Japan cast cat girl, it was super effective. All knowledge of atrocities was erased from western nations.

They’re hateful, but they’re cute.

I lived in Japan for 2 years. I had several expat friends with stories of going to the hospital, being told they were full, their Japanese wife showing up, and suddenly they have space. Other stories of legal disputes between a Japanese person and a foreign immigrant will always go to the Japanese person. Japanese culture is very non-confrontational, but don’t think their brand of racism is safer. If we’re comparing racism and deciding one is less bad than the other, we’ve already partially accepted that it has a place in society.

As someone in a similar situation, there are differences in the racism are stark.

They treat you differently but far more often than not, it is just curiosity or looking for entertainment from a zoo animal. They are not hostile or aggressive.

Can people really no longer differentiate between xenophobia and racism?

Not being pedantic, but misnaming thins only adds to the woes of the world, to (mis)quote Camus.

I know a handful of white Americans who at a glance you’d never guess they’re highly educated polyglots and would meet the requirements for entering this restaurant. The way the sign is worded, I think you’re right, only fluent Japanese people allowed here because we only speak Japanese here.

“Lmao” your ability to use software to translate for you doesn’t change the intent behind this sign. Japan is racist AF despite their polite society, and there are a growing number of restaurants and other establishments with signage that outright says some version of “no foreigners/no white people.” You will probably get a frosty reception in this establishment if you enter it because you decide you were too clever to be deterred.

I mean, if the Japanese text says “if you can read this, you’re welcome”, it does suggest that English or Chinese people who speak and read Japanese are welcome. It’s a real weird thing to pull, like they think they’re being cute.

Your phone will be allowed in, but you have to stay outside.

It probably wasn’t anything wrong you had done wrong. From what I’ve been hearing from some family who do business in asia. As they explain it, Japan has had an economic whiplash from the 80s and a lot of those cultural and economic policies that gave them initial success were not sustainable long term. And since Japan is a VERY proud culture, they’ve found it easier to blame outsiders than their own miscalculations.

The inside of the bus was as silent as a church for the entire drive even though it was full.

Is that not the case where you’re from? Genuinely almost never heard anyone having a conversation on an intercity bus

Sure would be a shame if they also had an abysmally low birth rate which will result in their societal collapse.

Despite having population crisis and financial loses, they are still committed to xenophobia. They are master of that.

Literally every country on the planet is xenophobic, people only make a big deal out of it when it’s a western or western-aligned country.

The entire idea of inclusivity, tolerance, and multiculturalism is primarily a western idea sprung from western humanist values and honestly only even taken seriously in secular democracies which tend to be aligned with the west.

And then people act like the west and west-aligned countries are so depraved for not perfectly living up to those values, when hardly any other nation even tries or has any desire to.

It’s honestly kind of amusing once you stop giving a shit.

Probably on my list of reasons why I don’t want to visit Japan

Yeah thanks for filtering yourself out of places I would like to give my business to.

the replies didnt surprise me…

It literally isn’t racism though. You can disagree with it and think it should be banned, but there is no interpretation that it can realistically be called racism

I lived in Japan for a while. I’ve seen a couple places with a sign like this. In my experience every place like this is perfectly willing to have foreigners that speak Japanese. They simply don’t want to deal with the hassle of a language barrier

I should also note these places were always in touristy areas. If they don’t have a sign like that, they’ll end up with majority English speaking customers, because Japanese customers prefer places without rowdy tourists that can’t speak the local language. I did too. Going out for an after work beer, you want an entirely different atmosphere from tourists getting hammered

It would still not be racism

Xenophobia at worst, only hatred of tourists at best

If an American moves to Europe and doesn’t attempt to learn the local language, then by a few months to a year in with zero effort people will say they’re in the wrong for not making an effort to integrate and expecting everyone to speak English for them.

Clearly “Americans expecting foreigners to speak English” is different from “Other countries expecting Americans to speak the local language” from a moral point of view. So why is Japan then lumped in with America as the “Local people must accept and accommodate foreigners who can’t communicate in the local language” bucket, when anywhere else it’s “If you’re traveling there and you didn’t even try learning the language, then you’re ignorant and entitled.”?

The odds of a Texas BBQ joint not having any Spanish speaking employees is exceedingly small.

I mean, it’s also racism. Those people are just stupid.

It wasn’t saying it wasn’t tho

I mean, genuinely, how? It’s not saying you need to be Japanese to enter, just that you need to be able to read Japanese. IMO, learning the local language of a country you plan to visit is a basic courtesy that too many people don’t bother with.

Okay, I take it back. I was thinking too much from the perspective of an American who’s been scolded for not spending enough time learning the language of places I visited. Thank you to the people who pointed out that what I said was ignorant without just piling on insults, I’ll try to be more thoughtful in the future.