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Comment by veidr | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, I left too. I've lived in a couple parts of Europe and then Japan since leaving. All of them feel more "free" than post-Bush (I guess I really mean post-Bin Laden) USA; people enjoy more civil rights, and (more pragmatically) more freedom from idiotic hassle in the name of... whatever kind of fuckery it is that keeps the prison lobby, the TSA, and the general industrial-fearmongering complex in business and free of logical constraints.

But, leaving is not really a simple solution, at all. It is both complex and unsatisfying. Thankfully, my wife and kid are with me (and btw, compared to Japan, the USA seems like a completely insane place to raise a kid) but I still have family there, not to mention friends, business interests, tax obligations, etc.

I feel like my country is occupied by an enemy force, and that feeling is hammered home every single time I fly home, within minutes of deplaning.

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The rampant xenophobia in Japan is what keeps me from moving there. You mean even if I becomes a naturalized citizen (an ordeal in itself) that most places will still treat me like a foreigner? No thanks.

The US is occupied by an enemy force that they supported and elected. Every time another basic human right is violated by the legislative and executive branch those cheer. Does it matter that drunk driving kills more people per year in the US than acts of terror? Does it matter that more people die from prescription drug dispensation mistakes? Not to the mind of the scared American.

Japan isn't any more xenophobic than the US.

I've lived seven years in Japan. Even if I were to get Japanese citizenship, I wouldn't identify myself culturally as Japanese (and neither would Japanese think of me as Japanese).

Countries like the US separate cultural identity and citizenship, so having citizenship but still being seen as a foreigner might seem a bit strange at first. On the other hand, if I was to go to the US, there are certain cultural identities I could never have. For instance, as a white guy, I could never be treated as an African American, no matter how much I wanted to be or tried.

> For instance, as a white guy, I could never be treated as an African American, no matter how much I wanted to be or tried.

This hasn't stopped a great many white guys from trying!

Rampant xenowhat?

Yes. It's very different to what you get, for example, in Australia. Or most parts of Europe. Yes, you'll probably be a gaijin forever, even if you get naturalized (and renounce to your other nationality). But there's a huge difference between what the japanese are, and have always been, and xenophobia. Of course you get a different treatment unless you show them what you know and your respect, but it boils down to the kind of society it is and the fact that you're, at first sight, different from them. But different, not worse.

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