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Comment by theroo | Hacker News Reader

He’s black. Did you read that part?

Honest question, Are Japanese any more likely to be racist against black people than white people? Or a Chinese person?

Usually racism (the hatred variety at least) comes from a degree of familiarity. You won't find a lot of KKK members in Scandinavia and you won't find much antisemitism in areas with no jews.

American race relations are not universally applicable.

Edit - added negation operator.

Dunno about more or less but when I was in Japan I saw Japanese people get up and move, not just to a different seat, but to a whole different part of the train carriage, when a couple of white Westerners sat next to them.

Also I'm guessing you're missing a 'not' in the last line there?

Hollywood has unfortunately exported American-style black animus to the world, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if Japanese are more racist toward blacks than whites, especially American blacks. Also, the whole light-skin, dark-skin thing was never unique to Europeans. But relative to their general prejudice against foreigners any heightened prejudice might not be very discernible.

How does that affect the situation? Is it objectionable for a Japanese person to avoid a seat next to a black person but not a white person?

Of course, I commented on his picture and it would be pretty hard to notice his width and not his race. I don't see why this is pertinent, though, he's not Japanese and I was commenting on the fact that he's not Japanese, not on what race he was.

Width? Don’t make me laugh. It’s racism. Call it what it is. So we can pause, to allow improvement and to better uphold the idea that people are equal.

This kind of avoidance and apologizing of racism are what plant the seeds of xenophobic ideologies.

So? Is the black race so tortured that blacks must feel extra disturbed when subjected to some sort of racism wherever they are in the world?

Racism isn’t something you should always take personally. It is possible to harbor racist feelings toward a race while still making an exception for individuals you get to know on a personal basis.

When I’m in Japan, I know people will take one look at me and think I’m a filthy gaijin. Fair enough, I don’t blame them as they live in a very homogeneous country and outsiders are rare. It is the price I pay for being in their country, and I won’t try to change that, I’ll just try to do my thing and stay out of the way. I don’t want any trouble.

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