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.