Foreigner-Free Japan Hotels Want to Stay That Way
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AP, October 9, 2008
Most Japanese inns and hotels that didn’t have foreign guests last year don’t want any in the future, according to a government survey released Thursday.
While the majority of such establishments do accept foreigners, the survey showed the country’s more traditional inns are not as hospitable, even as the government mounts a major campaign to draw more tourists from abroad.
Japan’s countryside is dotted with thousands of small, old-fashioned lodgings called “ryokans.” Many are family run and offer only traditional Japanese food and board, such as raw seafood delicacies, simple straw-mat floors and communal hot spring baths.
Some such establishments have barred foreign guests in the past, leading to lawsuits and government fines for discrimination.
The survey carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs shows that 72 percent of establishments that didn’t have foreign customers in the past year don’t want any, and the majority are ryokans and hotels with fewer than 30 rooms. Such businesses said they are unable to support foreign languages and that their facilities are not suited to foreigners.
While more than 60 percent of the country’s inns and hotels hosted foreign guests last year, the results indicate it may be hard to expand this number.
{snip}
(Posted on October 9, 2008)
Comments
Many Japanese think that Westerners are irremediably kusai: that is, that they have offensive body odor. They are as sensitive to distasteful smells emanating from whites as many whites are to black Africans’ body odor. That’s a prime reason why in the traditional ryokan of Japan they don’t want foreigners’ disconcerting scents to be left lingering in what is supposed to be a relaxing, restorative all-Japanese environment. More power to them, say I.
Posted by Zorba_the_Geek at 6:38 PM on October 9
I’ve travelled far and wide in that country, and never really got used to the particular brand of racism practiced by the Japanese and directed against everyone else.
Stayed in plenty of youth hostels and ryokans, though. The proprieters can be apprehensive, but if you speak the language passably and tell them that you live in the country and know how to follow directions and what to do in the public bath, etc. (mainly, not to soap up the water in the communal soaking area) they’ll let you in.
The Japanese LOVE to use the language barrier as an excuse to discriminate, and aren’t always pleasantly surprised when you blow away their excuse. But, they’re basically a civilized people and I’d rather deal with them than with blacks any day!
For more detailed insights, ask Jared Taylor. He lived there longer than I did.
Posted by generalquagmyer at 7:42 PM on October 9
Zorba_the_Geek at 6:38 PM on October 9 wrote:
“Many Japanese think that Westerners are irremediably kusai: that is, that they have offensive body odor.”
In his classic tome “Race,” eminent British cytologist Dr. John R. Baker made mention of this phenomenon. In a now, largely forgotten study (thanks to the forces of p.c.), people of various races/ethnic groups were exposed to the axillary sweat of Nords (they weren’t told what they were smelling). Their reactions were recorded.
Other European Caucasians (i.e. Alpinids, Mediterranids, etc) either reacted neutrally to the smell or found it rather pleasant. The Japanese, however, reacted strongly to it. They described it as pungent and rancid. Baker attributed this to the near-absence of axillary odor among most Japanese.
Posted by at 8:48 PM on October 9
The Japanese government is making the same mistake as the American government. Just leave everyone alone. Those businesses that wish to take advantage of the tourist dollar will adjust their practices accordingly, and those who wish to serve the needs of traditional Japanese will take care of them. If those Japanese bureaucrats are so hell bent on tourist dollars, let them risk their capital and open a resort catering to foreigners.
Posted by Flamethrower at 9:24 PM on October 9
I do think that the Japanese go a bit overboard with this. I’ll be willing to bet if they travelled to the US and were refused the right to stay in hotels because they were Japanese, they’d be suing. Having said that, it is their country and they have the right to do as they please and exclude foreigners from their hotels for whatever reason they choose, regardless of what I or anyone else thinks. I do admire the fact that they guard their culture very carefully and do not allow immigration. They have a more peaceful and stable society as a result. I wish we did the same. The Japanese are smart, we could take lessons from them.
Posted by at 11:07 PM on October 9
Only in articles about Japan is the word “foreigner” used in this way. In a story about the United States or any European country, the preferred term would be “international,” as in “international students” or “international tourists.” Moreover, “foreigner” seems to refer to all non-ethnic Japanese, and thus is more of a discriminatory term than a literal description. Is it not odd that the uber-PC Associated Press is willing to play along with the Japanese on this, in a way that is not only politically incorrect, but which naively reveals an insular Japanese perspective to American readers?
Then again, Japan must have some serious influence among the major news organizations, as it somehow convinced Reuters to issue a full news story on the fact that it was sending “officers” to help out in Sudan (and thereby taking a bigger role in international affairs). The catch? Japan is sending only TWO officers:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnT353332.html
I suppose the headline “Japan to Send Officer to Sudan” didn’t quite make the grade, so they threw in a second guy. Truly bizarre.
Posted by at 1:03 AM on October 10
I have no objection to Japanese racism as long as:
a. They give fair warning to Whites of what is and what is not tolerable.
b. They are decent enough to forgive honest errors by Whites.
c. They leave their anti-Whites attitudes at home when they come here.
d. They recognize our right to not like them and their ways either.
These four things are what real tolerance is about. Getting along with people you’d rather not know.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 2:54 AM on October 10
Asked how more foreign travelers might be enticed to come to Japan in the face of opposition from some locals, [Tourism Minister] Nakayama responded, “Definitely, (Japanese) do not like or desire foreigners.”
He added that Japan is extremely inward-looking and “ethnically homogeneous.”
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080927a2.html
Posted by Kevin at 3:57 AM on October 10
Honestly, it is their country; they make the rules. Despite the propaganda, it doesn’t seem like Japan has much of a multicultural future with such bedrock attitudes.
Posted by Sardonicus at 7:51 AM on October 10
Not to belabor the point too much - I admire the Japanese people - but since body odor has been mentioned…
If you are ever close to Japanese sweating heavily, be ready to hold your breath. Japanese regularly consume “takuan,” a type of pickled radish (“daikon”). Like folks who eat too much garlic, when Japanese sweat heavily, the pungent aroma of rancid takuan is very pronounced. American troops during WWII in the Pacific, upon clearing an enemy cave, used this lingering and distinctive body odor as an indicator the cave was recently (or worse, still) occupied by Japanese.
Posted by Francis at 8:04 AM on October 10
Many Japanese think that Westerners are irremediably kusai: that is, that they have offensive body odor. They are as sensitive to distasteful smells emanating from whites as many whites are to black Africans’ body odor. That’s a prime reason why in the traditional ryokan of Japan they don’t want foreigners’ disconcerting scents to be left lingering in what is supposed to be a relaxing, restorative all-Japanese environment. More power to them, say I.
——————————————————————————————
While I seriously doubt they are keeping foriegn visitors out because of body odor. Asian are not just sensitive to the scent of white westerners, but non-Asians in general. A big factor has to do with the Apocrine glands, which are the odor producing sweat glands, of the body. Asians have less of them than anyone, and sometimes even none at all. While blacks have them in greatest abundance. Whites fall somewhere in the middle. This is not to say Asians don’t sweat, they also have plenty of eccrine glands, which causes them to sweat profusiously on their foreheads and on the palms of their hands. Asians also don’t consume a great deal of milk or dairy products, and they believe that westerners carry an odor from consuming it, much in the way Westerners often complain that East Indians often pick up an unpleasant scent from the spices in their diets such as, curry and cumin. But the article doesn’t stress white westerners being kept out of the hotels, it stresses no-Japanese people in general. Despite it’s many foriegn visitors, Japan remains at heart, a homogenously minded country. It is too bad Western nations couldn’t adopt the same standards.
Posted by at 2:05 PM on October 10
Good reference, Kevin-san!
Mr. Nakayama sure does seem like a strange one for the post of Tourism Minister, given his remarks. “Japanese people hate you! Please visit!”
All the best comedy is to be found in politics!
Japanese bureaucrats are as twisted as any anywhere else- I think they must look sideways, more than either inward or outward.
Though I’d say that Japan was rather outward-looking when it “acquired” Okinawa (not to mention the Ainu thing, or the third-generation Koreans [that’s what you get when you take foreign slaves!] )
But really, the survey cited states that “the majority of such establishments do accept foreigners”. 60% of the hotels already take foreign guests, and 28% of those that did not last year did not rule out the possibility of having them in the future.
Sounds like plenty to me, with potential for growth. Why try to force a business to take customers it does not want? That just ain’t right.
Posted by W.D. at 2:39 PM on October 10
I’m rooting for Japan to remain Japanese. I admire how they seem totally unmoved by all this multi-culti nonsense so many American whites are falling for.
If the world economy continues to melt down, which country stands the better chance of remaining intact, homogeneous Japan or ethnic tinderbox America?
Posted by at 3:48 PM on October 10
Westerners certainly did smell offensive to Japanese decades ago. Things have, however moderated. Westerners bathe more often than they used to, while Japanese eat more red meat than they once did. Our consumption of dairy products remains an issue. Japanese tend to regard cheese as rotten milk, and regard bleu cheese (one of my favorites) as particularly hideous. Adult lactose intolerance is common among east Asians, which further discourages consumption of dairy products among them. On the other hand, natto is rightly regarded by Westerners who have smelled it, let alone actually eaten it (I have) as just plain aweful (bean curd fermented until it is rotten).
I believe any family-run business, like these inns, should be allowed to discriminate for any reason or non-reason they like, even in the United States. As a consumer, I feel free to discriminate, and have said as much here on Amren. I would be a complete hypocrite if I thought government fiat should prevent service providers from exercising the same right I enjoy.
One of the two best meals I have ever had in my life was at a small, family-run restaurant in Saitama, Japan. I was taken there by the staff of the Japanese chemical company I was loaned to in the summer of 2004. Simply marvellous. (The other was a Thanksgiving dinner cooked by friends of my mother, one of whom is a gourmet chef.)
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 3:54 PM on October 10
I don’t think it is just because of race or body odor. When I, a full blooded Chinese, visited Japan ten years ago I was also refused a room as the hotel in particular was Japanese only. I was not too worried about that - I had no problem finding a place to stay in the end and people were polite and respectful.
The fact that this is discrimination against foreigners of any race makes it less offensive. If they had said “no Chinese” or “no Whites” or “no Blacks” then that would definitely cause an uproar - even I suspect in Japan.
In fact I have heard that out of all foreigners, whites are treated by far the best in Japan.
Posted by John Liu at 5:49 PM on October 10
As someone who has lived in Japan previosly for several years
and speaks and reads Japanese fluently I am not at all
surprised by this
When I suspect I have been the victim of `subtle discimination` in Japan I play the `henna gaijin` or as they say
in English `strange foreigner` card .This amounts to reciting
some old Japanese song or an obscure Japanese dialect which often throws the Japanese completely off guard (I learnt this trick from reading a book by an American,Jack Seward who had lived in Japan for many years after the war and has written several influential books on Japanese language and culture )
This also illustrates a yin/yang phenomena of the Japanese
psyche where Westerners(read Whites of European descent)are held
in respect largely due to helping modernize Japan
after the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century and also
with the US defeat of Japan in WW2.There is still however a lingering distrust of all foreigners and defintely a desire of some Japanese to keep an arms length while being polite on the surface
(with obvious exceptions in the young generation and those who
have lived/studied/travelled abroad)
I still think that despite this Japan can be a great place to live as people tend to leave you alone and it is a safe,clean and very technologically advanced society due to its ethnic homogenity which once again shows that race and ethnicity are all important.
On the last point I believe most Japanese will surely attest to that.
Posted by John at 9:20 AM on October 11
Asked how more foreign travelers might be enticed to come to “Japan in the face of opposition from some locals, [Tourism Minister] Nakayama responded, “Definitely, (Japanese) do not like or desire foreigners.
He added that Japan is extremely inward-looking”…
Posted by Kevin
— — — — —
Well, not arguing with you, but practically anywhere you go in the world (and particularly the white countries) you will find swarms of Japanese tourists. Not just one at a time, but whole busloads!
Posted by browser at 5:58 AM on October 12
I’m rooting for Japan to remain Japanese. I admire how they seem totally unmoved by all this multi-culti nonsense so many American whites are falling for.
If the world economy continues to melt down, which country stands the better chance of remaining intact — homogeneous Japan, or ethnic tinderbox America?
Posted at 3:48 PM
— — — — —
The Japanese do not have the same self-interested ethnic pressure groups here which are constantly demanding more “pluralism” and pushing to create an ethnic tinderbox.
That is Japan’s great advantage over the USA. Far from multiculturalism being our strength, we are fatally weakened by it.
Posted by browser at 5:58 AM on October 12
I don’t think it is just because of race or body odor. When I, a full blooded Chinese, visited Japan ten years ago I was also refused a room as the hotel in particular was Japanese only. I was not too worried about that - I had no problem finding a place to stay in the end and people were polite and respectful.
johnLieu
I was refused a room outside Venice (Mestre). A small family run place, the landlady wanted no foreigners — Italians only. She had an attitude. Hey, no problem I too found another place to stay. There were plenty to choose from. Better ones too.
Posted by at 6:09 AM on October 12
Their country, their rules. Too bad my people don’t get their own country, but nobody said life was fair. I surely don’t blame the Japanese for that!
Posted by at 8:17 AM on October 12
I understand that in HongKong they say something “smells of butter” when they mean something reeks of foreign influence.
I don’t know if this “smell” is meant literally, given the Chinese distaste for dairy products, or if it’s only a figurative expression of speech.
Perhaps some of our Chinese friends here could throw light on this.
Posted by at 11:24 AM on October 13
One thing about traditional rural Japanese food. It is very different from the food served in the big cities and totally different from the westernized Japanese food served to tourists.
Traditional rural Japanese food takes some getting used to. Most tourists would not be able to eat or even look at some of the things served.
Rice is about the only food palatable to the average tourist in some of the Roykans and remote areas of Japan.
Japan for the Japanese!!!!!!
Posted by at 2:31 PM on October 13
I understand that in HongKong they say something “smells of butter” when they mean something reeks of foreign influence
I have been in Hong Kong for many years and never heard of that one.
Fact is dairy products like ice-creamm, milk and especially butter are now widely consumed now in Hong Kong. Cheese is also popular. So commenting on a buttery smell would not make much sense nowadays- even in a figurative sense.
Someone who worships western culture is simply “sung yeung” while someone who is westernized is simply “sai fa”
Whites, and Caucasians in general do have a strong natural body odor though and Chinese do comment on it. Chinese, like any other race, will smell if they are unclean and some, especially from the North reek of garlic. But there is little of the natural body odor exuded by other races. On a 35degree C summer day crammed like sardines in a non-air conditioned, tram and there is hardly any body odor - this would not be the case if same tram was filled with whites. Thankfully most western whites now use deodorant which helps a bit.
Real ‘Chinese’ chinese who have had little contact with whites will comment on hairyness and coarse skin - but not Hong Kong people who are use to the way white people look through hollywood and the mass media.
Fact is Asiatics are the most evolved race.
Posted by John Liu at 8:24 PM on October 13
“One thing about traditional rural Japanese food. It is very different from the food served in the big cities …Traditional rural Japanese food takes some getting used to. Most tourists would not be able to eat or even look at some of the things served.”
————————————
Dare we ask? Do tell.
Also, I suppose that (like other countries) they must have very different regional cuisines, no?
Posted by at 2:15 PM on October 14
“Fact is Asiatics are the most evolved race”.
—John Liu
Believe it or not, whites and blacks have been evolving for the same amount of time as Asiatics. We have evolved in different directions to suit the environments (Europe and Africa) that forced this evolution. The evolution of black Africans has left them poorly suited to life in an industrialized society they did not create, but that is another matter.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 2:56 PM on October 14
John Liu at 8:24 PM on October 13 wrote:
“Fact is Asiatics are the most evolved race”.
Evolved in terms of what, exactly? For starters, the term “asiatics” refers to anyone from Asia. That covers several races, actually. You obviously mean ORIENTALS (not a racist word, in spite of what some may think).
While it is true that Orientals have, on average, higher IQs than Whites, it is worth noting their IQs also cluster more tightly around the mean. Simply put, that means we produce a lot more geniuses than you do. Small wonder then that historically speaking, Whites have dominated the arts and sciences.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Human-Accomplishment/Charles-Murray/e/9780060929640/?itm=1
Posted by at 8:09 PM on October 14
Posted by at 8:09 PM on October 14:
Tongue in cheek comment - you WNs are touchy!
Never said race with the most accomplishments - that can be argued about all day. Just said most highly evolved - intelligence, resistance to diseases and longevity etc.
Also lack of body hair and body odor would mean would subjectively mean to most people a higher evolutionary plane.
Posted by John Liu at 11:19 PM on October 14
Posted by at 8:09 PM on October 14:
While it is true that Orientals have, on average, higher IQs than Whites, it is worth noting their IQs also cluster more tightly around the mean.
Thats just flat out false - this canard is one that floats around the twilight zone of the WN movement - but there is zero evidence for it - if there was surely such evidence would have been jumped on by now to prove your point.
Can anyone point to an authoritative study on Asian intelligence (and many have been done) which has found this tightly clustered distribution?
Posted by at 3:13 AM on October 15
“Tongue in cheek comment - you WNs are touchy!”
John Lieu
Not all of us, John! I enjoyed your comments. They were food for thought.
Posted by at 4:40 AM on October 15
As an aside, John Liu, given the way so many east Asian men smoke cigarettes, I wouldn’t be any more thrilled about sharing a hot, unairconditioned tram ride with a crowd of them than I would with sweaty Westerners. Stale cigarette smoke on someone smells like burning garbage.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 1:35 PM on October 15
John Liu at 11:19 PM on October 14 wrote:
“Tongue in cheek comment - you WNs are touchy!”
I’m not a WN; I’m a eugenicist, if you must know. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve argued with Nordicists that yes, Orientals and Ashkenazim on average do in fact outscore Whites on IQ tests. Feel better?
“Never said race with the most accomplishments - that can be argued about all day.”
You’re joking, right?
“Just said most highly evolved - intelligence, resistance to diseases and longevity etc.”
Exactly which diseases are you more resistant to than us? Keep in mind things like diet, BMI and level of physical activity can have a profound effect on things like resistance to disease and longevity.
3:13 AM on October 15 wrote:
“Can anyone point to an authoritative study on Asian intelligence (and many have been done) which has found this tightly clustered distribution?”
I don’t have a copy of such a study in front of me. You are right though, in demanding a citation, and I shall have one for future reference. However, in the meantime, can you put a spin on this?
http://www.newsmax.com/us/Study_Debunks_Asian_/2008/07/03/109620.html
Also, do you have a link to an authoritative study that shows the IQs of Orientals are just as equitably distributed as that of Whites?
Posted by at 7:39 PM on October 15
I half expected John Lui to add that white people smell like wet dog. His rant is way too similiar to the childish attacks most blacks stoop to about whites over the net.
Posted by at 9:35 PM on October 15
As an aside, John Liu, given the way so many east Asian men smoke cigarettes, I wouldn’t be any more thrilled about sharing a hot, unairconditioned tram ride with a crowd of them than I would with sweaty Westerners.
Fact is in Hong Kong the smoking rate among men is not high at all. If you were talking of mainland Chinese then you might have a point.
The other thing is - smoking is banned on public transportation in HK - therefore your point is mute.
And more importantly Asians can stop smelling by just attending to personal hygiene, limiting ingestion of garlic, and stopping smoking.
Whites can’t.
They smell because of their genes. That is a far more tragic.
Posted by John Liu at 11:19 PM on October 15
Also, do you have a link to an authoritative study that shows the IQs of Orientals are just as equitably distributed as that of Whites?
It may be narrower, it may be wider.
But you came up with the original assertion. So it is your job to back it up.
His rant is way too similiar to the childish attacks most blacks stoop to about whites over the net.
White peopld do smell though.
“For whatever reasons, the races do not smell the same. Blacks and whites have strong, but differing smells, and many Asians have scarcely any smell. Koreans often have no odor-producing glands in their arm-pits at all and Japanese have very few.”
Source: http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2008/02/race_and_physic_1.php
Posted by John Liu at 11:28 PM on October 15
John Liu at 11:28 PM on October 15 wrote:
“It may be narrower, it may be wider.
But you came up with the original assertion. So it is your job to back it up.”
In other words, you couldn’t find anything on the subject (or maybe you did, but you don’t want to post it).
I also couldn’t help but notice you never addressed this:
http://www.newsmax.com/us/Study_Debunks_Asian_/2008/07/03/109620.html
Posted by at 8:47 PM on October 16
“Koreans often have no odor-producing glands in their arm-pits at all and Japanese have very few.”
Forgive me, John, but I had always understood that under-arm ordor is produced by BACTERIA that live on perspiration, not by any odor-producing glands. This is why a splash of rubbing alcohol will instantly kill any odor — because it is bacterial, not glandular.
Was I mistaken?
Posted by at 3:40 PM on October 17
John Liu makes some interesting points about axillary sweat glands and body hairiness vis-a-vis Europeans and Mongolians, and the essence of what he says cannot be disputed.
But the converse is that most European males are able to grow and cultivate that ancient badge of masculinity, virility and distinction - the full beard - for millenia the adornment of the philosopher, the sage, the prophet, the warrior and the distinguished and honored ancient ancestor.
The most the majority of Mongolians can come up with is a few wispy strands on the chin.
Posted by Peter Williams at 9:05 AM on October 18
“The most the majority of Mongolians can come up with is a few wispy strands on the chin.”
Well, that must make life a lot simpler for them!
Posted by at 2:13 PM on October 19
Peter Williams:
Chinese and Koreans don’t have much beard growth, as do most other East Asiatics. Japanese strangely enough have a lot more than other East Asians - possibly because of the Ainu influence (I have read somewhere that the original Ainu were the most hirsute of all human groups).
Body hair good or bad - entirely subjective.
But Asians, historically at least, have found it repulsive. Just like they found the typical European proboscis to be funny looking. I’m just stating the facts.
I have no problem with whites liking their own features. But I don’t understand why some so-called white priders are so sensitive to what I, a full blooded Mongol, think of them.
However from a purely objective, quantitative point of view, I would say the most masculine, virile man in history is one East Asian called Genghis Khan - who has more progeny than any other man ever has and who is indisputably history’s greatest conqueror.
Posted by John Liu at 12:48 AM on October 20