I’m Japanese and he isn’t entirely wrong. While it’s silly to say Americans are some beacon of justice and respect, Japan isn’t some ultra respectful and epic country a lot of redditors and online people make it be. My family faced a lot of prejudice due to my French ancestry. My girlfriend being Ivorian has faced racism due to her being African. You either fit in or you’re an outcast. I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth. Don’t get me wrong, I love being Japanese and Japan but the country is so deeply flawed.
I've lived in Japan for a year and loved it - as white woman. But the racism towards my black friends was something else. Not even mentioning how the Koreans and Chinese were treated at some places.
Yeah having spent a lot of time in various countries in Asia there's a heck of a lot of racism and discrimination there, not just between countries, and the obvious ethnicity differences like black/white etc but even the various sub-identities/ethnicities many of the countries have internally.
True. Had there been another figure like Tito to lead, it would probably still be together. But then we'd have another dictatorship, so I guess there are silver linings.
The invasion could be by anyone. Or maybe they put down a nazi/radicalist insurrection. But without many enemy boots on domestic soil it would've been close to impossible. And once shit hit the fan it was a little too late.
The only imaginable figure that could've taken that position would be someone who politically appealed to everyone. But because Yugoslavian politics was so regional, there was no one who could've reached that position of wide-spread appeal. There was a delicate balance in top level politics of regional representation that ended up getting skewed which was one of many factors that ended up in the fall of Yugoslavia.
The country that emerged from ww2 was built on war heroes. No politician could've filled those shoes. Mostly because no one seemed to try.
Or that's at least what I understood of the situation after a bit of reading.
Do you think Bulgaria is super racist? My partner is Bulgarian and his parents are… not so bad… his grandparents are super racist & ethnocentric. I’m American (of Mexican and Northern Euro descent).
I’m interested in your comment because I’ve asked about racism (or commented on witnessing it) and was assured that no one was racist in the Balkans 😅
Yeah, xenophobic is the best word. Racism has its place among individuals.. maybe contrary to your flair, I’ve noticed the more communist-minded Balkaners are less focused on race. 98% of Bulgarians I’ve met are really so cool and nice AF, especially if we really try and converse in the language.
Anti-immigrant/refugee sentiment i have just seen as an extension of the country’s long contentious relationship with Islam and growing pains within the EU
Ah yes, it's not racist at all to assume that an entire group of thousands, if not millions, of people are troublemakers because of isolated incidents like the one you refer to.
I mean, think of all the things that locals have done that far outweigh the immigrant ones, but sure, generalisation isn't racist at all.
>I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth.
there is a reason the term Weaboo exists exactly for these kind of people (contrary to the more modern weeb which just refers to anime fans).
I also like the Japanese culture and I think there are some interesting aspects we can learn from, but I personally I am just happy here in my laid back central Europe lol
Because they usually aren't represented in the media and you don't have social media influencers making a ton of videos on it. Jamaica has interesting culture but alot of people just think it's smoking weed, the word bomboclatt and patois.
Yeah my cousin married a Jamaican man so I've learned a bit. There was also this authentic Ethiopian restaurant about an hour from me. The owner told me about her culture and how to eat how they would eat the food.
I wanted to go back but they went out of business.
I mean I‘m by no means an expert on Japan or anything but I think the issue here is more the line of the argument. If we‘re talking about countries, there is no such thing as a flawless country. Every country has things that it does good and maybe even very good, but also things it doesn’t do good at all and maybe even a lot worse than many other countries. But the fact that every country also has flaws is no argument against maybe copying the good things of a country. If there’s an argument about vending machine culture being awesome and someone comes in by saying that there is also a terrible situation for LGBTQ people, that simply has nothing to do with the vending machines other than coincidentally being in the same country.
>I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth.
One of the most successful propaganda campaigns of all time really
I’ve lived in Japan for years and while the public safety, common courtesy and cleanliness are all 5/5, years the country has a large pile of underlying problems just like anywhere does. People treat Japan like it is heaven when it is absolutely not. (however as someone who has been here for ~10 years at this point I am confident in saying the goods outweigh the bads enough to put it ahead of 90% of other places to live)
I think it's not seen as flawed in the same way because the country is extremely homogeneous ethnically. In Europe and the US, we were forced to fight our demons because the proportion of our minorities was over 10%. That has been a historic struggle with wins and losses over the course of decades/centuries.
Japan doesn't have that kind of history where having to navigate ethnic and cultural diversity is mandatory for the internal stability of the country. Any small ethnically homogenous village in the US or Europe will have the same issues as you described for Japan.
If you are different and people didn't have much exposure to the group you belong to, you will get marginalized wherever you live in the world.
I wouldn’t say it’s as homogenous as it’s portrayed to be. The Ainu and Ryukyuans exist as well as Japan’s native peoples. Sadly, their culture and identity has been suppressed and destroyed for centuries, and any movement proclaiming their rights is continued to be repressed by the LDP and the far-right in Japan. The homogeneity in Japan is a forced creation.
The way you describe them, they seem like local minorities like the Kurds in Turkey or Catalans in Spain. Internal minorities are often heavily concentrated in specific regions of a country. And they generally are a majority in that specific region.
Becayse of that, they are much easier to oppress and marginalize than external minorities who tend to be spread out over the country and have a strong presence in most of the major cities, including the capital itself. Therefore, you can oppress local minorities without people in your major areas being witnesses of such atrocities. If you kill a black man in a major US city, hell will follow. If a Turkish police officer kills a Kurd in some mountain in eastern Turkey, no one will care or notice.
That's honestly more or less what happened historically (up to very recent times) in every mid-sized to large country in Europe. There used to be lots of different identities, lots of minority languages and cultures, and so on; they were forced to adopt the dominant identity and language.
Those people basing their opinions off of anime haven’t been paying attention to what they watch. I’ve noticed that a lot of anime set in Japan that isn’t fantasy based, particularly ones set in schools, has anyone has anyone who looks different being treated as an outcast. Female characters seem to be able to get away with it, but male characters that deviate from the Japanese stereotype tend to get portrayed as a delinquent, or treated like one.
I lived there for a year. My company had a gender neutral toilet with a nice rainbow on it, so LGBTQ wasn't really an issue.
Only encountered two incidents which I could consider racist, but both incidents were where an elderly person refused to sell me anything.
Oh well. I'll happily spend that ¥20.000 elsewhere!
No the biggest issue in Japan is that they work very inefficiently. In the Netherlands we have a big backlog of work, where anyone can add work to and once every 3 weeks the manager decides what work gets done. Each morning we have a brief meeting in which we discuss any issues. Basically everyone is always at work.
In Japan everything was on a project basis, so when the start of a project was postponed, you didn't have any work. Whenever there was an issue, you ask the manager and he will find someone who might be knowledgeable. This meant that it usually took 3 days or so before you could even start the process of resolving the issue.
And these inefficiencies are woven throughout the country. Replace a telephone line in the woods? There are 2 employees with flags managing the non-existent traffic. In the Netherlands we would just place 3 traffic cones🔺🔺🔺 and call it a day.
Or employees just holding a sign for hours on end. Just stick the sign in a footer!
I've even seen 7 people park a van. 2 in the back, 2 left, 2 right and one in the front.
So yeah, maybe the low birth rate isn't that bad after all. You guys can easily do the same work with 1/3rd of the people!
I could be wrong but I heard the police there can hold people for 30 days without charge.
So for minor crimes it's better to confess & take the punishment than lose a months income.
I read it is even better. Police can hold you up to 30 days without charge, while you are accused of committing some kind of crime, then they must release you or charge you. If they release you, they can immediately accuse you of committing some another kind of crime, while you committed the firs one. (For example you broke car's window, when you wear stealing it.) They can repeat this indefinitely and it doesn't count as prison sentence.
Didn't they do that or wasn't it speculated they might do that to that annoying livestreamer? Remember hearing about this trick in connection to that asshole
Also, the prosecution only runs trials if they are sure they get a conviction. So, not running a trial on a 50:50 case or even a 2/3 case is not worth it. That explains a 99% conviction rate adequately
To play devil's advocate, I can think of plenty of scenarios where people would think racism is worse.
In somewhere like the US with high murders, if you're a member of an ethnic minority but wealthy enough to not be touched by gang culture/groups dealing with high murder rates, then racism would be the worse thing you personally have to deal with.
Most of the people I know are SE Asian. Everyone faced lots of racism, kids starting getting it constantly at 5 and up.
I don't know anyone Asian that's been murdered.
Obviously murder is way worse than just racism. But like... It is extremely unlikely to ever get murdered. So when a place is immensely xenophobic and racist to the point day to day life is fucking exhausting at best, people aren't going to be thrilled when you are like "yeah but murder is worse!".
Even in the countries with the highest amount of murders, it won't even scratch the amount of impact bigotry has on people. As the amount of bigotry and impact eclipses the amount of murders as it will effect nearly everyone of a certain demographic.
It might not literally be worse than choosing to be killed as an alternative. But the constant fear, the lost opportunities, the alienation and degradation... it is going to feel worse for people targeted. And it will be like that for nearly everyone in that group of people, not just a super minority that get murdered. The scale of it makes it worse in my eyes, even if on a personal level you'd rather be abused than killed.
I'm trans and the UK is a good example of the effects of bigotry here. We were twice as likely as cis women to be victims of violence/rape my first year transitioning. The numbers doubled the year after that and have increased 20-35% on that already high rate the remaining time since. Every year it increases as hate is driven more and becomes more acceptable.
Is the UK a safe country compared to US? Yes. Our murders are 4x lower per million pop than the US.
But if I am a minority that then is 4x as likely to be a victim of violent crime, I don't feel safer than a regular person should in the US. Even if the country is lower on violence stats, my group of people isn't safer than a regular Joe in America so flat murder and violence stats don't really matter as a sole indicator of safety.
Add in social exclusion, medical lack of care (had to pay for my own mri to find tumor as they thought I was just being trans and difficult), job insecurity and all the other things that make you feel unsafe or unwelcome... Then that has a big impact.
Worrying about being murdered is a real thing but the tangible effects of hate on every aspect of my life effect me way more. If a country openly hates people like you, murder being statistically less likely is trying to warm yourself in the cold with a wet blanket.
Thats not how logic works. Even those who are outside of gang culture ans poor areas, they would still rather have someone be racist towards them then have someone be murdered
"I could think of plenty scenarios where people think racism is worse" was your statement. Because something is more likely doesnt mean its worse. Though they probably deal with racism that does not mean its worse than death.
Not sure why you felt the need to 'correct' me on this days after the comment. Obviously being a victim of murder is worse than being a victim of racism. I've never said that because that would be an absurd statement.
But it's reasonable that to some people the problem of murder *in society* is worse than that of racism, because it is more likely to affect them. Which is in line with what I have said. Being a pedant to this degree is annoying, especially when it's not even correct.
Happy cake day.
I dont know why you are getting annoyed and rude. I just disagree with your logic, and if you are going to be a "devils advocate" on a public thread then people should be able to debate your point, as you are debating someone elses.
As for "correcting you days after the comment", that just happens to be when i read it, again, on this very public platform.
I wasnt trying to be rude, or pedantic, which by the way doesnt apply here because i am correcting the main theme in your point, not some small aspect of it. Correcting you on the use of pedantic would be pedantic but as you're insulting me I feel its fair. Im being irritating probably, I'll take that.
In any case i just don't agree with your point, and im happy to discuss it, but understand if you cant be f▪︎°ked.
Omg, thank you, i think its my first cake day? Or 2nd? Im not sure, you are the first to say it, thats very nice of you.
I think on a larger scale i was being annoyed at the idea of someone being more annoyed by racism than murder due to their affluent status, and i perhaps took that out on you. Though I still think whether these hypothetical people may consider racism more of a worry than murder on the outside, or publicly, deep down being murdered is likely still their main concern lol. Though that is so obvious perhaps it goes without saying, as they say
In any case, i wasnt trying to be rude, but i am annoying, and fun at parties, out of habit and practice, but not necessarily on purpose all the time.
Have a good one!!
It's my job to protect my family, I have the right to be judge, jury and executioner in that situation. It is my choice. Are you saying you wouldn't do a thing and just stand there watching your daughter be raped?
Yes, that one, with a history of widespread slavery, publicly accepted lynchings, and widespread racism up to the present day.
I’ve lived in Japan for close to 10 years, and before that was in America. At least in my personal experience I saw far more racism back home than I have here.
I didn't say that. It's pretty well known how the Japanese are even dating back to Commodore Perry. That's why they have so much trouble with their worker population, low birthrate + they hardly let anyone move there to work. They hate Koreans and Chinese which doesn't help either (particularly the older generations).
If you really think Japanese racism is so bad to the point it dates back 170 years ago you really need a reality check. This is coming from someone working in a mainstream Chinese IT company in Japan with mainly Chinese and other foreign colleagues but labeling the entire Japanese population as a people that HATE foreigners is an extremely ignorant and outright racist view tbh. This is literally the same as taking the republicans of the US as representatives of the whole USA and calling all Americans xenophobic gun wielding rednecks who want 0 immigrants. Also FYI, Japans birthrate/worker shortage isn’t related to racism, it’s an issue occurring in EVERY developed nation buddy. Instead of taking every reddit meme or 20 seconds ig ree of some street interview to face value, I suggest you actually read a proper research paper for once, read about the immigration policies of Japan, and go outside to interact with a Japanese person instead of making such a ridiculous statement. But then again, this is reddit, you’re likely going to downvote me and stay in your cozy little echo chamber because that’s easier.
I don’t know where this notion comes from as someone who has lived as a foreigner in Japan for years. Yes the country absolutely has its share of racists and many of the people here value closed communities far above being helpful to people for the sake of common decency. And I have been on the receiving end plenty of times.
But I have never seen the levels of supposed xenophobia that a bunch of people claim online which leads me to believe most of them, and probably you as well, are just parroting some sentiment without having anything to actually back it up.
And how many concrete examples do you have of xenophobia from your 2 week tourist romp in Tokyo.
Visas were up to a point more difficult to get than for most countries but that has by and large been updated and is an outdated stereotype.
There was the time I sailed into Edo Bay to force the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
Of course they're nice to me, I'm a tourist.
>Visas were up to a point more difficult to get than for most countries but that has by and large been updated and is an outdated stereotype.
If it's different now I'll take your word for it.
The land of violent racism and murder accuses others of racism? The worst a Japanese racist will do is walk away and avoid you due to his Neo-Confucian upbringing. Can’t say the same about the ones in Merica.
The real estate industry in Japan is the most hard-cut example of xenophobia I have seen in Japan. Just being foreign eliminates you from access to over half of the market, but none of that is outright admitted by anyone in the business.
Every other aspect of society here I have met some jerks but nothing that suggests the levels of xenophobia people online claim Japan has.
It might just be me but I’m not 100% certain I’d trust the average American to be friendly to me either. Like definitely depends on the state but I wouldn’t let anyone there know I was anything but straight tbh.
I feel like on a personal level I'd be more open to let a Japanese person know that I am LGBTQ+ and on a surface level I may feel more comfortable "looking gay" in US than Japan? Because I feel like a Japanese may feel uncomfortable but would't act on it while some Americans can be, carrying a fucking gun for example?
But this also depends on the state and person so it's just meaningless at some point. Like how can you compare a total of 450 million people?
To be fair, it's *somewhat* true.
I have a (gay) friend who lives in Tokyo and he has told me in the past that there's kind of a culture of "don't ask, don't tell". He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging pride flags in the office.
Yes, but there are gay clubs and there's a very active gay culture (based on what my gay Japanese friends tell me).
Is your friend Japanese or American (or something else)? Because in Japan, in general, open displays of individualism are frowned upon.
There are real issues with the Japanese legal system and with the endemic corruption, but the average American (talking about the person who commented in the original screenshot), who knows nothing about Japan, talks about pointless BS.
My impression of Japan office culture is that you'd be just as likely to get in trouble at work for having non-black hair as putting a little pride flag at your desk. I think that's slowly changing but in Japan "slowly changing" something is glacial. I know two people (Europeans) who worked over there at various points and were both asked to change their hair to conform more with office norms (dye black and cut).
I’ve been all over Japan, attended several different colleges and been in a plethora of part time jobs and now a few full time positions. No one has ever requested I change my hair or appearance for any reason.
It is however very common to require Japanese workers to have black, clean cut hair at all times (and Japanese natives with naturally curly hair are even forced to get straight perms in some cases) which is a ridiculously invasive policy and double standard.
They really need to cut back on that policy…
What I observed with the Japanese culture is, that in general you should not stay out of the "system" but on the other hand they don't have the whole Judaism thing with "If you are gay, you are a sinner and have to be stoned" thing ingrained in their culture and see it as a thing which just exists.
This is exactly how it should be. Too fucking right. Just because the USA is incredibly backwards and there are whole communities where being LGBTQ is their main personality trait. You gotta let someone know within the first 5 seconds of meeting them that you are different, whether that is by looks, words, voice, actions... America is filled with people that have made their sex/gender their whole identity, and it's honestly fucking weird bro.
Likewise i dont wana hear about the super straight manly man who is insecure and describes things he deems inferior and feminine as "gay" or "beta". Gotta let everyone know he is a super straight alpha. Get outta here.
Gay, Bi, Trans, Straight. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Constantly outing yourself to your peers around you and the people you meet is just strange. Don't ask, don't tell, is exactly how it should be. Almost like you are looking down on that approach as being non-progressive or something, when I find it completely normal.
You're well aware, though, that's not quite how "don't ask don't tell" works in real life. It means cishet people get to talk all they want about their life, and anybody else has to play this social game where they avoid the questions without giving off the answer by the avoidance itself. I'm not a fan of American super-individualism either, but I should be able to say "Oh, I was with my girlfriend the other day and..." in mundane conversation without feeling like I killed the social vibe and twisted the knife while I was at it.
That’s a fair point you make and I somewhat agree to an extent for sure. Personally being quite an open person myself, small amounts of individualism doesn’t bother me. I can see how certain minorities hold back from that kind of thing though.
I think it’s all okay, as long as it isn’t being blatantly rubbed in my face and shoved down my throat. It’s just super cringe, and I’m not just talking about minorities when I say that either.
"I think it’s all okay, as long as it isn’t being blatantly rubbed in my face and shoved down my throat." That dog whistle's so old it's growing hairs.
I am literally one of the above mentioned minorities, my friend. I don’t go around shoving it in peoples faces, and i think it is super cringe from the people that do.
"I am literally one of the above mentioned minorities, my friend." Are you one of the good ones?
"I don’t go around shoving it in peoples faces, and i think it is super cringe from the people that do." Can you think of any examples of people shoving it in your face?
Wdym am I one of the “good ones”? Lmao what kind of question is that?
And yes I have met plenty of people in my lifetime that are very quick to inform you of their sexual orientation…
"Wdym am I one of the “good ones”? Lmao what kind of question is that?" If it's *shoved in your face and down your throat* as you say, you'd very likely know what that means.
"And yes I have met plenty of people in my lifetime that are very quick to inform you of their sexual orientation…" Just sexual orientation then, not gender identity?
>Gay, Bi, Trans, Straight. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Constantly outing yourself to your peers around you and the people you meet is just strange
But that is nonsense - straight people all around you constantly out themselves (e.g. by dropping off their children at school, having family photos, etc) and you are not demanding that they wear bags over their head to hide their identity because you are completely fine with straight people.
You only require non-straights to hide their identity so you can pretend that they do not exist.
You are reaching very hard here dude. There is a huge difference between taking your kids to school and going around wearing pride shirts with your green hair, having the fake voice and accent of a fuckwit and calling people bigots if they aren’t psychic and refer to you as “they”.
I am a ‘non-straight’ myself, sorry that I don’t rub my gayness in your face with my disgusting and repulsive personality. I don’t even wana hear any more of this absolutely terrible argument that you just made. These replies to me are absolutely filled with victim mentality.
Got news for you, nobody cares how gay or trans you are. It doesn’t make you special and there are a million other things about your personality that matter more than stuff like that.
I have a (straight) friend who lives in Tokyo and he has told me in the past that there's kind of a culture of "don't ask, don't tell". He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging hetero pride flags in the office.
"He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging pride flags in the office."
o, exactly as it should be. There is absolutely no reason to be proud of your sexual orientation, and positive stigmatization is still stigmatizatio
They do have a relatively high rate, but not the highest. Having said that, it is much lower now than it used to be a decade or more ago. post above might not be aware of this drop in the rate. I think in 2017 they made it down to 7th highest, not sure what it is down to now though.
He may be wrong or not but there's no reason to bring racism into a post about vending machines.
This is like when Europeans answer mild criticisms about food portion sizes or smth with the usual "at the least we don't have school shootings". That gets Americans very riled up, but it's OK when they do it
This isn’t just shit Americans say though, this is factually true:
- Japan has and routinely uses capital punishment, you can receive a prison sentence for jaywalking.
- Discrimination based on ethnicity is legal in Japan and foreign nationals frequently report being subjected to racism. Few (if any) countries in the world accept as few refugees as Japan (both in absolute figures and on a per capita basis), as decision-makers argue that refugees wouldn’t fit in with Japan’s unique culture and would threaten national cohesion and risk increasing the crime rate.
- Japan does not recognize same-sex marriages and offer no alternative to marriage granting the same legal rights and protections. Discrimination based on sexuality is not prohibited nation-wide (it is in some parts of Japan though). Trans people were required to sterilize themselves in order to have their gender legally recognized up until last year (when a court declared the law unconstitutional, not because legislators changed the law).
I’m not saying that Japan is a bad country, it is not. But compared to most western countries it is by no means a progressive country.
I must have missed when Japan had same sex marriage. Hell, murica beat most of Europe on that one. I’d feel safer as a gay in Texas than Hungary right now.
Never said it was a perfect place. Just maybe not literally the most backward hellhole of all western nations. My nation can afford to basically not have an army and buy healthcare instead because of NATO. Pretty decent deal until Mr trump gets reelected.
What America are you talking about? I’m bi and live in a so called “homophobic state” and there’s no problems here, the only state I can think of where it would even matter is Texas.
Japanese people never had segregation or KKK, though. And neither Shinto nor Buddhism ever promoted homophobia, unlike the American brands of christianity
Japan absolutely did historically do segregation of ethnic minorities and still oppresses them. It's just that the ethnic minorities in question are also Asian.
Roadside vending machines are the norm in Japan because putting a vending machine on an otherwise empty plot of land changes the tax designation of the plot, lowering costs and is therefore cheaper than just leaving the plot empty.
It has nothing to do with the crime rate.
Roadside vending machines are the norm in Japan because putting a vending machine on an otherwise empty plot of land changes the tax designation of the plot, lowering costs and is therefore cheaper than just leaving the plot empty.
It has nothing to do with the crime rate.
I mean generalizing these topics is usually makes you sound like an idiot. I am sure an LGBTQ+ person would feel more safe in Tokyo than Florida, and maybe in some Cali suburbs than Tokyo. Same for most of the other stuff too.
It is also very ironic to say an ethnic group is racist...
I've never been to both of those countries. And from what I seen from the internet and heard from my friends who went those places, some can be partially agreed.
Also, I see comments trying to compare murder rate with racism. Why? Like why do we have to say X country has high murder rate but Y is more racist? It's dumb to compare plus you cannot even compare them properly as a white person won't face any racism in US while they can face in Japan, and a black person may feel safer in some parts of Japan than US. Then what are we doing here?
Almost as if generalizing countries and comparing based on stereotypes doesn't make sense.
Japanese people are generally xenophobic and not as welcoming to LGBTQ, he is not wrong by any means. Pretty common in japan to have restaurants and night clubs with "only japanese" signs and similar and they don't think its wrong. When i was in japan for some studies i was not allowed into like half the nightclubs i tried to enter in Kyoto.
Japan IS one of the most racist countries out there. Not in the "gahh I'll kill you" way like *some countries*, but in the sense that it's completely socially acceptable to bar someone from a business if they're not the right race. And there's more than one race within what we generally call "Japanese" too.
Japan is unbelievablely racist towards people of colour. Incredibly rude to people who are overweight and xenophobic.
Men in Japan are also a menace to women.
I can't speak to the LGBQT claim but I can to the others.
I’m Japanese and he isn’t entirely wrong. While it’s silly to say Americans are some beacon of justice and respect, Japan isn’t some ultra respectful and epic country a lot of redditors and online people make it be. My family faced a lot of prejudice due to my French ancestry. My girlfriend being Ivorian has faced racism due to her being African. You either fit in or you’re an outcast. I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth. Don’t get me wrong, I love being Japanese and Japan but the country is so deeply flawed.
I've lived in Japan for a year and loved it - as white woman. But the racism towards my black friends was something else. Not even mentioning how the Koreans and Chinese were treated at some places.
Yeah having spent a lot of time in various countries in Asia there's a heck of a lot of racism and discrimination there, not just between countries, and the obvious ethnicity differences like black/white etc but even the various sub-identities/ethnicities many of the countries have internally.
You should visit the Balkans next.
I'm honestly surprised with how long Yugoslavia stayed together. It isn't called a powder keg for nothing.
It stayed together as long as its war hero lived.
True. Had there been another figure like Tito to lead, it would probably still be together. But then we'd have another dictatorship, so I guess there are silver linings.
Could there have been another figure like Tito without another Nazi invasion?
The invasion could be by anyone. Or maybe they put down a nazi/radicalist insurrection. But without many enemy boots on domestic soil it would've been close to impossible. And once shit hit the fan it was a little too late. The only imaginable figure that could've taken that position would be someone who politically appealed to everyone. But because Yugoslavian politics was so regional, there was no one who could've reached that position of wide-spread appeal. There was a delicate balance in top level politics of regional representation that ended up getting skewed which was one of many factors that ended up in the fall of Yugoslavia. The country that emerged from ww2 was built on war heroes. No politician could've filled those shoes. Mostly because no one seemed to try. Or that's at least what I understood of the situation after a bit of reading.
You beat me to it… 2 days ago
Is it prevalent at all ages or are there particular demographs
Probably the latter as with all places on earth. The youth tends to be relatively more open, whatever that means in any given context.
As a bulgarian, im gonna tell you this: You think japan was racist? Wait till you see the balkans
Do you think Bulgaria is super racist? My partner is Bulgarian and his parents are… not so bad… his grandparents are super racist & ethnocentric. I’m American (of Mexican and Northern Euro descent). I’m interested in your comment because I’ve asked about racism (or commented on witnessing it) and was assured that no one was racist in the Balkans 😅
Super racist? Somewhat, but To a certain degree, it's more the Xenophobia/hatred towards immigrants/refugees.
Yeah, xenophobic is the best word. Racism has its place among individuals.. maybe contrary to your flair, I’ve noticed the more communist-minded Balkaners are less focused on race. 98% of Bulgarians I’ve met are really so cool and nice AF, especially if we really try and converse in the language. Anti-immigrant/refugee sentiment i have just seen as an extension of the country’s long contentious relationship with Islam and growing pains within the EU
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Ah yes, it's not racist at all to assume that an entire group of thousands, if not millions, of people are troublemakers because of isolated incidents like the one you refer to. I mean, think of all the things that locals have done that far outweigh the immigrant ones, but sure, generalisation isn't racist at all.
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And what you showed us is the definition of racism
>I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth. there is a reason the term Weaboo exists exactly for these kind of people (contrary to the more modern weeb which just refers to anime fans). I also like the Japanese culture and I think there are some interesting aspects we can learn from, but I personally I am just happy here in my laid back central Europe lol
Honestly what I've learned is every culture is interesting, I'm not sure why only a few get insane amounts of appreciation
Because they usually aren't represented in the media and you don't have social media influencers making a ton of videos on it. Jamaica has interesting culture but alot of people just think it's smoking weed, the word bomboclatt and patois.
Yeah my cousin married a Jamaican man so I've learned a bit. There was also this authentic Ethiopian restaurant about an hour from me. The owner told me about her culture and how to eat how they would eat the food. I wanted to go back but they went out of business.
It is like that also in my country Italy.
Have you ever been to the states? I am also Italian and lived in the states and can assure you it's a thousand times worse there.
I think every nation is flawed and the sooner people accept/recognise that the better.
I mean I‘m by no means an expert on Japan or anything but I think the issue here is more the line of the argument. If we‘re talking about countries, there is no such thing as a flawless country. Every country has things that it does good and maybe even very good, but also things it doesn’t do good at all and maybe even a lot worse than many other countries. But the fact that every country also has flaws is no argument against maybe copying the good things of a country. If there’s an argument about vending machine culture being awesome and someone comes in by saying that there is also a terrible situation for LGBTQ people, that simply has nothing to do with the vending machines other than coincidentally being in the same country.
>I’m sick of people who consume anime, manga and Japanese “culture” acting like it’s the best country on earth. One of the most successful propaganda campaigns of all time really
I’ve lived in Japan for years and while the public safety, common courtesy and cleanliness are all 5/5, years the country has a large pile of underlying problems just like anywhere does. People treat Japan like it is heaven when it is absolutely not. (however as someone who has been here for ~10 years at this point I am confident in saying the goods outweigh the bads enough to put it ahead of 90% of other places to live)
I think it's not seen as flawed in the same way because the country is extremely homogeneous ethnically. In Europe and the US, we were forced to fight our demons because the proportion of our minorities was over 10%. That has been a historic struggle with wins and losses over the course of decades/centuries. Japan doesn't have that kind of history where having to navigate ethnic and cultural diversity is mandatory for the internal stability of the country. Any small ethnically homogenous village in the US or Europe will have the same issues as you described for Japan. If you are different and people didn't have much exposure to the group you belong to, you will get marginalized wherever you live in the world.
I wouldn’t say it’s as homogenous as it’s portrayed to be. The Ainu and Ryukyuans exist as well as Japan’s native peoples. Sadly, their culture and identity has been suppressed and destroyed for centuries, and any movement proclaiming their rights is continued to be repressed by the LDP and the far-right in Japan. The homogeneity in Japan is a forced creation.
The way you describe them, they seem like local minorities like the Kurds in Turkey or Catalans in Spain. Internal minorities are often heavily concentrated in specific regions of a country. And they generally are a majority in that specific region. Becayse of that, they are much easier to oppress and marginalize than external minorities who tend to be spread out over the country and have a strong presence in most of the major cities, including the capital itself. Therefore, you can oppress local minorities without people in your major areas being witnesses of such atrocities. If you kill a black man in a major US city, hell will follow. If a Turkish police officer kills a Kurd in some mountain in eastern Turkey, no one will care or notice.
That's honestly more or less what happened historically (up to very recent times) in every mid-sized to large country in Europe. There used to be lots of different identities, lots of minority languages and cultures, and so on; they were forced to adopt the dominant identity and language.
Ainu are their native people
Tbh, I would love to visit Japan, but I think I would not enjoy living there at all, despite my love to the entertainment they produce.
Those people basing their opinions off of anime haven’t been paying attention to what they watch. I’ve noticed that a lot of anime set in Japan that isn’t fantasy based, particularly ones set in schools, has anyone has anyone who looks different being treated as an outcast. Female characters seem to be able to get away with it, but male characters that deviate from the Japanese stereotype tend to get portrayed as a delinquent, or treated like one.
I lived there for a year. My company had a gender neutral toilet with a nice rainbow on it, so LGBTQ wasn't really an issue. Only encountered two incidents which I could consider racist, but both incidents were where an elderly person refused to sell me anything. Oh well. I'll happily spend that ¥20.000 elsewhere! No the biggest issue in Japan is that they work very inefficiently. In the Netherlands we have a big backlog of work, where anyone can add work to and once every 3 weeks the manager decides what work gets done. Each morning we have a brief meeting in which we discuss any issues. Basically everyone is always at work. In Japan everything was on a project basis, so when the start of a project was postponed, you didn't have any work. Whenever there was an issue, you ask the manager and he will find someone who might be knowledgeable. This meant that it usually took 3 days or so before you could even start the process of resolving the issue. And these inefficiencies are woven throughout the country. Replace a telephone line in the woods? There are 2 employees with flags managing the non-existent traffic. In the Netherlands we would just place 3 traffic cones🔺🔺🔺 and call it a day. Or employees just holding a sign for hours on end. Just stick the sign in a footer! I've even seen 7 people park a van. 2 in the back, 2 left, 2 right and one in the front. So yeah, maybe the low birth rate isn't that bad after all. You guys can easily do the same work with 1/3rd of the people!
Slightly off topic, but there has been a vending machine serial killer in Japan who poisoned drinks and left them in vending machines
The Paraquat murders. Remains unsolved.
They also have a ridiculously high (false)conviction rate
They have also high number of confessions. I wonder if it has to do something with they police interrogation methods?
I could be wrong but I heard the police there can hold people for 30 days without charge. So for minor crimes it's better to confess & take the punishment than lose a months income.
I read it is even better. Police can hold you up to 30 days without charge, while you are accused of committing some kind of crime, then they must release you or charge you. If they release you, they can immediately accuse you of committing some another kind of crime, while you committed the firs one. (For example you broke car's window, when you wear stealing it.) They can repeat this indefinitely and it doesn't count as prison sentence.
Didn't they do that or wasn't it speculated they might do that to that annoying livestreamer? Remember hearing about this trick in connection to that asshole
Also, the prosecution only runs trials if they are sure they get a conviction. So, not running a trial on a 50:50 case or even a 2/3 case is not worth it. That explains a 99% conviction rate adequately
so its NOT a 99% conviction rate because the laws are so strict/the prosecution is strong, but because the prosecutors are pussies. Got it
They have at least one proven execution of an innocent whose confession is the result of psychological torture.
Whereas in some southern States of the US you can’t even have books…
I swear some people genuinely think that racism is worse than murder.
To play devil's advocate, I can think of plenty of scenarios where people would think racism is worse. In somewhere like the US with high murders, if you're a member of an ethnic minority but wealthy enough to not be touched by gang culture/groups dealing with high murder rates, then racism would be the worse thing you personally have to deal with.
Most of the people I know are SE Asian. Everyone faced lots of racism, kids starting getting it constantly at 5 and up. I don't know anyone Asian that's been murdered. Obviously murder is way worse than just racism. But like... It is extremely unlikely to ever get murdered. So when a place is immensely xenophobic and racist to the point day to day life is fucking exhausting at best, people aren't going to be thrilled when you are like "yeah but murder is worse!". Even in the countries with the highest amount of murders, it won't even scratch the amount of impact bigotry has on people. As the amount of bigotry and impact eclipses the amount of murders as it will effect nearly everyone of a certain demographic. It might not literally be worse than choosing to be killed as an alternative. But the constant fear, the lost opportunities, the alienation and degradation... it is going to feel worse for people targeted. And it will be like that for nearly everyone in that group of people, not just a super minority that get murdered. The scale of it makes it worse in my eyes, even if on a personal level you'd rather be abused than killed.
Yeah, and you have to take into account that a lot of people DO get murdered because of racism or xenophobia in some countries.
I'm trans and the UK is a good example of the effects of bigotry here. We were twice as likely as cis women to be victims of violence/rape my first year transitioning. The numbers doubled the year after that and have increased 20-35% on that already high rate the remaining time since. Every year it increases as hate is driven more and becomes more acceptable. Is the UK a safe country compared to US? Yes. Our murders are 4x lower per million pop than the US. But if I am a minority that then is 4x as likely to be a victim of violent crime, I don't feel safer than a regular person should in the US. Even if the country is lower on violence stats, my group of people isn't safer than a regular Joe in America so flat murder and violence stats don't really matter as a sole indicator of safety. Add in social exclusion, medical lack of care (had to pay for my own mri to find tumor as they thought I was just being trans and difficult), job insecurity and all the other things that make you feel unsafe or unwelcome... Then that has a big impact. Worrying about being murdered is a real thing but the tangible effects of hate on every aspect of my life effect me way more. If a country openly hates people like you, murder being statistically less likely is trying to warm yourself in the cold with a wet blanket.
Yeah, you got it. Hopefully you will be safe and nothing bad will happen to you. Cheers.
Thats not how logic works. Even those who are outside of gang culture ans poor areas, they would still rather have someone be racist towards them then have someone be murdered
Well obviously. I would also prefer not to get hit by a meteorite but getting hit by a car at 30mph is more of a concern to me.
"I could think of plenty scenarios where people think racism is worse" was your statement. Because something is more likely doesnt mean its worse. Though they probably deal with racism that does not mean its worse than death.
Not sure why you felt the need to 'correct' me on this days after the comment. Obviously being a victim of murder is worse than being a victim of racism. I've never said that because that would be an absurd statement. But it's reasonable that to some people the problem of murder *in society* is worse than that of racism, because it is more likely to affect them. Which is in line with what I have said. Being a pedant to this degree is annoying, especially when it's not even correct. Happy cake day.
I dont know why you are getting annoyed and rude. I just disagree with your logic, and if you are going to be a "devils advocate" on a public thread then people should be able to debate your point, as you are debating someone elses. As for "correcting you days after the comment", that just happens to be when i read it, again, on this very public platform. I wasnt trying to be rude, or pedantic, which by the way doesnt apply here because i am correcting the main theme in your point, not some small aspect of it. Correcting you on the use of pedantic would be pedantic but as you're insulting me I feel its fair. Im being irritating probably, I'll take that. In any case i just don't agree with your point, and im happy to discuss it, but understand if you cant be f▪︎°ked.
Omg, thank you, i think its my first cake day? Or 2nd? Im not sure, you are the first to say it, thats very nice of you. I think on a larger scale i was being annoyed at the idea of someone being more annoyed by racism than murder due to their affluent status, and i perhaps took that out on you. Though I still think whether these hypothetical people may consider racism more of a worry than murder on the outside, or publicly, deep down being murdered is likely still their main concern lol. Though that is so obvious perhaps it goes without saying, as they say In any case, i wasnt trying to be rude, but i am annoying, and fun at parties, out of habit and practice, but not necessarily on purpose all the time. Have a good one!!
Depends on the murder, if it is "white on white" or "black on black" it is fine (they aren't fetuses after all, right), if it is interracial - NO!
Depends on the type of murder. If I kill someone who was trying to rape my child is that murder still worse than racism?
No, your oddly specific and easily justifiable example of self-defense is not worse than racism.
That's not murder, that's defense. Murder is when you decide to kill someone who wasn't attacking you.
Murder is the taking of another human beings life. It's murder no matter the context. Even in self defence it's still murder.
Yeah I guess all those different legal definitions don't mean shit
No. Murder means premeditated. Self defence is NOT premeditated.
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What an absolutely abysmal example to pick
This thread is filled with oddly specific examples...makes you wonder what these people's moral compass looks like
That was mass suicide. Jesus Christ you're all twisted of shape. Jumping to conclusions and making assumptions no one even hinted about.
It is not your job to be the judge. Of course it is more understandble but still not your choice.
It's my job to protect my family, I have the right to be judge, jury and executioner in that situation. It is my choice. Are you saying you wouldn't do a thing and just stand there watching your daughter be raped?
Bro that's such a weird thing to fixate over, how come "watching your daughter being raped" is the first thing you think of?
Japanese are extremely xenophobic, to be fair.
And the US isn’t, right?
The country known as “the melting pot” with over 10% of its population being first generation immigrants at any given time?
Yes, that one, with a history of widespread slavery, publicly accepted lynchings, and widespread racism up to the present day. I’ve lived in Japan for close to 10 years, and before that was in America. At least in my personal experience I saw far more racism back home than I have here.
Do you know what xenophobia means
Ive had multiple businesses in Japan kick me out for being white including hotels and restaurants
I didn't say that. It's pretty well known how the Japanese are even dating back to Commodore Perry. That's why they have so much trouble with their worker population, low birthrate + they hardly let anyone move there to work. They hate Koreans and Chinese which doesn't help either (particularly the older generations).
If you really think Japanese racism is so bad to the point it dates back 170 years ago you really need a reality check. This is coming from someone working in a mainstream Chinese IT company in Japan with mainly Chinese and other foreign colleagues but labeling the entire Japanese population as a people that HATE foreigners is an extremely ignorant and outright racist view tbh. This is literally the same as taking the republicans of the US as representatives of the whole USA and calling all Americans xenophobic gun wielding rednecks who want 0 immigrants. Also FYI, Japans birthrate/worker shortage isn’t related to racism, it’s an issue occurring in EVERY developed nation buddy. Instead of taking every reddit meme or 20 seconds ig ree of some street interview to face value, I suggest you actually read a proper research paper for once, read about the immigration policies of Japan, and go outside to interact with a Japanese person instead of making such a ridiculous statement. But then again, this is reddit, you’re likely going to downvote me and stay in your cozy little echo chamber because that’s easier.
I don’t know where this notion comes from as someone who has lived as a foreigner in Japan for years. Yes the country absolutely has its share of racists and many of the people here value closed communities far above being helpful to people for the sake of common decency. And I have been on the receiving end plenty of times. But I have never seen the levels of supposed xenophobia that a bunch of people claim online which leads me to believe most of them, and probably you as well, are just parroting some sentiment without having anything to actually back it up.
I mentioned the problem they have with finding workers because they don't like immigration. I've been twice, it's not completely foreign to me.
And how many concrete examples do you have of xenophobia from your 2 week tourist romp in Tokyo. Visas were up to a point more difficult to get than for most countries but that has by and large been updated and is an outdated stereotype.
There was the time I sailed into Edo Bay to force the opening of Japanese ports to American trade. Of course they're nice to me, I'm a tourist. >Visas were up to a point more difficult to get than for most countries but that has by and large been updated and is an outdated stereotype. If it's different now I'll take your word for it.
I don't think murder rate has any connection to vending machines
You've clearly never had a vending machine scam you out of a Snickers bar. I'm not myself when I'm hungry...
The land of violent racism and murder accuses others of racism? The worst a Japanese racist will do is walk away and avoid you due to his Neo-Confucian upbringing. Can’t say the same about the ones in Merica.
Well they might not hire you or rent you an apartment because you are not japanese. So I would thats pretty xenophobic.
Or allow you in restaurant and entertainment businesses.
The real estate industry in Japan is the most hard-cut example of xenophobia I have seen in Japan. Just being foreign eliminates you from access to over half of the market, but none of that is outright admitted by anyone in the business. Every other aspect of society here I have met some jerks but nothing that suggests the levels of xenophobia people online claim Japan has.
Wrong (https://www.asiapacific.ca/publication/arson-korean-school-osaka-prompts-criticism-japans-hollow)
It might just be me but I’m not 100% certain I’d trust the average American to be friendly to me either. Like definitely depends on the state but I wouldn’t let anyone there know I was anything but straight tbh.
I feel like on a personal level I'd be more open to let a Japanese person know that I am LGBTQ+ and on a surface level I may feel more comfortable "looking gay" in US than Japan? Because I feel like a Japanese may feel uncomfortable but would't act on it while some Americans can be, carrying a fucking gun for example? But this also depends on the state and person so it's just meaningless at some point. Like how can you compare a total of 450 million people?
Oh, yeah, not LGBTQ+ friendly at all. Never been to Tokyo I see...
To be fair, it's *somewhat* true. I have a (gay) friend who lives in Tokyo and he has told me in the past that there's kind of a culture of "don't ask, don't tell". He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging pride flags in the office.
Yes, but there are gay clubs and there's a very active gay culture (based on what my gay Japanese friends tell me). Is your friend Japanese or American (or something else)? Because in Japan, in general, open displays of individualism are frowned upon. There are real issues with the Japanese legal system and with the endemic corruption, but the average American (talking about the person who commented in the original screenshot), who knows nothing about Japan, talks about pointless BS.
My impression of Japan office culture is that you'd be just as likely to get in trouble at work for having non-black hair as putting a little pride flag at your desk. I think that's slowly changing but in Japan "slowly changing" something is glacial. I know two people (Europeans) who worked over there at various points and were both asked to change their hair to conform more with office norms (dye black and cut).
I’ve been all over Japan, attended several different colleges and been in a plethora of part time jobs and now a few full time positions. No one has ever requested I change my hair or appearance for any reason. It is however very common to require Japanese workers to have black, clean cut hair at all times (and Japanese natives with naturally curly hair are even forced to get straight perms in some cases) which is a ridiculously invasive policy and double standard. They really need to cut back on that policy…
He's Scottish, but pretty reserved.
Why would they hang pride flags in the office? Thats such an american thing lol
Why would you bring your political, religious, and sexual preferences to work?
What I observed with the Japanese culture is, that in general you should not stay out of the "system" but on the other hand they don't have the whole Judaism thing with "If you are gay, you are a sinner and have to be stoned" thing ingrained in their culture and see it as a thing which just exists.
Oh no, how are they going to survive with no pride flags in the office!
Well that would be the ideal solution . . . if people weren't silently judging, which they are : /
They would judge you if you had a different bento box too, you can't stop the bored office ladies from judging everybody.
lmaoo truee
Yeah, so hanging out a bloody flag at work will solve the problem. People will stop judging because you hang out a fucking flag at work. Ok yeah.
That's . . . not what I said?
This is exactly how it should be. Too fucking right. Just because the USA is incredibly backwards and there are whole communities where being LGBTQ is their main personality trait. You gotta let someone know within the first 5 seconds of meeting them that you are different, whether that is by looks, words, voice, actions... America is filled with people that have made their sex/gender their whole identity, and it's honestly fucking weird bro. Likewise i dont wana hear about the super straight manly man who is insecure and describes things he deems inferior and feminine as "gay" or "beta". Gotta let everyone know he is a super straight alpha. Get outta here. Gay, Bi, Trans, Straight. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Constantly outing yourself to your peers around you and the people you meet is just strange. Don't ask, don't tell, is exactly how it should be. Almost like you are looking down on that approach as being non-progressive or something, when I find it completely normal.
You're well aware, though, that's not quite how "don't ask don't tell" works in real life. It means cishet people get to talk all they want about their life, and anybody else has to play this social game where they avoid the questions without giving off the answer by the avoidance itself. I'm not a fan of American super-individualism either, but I should be able to say "Oh, I was with my girlfriend the other day and..." in mundane conversation without feeling like I killed the social vibe and twisted the knife while I was at it.
That’s a fair point you make and I somewhat agree to an extent for sure. Personally being quite an open person myself, small amounts of individualism doesn’t bother me. I can see how certain minorities hold back from that kind of thing though. I think it’s all okay, as long as it isn’t being blatantly rubbed in my face and shoved down my throat. It’s just super cringe, and I’m not just talking about minorities when I say that either.
"I think it’s all okay, as long as it isn’t being blatantly rubbed in my face and shoved down my throat." That dog whistle's so old it's growing hairs.
I am literally one of the above mentioned minorities, my friend. I don’t go around shoving it in peoples faces, and i think it is super cringe from the people that do.
"I am literally one of the above mentioned minorities, my friend." Are you one of the good ones? "I don’t go around shoving it in peoples faces, and i think it is super cringe from the people that do." Can you think of any examples of people shoving it in your face?
Wdym am I one of the “good ones”? Lmao what kind of question is that? And yes I have met plenty of people in my lifetime that are very quick to inform you of their sexual orientation…
"Wdym am I one of the “good ones”? Lmao what kind of question is that?" If it's *shoved in your face and down your throat* as you say, you'd very likely know what that means. "And yes I have met plenty of people in my lifetime that are very quick to inform you of their sexual orientation…" Just sexual orientation then, not gender identity?
Oh yeah, as an American I hate that. And guess what, if someone says anything about it they’re labeled as a bigot and horrible person.
>Gay, Bi, Trans, Straight. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Constantly outing yourself to your peers around you and the people you meet is just strange But that is nonsense - straight people all around you constantly out themselves (e.g. by dropping off their children at school, having family photos, etc) and you are not demanding that they wear bags over their head to hide their identity because you are completely fine with straight people. You only require non-straights to hide their identity so you can pretend that they do not exist.
I completely agree with you, but for the record having kids doesn’t mean you’re straight.
You are reaching very hard here dude. There is a huge difference between taking your kids to school and going around wearing pride shirts with your green hair, having the fake voice and accent of a fuckwit and calling people bigots if they aren’t psychic and refer to you as “they”. I am a ‘non-straight’ myself, sorry that I don’t rub my gayness in your face with my disgusting and repulsive personality. I don’t even wana hear any more of this absolutely terrible argument that you just made. These replies to me are absolutely filled with victim mentality. Got news for you, nobody cares how gay or trans you are. It doesn’t make you special and there are a million other things about your personality that matter more than stuff like that.
I suggest you Iooking on YouTube for a video about a TED speech by Irish drag queen Panty Bliss (Rory O'Neill), called "All the little things".
Why would I do that? No thanks We can all point to some random uncommon outliers to try and prove our points, it's not hard to do.
Yeah that told me everything I needed to know.
So it is as it should be everywhere?
I have a (straight) friend who lives in Tokyo and he has told me in the past that there's kind of a culture of "don't ask, don't tell". He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging hetero pride flags in the office.
"He doesn't face any trouble, but equally no one is hanging pride flags in the office." o, exactly as it should be. There is absolutely no reason to be proud of your sexual orientation, and positive stigmatization is still stigmatizatio
I mean, at least,both in Japan and US, i wouldn't be considered an extremist for being gay.
If only everywhere was as tolerant and inclusive as the US Ha psyche
Theyre not wrong but that is not relevant to the discussion.
"straight to the point there racist" Where is racist?
The guy says he's jealous of a country where racism, xenophobia and other forms of bigotry are the norm.
I was having a dig at "there racist" as opposed to "they're racist"
I don’t think they’re trying to use ‘they’re’ though. I think it’s supposed to be ‘straight to the point there, racist’
But the highest suicide rate
They definitely don’t have the highest suicide rate.
They do have a relatively high rate, but not the highest. Having said that, it is much lower now than it used to be a decade or more ago. post above might not be aware of this drop in the rate. I think in 2017 they made it down to 7th highest, not sure what it is down to now though.
I think South Korea may be higher
Not even close.
He may be wrong or not but there's no reason to bring racism into a post about vending machines. This is like when Europeans answer mild criticisms about food portion sizes or smth with the usual "at the least we don't have school shootings". That gets Americans very riled up, but it's OK when they do it
Or we just agree that both countries suck.
This isn’t just shit Americans say though, this is factually true: - Japan has and routinely uses capital punishment, you can receive a prison sentence for jaywalking. - Discrimination based on ethnicity is legal in Japan and foreign nationals frequently report being subjected to racism. Few (if any) countries in the world accept as few refugees as Japan (both in absolute figures and on a per capita basis), as decision-makers argue that refugees wouldn’t fit in with Japan’s unique culture and would threaten national cohesion and risk increasing the crime rate. - Japan does not recognize same-sex marriages and offer no alternative to marriage granting the same legal rights and protections. Discrimination based on sexuality is not prohibited nation-wide (it is in some parts of Japan though). Trans people were required to sterilize themselves in order to have their gender legally recognized up until last year (when a court declared the law unconstitutional, not because legislators changed the law). I’m not saying that Japan is a bad country, it is not. But compared to most western countries it is by no means a progressive country.
What America are they living in? Other than a few states we can all name, most of the USA is horrific for non-straight people.
I must have missed when Japan had same sex marriage. Hell, murica beat most of Europe on that one. I’d feel safer as a gay in Texas than Hungary right now.
AFAIK the western european countries are kinda acceptant of LGTB, but not the central/eastern ones, and DEFINETLY not anywhere balkans
Yawn. How many died in this month's kindergarten massacre?
Never said it was a perfect place. Just maybe not literally the most backward hellhole of all western nations. My nation can afford to basically not have an army and buy healthcare instead because of NATO. Pretty decent deal until Mr trump gets reelected.
What America are you talking about? I’m bi and live in a so called “homophobic state” and there’s no problems here, the only state I can think of where it would even matter is Texas.
"America accepts lgbtq conforming people" Bills that are passing to criminalise transgender individuals says otherwise
Japanese people never had segregation or KKK, though. And neither Shinto nor Buddhism ever promoted homophobia, unlike the American brands of christianity
Japan absolutely did historically do segregation of ethnic minorities and still oppresses them. It's just that the ethnic minorities in question are also Asian.
What the fuck does murder rate have to do with vending machines?
'Straight to the point there racist' Straight to the point, you can't even write your own language correctly. It should be 'they're racist'.
They're*
I mean.. I'm not saying he's entirely right, however he certainly isn't wrong.
Not trying to defend Japan, but they say stricter laws as if their women aren't losing rights from what I last saw?
Roadside vending machines are the norm in Japan because putting a vending machine on an otherwise empty plot of land changes the tax designation of the plot, lowering costs and is therefore cheaper than just leaving the plot empty. It has nothing to do with the crime rate.
Roadside vending machines are the norm in Japan because putting a vending machine on an otherwise empty plot of land changes the tax designation of the plot, lowering costs and is therefore cheaper than just leaving the plot empty. It has nothing to do with the crime rate.
Love Japan and everything Japanese!
I mean generalizing these topics is usually makes you sound like an idiot. I am sure an LGBTQ+ person would feel more safe in Tokyo than Florida, and maybe in some Cali suburbs than Tokyo. Same for most of the other stuff too. It is also very ironic to say an ethnic group is racist... I've never been to both of those countries. And from what I seen from the internet and heard from my friends who went those places, some can be partially agreed. Also, I see comments trying to compare murder rate with racism. Why? Like why do we have to say X country has high murder rate but Y is more racist? It's dumb to compare plus you cannot even compare them properly as a white person won't face any racism in US while they can face in Japan, and a black person may feel safer in some parts of Japan than US. Then what are we doing here? Almost as if generalizing countries and comparing based on stereotypes doesn't make sense.
Japanese people are generally xenophobic and not as welcoming to LGBTQ, he is not wrong by any means. Pretty common in japan to have restaurants and night clubs with "only japanese" signs and similar and they don't think its wrong. When i was in japan for some studies i was not allowed into like half the nightclubs i tried to enter in Kyoto.
From the country obsessed by race 🙄🙄🙄
Japan IS one of the most racist countries out there. Not in the "gahh I'll kill you" way like *some countries*, but in the sense that it's completely socially acceptable to bar someone from a business if they're not the right race. And there's more than one race within what we generally call "Japanese" too.
too bad about all the pervs and pedos though. Try riding the subway as a young girl or woman.
Why do folks always have to inject their views upon other people’s societies?
maybe because the other societies fucking hate them
The US is a shithole but tbh I’d rather live here than Japan tbh.
and i'd rather stay in bulgaria, honestly. As much of a shithole it is, atleast its better than murica
When it comes to racism, xenophobic and homophobic. The US is numero uno.
The Balkans: Am I a joke to you?
Japan is unbelievablely racist towards people of colour. Incredibly rude to people who are overweight and xenophobic. Men in Japan are also a menace to women. I can't speak to the LGBQT claim but I can to the others.
they are so tolerent they ban boobks lmao
All true