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Comment by orthoganol | Hacker News Reader

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America.

TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (ones I can speak for at least) are homogenous, not "nations of immigrants," they haven't had turf wars for minorities, civil rights & political correctness movements. Just the casual daily encounters experienced there as someone who is trying to live there (not someone who is clearly a tourist), would completely baffle any politically liberal, tolerant American.

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I'm guessing you're not a minority in the US, if you think that Japan's racism is a tier higher than the US.

I get that Asia can be pretty racist, but until they start imprisoning minorities disproportionately, or implementing policies like stop-and-frisk, or allowing police to shoot unarmed minorities, then let's just step back for a minute. Not being allowed into a club or getting dirty looks from your local girlfriend's family sucks, but let's not pretend they're on the same level.

Are you also a minority in the US? Did you live in different areas in the US? Were you physically attacked because of your race or sexual orientation in Japan?

Because if you're going by "casual daily encounters" that seem racist to you, do you ever wonder if a minority in 21st century america experiences the same?

I'm Chinese, I live in Kentucky. People are wonderful here. I've also lived in Los Angeles - never had a problem, but I did meet lots of second+ generation immigrants who complained a lot about perceived racism, that were really just small things that come with cultural differences. To be honest I find that white Americans are mostly much more self conscious about saying something offensive than Asians would be.

Maybe I have to go further south, or be more homosexual or something, but I haven't experienced the hardcore racism you're describing.

Glad to hear your experience has been positive! I do wonder though if perhaps your desires are a bit different than those of second+ generation Asian-Americans. Whereas you see yourself as Chinese, and thus happy to be introduced to American customs and be the "foreign friend", Asian-Americans would find it somewhat insulting to be considered less than American.

For disclosure, I lived most of my life in USA. I played high school sports here, and most of my friends are white.

That being said, youre definitely onto something. Why should I be pissed that there aren't Chinese folks in cinema when I know that China has it's own massive film industry? I know what it's like being part of a massive majority, but some other asian kids I grew up with might not; they only have America, and they would be more foreign in Asia than here. I feel kinda bad for them, because despite being Chinese, they'll only feel different, instead of proud of being part of a great civilization/history.

To be on the same tier of racism as the United States, Japan has to start lynching its minorities.

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But not sufficiently to have significant genetic variation. So while technically true in some sense, not pertinent right?

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