One interesting thing (among many) about living in Japan (1991-1994) was the subtle racism directed against me... unless I spoke English.
To wit: Japanese society, especially outside the urban, cosmopolitan city cores, still had back then a level of racism torwards non-Japanese Asians similar to the subtle type of racism directed against African Americans in many parts of Red America. Japan, in fact, didn't even allow Japan-born individuals of other Asian ancestry *be* naturalized Japanese citizens without documentation of actual Japanese ancestry. When I went into stores, or tried to get tickets at ticket stations, many native Japanese would immediately identify my Chinese genetic ancestry by my face (and they're *really* good at telling the difference between Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, etc.) and treat me, well, like I was beneath them. They'd still serve me, but they'd definately show me less than a warm welcome... unless I spoke English.
Again, twelve years ago, the average Japanese had a very *different* attitude torwards what they percieved to be Westerners -- Americans, especially. They'd go out of their way to be polite to Americans. And most interesting of all, the fact I spoke English with an obvious American fluency was more important to them, in their attitudes, than the fact I had a Chinese face. What was apparently more important was that I was Chinese-American, not Chinese-American. In fact, often their attitudes would change 180 degrees right at the moment of realization. I could effectively perform a version of the famous racism thought experiment, where one changes one's skin color and sees what different reactions they would get, simply by using English or Japanese.
There was an even greater racial bias against "half-breeds" -- against native women who married white men, almost a level of contempt -- again overriden, from what I've heard, if they knew you weren't, in fact, native.
Now, that was ten-plus years ago -- before the current Administration made America's name Mud in many quarters, for starters. But it is something I experienced, and might be worth thinking about. I would be prepared for those kinds of reactions, if they are still prelevant in the areas you're going to.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-05 12:28 pm (UTC)To wit: Japanese society, especially outside the urban, cosmopolitan city cores, still had back then a level of racism torwards non-Japanese Asians similar to the subtle type of racism directed against African Americans in many parts of Red America. Japan, in fact, didn't even allow Japan-born individuals of other Asian ancestry *be* naturalized Japanese citizens without documentation of actual Japanese ancestry. When I went into stores, or tried to get tickets at ticket stations, many native Japanese would immediately identify my Chinese genetic ancestry by my face (and they're *really* good at telling the difference between Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, etc.) and treat me, well, like I was beneath them. They'd still serve me, but they'd definately show me less than a warm welcome... unless I spoke English.
Again, twelve years ago, the average Japanese had a very *different* attitude torwards what they percieved to be Westerners -- Americans, especially. They'd go out of their way to be polite to Americans. And most interesting of all, the fact I spoke English with an obvious American fluency was more important to them, in their attitudes, than the fact I had a Chinese face. What was apparently more important was that I was Chinese-American, not Chinese-American. In fact, often their attitudes would change 180 degrees right at the moment of realization. I could effectively perform a version of the famous racism thought experiment, where one changes one's skin color and sees what different reactions they would get, simply by using English or Japanese.
There was an even greater racial bias against "half-breeds" -- against native women who married white men, almost a level of contempt -- again overriden, from what I've heard, if they knew you weren't, in fact, native.
Now, that was ten-plus years ago -- before the current Administration made America's name Mud in many quarters, for starters. But it is something I experienced, and might be worth thinking about. I would be prepared for those kinds of reactions, if they are still prelevant in the areas you're going to.