THere are some parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Lousiana that even today I would not go to because I would fear for my life. They still have kkk rallies and it is increasing. I tried to visit a friend of mine in Alabama who is white and she told me not to be out alone after dark because I am Black and many people are assaulted. A few miles away, a burning cross could be viewed from her window. Only a few years ago Alabama had officially done away with a law that prohibited interracial marriage.

As for me,while in America… I was almost driven off the road a couple of times by racist kids. My father was called a boy and pulled out of his own truck because he didnt quickly respond to the officer. Yes there is racism in Japan but the racism in Japan is passive aggressive, sometimes hard to detect but the racism in America is scary, invasive, and at times life threatening and also affects your likelihood for getting a job.

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THAT is where you’re wrong. To use the American “model” for immigration and nation-building is not the right way for Japan. This goes back to the point about “unique, individual and indigenous properties and identities.” You’re making Japan not be the Japan as you now know it to be. I’m not saying that any culture or nation has been able to be the same forever, let alone a couple of hundred years, paradigms do shift because that is a part of progress and evolution – and seeing how the world has got smaller thank to the Web and other technologies in the last 50 years – but all those qualities that Japan unique and what it is will be gone if you open the doors completely and let it a free for all for all the foreign elements to become a part of the “new” culture – such as in America.

If that mix is what you want, then go to America. People should let Japan be Japan – because in the end, that is why you enjoy Japan, because it is not like other places or peoples.

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First of all. I don’t have a premise that colour (race) and culture is inextricably linked. It’s obvious if you take a look around the world that’s not the case.

I never said you had to commit to your group in all aspects either, please stop putting words in my mouth.

I’m saying people need to identify themselves with “something” in order to mature. And you need to mature in order to respect others who are different from you. So it is only natural that children identify with the culture they are brought up in, or the ethnicity they are born in, although this ofcourse is not always the case. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with identifying and being committed to what you naturally are. I’m sayin there’s no universal ideal that we should all be striving for.

FG,
Sorry if I misunderstood your post. It sounds like we agree on this point. I do agree that children need to identify and learn from their environment. The only thing I would add to that is that in Japan the main qualification for defining your cultural upbringing is that you must be Asian (unless your name is Ken Tanaka). There might be exceptions to this that I have not thought of but I’m pretty sure any child who does not look Japanese would forever be a gaijin regardless of how/where he is raised in Japan. In a multicultural society a child of any race can simply absorb whatever culture he is brought up in and become a part of it. I prefer this, but it’s only my opinion so take it as that.

Who knows if mixing is good in the US.

In my opinion it certainly is. If you look at history, the US has been successful because of immigration. Most people in the US come from immigrants at some point. Look at it like a business. If you need to fill a position you want the best PERSON for that role. You don’t care what he looks like or what religion he practices in his personal life. You want the best person so that your business will succeed. So I think it’s the same for a nation, you want the best leaders and ideas to form your country’s future. It shouldn’t matter if they are the son/daughter of an immigrant or a person of mixed race. I think by limiting a culture to one people a nation severely limits their ultimate potential. I hope Japan will continue to welcome more foreigners as I think it makes Japan a greater nation.

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I’m not sure what you mean. What is it that people are “fighting” for throughout human history? Does it apply to all humans on this planet, or only to certain people? Can you be more specific.

And jumping from US history to Palestine is a bit abrupt, and frankly too much of a topic for me to handle on this forum.

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It’s so easy for an American person who is near the top of society in economic and political status to say what you said. But your “generalization” also demoralizes, dishonors and debases everything that people are “fighting” for throughout human history. Because America, when it was founded, was created on certain ideals that were almost dreamlike, when in reality this whole equality of all men don’t necessary apply to “all.” After all, the land on which America was founded was founded after almost all the Natives had been completely annihilated, and a lot of people will discredit America for its “world police” attitude, trying to be the new Rome, since the land doesn’t necessary belong to the White invaders, after all.

Take a look at Palestine, as a prime example. Do you think your “polite agreements” would work in a place like that? Israel was also founded by force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine

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We all see things that anger and hurt us. When we do, one form of relief (apparently) is to blame a group, and thus derive a momentary sense of superiority (and satisfaction).

“Look at ALL those people in that horrible state. They’re ALL terrible, because they mistakenly think ALL [insert race or nationality] are [insert attribute].”

Hm. Now manifestly, doesn’t this sort of statement demonstrate the very same behavior it pretends to decry?

It seems harmless in the moment, but isn’t it this very thing that’s behind every form of cultural hate?

Hate is as hate does. We need more patience and clear thought in this world, and less hate disguised as thinking.

- A very proud Louisianian

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My original post was a response to S’s original post, before you jacked it!!! Just kidding.

But don’t you think that most things you mentioned above are not a choice for most people? It is hard for most people to just to make a living, and the mutual support in the communities or society they identify is important to have things run smoothly isn’t it.

Only a few priveledged ones have a choice over these things. Yet some of these priveledged ones go about ranting on things they don’t care to identify with and not committed to. That is not polite and is a mark of immaturity and contributes to nothing. Although it is funny sometimes to read these rants, it becomes less funny when social activism gets involved.

So I was in agreement with S’s original post that read “So when you guys are ranting about how you cannot possibly fit into Japanese culture just remember that it is a lot worse for your other fellow Americans. ”

But also what I think a solution to this could be, is to be responsible for the ethnicity and culture you inherited, and be committed to the community you are in, and identify in that culture so you can mature in it to make polite (political) agreements with others of different backgrounds. As you know, there are people of mixed backgrounds, and still the argument can be apllied to them as well.

So in general, communities and cultures are very important for people to be civil and to have a moral backbone for the reasons stated above, and although ethnicity and culture are not inextricably linked, they have a very deep connection in the process of development of a community that you cannot take lightly.

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In what sense? The word may refer to a specific set of northerners in the US, but outside it is refers to all Americans (USA).

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I have no idea what you mean. Are you saying American cultural identity is fake?

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The question is if he’s required by law to marry anybody who asks. If he’s on his way to a tee time with his golf buddies, or flying to Bermuda and tells them to find another Justice would he be in the same boat he is now?

And if he IS required by law to marry people what happens when same sex couples make the same request?

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I hope I got the joke right, I love jokes.

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at least all those people you mentioned – they have old time identities that they don’t have to “fake” like Americans! hahahaha

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8lUY9jS8oQ

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Hmmm. In that sense I have more in common with a Type A Japanese than I do with a Type B European….

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I never said you had to commit to your group in all aspects either, please stop putting words in my mouth.

I’m saying people need to identify themselves with “something” in order to mature. And you need to mature in order to respect others who are different from you. So it is only natural that children identify with the culture they are brought up in, or the ethnicity they are born in, although this ofcourse is not always the case. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with identifying and being committed to what you naturally are. I’m sayin there’s no universal ideal that we should all be striving for.

I’m over simplifying the process in which Japan became a mostly homogenous population. But as you know there are dialects, regional culture still thriving in some parts. That’s a good thing isn’t it. It’s because people identified with the culture.

The Japanese didn’t always just work together, people were shuffled around by force most of the time. It’s all in the past.

Who knows if mixing is good in the US. It might work to make the US homogenous, but do you want it to be? Do you want to go through the process of shooting each other to make that ideal American. I’m not American after all, so sorry for the irresponsible comment, but if you want it to be, I guess that is where you should be committed to.

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I do understand it. Sometimes I might even fall into that trap. I just feel like it’s the same back and forth every time here. But as far as being relevant to this story everyone agrees this guy is an idiot. If it happened in Japan then the guy would still be an idiot. The outcome is probably similar as well, Some other person would have to do this guys job because he was fired.

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I don’t think culture is a stagnant thing that you simply follow. It has to evolve with the world. The world today is tiny, and getting smaller. There are few places you can go in the world and not have access to vast amounts of information. And people have the freedom to go almost anywhere in short amounts of time. Just because you become a part of some other culture does not mean you lose yours. It’s just evolution. I don’t even think it’s open to debate, the human race will either get along with each other or blow ourselves up.

I’m not saying that we are all gonna come together and there will be glorious world peace. I think people will always find a reason to hate each other. Even if every race of people locked themselves away eventually they could find conflict amongst themselves. Using the Japanese as an example, they have a reputation in the world as having a huge problem with bullying in the school system. These are Japanese kids picking on other Japanese kids even though they share the same culture. You say Japanese used to fight with other Japanese when this was a secluded island. There also used to be a cast system where one group of people believed they were better than others, but they evolved with the rest of the world.

I know this sounds really corny but we are all humans, our blood and organs are interchangeable. Do you really think it’s impossible for the entire human race to evolve to a state at least at the level of Japanese society today? It might take a long time but I think it will happen.

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We’ve talked it before just recently.
http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/10/16/century-21-japan-cm/
I argued that it was false that there was no legal recourse in Japan . You want to counter-argue, please go ahead on a relevant post.

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“A recent poll in Alabama indicated high support for the bill. About 63 percent of those who responded to the poll favored lifting the ban on interracial marriage while 26 percent were opposed. Ten percent said they were not sure or had no reply.”

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It just doesn’t apply particularly well in this case, unless some local bureaucrat decided to reject a marriage application, which I’ve never heard of happening.

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For what it is worth, I don’t agree with what your basic premise seems to be – that colour [race] and culture are inextricably linked. Colour is genetic, culture is, well, cultural.

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I didn’t mean that the black group should have interacted more with the others. I thought it was a natural thing that they kept seperate.

Here is my theory and nothing more:
The only way a human can further develop into maturity is to make a commitment of who you are. That includes race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, being a parent, etc..etc. Some things you have a choice, and some things you have none. But don’t make a mistake of who you are. It does no one any good pretending to be color blind, or pretending we have no cultural heritage, or expecting others to be that way.

Since you mentioned that you think there is less racism in Japan, maybe this will give you a clue of what’s really happening here. The reason why I think the Japanese are so overly polite has a connection to this. (Although I admit it is lacking these days) Again, my theory and nothing more:

Every Japanese has long forgotten, but it is precisely because this society developed on this secluded island through so many wars after wars, tribes vs. tribes, clans vs. clan, race vs. race., since who knows when.

Japanese didn’t start out as a homogenous group of people. At a certain point in history we have come to an agreement on certain crucial things, instead of fighting until the last man’s dead. The politeness you encounter here is proof that the Japanese are living in that agreement to this day.

The politeness we encounter in America or any other part of the world is proof that there has been an agreement made that to respect our differences. And the identity that defines our differences only comes from a commitment to who we are.

So to sum it up, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think America will be better by just having its people juggled around to become like coffee with cream color, or making laws to enhance interaction among different ethnicities. No matter how hard it is, or how long it will take, we must be responsible of who we are and treasure what we inherited from our ancestors and forefathers, that includes our bodily feature and our distinct cultures too. And only through maturing through our identity, can we go through a process of agreement with others.

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And you shouldn’t mix with people with different hair or eye colour either, right?

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Incidentally, I just did a search on the word “yanks” for my hometown paper, and it is most often used there in a sporting context.

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I grew up attending an inner city public school in the Southern US where I was a minority. I actually have a mixed background but most people probably consider me white. I can say without a doubt that the things I saw growing up were a hundred times worse than my personal experiences in Japan. I have been the target of racism before coming to Japan so that was not the biggest shock to me. What I found difficult to adjust to was being completely surrounded by one race of people. I was used to seeing people of every color in my daily life. I guess it’s just a sub conscious thing. But it’s difficult to adjust to being in such a small minority.

Eventually I realized (even if it’s obvious) after coming to Japan that the reason there is there is more racism in the US is that there are simply more races that need to interact with each other. It only makes sense that there should be less racism in Japan. Many people here very rarely encounter people of other races. It seems like if you are living in the homogeneous bubble of Japan it would remove the type of racism I have seen outside of japan. Granted there are still people here who have managed to master racism and made sure I knew about it, heh. But at the most these are just a few random idiots. There may be Japanese people who suffer in quiet xenophobia but they have no impact on my life.

Anyway, I would honestly say there is more racism in the US than in Japan. But at the same time you also get the benefit of many people and cultures mixing together. It’s a double edged sword no doubt, but I don’t have a problem taking the bad with the good. Japan is a great place but I also love the diversity of the US.

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Sorry kiddo, but your above post is typically the kind of immature, irresponsible, uneducated, ignorant things that we would expect to hear from somebody who is precisely not qualified to be out here commenting on something one does not fully comprehend about one’s own IDENTITY.

Please go back and read what I said, above – the bit about “natural selection” and race-identity and uniqueness must be, and truly is, a NATURAL thing that we all must have in order to know one’s identity. To put it another way and, some might still find this concept horrendous and unacceptable, but RACIAL CLASSIFICATION is exactly how one PRESERVES one’s cultural identity. DO NOT get that mixed up with NATIONALITY and POLITICAL identity. It’s an unending argument, this whole chicken-or-the-egg thing, especially when people start to mix – but it is a fact, that when you look at a place like Japan, or, to give you a prime example – ISRAEL = you must ask yourself, is that a nationality by RACE? RELIGION? Or, in the case of America, simply politics?

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After all the bad things that happened to me, I still look a woman/man in the eyes and judge from that , not from the skin… i judge from their actions.

It is just amazing that in the year 2009, something like that would happen. I think if I had lived 50 years ago, i would have gone crazy. Anyways…after living in Japan I realize that one of the solutions to less racism in america would be for people to say just American rather than breaking it down so much to white black asian native etc American. People here just call me amerikajin and they call my coworker amerikajin also… There shouldnt be seperation based on the color of one’s skin. When that happens, it causes a rift within the society.

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I mean, there is a team called the Yankees. Just tell them you don’t play baseball.

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I went to public school in suburbian Massachusettes up until high school, and I was the only Japanese there. It was surprising to see a school bus full of black kids being transported from the Boston area, because of State policy that required a certain percentage of blacks to be schooled in the suburbs where the population is dominantly white.

Those black kids never really mixed into the local white middle class kids. I never saw outright racism towards them, but once you enter the lavatory, graffiti of racial slurs not only towards blacks but also to asians covered the walls. Most racial hatred is expressed behind closed doors. I even had a teacher who I thought trustworthy call me a “stinkin’ Jap” right after I left the room. It was in the mid 80’s when you would see Toyota’s being sledge hammered on the evening news, so the atmosphere was not the best either.

I don’t know if the situation has improved in the US, but I think there’s too much social engineering going on over there. I’m not against mixed marriages in any way, it’s only natural that some people interact with other races and communities, but it seems like they teach mixing is good when what they really need to teach is respect for other communities and societies, and pride in being part of or identifying with one.

Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that in most cases it is necessary to keep a healthy distance between communities of different races, ethnicity and cultures. If we can get rid of the hatred, the world would stay a much more interesting place that way.

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These people will say, yea, this is bad, but so what, it’s bad or even worse in Japan, etc. etc. etc.

I do that sometimes but as a reference point.

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yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes for everybody on the entire planet if they’ve never really experienced being outside of their own comfort zone their whole entire lives.

The fact is, racism is natural – natural selection, that is, and it is also a part of the instinct for a survival of a unique, individual, and indigenous species. NIMBY, they call it too – Not In My Back Yard. The same thing. As long that foreign thing or idea or person doesn’t invade “my” space than it’s OK to keep it at an arm’s length – after all, how are we supposed to protect our unique, individual, indigenous properties and identities without being racist, saying this is mine here, and that is yours there, and we CAN, at some point, come to some sort of a cordial agreement, but we don’t have to let our guards down and forget about traditions and long-time cultural behaviour of rules at the drop of a hat. The fact is, YOU are DIFFERENT, and I am DIFFERENT. We should be able to leave it that way.

Racism has been bastardized to mean PREJUDICE and DISCRIMINATION – when in reality, the word RACISM should simply mean calling each other by nature’s profiles.

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I guarantee you would be offended if you heard it used while you visited some place like the UK on holiday and they were bashing you about how crappy the Yank footie team TRY to play football, or some such thing like that. Because they won’t call you an American, they won’t call you somebody from the US, they’ll just call you a Yank the entire time through pub-bitter teeth in your face.

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I don’t know… remember the Kitty (i.e. skinned and cooked alive) video many years back?

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If you want to call some one from a continent, under your strict names rules, it should be North American or South American. Or, it can just be American too and you can stop being an idiot.

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“Louisiana’s where a Japanese highschool student got shot with a gun and the shooter was found not guilty,pretty awful state right? Its a state where even if white guy’s shoot Asian people they’re not guilty”

The “Louisiana’s that horrible state where ” line I’m a little confused about because the meaning i get from the Japanese is kind of like hes sayings like ” Scary/shitty/terrible state right?!” from the sentence at the end of it with the topic being the shooting and its like of like an extra thought, where as in the translation given, the horrible state of louisiana is gouped together and kind of gives it this matter of a fact tone of assholeness that the real writer didnt have. I kind of wonder why they chose to translate it like that.

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ot that there are some meaning from EU, India, Russia and PRC..

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- EB White

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