Claytonian vlogs about racism in Japan (Video)

He has a point, man. Eloquence notwithstanding, the gaijin nose has been talked about to death, and the Gaijin Ura Hanzai File has more details from Japan Probe and Debito. I like your overall message, but it’s not original.

True. There’s a lesson here. YouTube users – LEARN MORE ABOUT JAPAN.

which video was that overthinker? im guessing its the one from America’s Next Top Model?

Pretty cheesy stuff. Another English teacher who gets all uppity about racism but doesn’t think twice about being paid good money for relatively little work in a country where he’s not even expected to speak a foreign language. As long as he’s got access to the local women, I guess everything’s OK>

amen to Japanese in America.

Luis – I have no information on the source of that video: I have never seen the prog you refer to. You might be right – it did look a bit slick for an amateur production.

I don’t think that James or Debito is a “visitor”. They are also local residents here.

They have the right to protest if they have a serious issue.

And come on, claytonian speaks what he thinks about racism in japan on its own. He don’t makes any comparison to other countries or America.

I think it is legitimate to protest if you feel that there is NO RACISM in Japan, but complaining by comparing with other nations racism seems not to be fair.

The issue is racism in Japan, not whether it is better or worse than any other nation.

Good Lord! Where do you people come from? Relax! I admit that after watching the video my first thought was, ‘Well, thats five minutes I’ll never have back’. But then I realized that I’m not the only person in the world and just because I’ve heard/been through the things he spoke about (therefore not pointing out anything new to me) that there are millions of people who haven’t and might find this video educational. Don’t you ever tell these types of stories (high nose, hariy arms, etc.) to your friends back home? Do they stop you and say, ‘Boooorrrrring!’. And it’s not like he was harping on Japanese people being racist. In fact he was almost apologetic to use the word.

About the subject at hand, I don’t think that most of that stuff is racism but more just natural curiosity. To us we have been on buses/ shopping malls/ etc full of people of all colors, noses, hair etc. all our lives but most Japanese haven’t. In fact most of the world hasn’t. We are the exception in that we are used to seeing other people that don’t look like us. Doesn’t make us better, doesn’t make us worse. Kind of like the first time I saw the ocean I was 23 years old in Argentina, the people I was with all grew up around oceans and they thought my reaction was crazy. I jumped in it, drank it (yep, it’s salty) picked stuff out of it. The point is that I am not racist against oceans. Some of my closest friends are oceans (no, not you Atlantic, you’re frikin cold). But that magazine is clearly racist but I probably woudn’t have joined in the boycott because it frankly doesn’t bother me that much and Family Mart is soo damn close to my apartment. I ain’t walkin another block to 7/11. But kudos to you for going through that and I have no idea how people could be attacking your overall message, i.e. fight racism.

you make tons of assumtions about me without knowing anything about me. Who says I don’t have a humorous attitude? Have you seen my other videos? You bet I am a cheese ball. Hell, I can talk about it in a bemused way and still mention serious things like the ban. Bozo, what it comes down to is you are a racist yourself. You seem to think the color of my skin affects my message. You revel in the fact that a “honky” experences discrimination.

good video Clay, although jus a little something about the noses. i wouldn’t call it it racism, jus funny. sure, let them take the piss out of our noses. There was a British [piss taking series] called spitting image. [Most characters had over large noses] i guess some people who have no sense of humour who say its in bad taste [like the Royal family would say.] In America it was called DC Follies, if you remember that. Wiki said it was considered not as funny as the Brit version.
As for gaijins having Japanese girls and touching them in the street [as you would do if you're western]. these things are not considered proper in Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, as they are conservative about such matters. although from the eyes of everyday thai’s a white man with a thai girl would automatically mean she is a working girl, GRO, etc, as thats where most of the falangs [foreigners] go and have fun. sure, when i 1st started backpacking round Asia, i wouldnt think twice of kissing my Filipino partner in a mall or down the street. now, 2 years later, i know its wrong and its frowned upon. is it ok for Japanese men to do this to Japanese girls in Japan, or is it jus basically frowned upon that gaijins can have Japanese gf/bf’s?

Excuses? BS

I’m not sure whether I like this video. You’re at liberty to express yourself in any way you please but it really did lack the depth that I was expecting from a video dealing with such a big issue about Japanese society from the perspective of foreigners.

To the poster ‘Japanese in America’ racism is racism. Doesn’t matter in which way it is manifested, racism is racism. Japanese self-repression wouldn’t allow for racism to be expressed in the same way.

Whilst I don’t agree with the blunt way in which Bonzo expressed his opinion, he does have some validity behind his comments. It reflects what I feel about the video as well, you have picked two aspects of racism which aren’t the worst.

How about people assuming that you speak English for starters? How about people who in spite of you speaking to them in Japanese, refuse to speak back to you, claiming that they don’t understand English? (Again, with the presumption that all non-Asian foreigners speak English.) What about your existence being the sole reason for a Japanese person to exclaim びっくりした in the street?

It beggars belief that a so-called modern state such as this which appears to be obsessed with aspects of Western culture could be so inept when dealing with those that come from the West.

I’m aware of the nation’s history and it’s regular reclusiveness. I just don’t understand why as a nation they bother teaching their children English when very few have any interest in the world beyond the Sea of Japan. Shouldn’t they be learning Chinese or Korean? You know, the languages of the two countries nearest to them??

The magazine is an example of what is wrong with Japan. In that it is acceptable to crticise all foreigners for being the source of crime. This so called crime that Japanese media gripes about is no more than overstaying one’s visa, the single biggest “crime.”

So, whilst this video lacks any considerable depth, I don’t think that those that are saying that ‘you should just accept racism in Japan’ have any idea about how much the problems here eat at you.

Japan has a habit of liking to appear a certain way, rather than actually having the substance.

As for relationships with Japanese people, well I am going to be rude in that generally speaking, Japanese people are more naive than their Western (certainly European) counterparts. I get the feeling that Japanese people dating (western) foreigners is purely for the novelty and nothing else. You see it all the time, it’s just a photo opportunity or for some to explore their two dimensional views that all Americans are cool guys and that all British guys are gentlemen for example.

Relationships between Japanese people seem a bit mad to me anyway. I have heard from Japanese guys that many (namely girls) don’t want to engage in public affection because they fear that friends will see them and make fun of them. That sounds incredibly childish to me. You can say that it’s an aspect of Japanese culture, you know shame and actively shaming those who do not conform, but it does not seem healthy to me.

There are some serious social issues here. Social repression has some weird consequences.