The Korean Japanese are well-known as victims of Japanese racism themselves. (Could be worse - could be Ainu.) But, without wishing to lapse into racist stereotying, some would say that the Koreans are the most xenophobic of the lot.
In Japan, people employ private detectives to run checks on prospective marriage partners, to make sure they are not partly Korean/Chinese/Ainu/untouchable. This guy’s daughter would be rejected by many prospective fathers-in-law there. Maybe he needs some irony pills.
My thoughts exactly Hemlock. That’s one of the most annoying things. Its almost like he’s adopted the same discriminatory standards that are used to judge him. WTF?
Its just because the Japanese, like all Asian societies, think they are the center of the universe (I’m half-Korean, and my damned mother is like that.) Too bad that the Japanese come from Korean stock, and in the end, none of those countries matter because the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia are the center of the universe.
bongmaster has a point about mixed race kids in Japan. I haven’t paid much attention to it but have heard some horror stories. Unless you plan on making a career there it may not make a difference anyway.
I understand your point about the Koreans taking up the attitudes of the Japanese. Odd though, the two groups hate each other. The Koreans I know are just barely civil to Japanese and never mix socially. I always got a kick out of the Japanese discovering they were descended from Koreans. Given the attitudes some of them have, it must be an uncomfortable bit of knowledge, rather like the grand wizard of the KKK discovering he was descended from Africans. LOL
Regardless of all that: All the best to you and the planned Mrs. cankerist.
Thanks for the good wishes Testy. Believe me I am very aware of the ‘hafu’ issue in Japan as I have a few friends with mixed kids over here, but all in all they don’t have any problems fitting in at school, so I’m not too worried on that front.
When you press the Japanese on the issue of their ancestry they may admit that their forebears came from that area of land that is now Korea, but in their minds its like coming from some proto-stock culture that has since diverged among different evolutionary paths. Well, that might be putting it too strongly, but that’s the general feeling.
I had a similar, but lighter problem, with my mother-in-law.
My girlfriend is Asian, while I come from a boot-shaped country that is famous only for food, fashion and churches in those parts of the world. So she told me she got comments about me similar to the ones cankerist’s GF got.
Luckily she appears to have gotten over them, so things are getting better. After all this kind of fears is caused by worry for one’s daughter (mixed with cultural shock, OK), right? So, I think I can understand the behaviour, even if I cannot justify it.
But cankerist’s GF’s father overdid it and behaved like a moron anyway. Nothing is stronger that love for one’s daughter, but this is plain dumb!
Felicitations, cankerist, and don’t bother about the man. Time will settle things.
