Comment Re: Demographics (Score 1) 175
Most people take a Japanese name when they become a citizen. A number of reasons, not the least of which is a lot of Japanese systems don't work well if you don't have a Kanji name (e.g. apply for credit cards or trying to open a bank account with just your name in katakana is hit or miss. You'll run into weird/frustrating situations like you can't pay your credit card with a bank transfer because the bank truncates your name so the don't match. KYC is a PITA here, even for Japanese citizens).
And your correct, one should not politeness with acceptance and that is a culturally ingrained distinction here (in-groups and out-groups) but would you rather be politely not accepted or have the crap beat out of you because someone doesn't like the way you look which is what happens in some countries. I think the best measure, for me, of what your talking about is having the last open seat on the train next to you. And you do see that but it's typically with the older generations, younger people (>40) typically don't care.
Also, Japanese tend to talk about personal traits more openly/freely than people do in the US. e.g. Saying someone is tall/short/fat/bald/half-japanese to their face is normal here... and it's not done to be mean. It's just an "observation" and that's the way they see it. 50/50 he was being racist or just making an observation.
The sad fact is that we're still a very tribal species and that shows up everywhere. If there are any problems, the ingrained reaction is to blame it on the guy who looks different. I remember flying into Zurich and there was really large political banner that had a bunch of white sheep and a white ram kicking a black sheep over a fence. I was like "What the f...?!?!"
And your correct, one should not politeness with acceptance and that is a culturally ingrained distinction here (in-groups and out-groups) but would you rather be politely not accepted or have the crap beat out of you because someone doesn't like the way you look which is what happens in some countries. I think the best measure, for me, of what your talking about is having the last open seat on the train next to you. And you do see that but it's typically with the older generations, younger people (>40) typically don't care.
Also, Japanese tend to talk about personal traits more openly/freely than people do in the US. e.g. Saying someone is tall/short/fat/bald/half-japanese to their face is normal here... and it's not done to be mean. It's just an "observation" and that's the way they see it. 50/50 he was being racist or just making an observation.
The sad fact is that we're still a very tribal species and that shows up everywhere. If there are any problems, the ingrained reaction is to blame it on the guy who looks different. I remember flying into Zurich and there was really large political banner that had a bunch of white sheep and a white ram kicking a black sheep over a fence. I was like "What the f...?!?!"