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Old 2009-06-12, 15:15   Link #5
Vexx
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
Quote:
Statistics of the nationality of the foreigner who comes to Japan and does the crime are being announced by the police.
The problem is, of course, that most crime in Japan is still being committed by "native Japanese citizens" .... the police and the media simply over-focus on "foreigner crime" to make it appear that problems mostly come from outsiders. Even citizens who are third generation descendants of immigrants are characterized as "foreigners" by the police and media when suspected of a crime.

Many Japanese are fairly innocent about outsiders and 95% of what some might call "racism" is innocent curiosity of the unknown or stereotype myth easily dispelled. But there's a xenophobic and unpleasant nationalist strain in the institutions of authority and in groups of influence. If there weren't, Japanese wouldn't have to fight over history textbook content or tolerate the "black vans with loudspeakers" from the extreme rightwing, they wouldn't be fighting over trying to get their children registered in the Name Registry, foreigners wouldn't be detained for not having their papers with them while taking the garbage out in the morning.

All I'm really saying is that open-minded people in Japan need to be vigilant against those who'd like to return to the "old days of authoritarianism" and those who do mistreat outsiders. Noraemon is right in that Japan is "getting better" in some ways... but that in turn creates resistance to change by the metaphorical equivalent of the "old southern boys" faction in Japan (as HyugaNegi points out). People in every country have some version of this cultural/nationalistic battle - some worse, some better.
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