Dear all,
The following excerpt about an expat from America who gave up his American citizenship to become a Japanese citizen comes from a July 5, 2003 article titled
Family genealogies are kept by families, really depending on the family. Some do, some don’t. They are not registered with the government to my knowledge.
If a foreigner’s child is added to the household registry system, I think for all practical purposes the child would be the same as anyone else. If you have a shenfenzheng (ID card), you can do everything anyone else can do in Taiwanese society.
It’s not quite that bad in Taiwan, we don’t have any “Chinese only” signs but looking at posts on here, there might as well be when you want to get a phone. Depicting foriengers as cheats and thieves - that goes on here, by politicians after a few cheap xenophobic votes, oh yes they do, you DPP-fans out there. There are already various threads on here about people needing Guarantors and being refused services, and about the various legal positions. Have a wander around the Legal and Human Rights forums
Taiwanese xenophobia seems to me to be a relatively recent thing. Foreigners used to be able to get phones, mobiles, credit cards (Chang Hua bank offered me one in 1997 without strings), full-term driving licences, without problems.
It is the biggest single change I have noticed since 1992, and it really only hit me after 5 years away (1998-2003).
An ARC means nothing nowadays. (Aside: does an APRC cut any ice?)
maybe he is the Richard Hartzell of Japan…
But what is weird is this passage in the article:
“I don’t feel American anymore,” David says. “I sit
back and look at America, and see how the
American superpower has become too big for its
boots.” Dissension is muted, he claims,
foreigners are secretly detained, and "it’s
McCarthyism all over again, just substituting
terrorists for communists,’’ he said.
Still, when he wrote his parents in Geneva, N.Y.,
where his father is a professor at Cornell
University, about his decision to become a Japanese citizen and revole his USA passport, his mother
replied, “You have broken my heart.” They have
not talked since, he says.
[quote=“formosa”]maybe he is the Richard Hartzell of Japan…
But what is weird is this passage in the article:
“I don’t feel American anymore,” David says. “I sit
back and look at America, and see how the
American superpower has become too big for its
boots.” Dissension is muted, he claims,
foreigners are secretly detained, and "it’s
McCarthyism all over again, just substituting
terrorists for communists,’’ he said.
Still, when he wrote his parents in Geneva, N.Y.,
where his father is a professor at Cornell
University, about his decision to become a Japanese citizen and revole his USA passport, his mother
replied, “You have broken my heart.” They have
not talked since, he says.[/quote]
A very odd comment indeed by his mother.
Believe me, it’s not so odd.
I’m glad to hear someone is doing something positive along these lines in Japan and being heard. Giving up his American citizenship was a bit extreme in my book, as I would rather die than give mine up. I don’t find his mother’s comments very odd. If I had a child and they did that, there would be a long period of silence between us as I tried(probably in vain) to understand their decision. I would be quite devastated and wonder if it was a problem with me.
As far as Taiwan being similiar, I don’t feel very discriminated against. I do notice a xenophobic attitude against foreigners and foreign things. There’s the usual anti-foreigner attitude and rhetoric in the newspapers(I use that term loosely.) I have it pretty good here, even if my status is similiar to a wetback in the US without the benefit of ever having the chance of gaining citizenship. Just wish it was a bit more liberal in the law area in regards to the ease of setting up your own little company.
CYA
Okami
what country is NOT xenophobic?
, others__?
AND THIS JUST IN:
TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2003
Jennings becomes U.S. citizen after scoring 100 on test
CanWest News Service
Toronto-born ABC News anchor Peter Jennings kept his American citizenship a secret for a few weeks. After the May 30 ceremony, “I cried a little bit – my kids didn’t cry, but I cried a bit – but I’m a fairly emotional character anyway,” he says. “Among other things, you have to take a test. I’m very proud: I got 100.”
Most countries have some levels of racism. The difference is that in some countries people care about it, and some countries have laws about racism.
The difference is that in some countries people care about it, and some countries have laws about racism.
Okay, matheww, which countries CARE about xenophobia, and which countries have laws against it. Xenophobia, I said, not racism.
I for one care. It might not help much, but it’s a start, and it’s more than you get in Taiwan and Japan. Are you implying that you don’t care ?
When I was back home and somone was trying to sell credit cards or something, I was asked which country I live in, not which country I come from.
ADD to Jennings alert: “Jennings, who will retain his Canadian citizenship, quickly added: “That does not for a second, as any smart American will tell you, mean you have to renounce your roots.””
No, mathewh, i agree, with you. I care. just wondering which exact nations are not xenophobic? I am not xenophobic because I do not believe or recognize race, religion, national borders or logic.
But the Immigration Officer at CKS does. 
Forumosa, I’m disparaged by your lack of clarity in your vision and the lack of critical facilities in your thinking.
What exactly is the difference to the xenophobia we are talking about and racism? I fail to see a difference and the terms are often used interchangably though they have a slight difference in meaning and are often complemantary. Japanese are racist/xenophobic because they have systematic well known discriminatory practices towards those not deemed ethnic Japanese. The article clearly stated this. Korea, China, Thailand and a whole host of other developing countries have these similiar attitudes. Now compare this in regards to Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, The USA and a whole list of developed countries. Notice how the ones with more open accepting attitudes and laws that treat foreigners and immigrants no worse than their own countrymen are better developed and often described as the “West.”
Xenophobia is the unduly fearful or contemptuous feeling towards that which is foreign, especailly strangers and foreigners.
Racism is 1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race
There is a large degree of seperation between countries that practice overt/covert racist and xenophobic policies and those who try to tackle the problem. Countries that try to tackle the problem do so through civil rights legislation, active enforcement and instilling the attitude that you can’t treat anyone worse than you treat your own people no matter where they come from. You can’t legislate against feelings in much the same way that you can’t prosecute someone for being stupid. What you can do is facilitate a dialogue through desegregation, civil rights legislation, education, and active and beneficial immigration policies that benefit the state. Though there are no laws against xenophobia that I am aware of, there are means being implemented to combat it in some countries as we speak. Unfortunately none of these are in SE Asia unless you count Singapore and Hong Kong(I’m not familiar with their policies, but they seem the most likely candidates)
I would say that some of the countries the “west” that I mentioned earlier care very much about xenophobia. They strive to have an open and liberal enviroment where ideas and expressions are shared. Versus that are culturally consevative such as a case where countries that can lock you up for having sex with one of their citizens(supposedly can legally happen in China.) Where other countries are culturally liberal and inclusive(i.e. Paris, France has the best Japanese dance troupe in the world.)
As a “compassionate conservative,” I fully support their xenophobic and racist policies of racist/xenophobic countries. My country benefits greatly from other countries brain drain and capital flight. Some people get it and a lot of other people don’t. Hence why Taiwan made such a great effort to lure back all those highly educated and trained ethnic Chinese to help them modernise their factory production and capabilities.
CYA
Okami
A racist will hate blacks who have been in America for generations, simply because they’re black. A xenophobe will only hate blacks who are from (or in) foreign countries. A xenophobe will also hate people from abroad of his own ethnicity.
If the Japanese discriminated against Japanese citizens which were ethnically Korean that would be racism. If Taiwan treats all non-Taiwanese citizens badly, that is xenophobia.
I wonder how the local Chinese language press will handle this story:
Student from Taiwan charged with murder in U.S.
A University of Wisconsin freshman who had lost thousands of dollars gambling was arrested and charged with killing three men in their sleep, authorities said.
Wu Meng-ju, 19, was charged with three counts of first-degree homicide.
The men were found dead of gunshot wounds on June 26 after a woman looked into a window of a duplex in Verona and saw someone lying in a pool of blood. Jason C. McGuigan, 28; Daniel R. Swanson, 25; and Dustin J. Wilson, 17, were killed.
More at:
Wu Meng-ju. Oops! There goes bilateral ties… Omni, check what APPLE DAILY does with this one. Has to be a fullpage story!
Here’s a photo and the story from a local Madison newspaper:
Wu Meng-Ju
i think what we see in taiwan is more racism than xenophobia. speaking as an abc, i don’t feel particularly discriminated against because i’m a foreigner. even the one big disadvantage of abcs in getting english teaching jobs is a result more of a racist belief that a white person speaks better english than asians. if anything, being an abc is looked upon highly here in taiwan. look how many singers and movie stars trumpet their foreign upbringing. when i can’t speak chinese well, people give me a curious glance, but i don’t feel any negativity from it.
japan’s a different story though. i’ve seen japanese americans there that can’t speak japanese and they’d had hard times dealing with natives who make them feel like crap for not being a “real” japanese. i would attribute it to nationalism more than anything else. not sure what happens in korea, but i would guess something more like japan than like taiwan.
as for the taiwanese guy who murdered his gambling buddies, why the hell is he studying chinese in wisconsin?