Questions about Racism and Harassment

[3000Automnes]

Hi, everyone. I'm currently a second-year university student in Toronto, Canada, and I've been seriously considering going on the JET program for over a year now (still a long time before I can actually apply). I have every interest in learning Japanese and Japanese culture as well as gaining some English teaching experience abroad; I am currently doing my degree in Linguistics and East Asian Studies (main focus on Japanese) and I plan on getting a TESOL/TEFL certification before I actually participate. I also tutor kids in English and French for a few hours a week and I'm also planning to spend a summer in Japan to learn Japanese just to get a feel for what it's like there, so essentially, I'm trying to do all that I can to increase my chances of being accepted into this program.

The only thing that's stopping me from outright saying "I'm definitely applying to go!" is accounts by foreigners in Japan about racism and, in some cases, sexual harassment. Now, I've heard about foreign tourists and "temporary visitors" being treated overly nicely by the Japanese people many, many times; as a friend of mine put it, they are "worshipped" and "treated like gods" by the native Japanese. However, I haven't heard such stories a lot by non-Japanese people of Asian ethnicity. I myself am a Chinese-Canadian with family roots in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and I am concerned about standing out in Japan if I participate, because, according to one website I visited, Japanese people "have little tolerance" for Asian-looking people in Japan who don't know Japanese or Japanese social norms well. To sort of back up this claim, another friend of mine, who is an ethnic Chinese that lived in Japan for 8 years, told me that while living there, her family's mail was constantly stolen, her mother was bullied at her workplace, and she didn't have access to a few services, all because people knew that she and her family were trying to settle in Japan but were not ethnic Japanese people. Also, the fact that Japan and China haven't had the smoothest of relations recently is also a bit troubling for me, even though I'm not exactly from China.

Perhaps I've been fortunate, but the most racist thing that I've encountered so far happened when I was in a semi-rural town in Quebec (the predominantly French-speaking part of Canada); I was walking alone on the street during daytime, when two guys in a car drove up, rolled down their windows, pointed at me, and shouted "CHINESE MAN!" in broken English at me. I proceeded to do a weird, little dance, and they laughed and went on their way, and I didn't think much of that afterwards. But the cases in Japan that I've read on the Internet and heard about in real life seem much more serious than that little incident in Quebec. A few of the people writing about these experiences weren't on the JET program, but these still worry me to a degree. On the other hand, though, I've read about a few Asian-Canadian and Asian-American JETs being treated very respectfully (minus all the times Japanese people stop Caucasian JETs on the street for English practice). What I understand from the bit of research on Asian JET experiences that I've done so far is that "Your Mileage May Vary", and that there is no way to predict what will happen if I get into the program.

I would still like to ask, however, if it's possible that anyone can share their experiences as an Asian JET, or any experiences you've heard if you're not of Asian ethnicity but had an Asian JET colleague. I have seen only a few threads on this forum about racial issues, which leads me to believe that racism isn't a common major problem for JETs of any ethnicity. Most people on the program talk about how their experience on JET has been mostly good with the occasional, manageable setback that occurs mostly in the classroom, so I doubt that racism is that a frequent a problem, but it's been constantly bugging me ever since I considered going on the program. How do Japanese people view Asian JETs? Are JETs in general seen as "temporary visitors" or people trying to settle in Japan? What steps can be taken if someone being a non-Japanese Asian becomes a major issue in relations with the students or the teachers or the supervisors?

I've also heard of some cases of sexual harassment of the JET by teachers and even students became a major problem. Being a straight Chinese-Canadian male, I may or may not have the same chances of being sexually harassed as an attractive Caucasian woman, and I doubt that, again, this is a frequent problem, but if it's possible, I would like to get a few comments on this as well. I apologize if I seem prejudiced or xenophobic towards any group of people in my post, as I don't mean to be, since I would just like to get this issue off my mind so that I can focus on my university work now.

In short: Has anyone encountered a situation involving racism or sexual harassment, and how was it dealt with?

[Gekishinken]

I think with regards to this it is going to vary by locations. For instance, people from bigger cities are more welcoming of differences than those in the more rural areas. As for the non-Japanese asian thing...I can tell you that some Japanese do indeed have bias against Chinese. My best friend, who is from Tokyo has flat out told me that he "really hates Chinese people", likewise I have another friend from Osaka who implies he hates the Chinese without flat out saying it. Most of the Japanese students at my school really don't care though. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Teishou]

I will say that I never saw any of my Japanese friends associating with Chinese people. As a whole, the Chinese people I saw there were as annoying as the ones I see here - as in, those tour trips they might take with this huge group of people where they may not pay attention to anything or anyone out of their group. That's annoying, but other than that, haven't heard of much racism.

[AVN]

I think with regards to this it is going to vary by locations. For instance, people from bigger cities are more welcoming of differences than those in the more rural areas. As for the non-Japanese asian thing...I can tell you that some Japanese do indeed have bias against Chinese. My best friend, who is from Tokyo has flat out told me that he "really hates Chinese people", likewise I have another friend from Osaka who implies he hates the Chinese without flat out saying it. Most of the Japanese students at my school really don't care though. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I actually find that bigger cities (not as a rule) tend to be less welcoming to foreigners/have more problems with foreigners (more so those who live there as tourists are often bread and butter, again not a rule). They may be less sensitive to differences but this can also have the effect of them ignoring you or not reaching out to you.
In rural areas (especially if you're teaching in the area) they tend to welcome you with open arms and help you as much as possible.
There are exceptions to both of these situations especially dependent on the language abilty/attitude of the foreigner/Japanese person.

I do know of some Japanese people who have a negative impression of Chinese people but as far as I've been able to tell this is more towards Chinese tourists and I will admit my experience with Chinese tourists in Japan has not been a pleasant one either.

I also know they tend to be suspicious towards Chinese factory workers but that's because for the most part (from my experience) they're just here for the job/money. They keep to themselves often speak little to no Japanese and don't care about fitting in (which is a big deal to Japanese people).

As for Asian descent ALTs I have not heard of any discrimination. People tend to focus on them as being Canadian or other even if, as is the case for one of my friends, they were born in China. My friends have never complained of any discrimination beyond dealing with the fact they're often mistaken for Japanese.

This can be both good and bad. It gives you a bit more privacy outside of your town as not everyone will instantly recognize you as foreign (though the way you dress or walk can still give you away a lot of the time). It can be bad if you don't speak Japanese well or even if you do but just not at a natural level. They will talk to you as they would any other Japanese person and assume you're dumb if you don't understand them and don't inform them you're not from Japan.

[randomguy]

Before going to Japan I was worried about the same thing, too. But one of my professors told me that although they're everywhere, it's more the Japanese who keep to themselves and do stuff like post on 4chan who are the really xenophobic ones. I found this to be pretty true during my stay there, although I admit, of course, this is only anecdotal.

In Japan, I didn't meet any overt racism, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your ethnically Chinese friend living in Japan is proof of this. Take whatever incidents may come your way, but also remember that it won't represent the whole of Japan. Do your best to meet and reach out to as many people as possible both inside and outside work, and you'll see.

Yes, the friction between Japan and China is a huge sticking point, but that's just one side of a multifaceted issue. Today there are more and more Japanese students going to China, and other parts of Asia, to study abroad. Japanese businesses are obviously more eager to do transactions with China. In general, China's rise hasn't gone unnoticed by Japan. That doesn't mean all is fine and you'll be treated like a king, though, but it does mean that Japan is not that hostile to China/Chinese.

My advice to you is simple: go do JET, or if you can't do that, do eikaiwa. Show them that you're willing to be a positive role in their community. You will probably feel a pang of jealousy of the different way people treat you vs. other foreigners, but that just means you gotta keep trying harder and smarter to make your mark. Your Mileage May Vary, true, but remember you also have control of what you can do. Don't forget, you're gonna be in JET as a cultural ambassador, and if this issue bothers you, do something about it in a productive and positive way (i.e. no screaming at random passersby to stop being racist ).

Ultimately, you don't want to be accepted for what you are, you want to be accepted for who you are, and what you do for them.

Also…. don't do dances for idiots. You're nobody's monkey.

Please let me know here or by PM if you have any more questions! I'd be happy to answer them.


(Incidentally, the non-tourist Chinese people I've met in Japan have been very kind. They might even approach you and you can have a chat with them in some instances when they find out you're not Japanese )

[Patryn]

yeah, I think everyone finds all large tour group trip people annoying. I've gone past many annoying US tour groups before as well as Japanese ones and Chinese ones. So very annoying. xD

ESID. Deal with it if it comes, but I wouldn't say it's a common thing in my experience. Most Japanese people mistake me for Japanese most of the time and leave me to my own devices unless I ask for help or do something wrong. xD I think it's easier to offend people though, because I look Japanese and I should know better, but after a few apologies and explaining that I have no idea what they're saying coz I'm not Japanese, they're usually a bit more forgiving. I haven't done anything super wrong yet, so not sure what would happen then.
And yeah, I do sometimes get jealous of the JETs who look foreign coz they get some really cool things happening to them, but they also stand out more and can't just blend into the background. xD

[hysan]

yeah, I think everyone finds all large tour group trip people annoying. I've gone past many annoying US tour groups before as well as Japanese ones and Chinese ones. So very annoying. xD

Haha, NYer here and man are tour groups annoying!

Anyway, also an Asian JET here (Chinese-American), and I live in rural Japan. Gonna have to repeat what everyone else is saying and say that ESID. My town welcomed me with open arms and everyone has treated me very nicely. I did get mistaken for being Japanese so most townspeople tried to speak to me in Japanese (in dialect!) when I first got here. Those were some interesting situations to navigate!

I think if you just give an honest effort to try and fit in (I did a lot of reading on Japanese customs prior to arriving) and show that you are trying to learn Japanese, then people will treat you well. In fact, this pretty much goes with any country as no one wants some random foreigner showing up and staying ignorant of the local culture/customs. So I say put your worries aside as there is no way you'll know what type of community you'll get placed in. Instead, focus on what you want to get out of your JET experience.

[king]

Certainly there will be a lot more people expecting you to just know Japanese and being annoyed when you don't but outright racism is pretty low level.
Where Japanese are racist it does tend to be the Chinese and Koreans they have it in for but there aren't specially many racists here, just like British racists tend to have it in for Asians (due to Asians being our biggest minority) it doesn't mean Asians then should avoid Britain.
I know a few East Asian Jets and about the only racism I've heard of it was one Chinese-Australian girl who was apparently a pretty crap ALT and hated by her supervisors- some of this dislike was vented as racism though it wasn't the root cause of it.

[Namisuke]

My experience from traveling is that there seem to be the same number of idiots everywhere. You will likely come across at least one jerk in every place you visit, but amongst that one jerk you will come across tons of sweethearts. It isn't necessarily a location thing, but a personal thing. There are racists and bullies everywhere - it all depends on your chance of running into them. I have personally only seen and heard of a few incidents in my prefecture, but those are few and far between. It is a lot more likely to get reverse racism (special treatment) because you are a foreigner. However, my predecessor is a Japanese American, and he said he was often expected to know the language and social norms with people whom he had never met. Once he told them his situation, they started to understand. Even though I am obviously foreign, I have the same thing happen to me (people surprised I can't speak Japanese well, etc.), so it might not have simply been a racial thing. Dealing with things in a friendly manner (without getting angry or racist in return) is a great way to deal with it. Patience with people is also important. If someone doesn't end up liking you, it might not just be about race either. Dealing with someone who doesn't personally like you is something you would have to differentiate and deal with separately.

[EhimeDave]

Racism is far more prevalent in Japanese cities than out in the countryside. Countryside people might have some crazy beliefs about the integrity of Chinese people and the quality of their vegetables and stuff like that but you'll never see bands of 右翼団体 roaming the streets of Matsuyama in Ehime starting riots and looking for random Chinese people to beat down.

Yes, this happens all the time in Tokyo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XUrXoGsKwA

[EricaHartmann]

Chinese/Vietnamese born in Australia living in a small town that's pretty close to Tokyo. No racism whatsoever so far, in fact my school treats me as an Australian not an Asian. The general community doesn't even notice anyway since I am alright at Japanese.

It really isn't a problem, it's just you're more likely to see people talk or write about bad experiences than you are to hear about good ones. My students are great with me, I get along with everyone at school, I am part of a local karate dojo and been involved in helping clean up after tournaments. Too bad you don't get to read about the good stories as often.

[3000Automnes]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It's certainly encouraging to know that the actual cases of race becoming an issue are rare.

I suppose a willing, positive attitude plays a big part in being treated more nicely; the more you try to fit in and not stand out, the less issues you're likely to encounter and misinterpret as personal attacks. That's probably an important quality the JET interviewers look for in candidates. I know that when I see or hear someone here in Canada who deliberately stands out, I get somewhat annoyed, although I don't usually say anything to them. But Japan is another country and there are all kinds of people who will do different things to deal with people who seem to be one of them and stand out for some reason. I'm more than willing to drop current habits and read up and adopt new ones to live somewhere else and not stand out; I read up on French habits and taboos a bit before I stayed in France for a month and I thought it was fun playing this new role in a new society (I didn't mind or notice the stares). Most people who wrote negative stories seemed to either not accept that they were in a different country with different expectations and insisted on being different from the rest of the populace or automatically equated negative comments about them or their teaching to racism without looking at other possible reasons.

I wonder they hold different opinions of non-Japanese Asians from China or South Korea or Vietnam and those from a Western country, though? Would an Asian-looking person saying something like カナダから来ました make the Japanese have different expectations regarding behaviour or some other matter as compared to Asians from China or Korea?

And as for the 右翼団体, they pretty much seem to hate all foreigners, so it's probably not a problem specific to one foreign race.

[randomguy]

Yeah, that's the way to go

I wonder they hold different opinions of non-Japanese Asians from China or South Korea or Vietnam and those from a Western country, though? Would an Asian-looking person saying something like カナダから来ました make the Japanese have different expectations regarding behaviour or some other matter as compared to Asians from China or Korea?

Well, this is totally unscientific, but out of curiosity I once did a Google search for チャイニーズアメリカン to see what kinds of comments there were（中国系アメリカ人 only got news-y results, and I was interested in more informal comments) and about the only negative thing that was really prominent was some comment about our horrible hairstyles . So, don't worry and just work on your hair, I guess?

From personal experience, they all knew I was a native English speaker, but whether that translated automatically as "American" (/Canadian/Australian/etc) is more fuzzy. Some saw me as American, a small minority didn't (though it didn't bother them), others I couldn't tell what they thought. I can say that I was never treated as someone who was supposed to represent China. I actually asked this same question to one of my friends by email a while back, so I might get back to you on that.

[Inago]

Japan's roots are multi-ethnic (Jomon, Ainu, Korean, Chinese), but today of course, it is largely, visibly homogenous. People often argue that their experiences in Japan tend to be xenophobic rather than racist, but considering that the prime indicator that a person is an outsider is the fact that they are visibly different or speak different, racism can't be discounted at all. By definition, a considerable amount of racism exists in Japan (the act of treating people different because of their race or the group they belong to); yet this is largely do to a lack of education about visibly different minorities. Foreigners who spend a large amount of time in Japan eventually encounter obvious racism, sometimes shocking or even frightening, yet most of what you will encounter is subtle and unconscious due to a lack of cultural awareness and racial sensitivity found in more multicultural societies. You will encounter far more subtle forms of racism (being ignored, being scrutinized, etc) in Japan than most places, but overt and institutionalized forms of racism are rare. Most Japanese nationals will admit that they don't treat foreigners equally, but don't recognize how often their behavior is regarded as discriminatory in other nations.

Of course, Japan, like any place is a nation of individual personalities, individual values, and individual preferences. Voting tendencies, income and quality of education can vary greatly from area to area, as do attitudes towards outsiders. Likewise, individual Japanese can be fond of things French, while largely disliking Americans, or they can be fond of other Asian countries, while largely disliking some westerns. It does seem, hostile attitudes towards other Asians are more often due to long term systemic prejudicial views towards other Asians, while hostile attitudes toward people from western nations tends to take the form of angry resentment. Yet, generalizations about Japanese attitudes toward any particular group are difficult to make--and should be avoided.

Like most nations, research shows that racism is actually the strongest in areas with the largest amount of foreigners (racist attitudes are stronger towards blacks in Alabama than they are in Oregon in the US), and like any place in the world, it varies with education, income, and the amount of personal contact with foreigners (conversation, friendship, colleagues who are foreigners, etc.). Yet, there are exceptions here even, poorer areas in Osaka with large Korean populations can be the least racist due to a greater emphasis on education demanded by Korean residents in the past. Like any part of the world, there are places to avoid in Japan, and often for a good reason. Some localities are even known for their negative treatment toward other Japanese from outside their areas.

A considerable amount of education about discrimination toward Ainu, Koreans, Chinese, Okinawans and even Buraku people (descendents of a poor feudal class), and a considerable amount of legal changes have occurred that have made it much easier for other Asians (the adoption of a Japanese alias by ethnic Koreans, for example) to hide their ethnic origin. Discrimination towards Chinese and Koreans is at least heavily recognized and largely intolerable by the majority of the population, while at the same time, other Asians in Japan often feel that they can conceal their identity and escape some of the treatment that other visible minorities encounter. The more you are able to blend in, however, the more people will assume you speak fluent Japanese, and the responses you get will not always be positive, though most often surprised.

While there are countless stereotypes about Americans (both negative and positive), there are few in regard to Canadians. Revealing your Canadian nationality will reveal largely neutral to curious attitudes from Japanese nationals, yet, Asian Canadians often feel like they aren't treated like "real" Canadians. The sexual harassment you will encounter in schools seems to be more of a problem with classroom management and lack of coordinated discussion between regular teachers and JET teachers. You will encounter these problems more with contract ALT jobs in low performing schools more than though the JET program.

I have been traveling and living in Japan for 16 years, and this is topic that I am still researching so hopefully I have been of some help. The JET program has been highly successful in Japan both for fostering more positive attitudes towards other nations and for building positive attitudes toward Japan. But remember, Japan is highly unaware of the attitudes that exist in multicultural societies, you will be an educator in this regard as well.

[GunmaBrentPA]

I'm not Asian, but I've had this conversation a few times with Asian friends, so I hop no one minds if I offer a few points.

Few folk I know have complained of outright racism or hostility. Sometimes this links directly to how "Japanese-passing" they are. Friends from Chinese or Korean families may not even get a second glance and/or are assumed to be Japanese while obviously not Japanese me gets extra attention. It depends on the situation as to whether or not this is a plus or minus.

Aside from the already mentioned expectations an Asian face should mean advanced knowledge of Japanese etiquette one of the biggest complaints I have heard is that Asian ALTs may not get the rock star treatment that some of us non-Asians get from our students. Also, sometimes regardless of language ability, the Asian JET might have to serve as the voice as the group as in isn't uncommon for wait staff, shopkeeps to primarily address the most Japanese looking person in the group.

The closest thing to harassment that I've heard commonly (because everyone likely has at least one crazy story about harassment as an outlier experience) is from friends of South Asian (or Russian) appearance who drunken salarymen assume are in the "entertainment" industry. Most of those involved in such stories have classified them more as annoyances than harassment, but it is out of my realm of experience.