First, I live in Japan now, have lived here for more than 7 seven years (though not all at once), have been married to a Japanese woman for 3.5 years, and am completely fluent in the language.
OK, here’s my overall take, then I’ll get into specific posts. It’s very hard to confront stereotypes/concepts of Japan because the association we apply to the discussion are often wrong on both macro and micro levels. For example, Japan is a conformist country, but so is the US. But conformity in Japan is a lot different than it is in the US. Another. Japan is racist, it is true, but racism takes a very different form than it does in the US.
Another. Japan is rich. Yes, but the number of homeless here is absolutely staggering; you see bums everywhere and absolutely every day. They are dropouts from society. They build shanties along river banks or right on the street. Now, what do your associations tell you–what do you imagine? Bums often beg in the US; in Japan they almost never do.
Do you see what I mean about associations? One qualification leads to another to another to another…
Specifics.
Japan also has a very homogenous society, which refuses to grant lesser races, such as the koreans, Japanese citizenship.
Yes, I’ve read it is the most homogenous society in the world, the biggest minority being ethnic Korean. Yes, it’s shitty how these people are treated. But things are changing, and more and more people are able to get Japanese citizenship. A Chinese person in my company has done so.
Japan is concerned about their society being over-run and inter-bred into decline. Japan is a racist county where a caucasian, african, or indian person will never be seen as an equal to a true Japanese.
This is wrong. This is where your associations have led you up a blind alley. Points:
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Most Japanese don’t consider the Japanese race to be superior to other races; if anything, they have an inferiority complex vis-a-vis Caucasians. Of course, some Japanese are outright racists.
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Many Japanese, on the other hand, feel that Japan is in a limited sense culturally superior to most other countries. Basically, many Japanese feel that they are hard-working and what they should, whereas “gaijin” are not so conscientious.
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Now, as a foreigner living here, I rarely feel that a Japanese person is looking down on me as not being “equal.” That does not mean, however, (associations again!) that many Japanese do not have tons of stupid prejudices and foolish associations of their own. They do.
It is very difficult to secure an apartment in Japan unless you can reference several people who are already japanese citizens.
I’ve never had a problem myself, but I’ve always had a company or my Japanese family to back me up. I’ve heard similar stories, however. One fact, however, is that most Japanese banks won’t give you a home loan unless you are a citizen or have permanent residency (the latter being about as difficult to get as citizenship). These banks are practically beggining for credit-worthy people to borrow money, but they won’t even consider foreigners. In fact, I had a confrontation in the co. cafeteria the other day with a dim-wit from just such a bank.
The term gaijin accurately connotates these fears/biases, meaning foreigner with a negative, inferior connotation. Those who visit japan and learn the language, and customs, are seen as animals merely imitating what they see, it is somewhat like a zoo with the tourist in the cage.
No, this is way extreme. There is not that level of negativity. Here’s another false association, I think, that is troubling you: Japanese people are not much into theory at all. There is no this Nazi/Euro-style myth of who is inferior, to what degree, and why. Most of the time Japanese people just don’t think at all! That’s the big problem I have with this country.
At any rate, it take a certain kind of nerve to live here as a foreigner. It is not nearly as bad as it used to be (things have changed even since I first came here in 1992), but there are just lots of dumb thoughts about “gaijin” and what to expect from them and, heck, life in general, that, yes, life here is often frustrating. For example, one of the least pleasant activities for me is ordering fast food at McDonald’s. The kiddies at the register just assume based on my white face that I’m a tourist who can’t speak Japanese–and you really have to fight this vibe, or it makes you flub your pronounciation, etc.!
On the other hand, I’ve intereacted with Japanese people who barely even seemed to notice I was “foreign.” And I’ve interacted with Japanese who simply couldn’t comprehend that I could speak Japanese. And the two types are not necessarily correllated with intelligence/education, either.
These feelings are not limited to the island. I recall a History documentary on WW2 internment camps housing japanese, german, and italian citizens seen as a threat to the war effort. In these scenarios, the japanese formed their own impenetrable “clique”, not even acknowledging the other people’s presence.
When I was in graduate school (1998-2000), the Chinese students were incredibly cliquish, the Japanese moderately, and the Indians not much at all. In my experience, Japanese people tend to be very uncool in foreign countries, however. They bitch about the food and everything else and seem, oddly, to experience very little enjoyment or sense of wonder at being in a new place. I got this impression while on a company trip to Australia with a bunch of people who were not, in that instance, self-selecting for travel.
My reasoning is that Japan suffers from a strong sense of self-doubt of their own culture, so in response, their pride is exaggerated.
This is an incredibly complex matter, although I think this is basically true. Japanese tend to have a vague insecurity toward Ameri-Euro cultures. But they often know so little about them in the first place, or have false understandings, so they might not know what to be insecure about to begin with!
For example, it can be argued that Japanese culture was initially inherited from the Chinese.
This is wrong. The Japanese got their writing system from the Chinese, but very little Chinese vocabulary is used in the classics until, I don’t know, the 1500s or so. You’d have to know Japanese to know what I’m talking about. Of course, there was big influence from China, but also from Korea. For example, classical Chinese and Japanese poetry don’t have much in common.
More recently, Japanese culture can be seen as a pale imitation of american culture.
What culture? I think the problem with modern Japan is that there isn’t one. Not a deep one. The pop culture here works pretty independently of American pop culture, however. The thing is, there tend to be two categories for everything. For example, there is a chart for Japanese pop and one for “foreign pop.” This is partly logical because of language, but I think another big aspect is to create a market for locally produced music, movies, etc. It’s media-driven.
For example, I pick up international stations on my 500 odd channel cable system. A program broadcast by a Tokyo company featured a fourteen year old girl singing a song, wearing a t-shirt with an american flag, and wearing a gold belt with the word “C A $ H” on it. Certainly “bling” is not a japanese custom?
Japan had great pop music from 1990 to 1998, and now it’s all pathetic pre-teen bands and junk. I don’t know what happened, but things were good for awhile.
But let me give you the real dirt on Japan. I think all foreigners sooner or later come to this conclusion. I fought it for a while myself. Oh no, I was never one of the dumbasses who can come here, live here awhile, and still think Japan is about tatami mats and “zen” (Buddhism is totally dead in this country btw. Totally).
But the conclusion is this: Japan is a fundamentally fucked-up country. People’s heads are filled with junk pop culture. People here are rigid thinkers and incredibly small-minded. This country, as a whole, is willfully so. It is very frustrating trying to work in business here; logic does not rule: emotion and a vague “Japaneseness” do. Businesses would rather go down the loo while staying Japanese than do it the right way and survive. Hey, this is a suicide culture. It really is. Japan right now would rather suffer permanent economic stagnation and a disastrously low birthrate than adapt and thrive. And I’ll tell you this: it ain’t gonna change.
All that said, there are many good things about the Japanese and living here. They are basically nice, good people who don’t get in your face and who avoid conflict and problems. They know what good food is, and good liquor. They are creative and funny; it’s just a canard they they only “imitate.” It’s a safe country, and they do make many good, high-quality products, for which they are justifiably rewarded with money.
My 2c!
