cerebus23 said:
Korea and japan have a long storied history of hatred and racisism, one thing you can always call japan out on is their extreme xenophobia and outright racial hatred between them and their neighbors. it is very telling that their word for "foreigner" means barbarian they have always seen themselves as more evolved and mature than other races traditionally, and they have not been afraid to express that.
What an outdated and extremely generalised view. As resident of Japan for 10 year now, I find your statement bothersome. My objection isn't the history but the insinuation that Japan has never changed. Moreover would you make similar sweeping generalisations and definitions about the whole of your own nation or people, based on what your government, state religion, military do? I don't imagine you would, yet it's easy to make statements about the Japanese.
I have never witnessed any of this 'extreme xenophobia' in my time here. In fact, Japanese culture in the post restoration age has been defined by its absorption of foreign ideas. I've always enjoyed the theories that the failure of foriegn cars and electronics to sell in Japan is because of xenophobia, yet never is it considered that in those realms, Japan's market and loyalties are well and truly saturated with local choice.
In areas different to that, foreign product and import abound. Language study and travel is very popular, especially among the young but also the middle aged and elderly who travel or simply wish to experience something foreign and new. I was amazed in my first job here how many young people were involved in things like Habitat for Humanity and various foreign volunteering. Despite the history with Korea, pop culture, language and culture from Korea is very popular in Japan, at first among the middle aged, but now also the young with the advent of huge music acts.
Your assertion that 'gaijin' means 'barbarian' is erroneous, as the two kanji are simply 'outside' and 'person'. The word has been in use since before there was a 'Japan' as we know it, and thus also described people from what are today simply other prefectures. The more common and formal, 'gaikokujin' comprises three kanji which are 'outside' 'country' and 'person'. If this is 'telling' of a innate fear in the culture, perhaps you should know that the English word 'foreigner' has the same etymology in Old French and Latin.
As for the charge that Japanese 'have always' seen themselves as superior to other races, I would have to again disagree, as my experience with consulting in Japan has repeatedly heard a singular feeling -- that Japan is behind the world, failing and coasting on glories of the past Bubble economy. Perhaps in that time, nationalism was on the rise, yet then again, what evidence do you have that it was any greater than the nationalism in the USA, UK or any of the Western nations?
In my home country of Australia, I have witnessed incredible racism, bigotry and backward mindedness, yet I would never define 'Australians' with those terms. In Japan, there may undoubtedly many people uncomfortable with foreigners and sceptical of cultural change, yet that's the same everywhere. However in the West we have the great equaliser, English. With it, most people have no real need to learn new languages and culture, and yet they can still tout their openmindedness and tolerance as they demand all foreign visitors to 'come to them'. In Japan it is the other way around. And yet with only Japanese people speaking Japanese, there is a huge language barrier, yet I have I witnessed far more enthusiasm for foreign language and communication in japan than I ever had in Australia.
