The Old School Otaku Lounge

Any thoughts on how the foreigner who lives in Japan in 2012 is viewed by the natives?

For you guys that live there, do you feel at all alienated?

My experience has been overwhelmingly positive, both the 2 years I lived in Japan from 2000-02 and the 2 months I've recently again lived in Japan. Only one time did my wife and I encounter an overt racist, and the comment was directed at my wife regarding our international relationship. It was in Sasebo, a Naval base town in Kyushu, so that's understandable. It's not like typical servicemen are college educated and trained in intercultural communication and endeavor to promote harmonious international relationships. Many of them on leave just want to get drunk, act like apes, and slobber all over the local girls. To be fair though, I've witnessed non-military types walking all over Japanese because they know that they can get away with behaving in a manner that would get their asses kicked for it back home. Like the Halloween party train on the Osaka loop line and how it started out as just lighthearted fun, but when it got too big, they became disruptive towards other commuters and were very raucous and rude.

If you go out of your way to be courteous and show respect towards others (something I know many Americans are incapable of), then you will do fine. With the job in Nagano-ken I just left, I had several school faculty tell me that they were very disappointed that I was leaving because I knew the language and the culture. One even said I have "Yamato Damashii" because of my work ethic. When my mom died, I insisted on continuing to teach classes because for me, seeing the kids' smiling faces made me feel better than staying at home, crying. Everyone expected me to run off to America and leave everyone hanging, which a typical ALT would do.

I think most of the anti-foreigner crowd just sulks online on places like 2ch or YouTube to spew their venom, but most of them probably wouldn't dare to insult foreigners in person. If you'll allow me to rant a bit, I've recently encountered a rather bizarre specimen who calls himself "Novajoke" on YouTube and apparently other places. He can communicate in English effectively enough, but he hates the idea of native English speakers teaching English in Japan and calls them "parasite gaijin losers." He is so convinced that every single English teachers is identical and a threat to Japanese society. Since I am an American teaching English in Japan, he has accused me of numerous, terrible things and his assumptions are baseless and 100% inaccurate. With each absurd prejudice he reveals about me, I have refuted him every time. He has accused me of so many ridiculous things, like being a burger flipper living with my parents, a dishonest sales person, a sexual predator, a pedophile, a criminal, and anything he can imagine, just because he has read news clips about foreigners in Japan committing these things. I've known perfectly decent foreign ALT teachers who have been sexually assaulted and have had their property stolen by Japanese citizens, but it would be insane for me to categorize all Japanese citizens of being like this. However, he has no shame in accusing me of these things. Any normal person would probably feel embarrassed having made such wild, false accusations, but this guy is not just a xenophobic bigot, but a neurotic imbecile as well. Anyhow, I summarized my exchange with this psychopath on my homepage because his insane rantings have been quite amusing.

I honestly feel sorry for the guy, but he has not only insulted me, but my wife as well. He is mentally unsound, so refuting his angry accusations is just a waste of time. I swear, this guy gets so worked up at the thought of foreigners living in his country who do not 100% agree with him and condone his belligerent, racist stereotyping, that he's probably going to have a brain aneurism one of these days. Allowing myself to get angry with someone who surrounds himself with nothing but anger is a waste of time.

greg wrote:I honestly feel sorry for the guy, but he has not only insulted me, but my wife as well. He is mentally unsound, so refuting his angry accusations is just a waste of time. I swear, this guy gets so worked up at the thought of foreigners living in his country who do not 100% agree with him and condone his belligerent, racist stereotyping, that he's probably going to have a brain aneurism one of these days. Allowing myself to get angry with someone who surrounds himself with nothing but anger is a waste of time.

Wow! That guy sounds like a total jerk! But it seems that he has come across some bad people who taught English.

Not long ago, I read "Black Passenger Yellow Cabs: Of Exile And Excess In Japan" and it's a book based on an African man living in Japan and how he had sex with many female students he taught, many Japanese women, including one mother. He writes about the temptations of sex because how Japanese treat athletic built Black men like they were athletes or hip hop stars. But I think if you read his book, It would infuriate you.

I knew too many people who taught English who do it for the wrong reason. One is to get money but also to get laid. I always wondered if interviewers have learned to filter out these type of people.

But as for the jerk who has been harassing you, there are a few people like that on YouTube...I've seen them attack Micaela on her comment feed. But it's best to ignore them...because they thrive on the attention.

As for the OP's question, I think that 2012 is no different than 2002. There are more and more people from all over the world living in Japan but in the end, it all comes down to respect and how you treat people. Granted, you'll meet Taxi Drivers or people who may get judgmental but it'll be less than the crap that you receive in your country, especially in the US where you will be judged on everything from your appearance to what you post on your FB or Twitter account. Lol...

Yeah, that book would infuriate me. I did read The Modern Madame Butterfly before I married my Japanese pen-pal and I was really shocked at the whole "yellow cab" thing. It's very upsetting. When a friend of mine also was about to marry a J-girl, I recommended he get that book and read it, too. If nothing else, just for an exposure to the bias. We both talk about people's misconceptions about being married to a Japanese wife, and how truly incorrect those people are who believe that Asian wives are subservient pushovers.

There are way too many crappy people who teach English in Japan for entirely the wrong reasons, and they need to be weeded out. It's amazing that even though I said exactly that, this guy still accused me for every single thing he could think of about English teachers. The guy is a total jerk though. I understand how crappy foreigners can be in Japan, but his blind prejudices are simply unforgivable.

It's real sad that Micaela would get trolled. She seems like a very interesting girl. Pretty as heck, but very intelligent, too. I was introduced to her by JetDaisuke's channel. That guy cracks me up, and apparently those two are friends. (Maybe just friends, because I think Jet is married, I think.)

I remember reading these articles by someone who had a lot of trouble finding an apartment in Japan:
http://blogd.com/wp/index.php/archives/1112
http://blogd.com/wp/index.php/archives/1117

The first article talks about the 80's. Apparently, things got better for him later on, which the second article talks about.

Ever been told "外人はだめ"?

Interesting.

Any idea as to just why they didn't want to deal with you?

So, would you say that they don't like to rent to foreigners because they see foreigners as having a higher likelihood of causing business problems (i.e., they don't understand the rental contract), or because they just don't like foreigners?

Also,

5.) A foreigner is far more likely to just up and abandon an apartment and disappear from the country suddenly and without warning.