Gaijin - part two

I was asked some questions today about what "foreigner" means as far as Japan, so I figured it was a good time to write a bit more about "gaijin" - probably the most hated Japanese word by Western foreigners living here, in my opinion, out of misunderstanding.

First, I think that most people have trouble understanding that different places do things differently. It sounds very simple, but I find that people tend to just use what they learned wherever their home is, home country, the way of thinking, etc., and then they use that perspective to look at things elsewhere, and it just doesn't work.

If you think of words like foreigner/immigrant/migrant worker in the states, there are a whole lot of bad connotations to those words, in fact, I'd venture that the latter 2 probably have no positive connotations whatsoever (foreigner can also imply exoticism, like the romantic french). With "gaijin" meaning foreigner (literally, outside person), I can see why someone at first glance would consider it a negative word.

However, let's look at Japan. It is 99% full of Japanese people. They're literally running the place! Well, actually I believe it's a little bit over 99%, putting the foreign population here at a little less than 1%. The Japanese that live here, they have basically always lived here. Their parents, aunts, uncles, children, grandparents, their grandparents' parents, going back generally centuries and centuries and millennia - they are all from Japan, they are all nationally and ethnically Japanese. This is entirely different from Western countries.

I, as a white person, do not appear Japanese. There must be a name for me. One could be an idealist and say "we're all human," but the reality of things is obviously different from that. Should I be called non-Japanese? But what if I become a citizen of the nation? Then should I be called an ethnically-non-Japanese Japanese national?

Let's look at it from another perspective.

When I go to a restaurant or famous shrine or something, a Japanese booth worker will look at me and hand me the English version of the menu/brochure (if one exists), or they will try to speak English with me.

Imagine, in America, if a shop worker saw someone of seemingly Latin or African features and so on, and the shop worker walked up to the person and started speaking Spanish or Swahili! It'd be cause to sue the company and win big discriminatory money. However, in Japan, you do not look Japanese in any sense of the word, so that person is actually trying to bridge what is most likely a language gap (yes, most Western foreigners here don't speak Japanese), and help you. There is the possible misunderstanding - I could be from some small Italian village where no one speaks any English - but still the odds are if I am not Japanese looking, I probably can speak English. So, it's a good bet - and it helps a WHOLE LOT of people out here - the same people that will complain about "gaijin" being discriminatory!

OK, that's all fine and good. But is "gaijin" discriminatory? Yes. Is all discrimination bad? No. Just like classifications in science, we need names for things. Is this a cop-out? No. I'll explain further.

Not only that, while a shop worker would get sued over the above "discrimination," most "minorities" in America prefer to be called Asian American, Latin American, African American - they _WANT_ discrimination - because they want to keep their identity. Japanese is, likewise, the identity of this entire nation... And that brings us to...

"Gaijin" is made from two Japanese kanji characters - the first meaning outside/outer and the second meaning person. Japanese culture is group based. Your are either part of a group or you are not. These groups are pervasive - Japanese people themselves are a group. You are outside that group, you are an outside person - just as a Japanese person that works for Sony is outside the group that works for Kikkoman. These in-group and out-group relations are extremely important in Japan. Yes, you are being told you are not Japanese. You will never be Japanese. It's not in your blood, it's not in your genes, it can't be seen on your face. They are telling you something you already know.

Of course, you may say "but isn't that discriminatory - keeping you out of the group?" And that is true. Japan is a tough nut to crack as far as belonging to any Japanese group. However, many many people have seen and have said that the more Japanese language and culture you know, the more the Japanese start treating you like one of them - and holding you to responsibilities as deeply as they hold them for other Japanese. Above that, the people that reallly have good Japanese knowledge are held in very high esteem and wind up in many prestigious/important/etc Japanese groups.

Next, are gaijin discriminated against? Maybe we need a new term for this - "discriminated for!" Westerners are generally treated here as something like royal visitors, movie stars, etc. Native English speaking ability is almost worshipped here. The benefits of being a foreigner in Japan are greater than those of being a Japanese person in Japan! Discriminated against? No! Discriminated for!

Next, are Japanese racist/discriminatory against foreigners? Well, like everything, that depends on the person. Some people all over the world are, some aren't. Are they in general? Well, I'd say this depends on where you are in Japan. I was in rural areas where Japanese hadn't had much experience with foreigners - and there was mostly fear. This is the definition of ignorance - they have no idea how to interact with a foreigner, they've never met one so how could they? When Japanese people are used to foreigners, I think that everything I've said above basically applies. Discrimination exists in a mostly positive way.

There is another thing - crime statistics. Many Japanese have argued that foreigners are responsible for a great amount of crime - wow, only less than 1% of the population yet this much crime? And there have been reports debunking this.

However, I was one of the translators for the official Japan Crime White Paper 2005. I could see the actual statistics for all sorts of crime, marked by age, ethnicity, gender, everything. And while on the whole, on the average, foreigners commit about as much crime as Japanese do (proportionally), certain types of crime are only committed generally by certain races, (By the way, Iranians are responsible for like 97% of the marijuana/hashish related crimes here) and to be honest about it, if you look as Asian foreigners here, you'll find that they commit alot more crime than Japanese or Whites or what-have-you. Asian foreigners are surely lumped in with the word "gaijin" but once again, based on simply looking at you, you can be "discriminated" or "discerned" to not be a Chinese paint sniffer or what-have-you.

I hope that clears things up at least a little. I have more to write but I'll wait til it's brewed a little while and comes out more structured than it would now. This is the end of part 2 on 'getting to love "gaijin"'.

Next post will be pictures from the shrine I went to today for lunch.