Good point TM. Your post reminds me of when people complain about those who devote their life to helping animals. “What, aren’t there people suffering you could help?”
Perhaps, but a free man follows his heart. And if he is not doing wrong what right have you to tell him how what to love most?
Thanks for clarifying your meaning bob! Sorry I didn’t get it the first time around.
[quote=“smerf”][quote=“Vannyel”][quote=“namastestore”]
What bugs/trips me out the most, is that this guy gives up his US citizenship ,to me, essentially to find acceptance. And the other irony is that he was born and raised in a country that encourages and practices racism in many forms and levels everyday. Why couldn’t he make a difference there?[/quote]
Very well put…but like most of these guys, he seems to like the excitement of working to ‘redeem’ the rest of the world instead of taking care of his ‘own house.’ 
[/quote]
Bullshit. So, if an American citizen who was born in the US marries a Japanese spouse, works in Japan, pays taxes in Japan, has a child with his/her Japanese spouse, loves Japan and decides for any number of reasons that it would be best to live the rest of his/her life in Japan and becomes a Japanese citizen, he/she cannot speak put against any unequitable treatment he/she may receive in his/her new homeland because life ain’t perfect in his/her birth country? Using this logic, Vannyel, a lot of recent immigrants to the US would need to shut the fuck up or go home and “fix” their native lands. Rubbish. :loco:[/quote]
So predictable!
Well as a ‘no body’ back in the ‘real world’ I guess you’d be collecting money in the malls for your favorite causes. At least here you can sit at the big table with the adults. Good luck.
BTW, there is a major difference in becoming a citizen of a country then working for social change and being a migrant worker hoping to improve your lot in the country you happen to be nesting in at the time. 
Being a newcomer, I find it fascinating to see how Westerners are portrayed here. Just as the ‘exotic Orient’ has been an evolving obsession in Western literature, there must be a good book about how the perception of Westerners has changed in Japanese/Taiwanese/? literature or the media. I like how all the lingerie ads feature Westerners as well as any commercials involving half-naked people.
But I’d never heard about the Japan thing. Odd that it somehow managed to exist in a country that’s supposedly cosmopolitan.
Vannyel, Smerfs reaction to your post was only predictable because the flaws in your own arguement were so obvious.
It might suprise you to discover that some people actually believe in a few universals. For example some people believe that things like child prostitution and racism are worth fighting against wherever they happen to occur. And this guy in Japan isn’t just talking. He is actually standing up for something. It staggers the imagination why you would want to criticize him.
Perhaps you don’t actually believe that cultures actually have things to learn from each other. Or maybe you believe that the influence that one culture will have on another will always have that warm and fuzzy feel.
To be honest I can’t figure you out at all. The only thing that seems certain is that you think that Westerners in Asia have no right to voice an opinion. It seems like an intellectually and morally bankrupt position to me.
Because he’s trying to wag his little finger in their face’s and tell them that they can’t have ‘Japanese only’ because of the few 100,000 or so foreigners that live there? Give me a break, their are soooo many places you can go where the want foreigners,where they welcome us, and actually will treat us with respect. He should learn from his own country’s history… “white only” signs have been gone for over 50 years in America, but I still can’t get into some of the most prestigious clubs based on my color. And truth be told, why would i go somewhere where I am not wanted and spend my money,even if they outlawed the darns signs… It’s not the signs that make the difference, it’s the people’s mentality. And you can’t make some do something they don’t want to…and if you’ve lived in Japan you know how hard it can be to change the japanese mind…
I think they call them the ‘buraku-jin’: people whose ancient ancestors used to do dirty stuff like working with corpses and making porn and cleaning ancient Japanese porta-potties.
Actually, I agree that this white-Japanese guy sounds like a real wanker. There are lots more half-Japanese ‘nisei’ who are in a better position to pull the righteous indignation stint. This honky-jap isn’t even a first generation! A nisei probably wouldn’t do it because, unlike him, they ARE Japanese. His combat against racism is actually an American thing to do. Japanese society is much more geared toward repression and ‘keeping it inside’.
Also, the idea that a passport makes you ‘one of the people’ doesn’t work in some countries. It works in Singapore, and it works in America, but it ain’t gonna happen that fast in a place like Japan. A white guy with a Japanese passport is just a ‘special’ alien.
Just because a country is cosmopolitan doesn’t mean it can’t keep masturbating in its own homogenous pride.
But that guy’s mom was really weird…‘It broke my heart’… Sounds like she likes to masturbate in her stars-and-stripes undies with her Uncle Zzzzzzammmm…mmmm…zzzzz…mmmm…
Okami… You’d really really rather die than give up your US citizenship? Hot damn! Get your ass to Iraq, cowboy! We’re fighin’ fer freedom! Yee ha! Actually, my cousin’s there. May the force be with him.
Oh, yeah, and happy birthday to John Lennon, everybody!
Japan is one of the most racist countries on the planet and this guy has real guts to be doing what he is. His efforts may even benefit other races living there who face similar problems. It is totally beyond me why anyone would want to criticize him. He is simply standing up to a bullshit attitude that relates directly to him. I suppose the ungodly trio of vannyel, namestore and sinistertiddlywinks here think he should just suck it up the rest of his life.
You may be interested to know that the biggest group of "foreigners’ in Japan are the children of (involuntary) Korean immigrants.
Okay bob, what actually makes the Japanese one of the most racist countries on this planet? Because the can’t see past themselves which they have grown up with, drilled in to their minds since birth, and the structure of a language that actually sets the status level when you speak? We can’t even compare Japan to other countries that are racist. The Japanese may discriminate against a group of Japanese, but that seems to qualify under the heading of a caste system. The attacks/invasions that the Japanese did in the 1930’s could go under the heading of attempts at colonialism. Their behavior actually seems more like overblown self esteem…
Bob, if you never lived in japan I will say that you aren’t qualified at all to really, judge me as ‘ungodly’. Yes this guy should suck it up. And shut up while he’s at it. Is he out there stopping enjokosai(teenage prositution)? Nope. Is he doing anything about the salarymen who live on the streets now because of downsizing and the inability of their prime minster to make real economic changes. Nope. Is he doing anything about bullying that makes hundreds of kids attempt (succeed sometimes) suicide? Nope. Is even protesting the Prime Minster’s visits to the war shrine each year? Nope. Is he even taking a stab at making the government change it’s verbal wording on it’s website that encourages the Japanese to report on any foreigner they deem ‘suspicious’? Nope. In my book, those are the real changes that need to be attacked. If his children were being denied entry to many of these places, then I would say ‘go for it’. But he’s bitching and moaning cause they wont treat him the same. He’s white!!! 
It’s so typical white American male behavior. Many of white American males,that I have encountered have this belief that is instilled in them that makes them believe that ‘yes they are as important and more so than any other race on this earth’. Then when those who have it, have to deal with the reality of it all, they whine, bitch and moan. Funny, I would like to know what this guy thought about blacks in America, when we cried ‘racism’.
On this note, those signs, are not everywhere as this guy would like you to believe. He’s making like he’s living in the South via 50’s/60’s. Pleasssse. :boo-hoo:
Namestore I have known enough Japanese people to know that many of them are blantantly racist against, among others, blacks, whites, Chinese and Koreans. It is an ignorant attitude that many of them have and this ignorance manifests itself in things like “No Foreigner” signs. The person who stands up against it is doing a positive thing no matter his race or nationality. It really is too bad that he can’t tackle all the other problems you mentioned but he is just one peron after all and deserves credit for having the guts to do what he does. It really is that simple and a lot of talk about United States history doesn’t change it one bit.
One of the problems with fighting against racism is that it is much easier to see the problem in countries other than your own when you are part of the dominant group in your society. I have heard people in my home town in Canada criticize Americans for being so racist, and yet many of these same people, so quick to castigate a white American for not liking blacks, are themselves highly prejudiced against Amerindians. They just don’t see it; yet I can guarantee that I am treated much better when people think I’m white than when they think I’m native. (My appearance is such that people sometimes think I’m native.) This is essentially the same view as the Chinese who say that Chinese society is free of racism because they have no black people. So much of what we read about racism deals with the situation in the USA, making it easier for those of us from other countries to think ourselves superior.
Personally, I think people should try to improve their own societies before criticizing others, especially those they know little about. I can understand why the white guy in Japan is angry; being treated in a prejudiced way also angers me here, but I think a better response than raving about Taiwan (in my case) is to reflect about it and vow to make life a little easier for others when I move back to Canada. I certainly feel more sympathy for recent immigrants to Canada than I used to.
Yeah, Japan is a racist society; they all are. No one has much authority when the society they are trying to change is not their own. I know he immigrated to Japan, but he will not be accepted as really Japanese there.
I think you guys are over complicating this thing. If racism exists and someone has the guts to challenge it then that is a great thing. The guy in Japan is in a position to make a stink and he is doing it. He certainly has my respect.
I agree with bob, let’s not overthink this. If you put a Japanese only sign in your bar or bathhouse, you are a jackass and there ought to be consequences. Kudos to the man who stands up for that.
You haven’t lived in japan, bob so therefore the Japanese you know, don’t show a full reflection of Japanese socially or their characteristics.
[quote=“bababa”]One of the problems with fighting against racism is that it is much easier to see the problem in countries other than your own when you are part of the dominant group in your society. I have heard people in my home town in Canada criticize Americans for being so racist, and yet many of these same people, so quick to castigate a white American for not liking blacks, are themselves highly prejudiced against Amerindians. They just don’t see it; yet I can guarantee that I am treated much better when people think I’m white than when they think I’m native. (My appearance is such that people sometimes think I’m native.) This is essentially the same view as the Chinese who say that Chinese society is free of racism because they have no black people. So much of what we read about racism deals with the situation in the USA, making it easier for those of us from other countries to think ourselves superior.
Personally, I think people should try to improve their own societies before criticizing others, especially those they know little about. I can understand why the white guy in Japan is angry; being treated in a prejudiced way also angers me here, but I think a better response than raving about Taiwan (in my case) is to reflect about it and vow to make life a little easier for others when I move back to Canada. I certainly feel more sympathy for recent immigrants to Canada than I used to.
Yeah, Japan is a racist society; they all are. No one has much authority when the society they are trying to change is not their own. I know he immigrated to Japan, but he will not be accepted as really Japanese there.[/quote]
Much of what you wrote is very on point…For him to wag a finger in their faces, espcially when the japanese know how american’s treat each other just goes to show that complex american’s have.
how do you figure that? the guy lives there, he’s a citizen for god’s sake, he feels he’s being treated unfairly, it’s not like he went over there just to make a stink on this, he’s got every right to speak his mind as far as i can see.
[quote=“namastestore”][quote=“bababa”]One of the problems with fighting against racism is that it is much easier to see the problem in countries other than your own when you are part of the dominant group in your society. I have heard people in my home town in Canada criticize Americans for being so racist, and yet many of these same people, so quick to castigate a white American for not liking blacks, are themselves highly prejudiced against Amerindians. They just don’t see it; yet I can guarantee that I am treated much better when people think I’m white than when they think I’m native. (My appearance is such that people sometimes think I’m native.) This is essentially the same view as the Chinese who say that Chinese society is free of racism because they have no black people. So much of what we read about racism deals with the situation in the USA, making it easier for those of us from other countries to think ourselves superior.
Personally, I think people should try to improve their own societies before criticizing others, especially those they know little about. I can understand why the white guy in Japan is angry; being treated in a prejudiced way also angers me here, but I think a better response than raving about Taiwan (in my case) is to reflect about it and vow to make life a little easier for others when I move back to Canada. I certainly feel more sympathy for recent immigrants to Canada than I used to.
Yeah, Japan is a racist society; they all are. No one has much authority when the society they are trying to change is not their own. I know he immigrated to Japan, but he will not be accepted as really Japanese there.[/quote]
Much of what you wrote is very on point…For him to wag a finger in their faces, espcially when the Japanese know how American’s treat each other just goes to show that complex American’s have.[/quote]
This is pretty much the “pot-kettle-black” refutation argument. It’s a point yes. But by the same token, once upon a time, there was an elderly woman named Rosa Parks, who one day decided …
Racism is not a (pardon unintentional pun) “black or white” issue. Racism, like race, exists along a spectrum. There are degrees of racism. Every society on earth has racism, just as every society on earth has rape, murder, child abuse, poverty, and other social ills. The point involves the degree of racism. Is America racist? Yup. Is Japan racist? Yup. But that’s like saying that Switzerland and the U.S. are both violent societies, and that because every year there are half a dozen murders in Switzerland (I’m just pulling this out of my ass an example, don’t actually call me on any statistics) that the Swiss have no right to criticize the U.S. where 30,000 murders happen annually. Yeah, the Swiss ought to work on that mote in their own eye by stopping those 6 or 7 murders a year in their cantons, before any naturalized Swiss-American citizen of the U.S. criticizes the violent crime in his own neighborhood. Geez, some of you are so stuck in sophomore level Cultural Relativism 101.
And Namastestore, please name specific names about which country clubs you are banned from because of your color before making stuff up. As far as I’m aware, that kind of thing is illegal in the U.S. and most attorneys would be slobbering to make their noble careers prosecuting such discrimination. Perhaps you are making the classic American mistake of confusing social class with race - after all, I can’t get into those prestigious clubs either, and it’s not because of my color, it’s because of my social background (I jest be white trash) and $$$.
Believe me namestore I’ve known a lot of Japanese people and as wonderful as they may be in many respects they tend, in my experience, to be racist. Racist in the sense that they actually believe that their race and their culture truly are superior. They are badly in need of a wake up call on this issue and I for one don’t mind giving it to them.
Same goes for the upper class in this society. If you dig a little with these people you will discover a sense of superiority that is truly shocking. They want nothing more than to be part of some sort of economic and cultural elite that distinguishes themselves from as many people as possible. Hardly a prescription for a fair, equitable and cohesive society. Not all wealthy people here think they are royalty but a lot do. Bringing them down a notch is like shooting fish in a barrel for me.
Let me give you one extreme example. I was talking to a woman from HongKong in a chatroom awhile ago when, unfortunately for me, I had the audacity to disagree with something she said. It wasn’t long into the ensuing arguement that she informed me that she lived “high on the hill” in HongKong and had been educated at Harvard. Who was I to argue with her she asked. “Wow.” I said “You were born into a wealthy family, consumed far more than your share of the worlds resources all your life, contributed nothing to the world in terms of good honest work, had access to the worlds best educational facilities and STILL you are to stupid too win an arguement with me. And not only that but you think that your life of priveledge entitles you too special treatment still. You really are an arrogant, selfish waste of space aren’t you?” Anyway something along those lines.
To put it simply there are a lot of people here and around the world who think that belonging to an economic elite automatically places them into an intellectual, artistic, and dare I say ethical, elite. If you really want to do something namestore, take on these people wherever you find them no matter what color they are.