Originally Posted by tsurara

We're speaking on sociological terms... of the Japanese as a national and cultural unit. No, not ALL Japanese are racist. Less are consciously so. But I wonder if your friends are "Japanese" or "Japanese Americans". Ethnocentrism is generally a cultural problem. People raised in another country aren't necesarily any more "Japanese" in their culture than any other American (nor would they be completely accepted in Japan simply by virtue of their parentage). Your world view and cultural point of view depends on how you're raised, your world experience and the media you've been exposed to.

That they have foreign friends at all puts them apart from the average Japanese, who will never speak to a foreigner outside of a classroom in their entire lives.