Today marks one year in Tokyo for me. I've lived other places in Japan, but they were all something like "yeah, I live here, but Tokyo is where I'm headed." And every time I went to Tokyo, it was reaffirmed that it is an amazing place. I fell in love with it. Originally through pictures and books and anime scenes of the city (that's why I'm living in a place with a view of Tokyo Tower). I've lived here for one year now, and the excitement hasn't ended.
I'm sick of the posts I've done trying to defend Japan against all the negative. There's a real difference between trying to disprove a naysayer and actually living the positives that come in your life. So, I hope my next few blog posts will be able to clear myself from that state of mind.
There are so many positive things that I want to write about Japan and about Tokyo. Some of them seem like negatives until you really look at the situation. I'm thinking now about writing books. I'm happy that a number of people have told me that they read my blog, but in reality, I usually come to the blog with too many ideas to put down in the small time I have to type them out. The depth involved in this, for me, in terms of the importance of trying - not to bridge cultures but rather to see ourselves in other cultures and learn from it - involves more than the sort of internet "soundbyte" knowledge that people acquire. So, I'm thoroughly thinking about 4 book projects and I'll get started on them soon.
So, on with my first bit of news. Today or yesterday, a guy got on the bullet train here, and suddenly he realized that the train wasn't going where he wanted to go. He hit the emergency stop and the train stopped and he got off to get where he needed to go. I imagine some of you might think "fair play" or "yeah, I'd do that if the situation fit" or similar. The thing is, he got arrested.
And that's what I love about this country. Who are you to think that you can disconvenience thousands of people for your own self-important little problem? In this case, the worst thing is that he was just basically inconvenienced - he didn't have any real emergency to head to. And that's how Japan treats a person that thinks their little problem is everyone else's little problem.
It's why everywhere you go, everyone is polite to you. Everywhere you go, things are just how they should be for you to have a pleasant experience. And this brings me to one of the books I'd like to write.
Everyone learns that Japan and similar countries are "group" cultures whereas American and Western countries are "individual" cultures. But I find the balance tends to go either way, depending on how you look at it.
In America, you can sue anyone over anything. If you fall down on ice, you sue the government that made the sidewalk or the store in front of which you fell - they should be responsible for having that sidewalk shoveled and clean and so on. Where is the personal responsibility?
In Japan, personal responsibility is very important. You won't be cut down or chastized or any other problem if you accept the blame for something. At work, if something goes bad, and you think maybe something you did had some part in the problem, you "confess" and accept total blame for it. You'll have a rougher time for the next few months, but your coworkers will know that you did something to the benefit of all of them, and they'll treat you better so the rough time will be easier.
I don't understand how an "individual" culture can just allow people to be selfish and that's basically the end of the story. We interact with people, we meet people, and even the people that we don't meet are affected by the things that we do. The bizarre thing to me is that in other countries than where I am in, it seems to just be taken for granted that you can do whatever you want, yelling at a girl at an ice cream shop that got your order wrong, taking up 20 people's time in line because you don't agree with what you're charged even though it's on the tag.... Whatever it is, there's so much screaming of "ME ME ME" whereas the real truth of an "individual" culture should be one where a person is CONTRIBUTING as an individual and respecting other people as individuals. And this seems to me to be more where Japanese culture is at.
Imagine the people you meet as like two pearl necklaces rubbing past each other. when the pearls are against each other, the action is smooth - something like all of the people that you walk past on the street in a day without even recognizing them - without realizing that they're there, or they're human, or they have feelings like you, or without even knowing that they happen to have the same favorite movie or music as you - but once the surfaces of the pearls breaks away, there's a *clack*, where you actually come face to face with someone, and there is some interaction that happens between the two of you.
Maybe your personal space got invaded, maybe you said thank you as they held the door for you.. maybe the girl at the coffee shop gave you extra service, or the clerk at the hamburger shop asked if you wanted to take home some things for free they didn't sell that day.
Whatever it is, there are these constant chances we have "between the pearls" where interaction between other humans can happen. Often we ignore it, we shove them away, we try to avoid it. We might give a polite smile and walk away. We might pretend along with the rest of the pearl that they don't exist. But they do. And our actions affect others. And we shouldn't be so selfish. And we shouldn't be so wrapped up in our own existence so much that we bother people around us that have nothing to do with us but also have their own problems, and good times, and so on, to think about and worry about.
And that's one thing that Japan has taught me. The rest for another day.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Japanese Racism (Part 8 - more comments)
Well, as a friend of mine said, it's trendy almost fashionable to bash Japan these days. And from the comments on the post (see Part 1 for the address), I know he's right. So, let's continue.
"No kidding. I was currently in japan for about 6 monthes. I thought it would be nice to get out of the US and see another country. What a load, I was X’d out of many shops, restraunts, and bars. All this just because I am an american. Screw Japan."
I have never had this happen to me. I know it exists because I've seen photos of signs on the internet, but I've never seen any in my time in Japan, and the ones that I do know about are way out in the sticks or near military bases where GI's tend to cause trouble. I'm going to write a lot on this later. Anyway, to take this away as your idea of Japan - I can't help but think this is a lie or someone trying to cause trouble.
"In Oahu, in a Japanese family restaurant a few blocks off the main drag, we ordered the same breakfast as the Japanese family next to us. When they arrived, ours was about half the size of the other family’s. Taking the Shinkasen from Kyoto to Tokyo, I was obviously shunned; the whole car was full, but nobody sat on the seats adjacent to me."
Oahu? Different values, different culture. Can't comment. The trains? yeah, people don't like to sit next to foreigners here generally. It can be racism/stereotypes (foreigners are more likely to commit crime) or it can be they're afraid they'll get asked something in English, it can be that foreigners are generally bigger and take up more seat room, or in the case of a shinkansen, it can be that there was just no one who'd purchased one of those seats. The foreigner crime thing and stereotypes etc is for another post. And as the person who wrote the above mentioned, that was the 80s/90s.
"I just spent 3 months in Osaka, and not once did anything so overt happen to me. The only thing I really noticed was that the guys who hand out Pachinko flyers would usually turn their backs when I came by…but I don’t play pachinko."
I think this is a more typical experience of Japan. This guy probably knows most foreigners don't play pachinko, or he doesn't want to have to deal with English - but more than that, the people handing stuff out on the streets are usually told a certain demographic to give the stuff out to. My Japanese friends have argued sometimes when they didn't fit the type of person required.
If you read the comments on that site, I would say Rusty Spoon is about 70-80% right in his big explanation, minus a few points.
And, the last one, because I'm bored and gonna finish this.
"I find it hard to believe that you’ve lived in Japan for 13 years and just now are seeing racism in the country. Not only does Japan have Japanese-only bars, nightclubs, and restaraunts with signs in English that no foreigners are allowed, but they have the utmost contempt for the Koreans, the Chinese, the Americans, the Europeans, etc. I seem to remember that ‘gaijin’ literally means ‘barbarian’."
This is exaggeration and just crazy. Something like 25% of Japanese men marry Korean and Chinese women. Americans and Europeans are generally treated like royalty. Read my previous posts on "racism FOR foreigners".. and "gaijin" as I mentioned way back means "outside person." This is just all sorts of wrong. And, I'm just sick of this. I'm going to try to throw a few more positive posts in before I deal with a topic like this again.
"No kidding. I was currently in japan for about 6 monthes. I thought it would be nice to get out of the US and see another country. What a load, I was X’d out of many shops, restraunts, and bars. All this just because I am an american. Screw Japan."
I have never had this happen to me. I know it exists because I've seen photos of signs on the internet, but I've never seen any in my time in Japan, and the ones that I do know about are way out in the sticks or near military bases where GI's tend to cause trouble. I'm going to write a lot on this later. Anyway, to take this away as your idea of Japan - I can't help but think this is a lie or someone trying to cause trouble.
"In Oahu, in a Japanese family restaurant a few blocks off the main drag, we ordered the same breakfast as the Japanese family next to us. When they arrived, ours was about half the size of the other family’s. Taking the Shinkasen from Kyoto to Tokyo, I was obviously shunned; the whole car was full, but nobody sat on the seats adjacent to me."
Oahu? Different values, different culture. Can't comment. The trains? yeah, people don't like to sit next to foreigners here generally. It can be racism/stereotypes (foreigners are more likely to commit crime) or it can be they're afraid they'll get asked something in English, it can be that foreigners are generally bigger and take up more seat room, or in the case of a shinkansen, it can be that there was just no one who'd purchased one of those seats. The foreigner crime thing and stereotypes etc is for another post. And as the person who wrote the above mentioned, that was the 80s/90s.
"I just spent 3 months in Osaka, and not once did anything so overt happen to me. The only thing I really noticed was that the guys who hand out Pachinko flyers would usually turn their backs when I came by…but I don’t play pachinko."
I think this is a more typical experience of Japan. This guy probably knows most foreigners don't play pachinko, or he doesn't want to have to deal with English - but more than that, the people handing stuff out on the streets are usually told a certain demographic to give the stuff out to. My Japanese friends have argued sometimes when they didn't fit the type of person required.
If you read the comments on that site, I would say Rusty Spoon is about 70-80% right in his big explanation, minus a few points.
And, the last one, because I'm bored and gonna finish this.
"I find it hard to believe that you’ve lived in Japan for 13 years and just now are seeing racism in the country. Not only does Japan have Japanese-only bars, nightclubs, and restaraunts with signs in English that no foreigners are allowed, but they have the utmost contempt for the Koreans, the Chinese, the Americans, the Europeans, etc. I seem to remember that ‘gaijin’ literally means ‘barbarian’."
This is exaggeration and just crazy. Something like 25% of Japanese men marry Korean and Chinese women. Americans and Europeans are generally treated like royalty. Read my previous posts on "racism FOR foreigners".. and "gaijin" as I mentioned way back means "outside person." This is just all sorts of wrong. And, I'm just sick of this. I'm going to try to throw a few more positive posts in before I deal with a topic like this again.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Japanese Racism .. continued! (Part 7)
I said in a previous part of this Japanese Racism group of posts that I would also tackle some of the comments left on the previously mentioned (other person's) blog.
There are a lot of comments so this might make up another few parts of the Japanese Racism group of posts.
Before I start, please let me say that once I'm finished with this, I'm going to write a post about a comment on my blog from tornados28. You should read his comments if you haven't yet, they add quite a bit to this blog. Anyway, That post that I will make (hopefully this week) will detail things like areas of Japan (the boonies and sticks and those types of people's thoughts versus the city folk and metropolitans) and that should clear up some things that might seem like I'm painting with too big a brush.
I'm skipping a lot of the comments that might be what I think are similar to that person's original blog post (some weird meeting/occurrence and mistaking it for racism). As well, there were a lot of positive, interesting comments but I'm afraid I have to skip them on account of the title of this post.
"are you nuts? Japan is one of the most racist countries I’ve ever been to. maybe your just waking up!"
I don't think that's true, and based on Japan being around 98% Japanese, it could hypothetically be HELL for a foreigner, yet many foreigners here are treated like celebrities and most are just dealt with like every other stranger and maybe with a bit more suspicion.
"I was born in Korea and now I live in the States. I have been living in the States for 20 years now. But, I constantly witnessed racism since the day one; both directed to me and directed to other ethnic mimority."
This is good to me, because part of what I'm trying to do with this blog is to take this idea that we as Westerners have of Japan and other asian countries, that it's so weird and maybe incomprehensible or even 'wrong' - and I want that criticism which is mostly based on stereotypes and a lack of knowledge - I want to turn that into educated criticism.. and then I want to take that criticism and turn it inwards. It's so easy to attack another culture and used the basic stereotypes that your culture has of that other culture to rest on your laurels and have the people around you agree with you. In the end, that means this blog is an extension of what I'm trying to do in my personal life - to take the experiences that come to me and the knowledge that comes from that and to turn it inward to try to grow from it all in some way. I think a lot of people could learn from turning such things inward - and another culture (especially one that's VERY different from one's own) is the perfect mirror for that.
There are a lot of comments so this might make up another few parts of the Japanese Racism group of posts.
Before I start, please let me say that once I'm finished with this, I'm going to write a post about a comment on my blog from tornados28. You should read his comments if you haven't yet, they add quite a bit to this blog. Anyway, That post that I will make (hopefully this week) will detail things like areas of Japan (the boonies and sticks and those types of people's thoughts versus the city folk and metropolitans) and that should clear up some things that might seem like I'm painting with too big a brush.
I'm skipping a lot of the comments that might be what I think are similar to that person's original blog post (some weird meeting/occurrence and mistaking it for racism). As well, there were a lot of positive, interesting comments but I'm afraid I have to skip them on account of the title of this post.
"are you nuts? Japan is one of the most racist countries I’ve ever been to. maybe your just waking up!"
I don't think that's true, and based on Japan being around 98% Japanese, it could hypothetically be HELL for a foreigner, yet many foreigners here are treated like celebrities and most are just dealt with like every other stranger and maybe with a bit more suspicion.
"I was born in Korea and now I live in the States. I have been living in the States for 20 years now. But, I constantly witnessed racism since the day one; both directed to me and directed to other ethnic mimority."
This is good to me, because part of what I'm trying to do with this blog is to take this idea that we as Westerners have of Japan and other asian countries, that it's so weird and maybe incomprehensible or even 'wrong' - and I want that criticism which is mostly based on stereotypes and a lack of knowledge - I want to turn that into educated criticism.. and then I want to take that criticism and turn it inwards. It's so easy to attack another culture and used the basic stereotypes that your culture has of that other culture to rest on your laurels and have the people around you agree with you. In the end, that means this blog is an extension of what I'm trying to do in my personal life - to take the experiences that come to me and the knowledge that comes from that and to turn it inward to try to grow from it all in some way. I think a lot of people could learn from turning such things inward - and another culture (especially one that's VERY different from one's own) is the perfect mirror for that.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Japanese Racism (Part 6)
Note: Please see Part 1 or this will not make any sense at all!
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
I didn't include all of the sentences of his (sorry, I've gotten used to using "his" - I'm not sure of the poster's gender but it makes typing my ideas out quicker). second day because most of it was just background, but I'll include the rest of the bits here..
"This morning: I’m walking along the train platform waiting for the train when a short Japanese woman walking in the opposite direction, wearing a cough mask, and probably in her 60s starts shaking her hands at me, making cross and ‘x’ motions. I thought she was practicing her conducting skills."
This brings me back to the original post - maybe the person writing this is racist. Those weird Japanese people - they wear cough masks, they're short, and too many of them are old. I don't know. It just has a tinge of weird "other-ness" to it.
I'm definitely going to have to get into the "cough mask" thing in another post. Suffice it to say - when you have a cold or feel sick in any way, would you want to wear a surgical mask that impedes your breathing? Most people would say no - but in this country it's normal - and it involves thinking of the people around you - and them not catching whatever you have. Maybe she should've taken off the mask to share the germs in her racist x-motions towards this person.
And finally related to this blog post from this person, the 'x' motions that a Japanese person makes (see my previous post on Japanese body language) usually just mean "no." What could've been the circumstances? Was she homeless and he was standing in her "place" in the station? Was he standing in a dangerous place? Was he standing in a spot where the train doors wouldn't be aligned? Was he too close to her and she was signalling that? Or maybe she was just old and crazy.
Who the hell knows! It's entirely overdetermined. (Overdetermination, the idea that a single observed effect is determined by multiple causes at once (any one of which alone might be enough to account for the effect)).
So, that's my rough analysis of his blog post. There were about 1,000 replies to his post on various sites. Next, I'm going to make Part 7 and on ward dealing with the good and bad of just the replies on his actual blog, starting tomorrow.
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
I didn't include all of the sentences of his (sorry, I've gotten used to using "his" - I'm not sure of the poster's gender but it makes typing my ideas out quicker). second day because most of it was just background, but I'll include the rest of the bits here..
"This morning: I’m walking along the train platform waiting for the train when a short Japanese woman walking in the opposite direction, wearing a cough mask, and probably in her 60s starts shaking her hands at me, making cross and ‘x’ motions. I thought she was practicing her conducting skills."
This brings me back to the original post - maybe the person writing this is racist. Those weird Japanese people - they wear cough masks, they're short, and too many of them are old. I don't know. It just has a tinge of weird "other-ness" to it.
I'm definitely going to have to get into the "cough mask" thing in another post. Suffice it to say - when you have a cold or feel sick in any way, would you want to wear a surgical mask that impedes your breathing? Most people would say no - but in this country it's normal - and it involves thinking of the people around you - and them not catching whatever you have. Maybe she should've taken off the mask to share the germs in her racist x-motions towards this person.
And finally related to this blog post from this person, the 'x' motions that a Japanese person makes (see my previous post on Japanese body language) usually just mean "no." What could've been the circumstances? Was she homeless and he was standing in her "place" in the station? Was he standing in a dangerous place? Was he standing in a spot where the train doors wouldn't be aligned? Was he too close to her and she was signalling that? Or maybe she was just old and crazy.
Who the hell knows! It's entirely overdetermined. (Overdetermination, the idea that a single observed effect is determined by multiple causes at once (any one of which alone might be enough to account for the effect)).
So, that's my rough analysis of his blog post. There were about 1,000 replies to his post on various sites. Next, I'm going to make Part 7 and on ward dealing with the good and bad of just the replies on his actual blog, starting tomorrow.
Japanese Racism (Part 5)
Note: Please see Part 1 or this will not make any sense at all!
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
So, with all of that said..
His second bad day. I'm going to use most of the sentences from the original post, but not in order, so that you can follow my logic.
"Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s ... making curse-like motions."
Okay, this is not some ancient tribe believing in voodoo. curse-like motions? What the hell does that mean? There are no magical curses in Japan except in the imaginative videogames. These Japanese people are some strange backwards people believing in curses? Probably 90% of the electronics in your house right now including the components of your computer that you're using to view this were designed/innovated/manufactured here.
Yeah, I left a part out. Let me re-do it...
"Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s mumbling something and making curse-like motions."
Mumbling something, you say? Perhaps it was Japanese? I can't say for sure. It could be that she was a mumbling crazy old woman. Is that racist!?
Okay, so maybe she wasn't crazy. Maybe she was using racist Japanese. Let's see what this person has to say about that:
"But I can’t shake the feeling there’s a connection here, because in my 13+ years of living on this island, I’ve never experienced such racism before."
Okay, this person has been in Japan 13 years. If they don't speak Japanese, well, please look through my earlier posts on cultural understanding and its relationship with language. If this person can actually speak Japanese (after 13 years in the country!?!?) then we can only say that the above hypothesis is right - she was a crazy old mumbling incoherent woman, having nothing to do with racism. If this person can't speak Japanese, I wonder how they would feel living in America without speaking English. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
So, with all of that said..
His second bad day. I'm going to use most of the sentences from the original post, but not in order, so that you can follow my logic.
"Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s ... making curse-like motions."
Okay, this is not some ancient tribe believing in voodoo. curse-like motions? What the hell does that mean? There are no magical curses in Japan except in the imaginative videogames. These Japanese people are some strange backwards people believing in curses? Probably 90% of the electronics in your house right now including the components of your computer that you're using to view this were designed/innovated/manufactured here.
Yeah, I left a part out. Let me re-do it...
"Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s mumbling something and making curse-like motions."
Mumbling something, you say? Perhaps it was Japanese? I can't say for sure. It could be that she was a mumbling crazy old woman. Is that racist!?
Okay, so maybe she wasn't crazy. Maybe she was using racist Japanese. Let's see what this person has to say about that:
"But I can’t shake the feeling there’s a connection here, because in my 13+ years of living on this island, I’ve never experienced such racism before."
Okay, this person has been in Japan 13 years. If they don't speak Japanese, well, please look through my earlier posts on cultural understanding and its relationship with language. If this person can actually speak Japanese (after 13 years in the country!?!?) then we can only say that the above hypothesis is right - she was a crazy old mumbling incoherent woman, having nothing to do with racism. If this person can't speak Japanese, I wonder how they would feel living in America without speaking English. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Japanese Racism (Part 4)
Note: Please see Part 1 or this will not make any sense at all!
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
Okay, I looked at his first bad day. And I'll admit, I looked at it in a "devil's advocate" sort of way (as alluded to in the first post about not being able to present that view with a straight face). Regardless, an accusation of this type _should_ be looked at from such a distant, critical, even skeptical, view.
I don't blame the person that wrote the blog piece per se... But the fact that this blog post was seen by 10's of 1000's of people - I believe the people that chose to "digg" (approve of the post's interesting-ness on digg.com) alone was over 2000 or maybe more. This perpetuates myths. I say "myths" because - should we base Japanese racism on a post (on digg.com, the headline was something like "RACIST JAPANESE IN THIS DAY AND AGE" or something of the like) - should we base our ideas on the racism of this country on a blog post from one person's experience over two days? - and I've already covered how it's hard to see racism in the 1st of those two days.
Next up, his 2nd bad day.
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
Okay, I looked at his first bad day. And I'll admit, I looked at it in a "devil's advocate" sort of way (as alluded to in the first post about not being able to present that view with a straight face). Regardless, an accusation of this type _should_ be looked at from such a distant, critical, even skeptical, view.
I don't blame the person that wrote the blog piece per se... But the fact that this blog post was seen by 10's of 1000's of people - I believe the people that chose to "digg" (approve of the post's interesting-ness on digg.com) alone was over 2000 or maybe more. This perpetuates myths. I say "myths" because - should we base Japanese racism on a post (on digg.com, the headline was something like "RACIST JAPANESE IN THIS DAY AND AGE" or something of the like) - should we base our ideas on the racism of this country on a blog post from one person's experience over two days? - and I've already covered how it's hard to see racism in the 1st of those two days.
Next up, his 2nd bad day.
Japanese Racism (Part 3)
Note: Please see Part 1 or this will not make any sense at all!
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
Okay, quoting from the blog...
"I get up from my train seat motioning to get off and the man standing in front of me, grasping a dangling handle, won’t budge."
The train was packed? He couldn't move? He didn't notice you motioning? You didn't use Japanese body language for motioning (see my earlier post on body language)? No racism yet...
"I duck under his arm and swing around to his right, but the door is to his left so now I must walk behind him."
Our mysterious Japanese racist knew which door you were heading to, eh? There are multiple doors on the train. Had you chosen a bad place to sit on the train? How he convenienced you by standing in front of you on a train in the morning! Okay, well, still, no racism.
"It’s a bit crowded, but now that there’s an open seat in front of him, he can move forward."
Okay, you've confirmed my guess is true. It's a crowded train. That's Japan. To put myself in the mysterious Japanese racist's position, I think back to my times on the train (everyday) - There's an open seat, but almost every time I'm standing on the train and holding the ring to keep balance, I do not choose to sit down. There are a few reasons for this. 1) I'm fine with standing. 2) Maybe sometimes I'm holding or reading or looking at something and don't care to move. 3) Maybe an older woman is on the train that might prefer a seat (ahhh, Japanese thinking). 4) Maybe where I'm getting off the train is the next stop and sitting down would be pointless. 5) Maybe again my stop on the train is the next one and sitting will make it harder to get out. Ooh, #4 and #5 are good. Were you getting off at the next stop but decided to sit down and let a ton of bodies on the "crowded train" get in the way of your exit?
"Instead, he takes a step back, blocking my exit."
Damn, maybe he was being a rude bastard. Or maybe you just imagined it. Sitting a crowded space and standing are two different things. Is everyone in Japan out to get you? Please look at my previous post about how people are paranoid about people that don't speak the same language as them. Still, there are no signs here of any racism. However, this sentence does start the idea that he could be dealing with a rude guy - chances of it being a rude guy = 3%.
"Train bell starts ringing, warning passengers the doors are about to close."
Ahh, you're worried about the train not letting you out. Maybe you shouldn't have been sitting on a crowded train at that point. Thanks for the details though.
"I nudge him forward and take a step towards the door, when something catches my foot."
Now this, this seems like where foreigners tend to exaggerate others' faults and shrink down one's own behavior. A "nudge," eh? You sat in a bad spot on a crowded train, and you push him. Well, sometimes you have to push. On a really crowded train, everyone pushes. It happens. So that's not so bad. But you notice, in retaliation for your "nudge," something happens...
"I angle my feet to let loose whatever has snagged, but it moves with me and I soon realize there’s a foot out in front of me, ostensibly trying to trip me."
Something "whatever" snagged his foot. It's a foot. Well, on a crowded train there are lots of feet and lots of people moving, especially when the doors are opened. But I'll give this person the benefit of the doubt - maybe the guy was being a rude bastard to a person that "nudged" him - chances of it being a rude guy = 15% (80% if he can recognize said foot as belong to said nudged racist).
"I assume this must be an accident, and I try to shake around it. Instead, the foot sticks out further - and it’s now clear who’s foot this is. It belongs to the passenger who was standing in front of me when I was seated - he’s now stretching his foot backwards to try and trip me on my way out the door!"
Okay. "It's now clear" doesn't exactly spell out "I see the guy trying to trip me" but more like "it could be." I'm still not sure. And is his intention with that foot to trip you? In crowded trains, lots of things happen. Hell, there are a lot of possibilities (including the reason you made this post - that you read or saw something about Japanese racism in the news or on TV and that shaded your view of things), but let's just say that you're right - the guy you "nudged" was being a jerk and trying to trip you. That would be pretty uncommon for Japanese behavior, but maybe he was a rude asshole. Where's the racism? I'm not sure...
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
Okay, quoting from the blog...
"I get up from my train seat motioning to get off and the man standing in front of me, grasping a dangling handle, won’t budge."
The train was packed? He couldn't move? He didn't notice you motioning? You didn't use Japanese body language for motioning (see my earlier post on body language)? No racism yet...
"I duck under his arm and swing around to his right, but the door is to his left so now I must walk behind him."
Our mysterious Japanese racist knew which door you were heading to, eh? There are multiple doors on the train. Had you chosen a bad place to sit on the train? How he convenienced you by standing in front of you on a train in the morning! Okay, well, still, no racism.
"It’s a bit crowded, but now that there’s an open seat in front of him, he can move forward."
Okay, you've confirmed my guess is true. It's a crowded train. That's Japan. To put myself in the mysterious Japanese racist's position, I think back to my times on the train (everyday) - There's an open seat, but almost every time I'm standing on the train and holding the ring to keep balance, I do not choose to sit down. There are a few reasons for this. 1) I'm fine with standing. 2) Maybe sometimes I'm holding or reading or looking at something and don't care to move. 3) Maybe an older woman is on the train that might prefer a seat (ahhh, Japanese thinking). 4) Maybe where I'm getting off the train is the next stop and sitting down would be pointless. 5) Maybe again my stop on the train is the next one and sitting will make it harder to get out. Ooh, #4 and #5 are good. Were you getting off at the next stop but decided to sit down and let a ton of bodies on the "crowded train" get in the way of your exit?
"Instead, he takes a step back, blocking my exit."
Damn, maybe he was being a rude bastard. Or maybe you just imagined it. Sitting a crowded space and standing are two different things. Is everyone in Japan out to get you? Please look at my previous post about how people are paranoid about people that don't speak the same language as them. Still, there are no signs here of any racism. However, this sentence does start the idea that he could be dealing with a rude guy - chances of it being a rude guy = 3%.
"Train bell starts ringing, warning passengers the doors are about to close."
Ahh, you're worried about the train not letting you out. Maybe you shouldn't have been sitting on a crowded train at that point. Thanks for the details though.
"I nudge him forward and take a step towards the door, when something catches my foot."
Now this, this seems like where foreigners tend to exaggerate others' faults and shrink down one's own behavior. A "nudge," eh? You sat in a bad spot on a crowded train, and you push him. Well, sometimes you have to push. On a really crowded train, everyone pushes. It happens. So that's not so bad. But you notice, in retaliation for your "nudge," something happens...
"I angle my feet to let loose whatever has snagged, but it moves with me and I soon realize there’s a foot out in front of me, ostensibly trying to trip me."
Something "whatever" snagged his foot. It's a foot. Well, on a crowded train there are lots of feet and lots of people moving, especially when the doors are opened. But I'll give this person the benefit of the doubt - maybe the guy was being a rude bastard to a person that "nudged" him - chances of it being a rude guy = 15% (80% if he can recognize said foot as belong to said nudged racist).
"I assume this must be an accident, and I try to shake around it. Instead, the foot sticks out further - and it’s now clear who’s foot this is. It belongs to the passenger who was standing in front of me when I was seated - he’s now stretching his foot backwards to try and trip me on my way out the door!"
Okay. "It's now clear" doesn't exactly spell out "I see the guy trying to trip me" but more like "it could be." I'm still not sure. And is his intention with that foot to trip you? In crowded trains, lots of things happen. Hell, there are a lot of possibilities (including the reason you made this post - that you read or saw something about Japanese racism in the news or on TV and that shaded your view of things), but let's just say that you're right - the guy you "nudged" was being a jerk and trying to trip you. That would be pretty uncommon for Japanese behavior, but maybe he was a rude asshole. Where's the racism? I'm not sure...
Japanese Racism (Part 2)
Note: Please see Part 1 or this will not make any sense at all!
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
I imagine some people ignorant about any culture except their own might have read this, and their original reaction was something like "oh my." But let's take it for what it really is.
A guy was thinking about some racist news, and two weird things happened to him across a span of two days - he might've met a rude person on the train (or just was paranoid that someone was trying to be rude to him because of the news he mentioned) and he met a crazy old woman.
Where is the racism here?
I could say that the person who made the post was racist, I mean, they're viewing Japanese and him/herself in that dichotic bind of black/white or Japanese/Non-Japanese, and then taking a person's behavior from each day and extrapolating it into it being a form of Japanese racism... But, I can't say it with a straight face.
Next, in Part 3, I'll take apart his first day - the train encounter.
http://insidejapan.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-racism-part-1.html
I imagine some people ignorant about any culture except their own might have read this, and their original reaction was something like "oh my." But let's take it for what it really is.
A guy was thinking about some racist news, and two weird things happened to him across a span of two days - he might've met a rude person on the train (or just was paranoid that someone was trying to be rude to him because of the news he mentioned) and he met a crazy old woman.
Where is the racism here?
I could say that the person who made the post was racist, I mean, they're viewing Japanese and him/herself in that dichotic bind of black/white or Japanese/Non-Japanese, and then taking a person's behavior from each day and extrapolating it into it being a form of Japanese racism... But, I can't say it with a straight face.
Next, in Part 3, I'll take apart his first day - the train encounter.
Japanese Racism (Part 1)
I recently came across a blog post about Japanese racism that even made its way to digg.com which is probably one of the top 10 internet sites for user-posted news stories, etc. Reading it led me to despair. I want to look at the post itself and also the comments. That may take a long time, and I may have to do it bit-by-bit, so that's why this is tentatively "Part 1." I'll paste the main blog post/story here, and start the comments and breaking it apart in part 2.
In the meanwhile, the blog post comes from http://www.mattromaine.com/2007/02/22/creepy-crawlies-comin-out-o-the-woods/
For the time being, here's the main post:
Start quote:
"Two days ago: I get up from my train seat motioning to get off and the man standing in front of me, grasping a dangling handle, won’t budge. I duck under his arm and swing around to his right, but the door is to his left so now I must walk behind him. It’s a bit crowded, but now that there’s an open seat in front of him, he can move forward. Instead, he takes a step back, blocking my exit. Train bell starts ringing, warning passengers the doors are about to close. I nudge him forward and take a step towards the door, when something catches my foot. I angle my feet to let loose whatever has snagged, but it moves with me and I soon realize there’s a foot out in front of me, ostensibly trying to trip me. I assume this must be an accident, and I try to shake around it. Instead, the foot sticks out further - and it’s now clear who’s foot this is. It belongs to the passenger who was standing in front of me when I was seated - he’s now stretching his foot backwards to try and trip me on my way out the door!
This morning: I’m walking along the train platform waiting for the train when a short Japanese woman walking in the opposite direction, wearing a cough mask, and probably in her 60s starts shaking her hands at me, making cross and ‘x’ motions. I thought she was practicing her conducting skills. Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s mumbling something and making curse-like motions.
Two weeks ago some anti-foreigner / Japanese racism news caused a bit of a stir. I hope - I truly hope - these annoying acts were just coincidences. But I can’t shake the feeling there’s a connection here, because in my 13+ years of living on this island, I’ve never experienced such racism before."
End quote.
In the meanwhile, the blog post comes from http://www.mattromaine.com/2007/02/22/creepy-crawlies-comin-out-o-the-woods/
For the time being, here's the main post:
Start quote:
"Two days ago: I get up from my train seat motioning to get off and the man standing in front of me, grasping a dangling handle, won’t budge. I duck under his arm and swing around to his right, but the door is to his left so now I must walk behind him. It’s a bit crowded, but now that there’s an open seat in front of him, he can move forward. Instead, he takes a step back, blocking my exit. Train bell starts ringing, warning passengers the doors are about to close. I nudge him forward and take a step towards the door, when something catches my foot. I angle my feet to let loose whatever has snagged, but it moves with me and I soon realize there’s a foot out in front of me, ostensibly trying to trip me. I assume this must be an accident, and I try to shake around it. Instead, the foot sticks out further - and it’s now clear who’s foot this is. It belongs to the passenger who was standing in front of me when I was seated - he’s now stretching his foot backwards to try and trip me on my way out the door!
This morning: I’m walking along the train platform waiting for the train when a short Japanese woman walking in the opposite direction, wearing a cough mask, and probably in her 60s starts shaking her hands at me, making cross and ‘x’ motions. I thought she was practicing her conducting skills. Minutes later she’s walking towards me, this time staring right at me doing the same motions - and this time she’s mumbling something and making curse-like motions.
Two weeks ago some anti-foreigner / Japanese racism news caused a bit of a stir. I hope - I truly hope - these annoying acts were just coincidences. But I can’t shake the feeling there’s a connection here, because in my 13+ years of living on this island, I’ve never experienced such racism before."
End quote.
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