When it comes to Japan’s more hands-on means of amusement, non-Japanese are not always welcome — the bath-based satisfactions of soapland being especially well known for its racial restrictions. A policy that this maid-themed massage place in particular has taken to heart, making sure that foreigners know in no uncertain terms how unwelcome they are before they’ve even dared walk through the door.
However, somewhat more surprising is the far from favourable feelings towards foreigners expressed by Japan’s tourist industry. As, despite the nation’s continually touted Yokoso! Japan (Welcome!) campaign, a recent survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has discovered that a lot of hotels and inns are more than content to accommodate only their countrymen:
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs says over 70 percent of Japanese inns and hotels that didn’t have foreign guests last year don’t want any in the future either. The ministry says that a survey of such businesses showed they feel unable to support foreign languages and that their facilities are not suited to foreigners. The survey released Thursday shows that over 60 percent of Japan’s inns and hotels had foreign guests last year, but the majority of the rest don’t want any.
A set of figures that if nothing else must please ex-Tourism and Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama, who was forced to resign after — among other things — claiming that Japanese people were “ethnically homogeneous” and “definitely … do not like foreigners.” Although at the same time, with such strong support from certain sections of society, he may well feel that his decision to step down was happen a bit hasty.
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{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Kind of depressing, especially for a foreigner that’s looking to move there in a few years. Just a reality we have to live with, I guess.
Being a Gaijin in Japan is about as close as a white guy can get to experiencing what its like to be a black guy in the states (well maybe just a taste). My Japanese wife and I with our children were once turned away from a restaurant which was ‘Japanese only”.
Here in Spain that kind of local policy is illegal and, although there are places where some ethnic groups are not so welcomed, it’s never so explicit, and of course can’t reach the point where you get fired.
It is sad; especially for a country that has so many wonderful things. This kind of overt racism taints the whole experience of being in Japan.
Of course, there are some foreigners, as there are in any country, who fail to understand the etiquette of the local culture. However, most foreigners are not thugs or yobs, but only wish to engage in the culture, so that they can learn and enjoy it.
Yet, I have nothing but pity for racists, bigots and small-minded individuals. Their fear of the unfamiliar is a trap. Whilst they hide behind their doors terrified of difference, I boldly travel around the globe embracing all the variety that it has to offer. With certainty, I know that my life is one filled with exotic experiences, for which the bigots can but only dream of.
The main reason given by businesses that don’t want to serve foreigners, is that the foreigners don’t speak Japanese, and the business therefor can’t deal with them properly – especially if the gaijin in question is causing problems by not knowing Japanese culture.
It is apparently illegal for them to ban foreigners as a class… but most foreigners 1: don’t know the laws and 2: can’t speak the language in order to actually argue it.
I’ve been told that most places that have signs like this will let gaijin in with no problems if they have a Japanese friend with them or display a working knowledge of the language.
Daemon has a point (although there is still a degree of racism—even among Japanese—present in Japan). I went with some Japanese friends to get a massage, and I was turned away once inside. Logically, it turned out. The proprietors explained to my friends that because I was not fluent in Japanese, any potential misunderstanding between myself and one of the girls could quickly get out of hand. Safety of the staff was paramount, and I fully support that.
how did they know you were not fluent in japanese? did they talk to you?
to me it’s more of an excuse that they don’t allow foreigners because they’re worried of misunderstandings. those that speak japanese should be allowed in.
this is some bad press for the tourism trade coming into japan when signs read essentially your not welcome. i’d rather see a sign asking foreigners to have an accompanied translator then one stating bigotry.
Having been to Tokyo, I NEVER encountered any of this. During my entire trip, the Japanese were the most polite, friendly and gracious people I have ever met anywhere in the world. I can’t say enough about how well I was treated.
Ah, key word in your comment “TRIP”. Short term visitors are far more likely to have comments such as yours. If you stayed a few years you’d encounter it.
I have been in Tokyo for the last 9 months, but never faced any racial discrimination from any of the Japanese people I interacted with. Dailiy I have to travel in the fully packed Toei trains in the morning to reach office at Tokyo. If Japanese people have any such racial feelings, at least I could have sensed when I travel in the train almost literally ‘sand-witched’
Japanese people have self restriction in talking with us due to language barrier. This is ofcourse true. And have nothing to do with the European or American versions of racial discrimination culture. Why in European and American only, in the racially mixed and complexed my own country India, more than half of the population still practice those ‘untouchability’ caste or racial discrimination at maximum possible events of life.
‘Japan’s lack of fondness for foreigners’ would be rather interested to view as a misinterpreted fear of Japanese people towards English and their sincere apology to handle foreign people.
I’ve never been but from what I understand of the culture, Jayaprakash’s take on the subject seems valid; they are probably afraid of miscommunication and the resulting embarrassment more than anything.
so what? their incompetence shouldn’t be a reason to treat others badly should it? come on, show some respect for your own ‘kind’ will you.
the very first thing they should do is ask foreigners if they understand japanese. if they do, then good. if they don’t then yeah there would be a good reason to not allow them in. but i bet that most of them never bother to ask.
As a black man living in Japan, I can tell you first hand that jayaprakash is very fortunate. I experience acts of xenophobia and/or racism daily. I’ve found that lack of English is just an excuse they use to rationalize their fear. I can speak Japanese fairly well and I’ve gone out of my way to make that fact known when i go places just to test that theory. For example, I pretend to have a phone conversation and let loose some fluency. Sometimes it works, and people around me relax but usually it makes no difference. I have simply taken to ignoring the ignorance, and channeling my inner Obama (-: Patience is needed when dealing with such blatant hostility. Of course it takes on a much more polite form than it would in the US. No violence or anything of that nature. But, in a way, to be discriminated against politely is even more offensive than the American way. When people turn away from you on crowded trains, or leave the car and re-enter at another door, or give enough space on a train to do calisthenics, or refuse to occupy the seat besides of you, or transfer wallets and purses from to the side opposite you, or refuse to speak Nihongo or to understand you even though you are speaking their language to them (some actually say, sorry I don’t speak English!!!” Bitch! I’m speaking your language!!!” I want to say) or any of a hundred other obscenities I deal with regularly, it’s enough to make you wanna ring somebody’s neck! Anyway, living here has taught me a great deal about patience and tolerance and I think when I go home (God Bless America- never thought I”d ever say that) I’ll be a better man for it.
Baye…I thought I was the only one who had those things happen to me. I am a white average looking male and I too get those looks and reactions. I find that the only people here in Tokyo who are nice to me are the people who have too…ie: service employees (7-11, Lawsons…etc). Ironically, I find that I get the worst looks from old women and middle age men. The only time people smile or don’t act scared of me is when I’m with my daughter…who looks 100% Japanese.
I also find that the lack of willingness to hire foreigners is out of control. A Japanese national will always get the job first.
The Japanese will refuse to admit their racist feelings but if you actually look around you will see the reality.
by the way, if you want to learn more of my take on Japan check out my blog at:
http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com/
(-:
I’ve lived in Japan for 5 years and I can say this. Most Japanese are not racist, but some most certainly are (as any country). The difference to other countries is it’s tolerated, ignored and excused (“Japan’s an island country” is a common one) and the most racist offenders are IN the government (Ishihara and the above mentioned Nakayma).
Also, I might rub some people the wrong way here, but not all foriegners are treated equally. I’m as white as they come and NOT American, so I’ve had little trouble except some grumpy old bastards and young punks trying to prove a point. And I have never been asked for ID by the cops, not once.
However some friends of mine who are black, middle eastern and ESPECIALLY non-Japanese Asians get racist treatment on an almost daily basis. I totally believe Baye when he says what he said.
In summary, the Japanese are no more racist than anyone else, but there is no real force to combat it here.
I live here in Japan and I’ve nvr been treated that way.Well yea I did find them who turned away when I asked abt something as directions,but I think its bcz of the language barrier.As for the black people,idk,but many of my japanese friends more like ‘afraid’ to them.yknw thr are many black men who often forcefully grab n drag us to their clubs or shops whr they’re working at,n it aint a good thing.so myb its bcz of the bad image they hv in mind
After reading Baye and JayJay probably I have to consider myself ‘fortunate’ or I have to spend more years to face that kind of racism from Japanese people. I agree with JayJay that ‘not all foreigners are treated equally’.
I need to find out from Japanese colleagues only the reason why they treat foreigners differently, whether it is due to the skin color or country’s image. My own previous version of Fear to English language only does not hold true on the lights of Baye’s experiences in Japan. I don’t either speak Japanese fluently like Baye.
Need more real life experience from other friends.
One reason that soaplands and other such services refuse foreigners is cause they believe HIV and AIDS to be a “foreigner disease,” and believe that it is more common than it actually is.
Well, I don’t live in Japan but I go pretty often (about once a year) to just vacation. I haven’t had too much trouble w/ the local folks. Akihabara has been quite nice and I haven’t had any real problems in Maid Cafe’s despite the language barriers.
The biggest problem I faced was at a yakitori stand under the train in shimbashi. Don’t really blame the guy that much as we couldn’t even order. We just went to the yakitori place next door that had an english menu and it was all good.
Strange thing is that even though i’m Chinese people there always assumed I was Japanese and would speak to me. Hell in Osaka a couple of times people came up to me to ask me directions.
I agree what everyone has posted. As a matter of fact, you are all right in your own way. But remember, isn’t the reason we all came to Japan is to be in a place that is not like our own country? If the Japanese are or are not bigots, that is not the question. The question should be, what can I get out of this experience and how can I change the world into a better place because I was here in Tokyo. We understand that America has bigots, but isn’t that what makes our lives worth living? We can make a positive change to our surroundings. By the way, Obama is half white and half black. That makes him, us!
You know there is a VERY good reason why they have “no foreigners allowed” signs hanging up in some places. Think of it as like you are sitting in class and someone acts stupid and pisses the teacher off and then the teacher gives everyone extra homework because of what one person did. Some foreigners do not know how to act while in another country, and it ruins it for everyone else. Same goes with trying to rent an apartment or a hotel in Japan.
sure, but does that allow them to discriminate against all foreigners? of course not!
they should treat every foreign individual respectively, not lable them as a whole group of bad people.
fasdfh: remember that we are not living in a perfect world, and I am sure that you have the same attitude toward different people (lumping them all as one)–it’s natural human behaviour to judge. what thrustie says is so dead-on. I have traveled a lot and noticed the obnoxious behaviour, particularly of americans in foreign countries and it is downright embarrassing. and no, I realize it’s not ALL americans who act like idiots abroad, but unfortunately, it is more often than not that the moronic behaviour’s source is american.
Folks, there’s no comparison between racism in east Asian mainstays, like Japan/Korea, vs let’s say an American city, like NYC or Philadelphia. By nature, overt racism is looked down upon, outside of the redneck parts of the USA, and if no one’s realized, every white ethnicity is “Americanized” within a single generation, from Ireland -> to -> Malta -> to-> Finland. There’s practically no difference from the American p.o.v. So for America, it boils down to skin color and language (mainly Spanish vs English). From there, social gradients start to form in terms of class/education, etc. I’ve notice that ‘white’ hispanic isn’t even really ‘hispanic’ from the American lens of the world esp once that person develops a New York or Miami accent. That person then becomes another look-a-like Italian-American by default.
In contrast, east Asian countries discriminate on both race and nationality. People do not go from Chinese or Korean to Japanese, after a generation or two, of living there. In fact, third generation of Koreans, living in Japan, feel like outsiders. All and all, mixed Asian ethnics are better off in Singapore or Hawaii, where they have diasporas of similar backgrounds. So true, Japan is insular and I think foreign residents should consider not looking at the place as a potential place to settle in but a place to do business and to hang out in. And if you’re an American, married to a Japanese person, make sure you raise your child in Hawaii so that they have an authentic homeland. Don’t let those first few years make them feel like they’re an outsider for life. It’s easier to live in Japan (or another non-assimilating culture) once you’d established an identity elsewhere like a Hawaiian or continental American.
I am Japanese and I can tell you that we don’t want you foreigners moving here to Japan. When you ask a foreigner why they want to move here, they give the same answer, “Because I like the culture”. When asked a follow up question, “What do you know about Japanese culture?”, the response is usually an ignorant one.
Just because you watch Japanese anime and movies doesn’t mean that’s how Japanese live, or that’s the culture.
We know why you white devils want to move here. We’re not fat and stupid like you Americans.
Well Kenji…I agree that the people who come here because they “Love the Culture” are not straight in the head. However, a lot of us did not move here because of the culture we moved here for other reasons.
You may not like us “FAT” Americans but your women love our FAT cocks!
I think people who love the word “racist”, seem to ignore the practicality of not allowing foreigners in certain contexts. It is possible, that what is racist is also reasonable, precaution – I just don’t buy that someone who discriminates is necessarily doing the wrong thing.
For example, if I see a person who has certain facial features (say something like a ‘Maori’) and he threatens me. I recognise the facial features over and over and every time I see a person of these strong facial features, the person is violent, angry or threatening.
After several years of seeing only danger in relation to a person with these facial features then discriminating or prejudging the next one you see IS PERFECTLY REASONABLE. Normally, this sort of common sense is called “experience” or learning, but in the context of people it’s racist. But who cares when it’s a reasonable precaution? To call it racist and it assumes it apprehensible is stupid. It’s racist but it’s not necessarily wrong in all contexts.
If I were in Tokyo, where American/Russian sailors and nob-heads walk the streets, I would probably disallow foreigners as well, to be quite honest.
Kenji, your argument Is a legitimate one, but your accusations are baseless and unfounded. You preach of Foreigner’s ignorance, and at the same time fall victim to hypocrisy. Your words exude ignorance in it’s purest and most unadulterated form, hatred.
You know nothing of how we live, or anything of our culture. You see Hollywood and read about Us from unreliable or uncredited sources, that sounds just like Americans and your Anime.
Thank you, for reaffirming my “assumption” and I say assumption, because I am not fool enough to judge your countrymen on your own selfish words.
-Anonymous
I have a relative who is half-Japanese and he says its Japanese culture to keep to themselves but he also said that WWII and the atomic bombings also shaped their perceptions as it is today.
Jimmy Page!!!
I can understand the bombing shaping their perceptions. However, I find it ironic that they would over look the fact that they attacked the US first. Also, that most Japanese hate the fact China keeps asking Japan to apologize.
Atomic bomb or not it is 2009 almost 2010. The world is so much different now than then. I can understand those feelings is smaller cities, but larger ones like Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka? I don’t understand that.
I guess as an american I see that people in large american cities are more understanding of other cultures while in smaller cities that aren’t as much.
I guess I would expect the same in Japan.
there a little messed up
i agree with baye, at first i thought japanese are polite now i knew what it really meant,they are very racist,im not generalizing but i think most of them are so full of themselves.for almost one year that ive stayed in tokyo i never been felt so belittled in my entire life by anyone until i came in japan..i was a trainee and even my coordinator was very discrimanative,if i only i can to turn back the time i will never ever come to japan.to kenji sorry to tell you not all people want to live in japan anyway or want to come to japan .always bear that in your narrow mind.my coordinator and other staffs told me that foreigners want to come to japan. ha!really!in your dreams!
While it isn’t nice to be at the wrong end of discrimination, I can understand the business owners’ perspective. A soap land is just an euphemism for a brothel (an important piece of information you left out for some reason).
The nature of the business of prostitution is that the women should be able to decide what customers they’d like to service. There *are* many strange western men with “yellow fever” coming into Japan to look for prostitution, so I think in this case the sign is a protection of the women having to work there more than anything else.
You won’t find a bakery or supermarket banning foreigners. Only businesses where you have to have a very detailed inside knowledge about their etiquette (upscale bars, hotels, or brothels) will ban foreigners.
Personally, I can live with it, as I wouldn’t enter such a place anyway.
The Japanese are very ethnocentric people. That’s not to say it is a bad or good thing. It is tradition. Traditionally the archipelago was also called “land of the rising sun” because it almost seemed as if the sun rises on this planet first in Japan then anywhere else. Given this idea along with a whole host of other ideas they thought of themselves as “the chosen ones” or the center of the world. A similar ancient story can be said of China and The Koreas. Also take into account the Japanese/Chinese/Koreans are mostly ethnically “pure”. Meaning they are none mixed which they take great pride in. A concept that NO mixed individual can ever understand. Whereas a mixed individual can EVER hope to graps what it means to be “ethnically pure”. If you’re in japan and the natives don’t like you because you’re a “gaijin” or foreigner so what? Doesn’t make them racist/bigoted and above all “narrow-minded”. If that is how you perceive racism then you’re the narrow minded one. Drop the political correctness and you will see things in the other individuals light. Lets remember that in this region of the world multi-culturalism is not embraced. And i applaud them for this, i personally think MC brings more bad then good.
One phenomenon on this topic that constantly bewilders me is the lengths that some foreigners will go to to deny the validity of, and marginalize, other people’s negative experiences in Japan, or negative information about Japan. I find this particularly among folks who visit short term, or less than a year.
I’ve been here for 8 years, and I’ve been dealing with Japanese people and culture for over 20 years, and it’s simply a fact that deep down inside Japanese people are xenophobes, and generally do not welcome unfamiliar and foreign things, simply because their culture instills in them a disliking of foreign and unfamiliar things and people. I’ve been told as much on numerous occasions, straight up, by Japanese people, both of the 100% domestic type and the internationally-traveled/foreign-language-speaking type, who were honest enough to share this dirty little secret.
When discussing the low birth rate in Japan with even an open-minded group of 20 somethings, the idea of immigration (even by similar looking people from other Asian countries) as a solution doesn’t even warrant discussion. It’s simply out of the question.
Anyway, although I choose to maintain my contact with Japan through living here, working here, and marrying here, and I love all the good things about Japan, I simply cannot delude myself that Japan is only about the polite outer displays of behavior, beautiful traditional arts and culture, anime, etc. I have to deal with the reality of what MODERN Japanese people are on a daily basis, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but it’s not this rosy place that some people seem to so desperately to need.
There is a tendency to want to sweep dirty and unsightly things under the carpet in Japanese culture, and unfortunately some people are just hoodwinked by this. It’s all just a big show, and you have to dig a bit deeper to find out what’s really going on here. When you do it’s not quite what you expected, and it aint all pretty. That’s just the way it is. Human nature doesn’t change just because it’s wrapped up in some “ancient”, exotic, Asian package.
Anyone who lives in Jap should come to China some day.
Not joking, i appreciate this kind of action very much.
In my hometown, Chengdu, Sichuan of China, you will find many facilities dedicated to foreigners only, like the concession during the WWII.
This is really embarrassing and simply i feel insulted, but what you gonna do? This is under local policies.
I am not provoking laughter here, and direct opposite, i want to shout out when i typing above.
A lot of people here are saying how bad it is but it’s not actually something you have to deal with everyday unless you’re trying to do something out of your normal routine. Japan rarely feels racist or xenophobic, it only happens to come up when you’re doing something mentioned in the article. I know plenty of people who claim to have never experienced any sort of xenophobia in all their years in Japan (other than having to fight for an apartment to rent).
On the other hand, try your luck at living in Korea. I lived there for three years and did feel racism everyday. Sometimes it was even yelled, spit and sworn at me. I once went into a restaurant in Korea where one of them women came running at me yelling “foreigner! No, no no! Get out!” (in Korean) while wailing her arms in the air. But that’s a different story…
It’s amazing how the people of Japan or generalized as “racist”. You need to understand that Japan is a completely different culture in comparison to America, Australia, and Europe for example. In general, Europeans, Australians, and especially Americans tend to be louder, more obnoxious, more outgoing, and often overly expressive with their verbal and physical mannerism. Although we think nothing of it and often think of it as having a good time, others may think otherwise. In a culture such as Japan this behavior can be quite offensive to some. And with the inability to speak the language, foreigners might as well be running around like a bunch of wild gorillas let loose. So really, can you blame them? Not one human being is perfect and not one human being hasn’t experienced a sense of ignorance somewhere down the line. But to generalize Japan as racist, as a whole? Sure, Japan isn’t perfect….nor is any other country for that matter. But to be frank, I’ve found more ethnic discrimination and racism in other parts of the world where these so called “foreigners”, “visitors”, or “Gaijins” originated from. Especially here in States.
If you ask me, I would seriously think twice where the real racism and ignorance lies.
Welcome to the real world people. It doesn’t matter what country your from and what country you visit. You will always be justified as the “foreigner”. You’ve made the choice, now live up to it, adapt, and progress to making it a better and much more positive life ahead.
why is that Caucasians are mostly the ones screaming racism in Japan?
Xenophobia i think is everywhere, and the japanese way is much more polite to be insulted directly. i am turkish and live in germany, they were xenophob when people from everywhere moved in, and now it turned into an immigration country ! yaaaaay
I am a half Japanese Brazilian girl, my father is white(Portuguese/Italian),my mother, daughter of Japanese who immigrated to Brazil when they were young encouraged by the Japanese government at that time to try life abroad ,promoting the abundance of land in Brazil and the facilities for making money and having a better life.Needless to say, they encountered great difficulties in a country where they could not speak the language , but a very big Japanese community has established mainly in the biggest city, Sao Paulo. Outside Japan, that is where the largest japanese community is. So being a grandaughter of japanese, I have a long term resident visa here. The other day, I was approached by a japanese man in a supermarket, I couldn’t understand him at first but then I finally got it…he was saying “body touch” and if a “kiss” was ok…the bottom line is…he was explicitly calling me a whore…he would have women suing him in other countries for that. So just because I am a foreigner in Japan, they have the right to insult me, to offend me? Even though I have Japanese family, I can say they are cold people, very cold…a lot of Japanese women after they get married and have kids, they give money to their husbands to go out and have fun with other women, because they don’t want to have sex anymore, they’ve already had kids, so what’s the point right? They humiliated employees, I have seen a japanese boss making his employee get down on his knees and plead forgiveness.They just do not want to talk to you, know you, or anything about your culture. I feel sorry for them for having such a poor image of the World and think they are better off closing themselves and continuing having one of the highest suicide rates and hideous crimes within the family, mothers killing babies, sons killing fathers. There is something really wrong here.
I agree with Silvia. In her case, that’s not really a matter of lack of cultural knowledge or just cultural differences, rather than this it seems a matter of education. I’ve heard several times how many half Brazilian – Japanese women faces this kind of situation with men on street. Due maybe to their obvious beauty since they have a mixed race or whatever, only for being Japanese no man has the right to insult a woman such like that only because of her appearance. But that is just an evidence of how Japanese people can easily create an image of foreigners by a personal experience making an evidence of the incapability of the Japanese people to accept different culture people living in their country. Which is actually a matter to not to blame them as a unique and sophisticated culture people. But even so, we, as foreigners living in Japan and trying to stay on this country need to accept this ‘Lack of fondness’ for not only the GAIJIN but also for the NIKKEI and half people. Very sad matter for all of us if from the beginning we cannot accept this lack of acceptance and tolerance by the owners of this beautiful country.