Gregory Clark, Japan Times, Jan. 15, 2009
“Japan girai”—dislike of Japan—is an allergy that seems to afflict many Westerners here. If someone handing out Japanese-language flyers assumes they cannot read Japanese and ignores them, they cry racial discrimination. If they are left sitting alone in a train, they assume that is because the racist Japanese do not want to sit next to foreigners. If someone does sit next to them and tries to speak to them in English, they claim more discrimination, this time because it is assumed they cannot speak Japanese.
Normally these people do little harm. In their gaijin ghettoes they complain about everything from landlords reluctant to rent to foreigners (igno ring justified landlord fear of the damage foreigners can cause) to use of the word “gaijin” (forgetting the way some English speakers use the shorter and sometimes discriminatory word “foreigner” rather than “foreign national.”). A favorite complaint is that Japanese universities discriminate against foreigners. How many Western universities would employ, even as simple language teachers, foreigners who could not speak, write and read the national language?
Recently they have revived the story of how they bravely abolished antiforeigner discrimination from bathhouses in the port town of Otaru in Hokkaido. Since I was closely involved, allow me to throw some extra light on that affair.
An onsen manager who allegedly had earlier been driven to near bankruptcy by badly behaved Russian sailors had decided this time to bar all foreigners fr om his new enterprise. The activist then filed a suit for mental distress and won ¥3 million in damages. In the Zeit Gist and letter pages of this newspaper, some have criticized these excessively zealous moves by the activists. These critics in turn have been labeled as favoring Nazi-style discrimination and mob rule. Maybe it is ti me to bring some reality to this debate.
Otaru had been playing host to well over 20,000 Russian sailors a year, most arriving in small rust-bucket ships to deliver timber and pick up secondhand cars. I visited the wharves there, and as proof I harbor no anti-Russian feeling let me add that I speak Russian and enjoyed talking to these earthy, rough-hewn people i n their own language. Even so, the idea of them demanding freedom to walk into any onsen bathhouse of their choice, especially to a high-class onsen like Yunohana, is absurd.
The antidiscrimination activists say bathhouse managers can solve all problems by barring drunken sailors. But how do you apply a drunk test? And how do you throw out a drunk who has his foot in the door? Besides, drunken behavior is not the only bathhouse problem with these Otaru sailors. I can understand well why regular Japanese customers seeking the quiet Japanese-style camaraderie of the traditional Japanese bathhouse would want to flee an invasion of noisy, bathhouse-ignorant foreigners. And since it is not possible to bar only Russians, barring all foreigners is the only answer.
The antidiscrimination people point to Japan’s acceptance of a U.N. edict banning discrimination on the basis of race. But that edict is broken every time any U.S. organization obeys the affirmative action law demanding preference for blacks and other minorities. Without it, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would probably not be where he is today.
Malaysia has also ignored it, with its Bumiputra policy of favoring Malays over Chinese and other minorities. There are dozens more examples of societies deciding to favor one group of people over others in order to preserve solidarity or prevent injustices. A large chain of barbershops in Japan has signs saying service is denied to those who do not speak Japanese. Non-Japanese speakers probably cause much less harm to a business than delinquent Russians. But we do not see our activists in action there.
The activists say there should be action to educate Russian sailors in bathhouse behavior. But do we see any of the activists in the friendship societies where worthy Japanese citizens try to ease problems for foreigners living here? Not as far as I know. Presumably close contact with these citizens would also upset their Japan-girai feelings.
In Otaru the obvious answer from the beginning was to create a seamen’s club similar to those that exist in many major ports. But here too the activists were very silent. It seems they prefer to move against weak targets where they can gain publicity with a minimum of effort. One result, either of the intensity of their beliefs or of their self-aggrandizement urges, is the vitriol they pour on those who have criticized their actions.
Sometimes their activism goes beyond even the absurd. Japan has long had a real problem of clever Chinese and Korean criminals taking advantage of Japan’ s lack of theft awareness to pick the locks and pockets of unsuspecting citizens. But when the authorities try to raise this problem, they too are accused of antiforeigner discrimination. Even companies advertising pick-proof locks are labeled as discriminators if they mention the Chinese lock-picking problem.
Obviously Japan needs precautions against these theft experts. Many, myself included, dislike the fingerprinting of foreigners at airports. But this too is needed to stop criminally minded foreigners from re-entering Japan after they have been caught and expelled. If anything the authorities are too lenient with these people. (Let me add that I also have no anti-China feeling; I speak Chinese too.)
It is time we admitted that at times the Japanese have the right to discriminate against some foreigners. If they do not, and Japan ends up like our padlocked, mutually suspicious Western societies, we will all be the losers.
Gregory Clark is vice president of Akita International University. A Japanese translation of this article will appear on www.gregoryclark.net.
Original article
(Posted on January 19, 2009)
Comments
playing host to well over 20,000 Russian sailors a year-Article
I don’t care what the Japanese do in their own country. It’s theirs to do as they please. I only care about Japanese who buy up property in our countries or immigrate and set up Japanese colonies in our midst. If they act as separatists in their own country, that’s A OK because I wish we did the same as them here. If they act like conquering supremacists, then we’ve got a problem.
It sounds to me like the Japanese people are truly very intelligent people. They see the erosion of western societies and want no part of it. Bravo for them! Unlike the Japanese, the western countries are Hell-bent on commiting national and racial suicide.
wow Gregory Clark is so pro-Japan and anti-himself (foreigner). It just made me wonder if those glowing so much about diversity in our own papers are being specifically paid to do so. Then I remember you can only get people to gush like that with real fear and terror and not simply monetary directive.
The Japanese have the right to do what they want to do within their borders and it is none of our, or the worlds’, damn business.
The Japanese are caught in a bind. On the one hand they want to stay as racially homogenous as possible. A perfectly natural and healthy desire. On the other hand they are the oldest nation, in terms of median age, on earth. How do they go on carrying out all the physically demanding necessary tasks that only a young vigorous population can manage without importing young foreign workers?
I don’t know and neither do they.
“It is time we admitted that at times the Japanese have the right to discriminate against some foreigners.”
Some foreigners? Human beings have an unmitigated right to freedom of association. Nations have an unmitigated right to control their borders. The West now eschews the idea of natural rights. It is thought that the world can be transformed into a marxian paradise by installing a world government and issuing edicts on everything from the weather to the bathing habits of Russian sailors. The West is doomed, the weather will still be the weather, and the Russians won’t be any cleaner.
“The antidiscrimination people point to Japan’s acceptance of a U.N. edict banning discrimination on the basis of race. But that edict is broken every time any U.S. organization obeys the affirmative action law demanding preference for blacks and other minorities. Without it, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would probably not be where he is today.”
Well put, and refreshingly free from liberal cant. I have no standing to contest Japanese laws or customs (nor am I interested in doing so) but it’s worth pointing out that the Japanese, like most non-white people, do not acknowledge that fantasy of Western liberals, “human rights.” Aliens in Japan have no “right” to communicate with anyone in their own language, to expect the Japanese government to support them, to demand recognition of their culture, folkways, or religions; in short they have no “right” whatsoever to impose themselves, their people or their civilization upon Japan. This sort of sane, reasonable policy is called “racism” only when whites advocate it.
The Japanese are completely right in their efforts to protect their culture and avoid the contamination of foreigners, including White people like me. Each culture is unique and special in its own right, but when cultures are mixed, the uniqueness of each is lost.
Blacks belong in Africa. Asians belong in Asia. Indians belong in India. Arabs belong in Arabia. Native Americans belong on reservations. Eskimos belong in the Arctic. Mexicans belong in Mexico. Criminals belong in prison. Whites belong in Europe, North America, and Australia.
The world’s cultures were much safer when the average person never traveled more than a few miles from his birthplace. Today? Well, look around.
In college, I was shown material for a TEFL program in Japan. The requirement was a BA in any subject, a clean criminal record and a few other little easily-met prereques, Japanese language and teaching experience not among them. Thinking about my attitudes about Mexican immigration, I decided not to persue the program out of respect for the country and people of Japan. I could have easily gotten in and might be in Japan now if I had accepted. However, I like to think I made that decision for the right reasons.
Every so often, there are calls in the western press for Japan to open its borders to mass-immigration of the sort that is “enriching” us here in Europe and in the US.
It’s nice to see the Japanese apparently choose more competent leaders who do not take this advice.
They will find ways to deal with their shrinking population that do not involve committing ethno-cultural suicide, as they have in the past:
By the time Germany celebrated the arrival of the 1 millionth immigrant worker(and rewarded him with a free car), the Japanese had already started using robots to make up for whatever manpower they, too, may have lacked during their “economic miracle” period.
At least some type of advanced civilization will survive.
True story: I once spoke with an American man who moved his family to Japan for business and ended up living there for more than 20 years (he was visiting relatives in the U.S. for Christmas) and he said that he felt more free and more satisfied with his life as a “second-class citizen” in Japan than he ever did in the United States. He had no plans to return to the U.S., even though his children moved back to the United States to attend college. As we transition to black rule in this country, I must say I envy his position.
If we go extinct, I hope Japan inherits the universe. They are humanity’s second chance.
The Japanese should be our model.
Just about everyone in Japan is not an idiot and is comfortable be for his/her own people, the rights of the Japanese people to live good, safe lives in Japan - or for that matter anywhere in the world.
I especially like the fact that Japanese culture hasn’t allowed alien, Middle Eastern religions to divide up Japanese society like they do in America.
And ask just about any Japanese person if they think Japan should do what America does, let millions of Third World illegal aliens flood into Japan, do murder and mayhem like they do here and the Japanese will just smile, laugh at such a foolish question.
The Japanese are not idiots.
We should do like the Japanese and stop doing idiotic things to our people in our countries.
And whenever someone gets in your face and says “Are You A RACIST”.
Reply:
“I am not an idiot”
“R U an idiot?”
Then go on the offensive and appeal to the crowd watching the confrontation and shout the various idiotic things the PC anti Racist supports like trying to assimilate Islamic fundamentalist immigrants in with pro homosexual marriage activists.
“The Japanese should be our model.”
Actually Japan used US as their model. What they are doing now is what we did before our people either went insane or became brain washed. We don’t need to emulate them; we simply need to do things as we used to.
Blacks belong in Africa. Asians belong in Asia. Indians belong in India. Arabs belong in Arabia. Native Americans belong on reservations. Eskimos belong in the Arctic. Mexicans belong in Mexico. Criminals belong in prison. Whites belong in Europe, North America, and Australia.
So let me get this straight, it’s okay for the white man to go into North America and Australia and kill and take over some elses culture. Then bring in slaves from africa to help jump start the economy. Then tell them not to enjoy the fruits of their labor but go to a country where they are culturally differnet.
Do some history homework, people said british people where inferior during the Roman empire (is that true today), the british thought that Irish and Scots were dumb and uncivilized (as most people sterotype blacks today) but look at where they are now. Some people thought that the Germans and Scandnavians were barbarians (look at what they done now). So you see what sterotypes have proven throughtout history.
You have a black president and there is not a comment on this website that can change that or the future of BLACKS in AMERICA.
BTW: We whites really do smell bad to Japanese noses:
TheJapanTimesOnline-
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080720x3.html
And I’ve heard they don’t want to sit next to whites on public transportation for that reason before.
Curiously, this even appeared in the same paper Clark writes for. He should have known better.
Kudos to the great Japanese people, an intelligent, vigorous, creative, and moral race. Keep Japan Japanese — never allow immigration, which will forever create ethnic conflict.
The shrinking population in Japan is only a temporary problem. In the short run, the Japanese will adapt by automation and innovation, and moving workforce from K-12 education to elder-care, etc. In the long run, as population falls, land and housing prices will fall, jobs will become available, there will be little need to build new infrastructure (roads, power plants, schools, sewage-treatment plants, etc.) saving Billions and Billions of Yen. The greatest part is that extraction of natural resources (fish, farming, timber, minerals will slow, as will pollution, allowing nature to re-stock fish & timber, and allowing the soils to rejuvenate. Hence, young Japanese of the future will find life easy — plentiful housing, natural resources and jobs, a clean environment and low social stress, with few infrastructure costs (=lowered taxes). Under those favorable conditions, the Japanese will begin to have larger families, again.
We in the West look to Japan with envy. Where we must do the heavy lifting of rolling back our open-borders policies, they were wise enough to never have had them.
Blacks belong in Africa. Asians belong in Asia. Indians belong in India. Arabs belong in Arabia. Native Americans belong on reservations. Eskimos belong in the Arctic. Mexicans belong in Mexico. Criminals belong in prison. Whites belong in Europe, North America, and Australia.
So let me get this straight, it’s okay for the white man to go into North America and Australia and kill and take over some elses culture. Then bring in slaves from africa to help jump start the economy. Then tell them not to enjoy the fruits of their labor but go to a country where they are culturally different.
Do some history homework, people said british people where inferior during the Roman empire (is that true today), the british thought that Irish and Scots were dumb and uncivilized (as most people sterotype blacks today) but look at where they are now. Some people thought that the Germans and Scandnavians were barbarians (look at what they done now). So you see what sterotypes have proven throughtout history.
You have a black president and there is not a comment on this website that can change that or the future of BLACKS in AMERICA.
Posted by rational thinker at 3:28 PM on January 20
It doesn’t matter what and how you think. Obama is THE MOST powerful man on the planet, things will change, if(hopefully)he becomes a two-term president, think about the supreme court, what do you think will happen? There will possibly be two upcoming slots and how do you think and who do you think Obama will appoint to those positions? Truly, the power is his and the country is changing for the better, regardless the emotional neuroses people have on this site. This is history in motion.
God Bless the Japanese. What a wonderful country. No riots, no crime, no slums, no violence. The #2 economy in the world created on a volcanic island chain with virtually no natural resources but the Japanese themselves. If I ever visit they can
You have a black president and there is not a comment on this website that can change that or the future of BLACKS in AMERICA.
Posted by rational thinker at 3:28 PM on January 20
However if Obama fails, there will be a number of people who think, “see? This is what happens when we give blacks too much responsibility. They can’t handle it.”
“You have a black president and there is not a comment on this website that can change that or the future of BLACKS in AMERICA”
This has rapidly become the irrelevant response of choice for blacks commenting upon virtually anything. What has Obama got to do with the subject of this article and commentary?
Is Japan the only racially sensible nation left on Earth? Or do the UN put them in the ‘too-hard basket’ when it comes to these issues.
Every European country should have been conducting its own affairs the way Japan has. They don’t like / want foreigners and don’t understand why they ‘have’ to accept them. Particularly refugees. Remember the ‘hoo-hah’ about Joerg Haider? ‘Democracy in action’ in Austria if one dares to push ‘Austria for Austrians’. Doesn’t happen like that in Japan.
Also, the only reason why rich Japanese companies are allowed to buy up property in countries such as the ones we live in, is because our weak-kneed ‘leaders’ allow them to do so.
I read on this very site that the Japanese are going to allow a large number of Indonesians into Japan for various labor projects. These Indonesians are most likely to be Muslims, and the very same Muslims that are now causing the Philippine Islands so much trouble. If the Japanese do allow this, say good-by to Japan.
Ricpic,
“Then bring in slaves from africa to help jump start the economy.”
Still holding onto that myth, I see.
Japan is like the only country where Chinese immigrants have a higher crime rate than the natives.
Good for the japanese people. They want to keep Japan japanese. They have the right to do what they want in their own country. If these foreigners don’t like it, they need to leave. Too bad the West wasn’t the same.
“Can you tell ,if why black slavs were such an economic boon, that the south’s economy was light years behind that of the heavily industrialized north?”
Because southern whites are dumber than northern whites? Just a thought.
LMAO, you had me going until the last line; where do the Native Americans and Aborigines belong?
Why does the presence of slaves retard economic progress?
Anonymous poster who wrote the excellent mini-thesis about the problems with slavery, I can add:
(4) The very presence of ubiquitous free labor precludes the development and growth of a middle class, be it a bourgeoise or a well-paid employee class, and also hinders technological advancement. Why pay one very well skilled man to accomplish a task when you can direct dozens and dozens of slaves to do the same? Why bother investing all the resources to make a piece of machine or electronics do something when there are slaves? The American South antebellum and even well into the “indentured servitude” era after the WBTS had no middle class and took slowly to mechanized farming for that reason.
Your (1) Point can be analogized by the crabs in the bucket axiom.
