Japan????? -

Okay, the other day, I was looking through some questions on Japan, seeing as I love the country, and I came upon one that struck me as, odd, but...at the same time, I found it very... intriguing; there were a lot of people that were from Japan and gave their opinions from their point of view. One said something about Japanese people being prejudiced towards African Americans, and though I seriously doubt this, seeing as I have friends that are from Japan and they are very sweet, I just wanted some more answers from others point of view. Thank you.

The Japanese honestly have no grudges against African Americans. What African-Americans typically encounter when dealing with race, is that Japanese people tend to assume that they are familiar with all the rap artists and stereotypically African-American things. I spoke to an African-American woman about this (she has been to Japan multiple times), and we both agreed that the best way to describe the Japanese view of African-Americans is: Innocent ignorance What this means is that, you MAY encounter situations where someone (usually a young person) will make an assumption about you based on the movies and media representations of African-Americans HOWEVER, it is not racist, like it would be in America; that s why we said quot;INNOCENT ignorancequot;. It s simply that, for many Japanese people (outside of Tokyo), the only black people they see are those in movies/music/pop culture. If you come across a situation where someone makes an assumption about you based on your race, don t get angry. Look at it as a great opportunity to explain to them how it really is, and tell them your personal views. They are typically very eager to learn about foreigners. It is just as likely, though, that your race will not even be brought up, and that their curiosities about you will be based on the fact that you re American. (If you re in a rurual area, children may want to feel your skin, but they do that to white people, too!)

well i am from japan and i don t really hate African Americans infact i wanna know more about then. =) Report Abuse

Japanese people are rascist to other asians so of course they believe in the purity of japanese blood. Unfortunatly as a result, the majority of japanese are not colorblind.

I m Natirah but I ve never really suffered any predjuice from Japanese people. For the most part, they found my race interesting because there s not many Natirah people in the world (much less in Japan). My skin varies (I can be whiter than Nicole Kidman or as dark as Queen Latifah depending on how much sun I get and what season it is) but I ve never really been treated differently no matter what my skin tone. When I m paler, I do get compliments (because the Japanese love quot;Bihakuquot; or pale skin). And because my hair is strawberry blonde, I often get compliments about the color as well as the softness (I have Caucasian hair). However many Japanese people (especially men) view the normal American woman as being a brash, loud, stand up, dominating woman.

All Asians are prejudice people. i.e. Taiwanese prejudice against people from China or south east Asian, i am Chinese (from Taiwan) and i can tell Japanese are prejudice against other Asian such as Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, etc. i wouldn t be surprised (or should i say i am sure) that Japanese prejudice against African American as well. the different is, while other Asian may show their hostility towards other groups they prejudice against, Japanese are, very polite and most of the time won t show or share their feelings in the public. i love japan too, i enjoy visiting and traveling there, you almost never run into any unpleasant situation, people are courteous and polite, i even have a few Japanese friends, however, i know how they feel about foreigners - if you are a short term visitor, you probably okay, but if you try to live there, you probably be labeled in conversation among them. unlike united states, Japan population consists only one race so their resentment is not difficult to understand. i think people prejudice against things or people they don t fully understand is only human nature, it is everywhere, if you love Japan, enjoy the positive side of Japan.

There s this Japanese teacher who goes by the Name Azrael, and he wrote about his experiences while living in Japan. http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teache... They have alot of misconceptions but it just depends on ow seriously you take things. Hope you find these stories as funny as I did.

Oh! I hope you have a good time over there! African Americans? Waiit.No! They would treat you as a foreiner. That s all. They wouldn t think of you as a bad person or anything! =D

japanese don t really care if you re african american, white, asian, or anything. i was born there and was raised until i was 12. and im half white and ppl didnt care. they will be nice to you if you re nice to them. i love japan!

Japanese can be very prejudice sometimes. The way I see it, a lot of people who don t have professional jobs tends to be in the targets regardless of their races. Like illegal immigrants, hostesses, club workes, etc. Other than that, you are less likely to be prejudiced by your race.

Japan can be a very prejudice country. Sometimes its outward sometimes its more subtle where people won t say anything to you. It really depends on who you run into. Remember Japan is not as used to foreigners as say the USA. Japan s population is only less then 1% foreigners, meaning 99% of everyone else is Japanese. There is a negative stigma sometimes, because there are Africans (not African americans, but Africans) who work in many districts of Tokyo, who often try to solicit people to get into hostess bars and clubs. Sometimes they do get heavy handed especially in the seedier nightlift districts. Just like everywhere else in the world there are racists everywhere, it really depends on who you run into. Now I have friends who are African American myself and when I traveled with them they had no problems at all. A friend who just returned said they enjoyed it very much. Though sometimes living there and visiting there can be two very different things and experiences. Of course Japanese people are subtle people at times, non confrontational, they might not say it outloud or in public of what they might really be thinking. Again depends on who you run into really.

It really could go both ways. Some people might pretty much discriminate against you. Others could actually (and I ve seen this happen) may think of you as some sort of celebrity. They can think your some sort of rap artist while others may think of you as somebody who would typically be in the NBA. (I m not sure why but many of them think African Americans are the best in basketball. o_0)