comment by steve

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comment by steve

steve · 4906 days ago · link · · parent · post: Japan's depressing racism.

This is an interesting post. Japan has a history of homogeneity, but I guess I've never seen that as a bad thing. I suppose that is just my naivete. It's not as if they're preaching melting pot like we do. The more I think about this, the more my brain is arguing with itself. On on hand I find myself thinking "It's Japan - you either assimilate to the japanese way of life, or you leave, or you stay, but deal with being called a gaijin and treated as an outsider". Simultaneously I think the words "love it or leave it" have a serious and deep rooted negative emotional response. In our nation's history of discrimination and racism, that kind of attitude and rhetoric is unacceptable.

I'm having trouble evaluating discrimination in Japan through my US paradigm.

I think the title of this post is a little funny. Though there are a few examples of racism, the post actually addresses the broader subject of discrimination. Perhaps "racism" in the title gets more attention.

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mk · 4906 days ago · link ·

I'm having trouble evaluating discrimination in Japan through my US paradigm.

No doubt. It's odd that some of the things that most interest us about a culture are rooted in the types of behavior that we often try to disrupt here in the US. By personal experience, I can say that Chinese are not as sensitive the to issue of racism as Americans are (in general) either. It's not to say that China is homogenous, however. There are more than 50 minorities in China, and racism does exist between some of these groups. Han/Uiger tensions are pretty well-known. I think they just lack a history that demands such strong examination of racism as ours does.