Originally Posted by tsurara

Anyone who isn't Japanese is a "foreigner".

Other asians actually have WORSE reputations and stereotypes than most other ethnicities (think "Mexicans" in the US) precisely because of how easy it is for them to adapt to life in Japan and how many have (or are merely suspected to have) entered the country illegally.

Originally Posted by tsurara

You fail at fuzoku.
Japan is not Thailand. It's a developed nation that's incredibly uptight about sex on the surface and quite discreet about even it's sex industry. Women don't NEED money to live. They want it for designer bags. And they generally don't need to actually do the deed to get that money.

Originally Posted by tsurara

Japan is an interesting case. It is an ethnically and culturally homogenous nation that prides itself on it's singular identity as "Japanese". Believe it or not, this creates a much more closed atmosphere and distrust/misunderstanding of "outsiders". I would argue that Japan is far more openly racist (at least by the standards of ethnically mixed societies) than most of us would first suspect or be willing to accept.

Blackface is acceptable, racial charicatures are common, gay stereotypes are played on prime-time for jokes, there are magazines and books devoted entirely to thinly-veiled hatred for foreigners living in Japan and other nations as a whole, foreigners are openly barred from certain establishments, foreign workers are often treated more poorly than their Japanese counterparts, urban legends about foreigners are common and consequently, so are misconceptions/rude questions/assumptions. etc. etc.

On the other hand: foreign men (Korean, black and caucasian) are often built up as idols over Japanese men by women put off by their hard schedules and stoic upbringings, foreign celebrities are worshipped with zeal, foreign brands and images are more desireable than Japanese ones (often fetching at least twice their actual worth simply by virtue of being foreign), ethnic foods are popular, overseas vacations are in high demand, 1 in 7 Japanese adults is currently taking an English conversation class at least once a month. I'm told I'm beautiful and have a "small face" an average of ten times a day and am often discussed by admiring young women in full earshot... positively. Small children and high school students regularly shout out "HELLO!" at me and are delighted to recieve answers.

That's also racism... but it's good racism (for us anyway).

Much of this is born from genuine naevite... most Japanese learn about the rest of the world from television, movies, fashion magazines, edited textbooks and comic books. It's hard to blame them for thinking Americans sue microwave companies for not putting "don't microwave your cat" labels on their appliances or that we all carry guns and shoot each other when we get pissed off.

More damaging (and depressing in the long-term) is a nationwide superiority complex that has been brewing for hundreds of years. "National Learning" never really stopped... it just became far more innocuous ("writings on being Japanese", neo-nationalism, "Dignity of the Nation", questionable textbook editing, etc). Unfortunately most Japanese people still remain wholly convinced that Japan is the center of the meaningful universe, the pinnacle of culture, the epitome of progress and that the Japanese are the most peaceful and gentile race on the planet. One of the most hilarious government sponsored "studies" involves Japanese and Western honeybees... with the conclusion being that Japanese honeybees are more peaceful, gentle and cooperative than their savage foreign counterparts; something that is then implied carries over directly to humans. Japan, as a nation, has absorbed nothing of guilt from World War II or the Sino-Japanese war... but have wholly embraced victimhood (which they emphasize on an almost daily basis). They remain unconcerned with their own role in world politics but are quick to condemn the actions of "warlike" nations and have candlelight vigils for other "victims" before forgetting about the matter altogether.

I've studied Japanese culture, literature, history and sociology under Westerners (at an American university), under Japanese (at a Tokyo university), and have lived here for four years now: I love this country deeply and I firmly believe they have no more or less problems than any other nation. But they do have UNIQUE problems. And one of them most CERTAINLY is tied to Japan's view of itself in the world... and it's view of everyone else who threatens to usurp their unique "oneness".

Then again, to put things in perspective: I think ethnocentrism is an even larger problem in the United States... most Americans have no awareness, interest or empathy in the outside world and harbor all sorts of ridiculous notions and stereotypes about everyone else under the sun. While far more accepting of differences WITHIN it's society: the USA is a total joke when it comes to "worldliness."

For every time I have been asked whether I own a gun in Japan, I have been asked if "my eyes are slanty yet?" or "do Japanese women have sideways vaginas?" in the US. What does that say about us?