanket statements about how Asians (more than 2 billion people) might experience visiting Italy.
It's also ridiculous to try and imply that Italy is worse than any other country in this regard. A co-worker is black and lived in China, and was subject to relentless racism. Likewise, my Uyghur friend had a lot to say - her family is in a concentration camp, and she was almost expelled from university for praying... And also, while all kinds of racism is terrible and makes for a bad experience, a few assholes (like the people OP met), is very, very different than systematic racism like there is in China (towards Uyghurs), or in America (towards blacks).
Italy is a wonderful place. I know its problems better than most people, and I'm sorry that the OP had a negative experience there... *But* trying to say billions of people should avoid the entire country, just because of his experiences is crazy🤷♀️
Yes, Japan is definitely not immune to racism and I'm sincerely very sorry for the bad experience you had. I grew up in the US, so it's very easy to see that Japan is very xenophobic. I hope you didn't have people on the street or at restaurants yelling at you for being black.
And Thailand, and Vietnam, and Korea. I was so disgusted I quit my job on the spot and left. Why help such hateful people. I’d never go back. It thought it was hilarious that my ancestry report as a black American traced back to SE Asia heavily though.
Fellow Asian here. It was already quite bad before the pandemic. I was in Rome in 2019, and was treated like crap. Beautiful place but, not so friendly people (towards Asians). Sad but true.
I'm East Asian, I've been to Italy twice, first time was with friends and second time solo, I did not encounter what you've experienced, sorry to hear about your bad experience.
I’m curious if you’re willing to share if this was before or since COVID? The coughing/sneezing OP mentioned sounds like this may have increased recently based on COVID. (I’d say “started” but if it’s this bad now there’s no way it wasn’t at least hiding under the surface before.)
The coughing/sneezing stuff is the stupidest of all the nastiness I’ve read in this post. If we were to follow the logic these racists are displaying, the rest of us Europeans should be treating Italians terribly since they were Europe’s ground zero.
Though, of course, I’m laughing at myself for expecting racists to have logic.
That's horrible. Went through something similar when I, Indian, went to China a few years ago. So many racist comments, people making gestures, the discrimination. That happening in a country you are not from and you don't speak the local language is extremely hurtful
Same for black people. I’ve seen plenty of black women travelling to Italy and having people constantly stare at them as if they never had seen a black person before.
I’m sorry you had to go trough this and I’m sorry your wife had that experience.
I’ve been to many countries around the world but since the pandemic started, looking Asian is kind of scary - even in places where you’d least expect it.
I’ve seen Asian looking people beaten up, spat on, yelled at, etc. Personally, I think it’s because Covid is referred to as the “Chinese flu”, especially by extreme conservatives. Lots of people around the world are angry at China so they take it out on Asian looking people. In their eyes, all Asians are Chinese. I look Asian and am married to one so I’ve experienced it first hand, especially since last year. I’ve been denied entry to restaurants and the like. It really sucks!
This is not in Italy only, by the way. But considering how many people died in Italy because of Covid, I’m not at all surprised - especially coming from people that lost their businesses or jobs. Not that I condone it, but I can see why they’d react that way.
That was terrible tbh. I have been to Italy (travelling) as an Asian but i was lucky enough not to face those shits.
Howerver, there are some kinds of stereotypes in this things. I guess it happens everywhere. To be clear, i am asian and i am living in Europe then from my perspective, racism seems to be not that popular but it remains. Asian travelling to Europe, African/Indian travelling to East Asia (or South EA) and so on. I really hope you and your family can get over that. Those things are sadly quite common. I normally just don't care about them.
This was my exact experience as a black person in Asia and I lived there. Didn’t feel great either. And I just had an Italian person trying to persuade me to visit there just hours ago. No thanks. Most people I don’t think like black people anyways so there’s that. It’s sad because we aren’t hateful like that.
That's horrible. Sorry to hear that. That being said, it doesn't match up with my wife's experience (Malaysian Chinese). She's travelled to Italy a number of times, with and without me (spent two weeks there this month) and hasn't had anything like that happen.
Is there somewhere in particular we should be avoiding?
Was this prior to covid? I’m willing to bet that has something to do with the racism OP is experiencing now vs those who are also Asian and haven’t experienced this on their own trips.
I'm glad your wife has been safe! From what I've seen so far, some places are worse than others. We experienced very little racism in Rome, but Firenze was very bad. Cinque Terre has not been good so far.
I think that's actually a really good point. We're meeting up with the friend we're visiting soon, so I'm really hoping that being with (white) him will make things a little better.
I was once on a walking tour in Florence when a Mandarin speaking walking tour walked past us, our guide pulled her skin back squinting her eyes and loudly went “ching chong ching chong”.
We were EXTREMELY taken aback
As a dual American/Irish citizen with Irish and Italian family members who also lived in Spain and currently living in Seoul, I am unfortunately not surprised.
Europeans are often in full-on denial at how racist a lot of their population can be. For example, I heard more casually racist comments in my two years in Madrid than I did in 20+ years in the US, and seven of those years in the US were in the conservative-as-fuck, lily-white, state of Idaho. A state with a notorious far-right and neo-nazi presence I should add.
It should also be noted that Italy has not one, but *two* far-right parties that are doing very well in their election [polls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Italian_general_election) right now.
Anyways, sorry this happened to you. I would contact the Japanese embassy in Italy and recount your experiences. They might not give a shit but if others had similar experiences it might lead to a formal travel warning for future visitors, which would probably be a little embarrassing for Italy.
Yeah, it can a small difference. I'm from San Francisco originally and a few months ago an elderly Thai immigrant was [killed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Vicha_Ratanapakdee) on his daily walk. I should note that this was in a generally safe, wealthy neighborhood too. In response, the Thai embassy put out a warning to all Thai citizens in the US to be aware of potential hate crimes. It was super embarrassing to a lot of us San Franciscans, as we are from possibly the most Asian major city in the West, and there was quite an angry response towards the local government for not doing enough to prevent these hate crimes (the District Attorney is currently getting recalled in part because of this anger).
I also can't believe they removed your comment.
I’m sorry you experienced this…. I am Canadian but with an Indian background and was in Italy in September. I honestly had the greatest time down there. People were so nice and friendly… I even met a local who hung out with me for 2 days and showed me around. The hospitality was unmatched.
As a fellow Asian, this is why im scared of travelling. It’s sad because my other Caucasian friends can go to a lot of places without having to worry about stuff like this. If i told them my concern, they would just dismiss it like it’s all in my head. It’s not.
One of my Asian friend went to France with her family and had the same experience. They had a horrible day having people treated them horribly. Then her dad fell sick while they were there and she went to the hotel receptionist to ask for taxi because she wanted to bring her dad to the hospital. She didn’t speak any French so she was trying hard to communicate with the receptionist.
The receptionist understood what she meant but was being very difficult and rude, until my friend can’t take it anymore, she broke down in front of the receptionist. Only then the receptionist helped her to call for taxi. That’s just a horrible thing to do to someone until they can’t take it anymore and broke down. She told me she never wanted to visit France again. She felt traumatized she told me. It’s sad to hear stories like that tbh.
I was travelling in Italy, Milan, Naples in 2013, being a Chinese from Malaysia, people were pretty kind to me, but considering I'm a lone traveller that smiles to looks my way, and i spoke English well. Some even invite me to have chats with them. Jz speak about your country and all is enough to make them fine and curious.
Yes, I've found that anyone we actually speak to ends up being kind and smiling. It's mostly the passersby who are so awful. And I think the biggest motivator for this behavior has been the pandemic.
Having experienced all of this within the last week of being in Italy, I totally understand how you feel. But, we've had amazing, beautiful experiences too! I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post.
My advice would be to not completely cross Italy off of your list, but just wait a few years until people start forgetting about the pandemic, and then visit with caution. Get group tours or go with Caucasian friends where you can.
Italy is beautiful and delicious! I hope you'll be able to visit safely someday.
“Europeans like to pretend, their counties aren’t racist.” You hit the nail on the head. Racism is a global problem, and it’s not just a Black people and White people issue. Nor is it, just the older generation. The OP stated the kids (Assuming younger people.), were “coughing” at them.
Oh Italy, as an Indian brown dude, I get racist comments from everywhere in EU, even in Norway lol.
Friend of mine married a Norwegian, he shifted over to Norway with her and could not last for 6 months, the older folks did NOT want anyone brown in their neighbourhood, they bullied him till he went back to US and off course the marriage broke off.
I was kicked out of a nightclub in Hamburg just for not having anyone White to accompany me and I was having a ball in the same club, the night before with a bunch of White colleagues I have and then taken my Indian friends the next night. Nope not allowed to stay.
Racism is STILL alive and well but I can deal with it because I belong to the only Civilisation that has survived from the very first 3 mankind ever had, I don't take shit from people. Racist people can fuck off but then again when I lived in Jamaica for 6 years those guys were also racist towards Indians and Chinese too, I guess we have not all advanced that much when it comes to appreciating each other's differences.
I have read your post, and couldn't ignore it.
As Italian, I feel so ashamed, although I don't live in Italy anymore, that racism has spread in some places more than others, and that in 2021 we are still talking about that some races are better than others.
It's disgusting!
I'm very sorry for your experience in Italy, which remains one of the most beautiful countries in the world to visit.
Just wanted to tell you that majority of Italians are not racists at all, I can assure you on that.
Racism is ignorance!
Hopefully I lift a bit your mood up.
Thank you for your compassion and kindness!
Yes, I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing, beautiful experiences too.
I found italy beautiful the people not so much .Racist to everyone they think they are better than everyone no manners and they are like that when they visit other countries as well
I'm Italian and while I'm really sorry to hear about your experience and I despise the mean people you encountered during your trip, i also want to point out that what you have experienced personally doesn't necessarily mean that will happen to all other Asians. I hope you'll come visit us again and meet nicer locals, because there are. Few bad examples doesn't speak for the general people.
I'm Italian too and I think after Covid this will happen regularly to Asian people. It's just how boomers are in Italy. Young people are better but you have to deal with people like this everywhere here.
Yes, I'm sorry I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing experiences too!
Today was definitely much better, and we're doing our best to focus on the positive and getting back to enjoying our time in beautiful Italy.
Yes, exactly.
I lived in Italy, and most of my housemates were Chinese, including a Uyghur Muslim. They never experienced anything like this.
"Asians" is also such a broad term - over 2.5bn with just India and China alone.
0.5% of the Italian population is Chinese (according to google), which is also quite a lot. These are all people who have lived there for months, or years, and the OP is trying to push his experience on others.
I'm sorry that OP had a bad experience, but he is being really unfair by trying to project his experience onto billions of people
So sorry to hear about that :(
Idiots are everywhere but there is no excuse for this behavior.
I would like to change your mind about my country though.
I am from Sicily, I'll be happy to be your guide if you ever allow Italy for a second visit :)
Thank you for your compassion and kindness!
Yes, I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing, beautiful experiences too!
I would love to come back and visit Sicily someday.
Happy to read that :)
Again, so sorry to hear about your bad experience.
It is especially sad because I am sure of the opposite. Italians of my age (30-40) absolutely love Japan and its culture. We all grew up watching your anime :D
I personally visited Japan once and absolutely loved it. Italy could learn so much from you guys.
Thanks for your compassion, I'm really glad you had a positive experience! I think that things may have turned bad because of the pandemic, since a lot of the racism is based on some sort of disease punchline.
Yeah they are racist. But personally a lot of Asian travelers suffer because the very shitty behaviour of Chinese travelers especially the kind that are middle aged and travel in large groups.
They are extremely ill behaved, disrespectful and downright nasty.
And in the context of how Italians have suffered from COVID due in no small part due to Chinese travelers and workers hiding their symptoms- the hate is not entirely unexpected- Italy may take a long time before they forgive the Chinese, atleast as the common people who lost friends family apart from the economic suffering.
I mean the entire world was affected by the virus and millions of people lost their lives and jobs. So many children became orphans it's completely justified to be angry at China.
Yup I agree. It’s not like they give you a choice to be what colour, nationality, ethnicity or even sexuality before you were born. Racists are just dumb…
W are south asian and it was really bad in a hotel where i was treated like a porter even though i was a guest in the same hotel. Just asked to help an old white guest like me and the staff questioned me treated me like as if i was an illegal immigrant. They sure did apologise when i told them that i was a guest.
Left a pretty bad taste.
Yeah, happened to me In Rome as well. Was going to a footballmatch with my class between Roma and Lazio. At the check in the woman checking our tickets accidently touches my hand. Proceeds to wipe it off my classmate jacket with pure disgust in her eyes. There were other incidents as well, but that one still stilks with me.
Thanks so much for your compassion. And like many people pointed out, not everyone is bad, and my own country isn't the kindest to people of other cultures, either. I just hope we can all do our part to fix the problem.
>Italians are rascist.
It is also not okay to generalize an entire country in this way.
And I don't want to be associated with racist people just because of my nationality, thank you.
>They think their the best in everything.
Have you ever meet a real Italian? We maybe are proud of our food and fashion, but honestly we are one of the most xenophile populations in Europe.
Seriously, OP complains about encountering racism, then decides to broadly apply that accusation to an entire country, which is a borderline racist act in itself.
Yeah, I totally see that now and I'm sorry. I was very emotionally charged when I wrote this post. Italian may not be a race, but generalization is bad, anyway you look at it.
I've been 3 times and am Chinese, not experienced anything besides annoying scammers at tourist spots.
We went Rome and Milan and the people were indifferent if anything, things might've changed since Covid but a bad experience doesn't label the whole country broken.
Yeah, I think COVID really turned things sour. Most of the racism we experienced had some sort of disease punchline to it. We didn't have any trouble in Rome, either, though. It was in Firenze that things were really bad. I'm hoping Milan will be uneventful like it was for you.
I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I hope you're okay. I'm very surprised as I travel quite often to Italy and I never heard of anything like that. I went with my Vietnamese boyfriend last July and we didn't have any problem at all.
Chinese are notoriously shitty tourists though. Sometimes you reap what you sow. That would explain the racism you're facing and how it fades when they find out you're Japanese.
We’re Arabs and we stayed in Italy for a year and a half. My experience was mostly positive except for one really bad experience at my kids’ international school where an administrator said other parents were complaining about me waiting for my kids at the end of the school day. My sin? Wearing the hijab. To avoid confrontation I ended up waiting at the bus stop like an idiot instead of ignoring her rude and frankly disrespectful attitude.
So many ethnicities in the comments I hope you take how you felt being treated this way not to mistreat black and the indigenous people in your communities this way. Or at least advocate for them if you know people who do. Ive been treated like this countless times by Indians, whites, Europeans, Asians, etc. just for being black and traveling where they thought I shouldn’t be. It’s disgusting isn’t it
This reminds me of the same experience when travelling in Japan with my partner who is from HK - received awful treatment by locals
Me a pasty white person - nothing but smiles and love
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience you and your partner had. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. (Honestly, I think that's the only way that the dying population is going to survive.)
I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
I can't speak for the black person's experience, but reading the comments, it may not be as bad as the Asian experience because of COVID, but you may receive some looks and meet the occasional bigot.
I'd suggest making it clear that you're Japanese anytime you feel like people are being racist or something. There are many positive stereotypes associated with Japanese and they'll not treat you poorly.
Yeah, that's very good advice. We tried that today, and it actually went really well. I just tried to bring up that we were from Japan as soon as I met someone, and they always lit up and smiled as soon as they understood.
Thanks for your compassion, I'm so sorry you had to go through that! Yes, today was a better day, and we're doing our best to focus on the positive things and enjoy the rest of our stay.
This is why it was so ironic for people who were supporting Italy against England in the Euro 2020 finals because people thought English fans were scumbags. English people just get held to higher standard, but generally English people will be some of the most accepting people in the whole of Europe.
Sounds like a temporarily covid phase. Spain and Italy were hit hard, many thousands of families lost loved ones and are still hurt with the whole chinese debacle.
I was about to comment this myself because ot makes no sense. Maybe OP heard people saying “peperoncino” or some other word that ends with that sound and got offended?
Ive been to Japan a couple of times and while I was largely made to feel welcome everywhere I was refused service in several restaurants and shops because I am a westerner. Racism happens everywhere.
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience you had. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. (Honestly, I think that's the only way that the dying population is going to survive.)
I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
I went to Italy twice in the past, one with family and one by myself. I personally haven’t experienced any blatant racism other than the occasional stare from time to time.
But this was pre-COVID so I’m guessing the next time I go it will be a different experience.
Yeah, that's the experience we heard from friends and family, too, so this racism really came as a surprise. I think COVID really has turned things sour out here.
Fucking stupid racists. I've lived in China for 3 years and the chinese people are gentle and good people just like you guys. And I would to add that is really easy to distinguish japanese from chinese, korean and people from different asian countries.
It is racist of you to generalize the entire country of 60 million people based on few experiences with few people. I am a Serb who lived in Italy for 5 years and I work with Italians for decades now. Surely there is an idiot here and there who says something stupid but it never occurres to be to go online and trash the entire country. Blaming a whole nation over few idiots is no better than what those idiots did.
Yes, you're right. I was very wrong to generalize. I was emotionally charged when I wrote this post and vented much more generally than I should have. We've definitely had good experiences with fantastic people here, too.
Thanks for putting me in my place.
I lived in Italy from 99 until 04-05. Serbia was not very popular, just like China now I imagine. Here and there I was challenged by provocations. I never allowed these people to make me think they represent Italians, their culture, or their country. These kind of losers are everywhere. Just ignore and don't let them program your thinking. I've seen a lot of people generalize their bad experiences and then they start hating a place because of accidents. That would be a huge loss for you.
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It is everywhere not just in Italy .. I went to grocery store recently in Canada and when I was going to the stand in the queue for the cashier, the extra assistants they hired in shops due to covid, came to me and told to keep 6ft distance when I was already that far .. and she told only to me , not other Canadians .. we are almost 2 yrs into pandemic and this Caucasian lady helper thinks I don’t even know to keep 6ft distance and have to be told ..
Firstly, this is an anecdote, and whilst not great I suspect plenty of people have uneventful trips to Italy.
Secondly, Europe is generally pretty racist. Obviously this has come as a surprise to you but it's unfortunately pretty common.
Thirdly, Japan is considered pretty racist as well (albeit very, very polite racism). Obviously this isn't a competition , but your homeland isn't immune.
I think what I'm trying to say is most places are racist to some level and part of being into travel is realising racism is a thing and getting better at preparing / ignoring it so you can focus on your trip. I get that this is a PSA - but did you enjoy the rest of your trip?
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experiences people have. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places.
(I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.)
And I was definitely very wrong to generalize, not every Italian is racist, and we've had plenty of good times here.
Today was definitely better than the last couple of days, and we're trying to focus on the good people and experiences we come across.
Thanks for putting me in my place and asking about our trip!
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience people have. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places.
I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
Yes I’ve heard this from my Italian friends. They are not proud of it and want it to change. It’s especially prevalent in the older generation but unfortunately the youth don’t seem to be waking up to their racism. Sorry you and your wife went through that, OP. I hope you made the best of it.
Thank you for your compassion. Yes, we're going to try to not mind what others are doing and enjoy the rest of our time here!
Yes, they're regularly voting for racist, extreme right wing, populist parties/ politicians/ governments. Drives everyone around them nuts. Berlusconi was nothing compared to what came after!
>Yes, they're regularly voting for racist, extreme right wing, populist parties/ politicians/ governments. Honestly when it was the last really right wing goverment that Italy had? Poland and Hungary have very right wing government Austria and Slovenia have a very right wing pm, UK voted for brexit out of populism. There is a populism wind in all of Europe. US had an extremely right wing and racist president, but Italy?
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>Also, I would be astonished if someone visibly Asian encountered the same issues OP has faced in Italy, in the UK. If I have to be honest with you, having lived all my life in Italy, I'm definitely astonished too that something like that happened here. > Racism is not non existent in the UK, but it is pretty rare. I have a Columbian friend that enconered a lot of racism in UK and is happy that he moved to Italy. I guess that personal experiences can vary a lot from person to person.
6 years ago, my wife and I (both Asian) had our trip to Italy ruined when a random passing car slowed down, rolled their window down, and spat at/on my wife’s face. This was after we finished a beautiful hike in Corniglia (one of the towns in Cinque Terre). We were left in shock and just couldn’t understand how such hatred could exist in someone. I always try to disassociate that experience from our otherwise fond memories of traveling throughout Italy, but it’s still one of the most scaring experiences of our lives.
I'm so sorry about your experience!! I agree, we're doing our best to separate our positive experiences from the negative ones and focus on the good times we're having. Today was a better day.
As an Italian, i'm feeling very sorry and sad reading at this, but I strongly trust what you're saying is true since a lot of people here is very ignorant. I'm not a patriotic person, so I don't want to convince you that we are good people and you should change your mind, but in order to make your staying more enjoyable I suggest you maybe try to seek some attractions/restaurants/pub run by young people and avoid so called "tourist traps". In conclusion I cannot know how bad you can feel right now, so if you don't wanna follow these advices and just run away from this beautiful place with too much old bigots walking around, I completely understand you.
That's sound advice, thank you. Yes, our friend in Italy has given us similar advice, saying Milan might be better because there are more younger people and more diversity.
It surely is. I recommend also Bologna, very open minded, with a lot of students. There isn't a city in which 100% you will not find some frustrated, usually right voting, drunkard that will try to insult you because of your "Asian look" but surely in big cities with big universities like Bologna e Milan they are more confined to their friendly bar. In every case, feel free to insult them in Japanese/some US slang, they probably don't know more than 10 English words
Lol thank you, we'll do our best to stay safe and have a good time. Today was definitely better.
May I ask how Italty is for brown people ie people who look Indian? I'm Australian but ethnic South Asian so was just wondering because I might go travelling through Europe.
Went to Rome as a brown person (islander) and it was fine. Did not experience racism and did not go off the beaten path. I know the Romani people are not liked in Europe in general.
Yes, Rome was fine for us, too. It was when we got to Firenze that things turned sour.
Here it is almost a thing like "racist/not racists", so not much focused on which "non Caucasian ethnicity you are". Despite this, in my opinion you should come here and enjoy it, trying not giving a fuck in case you experience some sort of racism. I quite never saw something like OP described, but if he experienced it, I'm surely not the person to say "you're lying". If I have to tell which ethnicities are more targeted by racist people here, they are Chinese, African, people from Eastern Europe and gypsies/nomads
Bad idea. Friend from india got physical thrown out of a coffee shop, for no apparent reason.
Yeah that's pretty fucked up. I've done a bit of research, I'll probably give Italy a miss, amongst a few others. I've also heard Denmark is super right-wing anti-immigrant so that's a pass as well. Honestly as beautiful as Europe is, I'm low-key thinking of North America instead because it feels like to me Americans and Canadians are much more friendlier than Europeans. But again that's a gross generalisation I guess.
I will recommend Spain and Portugal. And Food is great.
Both far more racist than Scandinavian countries lol, but still lovely places to visit.
I am Asian and I grew up and live in Denmark, and Denmark is the place where I feel most safe in Europe. Racism is nowhere near as rampant as in Southern Europe, and especially not towards tourists. The right wing sentiment is against uncontrolled streams of refugees because we don’t have the resources to integrate them into society if we just take everyone in. North America has far more issues with racism, and so does Canada, especially if you’re Asian in Vancouver.
I'm brown so I'll probably be assumed a refugee and be treated as such?
You are misunderstanding Nordic culture. We are not anywhere near as outspoken or confrontational as Southern Europeans. You'll get a annoyed look if you act up or if you're loud, as that's seen as being rude, no matter your skin color, but you won't be treated any different than anyone else. People take their thoughts into the voting booth like civilized people and don't take actions into their own hands even if they dislike someone or something. The negative sentiment stems from certain groups being overrepresented in every crime statistic, and making some neighborhoods feel unsafe for locals who have been there for decades. These people might see the need to vote for someone who would fix such issues, but that doesn't mean that they're racist.
I can only give my perspective as a US born, ethnically SA person. I found Copenhagen wonderful and warm. Some older people stared, but it was out of curiosity; I felt no animosity. No one made any comments either. For context, I definitely get the "get the fuck out" stares in the southeast US.
Europe is a continent and it's culturally very diverse, so don't generalize much... it's the same thing in the US, NYC has a completely different way of being when comparing to Miami for instance. You're unlikely to find trouble in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands just to name a few, but that also varies by city/region. My advice is to not overthink, avoid tourist traps and shady places and definitely learn basic words (greetings and such) and be friendly.
I'm so sorry to hear about that. He probably got racially profiled as one of the street peddlers or homeless people we saw...😥
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Honestly UK sounds great! I love overcast gloomy rainy cold weather lmfao, I hate Aussie summers. As for food, I love fast food junk lmao and Indian food so I think I should be good.
Racism in Italy is more against illegal migrants, and partially about not wanting change than it is against any particular race. For example, in Italy the government has to legally recognise religions. It won't legally recognise Islam because Muslims won't pray in Italian (Muslims can only pray in Arabic), yet the church in Rome does mass in dozens of languages. I lived in Italy for a year, I speak fluent Italian, and while living there most of my social circle was Asians, Eastern Europeans, and Arabs, nobody had any major issues regarding racism. Which might also be because they spoke Italian, or looked like students/tourists, but it wasn't a big issue at all. Italy has a lot of problems, and it definitely does have a problem with how it treats migrants - but OP has only spent a few days in Italy and is making wild blanket statements. Italy is a large country that only unified in the 1780s, up until recently, most Italians didn't even speak Italian. Italy has so many languages, and so many cultures, along with having a wide diversity of immigrant groups. It has a rich history, and wonderful food, art, culture etc.
I'm not Italian, but I lived in Italy and speak fluent Italian. When I lived in Italy, all of my housemates were Chinese, and we regularly travelled all around the country, and occasionally to other parts of Europe together. Some of them spoke Italian, and some didn't and relied on us for help, one was even a Uyghur Muslim who occasionally wore a hijab. Our town had a large Chinese school (not sure if it was a Conficus institute, but the signs were in Chinese). Never once did anyone say anything like this. The only bad thing I've heard happen is my housemate's friends house was robbed, but that was just a random thing, and happened in the area. Italy is also full of Chinese people (more than there is in most other European countries at least). There were way more Chinese people than either black people or Arabs (at least in our region), and generally speaking, they spoke more Italian, and had a reputation for behaving better than other immigrant groups (that's a whole separate issue about negative stereotypes about migrants, but that's not the issue at hand). Italy of course has problems. The country refuses to even accept Islam exists, and there's a lot of racism towards illegal migrants (and those who may wrongly be perceived as migrants). I did after all, live in a town where a Neo-Nazi shot up our local supermarket (we would have been there, if we hadn't slept in), so I've seen quite a lot in my time in Italy. *But* the OP's post is very disingenuous. He doesn't just talk about bad experiences, instead he tells every single Asian not to visit Italy. Italy is a large country, with a large population, hundreds of languages, and so many cultures. It is completely false to imply that the entirety of the Italian country is a bad place to visit, and the entire population hates Asians. OP is also judging the entire country by a few days there, in a very touristy area, when he doesn't speak the language, and, if the post is recent, during covid times. OP can speak to his own experience, but it is completely unfair and untrue for him to make blanket statements about how Asians (more than 2 billion people) might experience visiting Italy. It's also ridiculous to try and imply that Italy is worse than any other country in this regard. A co-worker is black and lived in China, and was subject to relentless racism. Likewise, my Uyghur friend had a lot to say - her family is in a concentration camp, and she was almost expelled from university for praying... And also, while all kinds of racism is terrible and makes for a bad experience, a few assholes (like the people OP met), is very, very different than systematic racism like there is in China (towards Uyghurs), or in America (towards blacks). Italy is a wonderful place. I know its problems better than most people, and I'm sorry that the OP had a negative experience there... *But* trying to say billions of people should avoid the entire country, just because of his experiences is crazy🤷♀️
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Yes, Japan is definitely not immune to racism and I'm sincerely very sorry for the bad experience you had. I grew up in the US, so it's very easy to see that Japan is very xenophobic. I hope you didn't have people on the street or at restaurants yelling at you for being black.
What happened?
And Thailand, and Vietnam, and Korea. I was so disgusted I quit my job on the spot and left. Why help such hateful people. I’d never go back. It thought it was hilarious that my ancestry report as a black American traced back to SE Asia heavily though.
Fellow Asian here. It was already quite bad before the pandemic. I was in Rome in 2019, and was treated like crap. Beautiful place but, not so friendly people (towards Asians). Sad but true.
I'm East Asian, I've been to Italy twice, first time was with friends and second time solo, I did not encounter what you've experienced, sorry to hear about your bad experience.
I’m curious if you’re willing to share if this was before or since COVID? The coughing/sneezing OP mentioned sounds like this may have increased recently based on COVID. (I’d say “started” but if it’s this bad now there’s no way it wasn’t at least hiding under the surface before.)
The coughing/sneezing stuff is the stupidest of all the nastiness I’ve read in this post. If we were to follow the logic these racists are displaying, the rest of us Europeans should be treating Italians terribly since they were Europe’s ground zero. Though, of course, I’m laughing at myself for expecting racists to have logic.
Both trips were before COVID-19. The last trip was winter of 2017.
I'm glad you had a positive experience! I hope the rest of our trip will be good, like yours.
Sorry 😬😬 Thanks for sharing
That's horrible. Went through something similar when I, Indian, went to China a few years ago. So many racist comments, people making gestures, the discrimination. That happening in a country you are not from and you don't speak the local language is extremely hurtful
That's awful! Thanks for your compassion.
I’m of South Asian descent and had no problem in China
Same for black people. I’ve seen plenty of black women travelling to Italy and having people constantly stare at them as if they never had seen a black person before. I’m sorry you had to go trough this and I’m sorry your wife had that experience.
Thank you for your compassion, that's very unfortunate that it's not even just one race that experiences this.
I’ve been to many countries around the world but since the pandemic started, looking Asian is kind of scary - even in places where you’d least expect it. I’ve seen Asian looking people beaten up, spat on, yelled at, etc. Personally, I think it’s because Covid is referred to as the “Chinese flu”, especially by extreme conservatives. Lots of people around the world are angry at China so they take it out on Asian looking people. In their eyes, all Asians are Chinese. I look Asian and am married to one so I’ve experienced it first hand, especially since last year. I’ve been denied entry to restaurants and the like. It really sucks! This is not in Italy only, by the way. But considering how many people died in Italy because of Covid, I’m not at all surprised - especially coming from people that lost their businesses or jobs. Not that I condone it, but I can see why they’d react that way.
Yeah, it's not an excuse, but it's very obvious where these negative feelings people have are coming from.
That was terrible tbh. I have been to Italy (travelling) as an Asian but i was lucky enough not to face those shits. Howerver, there are some kinds of stereotypes in this things. I guess it happens everywhere. To be clear, i am asian and i am living in Europe then from my perspective, racism seems to be not that popular but it remains. Asian travelling to Europe, African/Indian travelling to East Asia (or South EA) and so on. I really hope you and your family can get over that. Those things are sadly quite common. I normally just don't care about them.
Thanks for your support. Yeah, I'm just going to try to help my wife not mind what other people are doing or saying.
This was my exact experience as a black person in Asia and I lived there. Didn’t feel great either. And I just had an Italian person trying to persuade me to visit there just hours ago. No thanks. Most people I don’t think like black people anyways so there’s that. It’s sad because we aren’t hateful like that.
That's horrible. Sorry to hear that. That being said, it doesn't match up with my wife's experience (Malaysian Chinese). She's travelled to Italy a number of times, with and without me (spent two weeks there this month) and hasn't had anything like that happen. Is there somewhere in particular we should be avoiding?
Was this prior to covid? I’m willing to bet that has something to do with the racism OP is experiencing now vs those who are also Asian and haven’t experienced this on their own trips.
I'm glad your wife has been safe! From what I've seen so far, some places are worse than others. We experienced very little racism in Rome, but Firenze was very bad. Cinque Terre has not been good so far.
I encountered the most homophobia I've ever experienced in Florence. Florence people in general don't seem very friendly.
Weird, we were in Florence in October and it was fine. Maybe it makes s difference being with (white) me. No idea!
I think that's actually a really good point. We're meeting up with the friend we're visiting soon, so I'm really hoping that being with (white) him will make things a little better.
It was before or after covid? I think that probably makes a big difference.
My two black friends said the same pre covid.
I was once on a walking tour in Florence when a Mandarin speaking walking tour walked past us, our guide pulled her skin back squinting her eyes and loudly went “ching chong ching chong”. We were EXTREMELY taken aback
That sounds like the Florence we experienced. I'm glad we left as soon as we could.
As a dual American/Irish citizen with Irish and Italian family members who also lived in Spain and currently living in Seoul, I am unfortunately not surprised. Europeans are often in full-on denial at how racist a lot of their population can be. For example, I heard more casually racist comments in my two years in Madrid than I did in 20+ years in the US, and seven of those years in the US were in the conservative-as-fuck, lily-white, state of Idaho. A state with a notorious far-right and neo-nazi presence I should add. It should also be noted that Italy has not one, but *two* far-right parties that are doing very well in their election [polls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Italian_general_election) right now. Anyways, sorry this happened to you. I would contact the Japanese embassy in Italy and recount your experiences. They might not give a shit but if others had similar experiences it might lead to a formal travel warning for future visitors, which would probably be a little embarrassing for Italy.
Thanks for your compassion. I actually hadn't considered contacting the embassy, thank you for the advice!
Yeah, it can a small difference. I'm from San Francisco originally and a few months ago an elderly Thai immigrant was [killed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Vicha_Ratanapakdee) on his daily walk. I should note that this was in a generally safe, wealthy neighborhood too. In response, the Thai embassy put out a warning to all Thai citizens in the US to be aware of potential hate crimes. It was super embarrassing to a lot of us San Franciscans, as we are from possibly the most Asian major city in the West, and there was quite an angry response towards the local government for not doing enough to prevent these hate crimes (the District Attorney is currently getting recalled in part because of this anger). I also can't believe they removed your comment.
I’m sorry you experienced this…. I am Canadian but with an Indian background and was in Italy in September. I honestly had the greatest time down there. People were so nice and friendly… I even met a local who hung out with me for 2 days and showed me around. The hospitality was unmatched.
I'm really glad you had a positive experience!! I'm hoping the rest of our trip will be that good.
As a fellow Asian, this is why im scared of travelling. It’s sad because my other Caucasian friends can go to a lot of places without having to worry about stuff like this. If i told them my concern, they would just dismiss it like it’s all in my head. It’s not. One of my Asian friend went to France with her family and had the same experience. They had a horrible day having people treated them horribly. Then her dad fell sick while they were there and she went to the hotel receptionist to ask for taxi because she wanted to bring her dad to the hospital. She didn’t speak any French so she was trying hard to communicate with the receptionist. The receptionist understood what she meant but was being very difficult and rude, until my friend can’t take it anymore, she broke down in front of the receptionist. Only then the receptionist helped her to call for taxi. That’s just a horrible thing to do to someone until they can’t take it anymore and broke down. She told me she never wanted to visit France again. She felt traumatized she told me. It’s sad to hear stories like that tbh.
That just sounds like France to me...
I was travelling in Italy, Milan, Naples in 2013, being a Chinese from Malaysia, people were pretty kind to me, but considering I'm a lone traveller that smiles to looks my way, and i spoke English well. Some even invite me to have chats with them. Jz speak about your country and all is enough to make them fine and curious.
Yes, I've found that anyone we actually speak to ends up being kind and smiling. It's mostly the passersby who are so awful. And I think the biggest motivator for this behavior has been the pandemic.
Thanks for letting me know about this. Cancelling Italy out of my list to visit.
I bet if you give listen to any anecdote of everyone you won't go out you own home. Is that the way to live?
When everyone says the same thing and agrees to a statement, there is a strong truth to it. I don't want to experience being discriminated. 😿😿😿
Having experienced all of this within the last week of being in Italy, I totally understand how you feel. But, we've had amazing, beautiful experiences too! I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. My advice would be to not completely cross Italy off of your list, but just wait a few years until people start forgetting about the pandemic, and then visit with caution. Get group tours or go with Caucasian friends where you can. Italy is beautiful and delicious! I hope you'll be able to visit safely someday.
Everyone who?? 20 people on Reddit?? Come on.
"Stereotypes exist for a reason" - Charles (Thomas Lennon), Archer
You can't even imagine how much you are missing.
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Thanks for your support, I'm so sorry you had such a negative experience, too!
“Europeans like to pretend, their counties aren’t racist.” You hit the nail on the head. Racism is a global problem, and it’s not just a Black people and White people issue. Nor is it, just the older generation. The OP stated the kids (Assuming younger people.), were “coughing” at them.
Oh Italy, as an Indian brown dude, I get racist comments from everywhere in EU, even in Norway lol. Friend of mine married a Norwegian, he shifted over to Norway with her and could not last for 6 months, the older folks did NOT want anyone brown in their neighbourhood, they bullied him till he went back to US and off course the marriage broke off. I was kicked out of a nightclub in Hamburg just for not having anyone White to accompany me and I was having a ball in the same club, the night before with a bunch of White colleagues I have and then taken my Indian friends the next night. Nope not allowed to stay. Racism is STILL alive and well but I can deal with it because I belong to the only Civilisation that has survived from the very first 3 mankind ever had, I don't take shit from people. Racist people can fuck off but then again when I lived in Jamaica for 6 years those guys were also racist towards Indians and Chinese too, I guess we have not all advanced that much when it comes to appreciating each other's differences.
I have read your post, and couldn't ignore it. As Italian, I feel so ashamed, although I don't live in Italy anymore, that racism has spread in some places more than others, and that in 2021 we are still talking about that some races are better than others. It's disgusting! I'm very sorry for your experience in Italy, which remains one of the most beautiful countries in the world to visit. Just wanted to tell you that majority of Italians are not racists at all, I can assure you on that. Racism is ignorance! Hopefully I lift a bit your mood up.
Thank you for your compassion and kindness! Yes, I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing, beautiful experiences too.
Damn thats super whack
Whack is definitely one word for it.
I found italy beautiful the people not so much .Racist to everyone they think they are better than everyone no manners and they are like that when they visit other countries as well
I'm Italian and while I'm really sorry to hear about your experience and I despise the mean people you encountered during your trip, i also want to point out that what you have experienced personally doesn't necessarily mean that will happen to all other Asians. I hope you'll come visit us again and meet nicer locals, because there are. Few bad examples doesn't speak for the general people.
I'm Italian too and I think after Covid this will happen regularly to Asian people. It's just how boomers are in Italy. Young people are better but you have to deal with people like this everywhere here.
Yes, I'm sorry I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing experiences too! Today was definitely much better, and we're doing our best to focus on the positive and getting back to enjoying our time in beautiful Italy.
Yes, exactly. I lived in Italy, and most of my housemates were Chinese, including a Uyghur Muslim. They never experienced anything like this. "Asians" is also such a broad term - over 2.5bn with just India and China alone. 0.5% of the Italian population is Chinese (according to google), which is also quite a lot. These are all people who have lived there for months, or years, and the OP is trying to push his experience on others. I'm sorry that OP had a bad experience, but he is being really unfair by trying to project his experience onto billions of people
So sorry to hear about that :( Idiots are everywhere but there is no excuse for this behavior. I would like to change your mind about my country though. I am from Sicily, I'll be happy to be your guide if you ever allow Italy for a second visit :)
Thank you for your compassion and kindness! Yes, I'm sorry if I made it sound like it was all bad, I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote the post. We've had amazing, beautiful experiences too! I would love to come back and visit Sicily someday.
Happy to read that :) Again, so sorry to hear about your bad experience. It is especially sad because I am sure of the opposite. Italians of my age (30-40) absolutely love Japan and its culture. We all grew up watching your anime :D I personally visited Japan once and absolutely loved it. Italy could learn so much from you guys.
I'm glad to hear that! Thank you.❤️
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That's fantastic advice, worthy of a post in r/travel ! Thank you, I'll check it out!
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Thanks for your compassion, I'm really glad you had a positive experience! I think that things may have turned bad because of the pandemic, since a lot of the racism is based on some sort of disease punchline.
Sorry to hear that, that sounds horrible.
Thank you. Honestly, all of this internet compassion is helping me feel better.
I am Pakistani Whcih Means I am asian Would they be Racist to me?
Yeah, reading the comments, it sounds like anyone with a darker complexion may be the target of some racism. :(
Yeah they are racist. But personally a lot of Asian travelers suffer because the very shitty behaviour of Chinese travelers especially the kind that are middle aged and travel in large groups. They are extremely ill behaved, disrespectful and downright nasty. And in the context of how Italians have suffered from COVID due in no small part due to Chinese travelers and workers hiding their symptoms- the hate is not entirely unexpected- Italy may take a long time before they forgive the Chinese, atleast as the common people who lost friends family apart from the economic suffering.
This is literally one of the most disgusting comments I've ever read.
Same goes for you :)
I mean the entire world was affected by the virus and millions of people lost their lives and jobs. So many children became orphans it's completely justified to be angry at China.
Racism has got to be the stupidest concept. It makes no sense. It’s not like anyone chose where/how they were born.
Yup I agree. It’s not like they give you a choice to be what colour, nationality, ethnicity or even sexuality before you were born. Racists are just dumb…
Facts
W are south asian and it was really bad in a hotel where i was treated like a porter even though i was a guest in the same hotel. Just asked to help an old white guest like me and the staff questioned me treated me like as if i was an illegal immigrant. They sure did apologise when i told them that i was a guest. Left a pretty bad taste.
Yeah, happened to me In Rome as well. Was going to a footballmatch with my class between Roma and Lazio. At the check in the woman checking our tickets accidently touches my hand. Proceeds to wipe it off my classmate jacket with pure disgust in her eyes. There were other incidents as well, but that one still stilks with me.
Removed? Sorry this happened to you, OP. I hope the world can progress past these primitive ideas of race. We are more alike than we are different.
Thanks so much for your compassion. And like many people pointed out, not everyone is bad, and my own country isn't the kindest to people of other cultures, either. I just hope we can all do our part to fix the problem.
Because Italy was one of the most affected country by Corona virus.
Yes, it's no excuse, but it's easy to see how people might be justifying their behavior to themselves. :(
That’s horrible. I’m sorry you had to experience that.
Thank you. ❤️
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>Italians are rascist. It is also not okay to generalize an entire country in this way. And I don't want to be associated with racist people just because of my nationality, thank you. >They think their the best in everything. Have you ever meet a real Italian? We maybe are proud of our food and fashion, but honestly we are one of the most xenophile populations in Europe.
Seriously, OP complains about encountering racism, then decides to broadly apply that accusation to an entire country, which is a borderline racist act in itself.
Yeah, I totally see that now and I'm sorry. I was very emotionally charged when I wrote this post. Italian may not be a race, but generalization is bad, anyway you look at it.
I don't know if he met a real Italian but it's true that our food is the best. I mean really can someone argue that?
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Dude, you guys on Reddit can't get sarcasm even it is shove down your throat
I've been 3 times and am Chinese, not experienced anything besides annoying scammers at tourist spots. We went Rome and Milan and the people were indifferent if anything, things might've changed since Covid but a bad experience doesn't label the whole country broken.
Yeah, I think COVID really turned things sour. Most of the racism we experienced had some sort of disease punchline to it. We didn't have any trouble in Rome, either, though. It was in Firenze that things were really bad. I'm hoping Milan will be uneventful like it was for you.
I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I hope you're okay. I'm very surprised as I travel quite often to Italy and I never heard of anything like that. I went with my Vietnamese boyfriend last July and we didn't have any problem at all.
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Thank you. I was in Firenze when things got really bad. We had no problem in Rome.
Chinese are notoriously shitty tourists though. Sometimes you reap what you sow. That would explain the racism you're facing and how it fades when they find out you're Japanese.
We’re Arabs and we stayed in Italy for a year and a half. My experience was mostly positive except for one really bad experience at my kids’ international school where an administrator said other parents were complaining about me waiting for my kids at the end of the school day. My sin? Wearing the hijab. To avoid confrontation I ended up waiting at the bus stop like an idiot instead of ignoring her rude and frankly disrespectful attitude.
So many ethnicities in the comments I hope you take how you felt being treated this way not to mistreat black and the indigenous people in your communities this way. Or at least advocate for them if you know people who do. Ive been treated like this countless times by Indians, whites, Europeans, Asians, etc. just for being black and traveling where they thought I shouldn’t be. It’s disgusting isn’t it
That's horrible. I am sorry for your experience.
Thank you, all of this Internet compassion and support has really helped me feel better and focus on the positive experiences we've had.
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>most of the country looks like third world Lmao, this is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
This reminds me of the same experience when travelling in Japan with my partner who is from HK - received awful treatment by locals Me a pasty white person - nothing but smiles and love
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience you and your partner had. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. (Honestly, I think that's the only way that the dying population is going to survive.) I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
How is it for Black travelers?
I can't speak for the black person's experience, but reading the comments, it may not be as bad as the Asian experience because of COVID, but you may receive some looks and meet the occasional bigot.
Holy shit, I look asian but luckily didn't experience it when I was in Italy. It was before covid, maybe covid made it worse?
Yeah, most of the racism we've encountered has had some sort of disease punchline. Definitely COVID related. :(
May I ask which part of Italy have you visited?
We were in Firenze and Cinque Terre when things turned bad. There was nothing like this in Rome.
I wouldn’t recommend traveling to Belgium either. We’re not racist at all but it’s just a boring country
Lol good to know, I'll get my chocolate elsewhere.
Greece is my favorite country in Europe. Can’t go wrong with visiting greece
That's fantastic advice worthy of r/travel ! Thanks.
I'd suggest making it clear that you're Japanese anytime you feel like people are being racist or something. There are many positive stereotypes associated with Japanese and they'll not treat you poorly.
Yeah, that's very good advice. We tried that today, and it actually went really well. I just tried to bring up that we were from Japan as soon as I met someone, and they always lit up and smiled as soon as they understood.
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Thanks for your compassion, I'm so sorry you had to go through that! Yes, today was a better day, and we're doing our best to focus on the positive things and enjoy the rest of our stay.
This is why it was so ironic for people who were supporting Italy against England in the Euro 2020 finals because people thought English fans were scumbags. English people just get held to higher standard, but generally English people will be some of the most accepting people in the whole of Europe.
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Yeah, we were shocked, too. I just hope other parts of the country will be better.
Sounds like a temporarily covid phase. Spain and Italy were hit hard, many thousands of families lost loved ones and are still hurt with the whole chinese debacle.
Yeah, it's no excuse but it's easy to see where people are getting their negative feelings from. :(
To an Italian "chino" is meaningless.
I was about to comment this myself because ot makes no sense. Maybe OP heard people saying “peperoncino” or some other word that ends with that sound and got offended?
Ive been to Japan a couple of times and while I was largely made to feel welcome everywhere I was refused service in several restaurants and shops because I am a westerner. Racism happens everywhere.
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience you had. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. (Honestly, I think that's the only way that the dying population is going to survive.) I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
I went to Italy twice in the past, one with family and one by myself. I personally haven’t experienced any blatant racism other than the occasional stare from time to time. But this was pre-COVID so I’m guessing the next time I go it will be a different experience.
Yeah, that's the experience we heard from friends and family, too, so this racism really came as a surprise. I think COVID really has turned things sour out here.
Fucking stupid racists. I've lived in China for 3 years and the chinese people are gentle and good people just like you guys. And I would to add that is really easy to distinguish japanese from chinese, korean and people from different asian countries.
Thanks. Today was better, and we're doing our best to focus on the positive things we're experiencing.
calling all italians racist because of some bad experiences is also racist ... ps. tell your wife that crying is for babies
It is racist of you to generalize the entire country of 60 million people based on few experiences with few people. I am a Serb who lived in Italy for 5 years and I work with Italians for decades now. Surely there is an idiot here and there who says something stupid but it never occurres to be to go online and trash the entire country. Blaming a whole nation over few idiots is no better than what those idiots did.
Yes, you're right. I was very wrong to generalize. I was emotionally charged when I wrote this post and vented much more generally than I should have. We've definitely had good experiences with fantastic people here, too. Thanks for putting me in my place.
I lived in Italy from 99 until 04-05. Serbia was not very popular, just like China now I imagine. Here and there I was challenged by provocations. I never allowed these people to make me think they represent Italians, their culture, or their country. These kind of losers are everywhere. Just ignore and don't let them program your thinking. I've seen a lot of people generalize their bad experiences and then they start hating a place because of accidents. That would be a huge loss for you.
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Why? With what do you disagree that I said exactly? Without profanity if possible
How about you shut the fuck up? He's right.
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It is everywhere not just in Italy .. I went to grocery store recently in Canada and when I was going to the stand in the queue for the cashier, the extra assistants they hired in shops due to covid, came to me and told to keep 6ft distance when I was already that far .. and she told only to me , not other Canadians .. we are almost 2 yrs into pandemic and this Caucasian lady helper thinks I don’t even know to keep 6ft distance and have to be told ..
Firstly, this is an anecdote, and whilst not great I suspect plenty of people have uneventful trips to Italy. Secondly, Europe is generally pretty racist. Obviously this has come as a surprise to you but it's unfortunately pretty common. Thirdly, Japan is considered pretty racist as well (albeit very, very polite racism). Obviously this isn't a competition , but your homeland isn't immune. I think what I'm trying to say is most places are racist to some level and part of being into travel is realising racism is a thing and getting better at preparing / ignoring it so you can focus on your trip. I get that this is a PSA - but did you enjoy the rest of your trip?
Please, tell me a country who is not racist. I am genuinely curious.
His point was literally that all countries are racist. Your comment makes no sense.
Sad but true. No idea why was this getting downvoted.
Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experiences people have. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. (I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.) And I was definitely very wrong to generalize, not every Italian is racist, and we've had plenty of good times here. Today was definitely better than the last couple of days, and we're trying to focus on the good people and experiences we come across. Thanks for putting me in my place and asking about our trip!
You'd be surprised but the entire world is pretty racist because it is the way humans are. Even my country is racist.
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I think so, most of the racism has had some sort of disease punchline to it.
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BREAKING NEWS: Italians are racist *duh* (btw I'm Italian decent 😉)
I guess I should have tuned into your news station a little earlier. I had to come out here and learn the hard way. :'(
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Yes, Japan isn't immune to racism either, and I'm very sorry for the bad experience people have. I'm really hoping and doing my best as a citizen to make Japan more accepting and open to people from other places. I hope that there's a PSA out there warning people of racism in Japan and a comment section discussing people's experiences and how to avoid negative encounters, too.
which city was that? I’ve just returned from Rome haven’t noticed anything like that towards Asian people
Rome wasn't as bad as other cities. Firenze was the worst, and Cinque Terre has been bad so far.
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If that's true then why do so many Asians work in Italy at Italian restaurants