Racism in Japan

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Racism in Japan
By: Peter Cavanagh
The UMJ Volume 4.1
I am British, have lived in the USA for 14 years and Japan for 3 years. My wife is Japanese, two of our children were born in the USA (they have 3 passports!) two of our children were born in Japan, we now live in the UK. Our children are bi-lingual and attend a Japanese Saturday school as well as the local English school. Some Japanese people are arrogant racists as are some Americans, British and many others. I have had both positive and negative experiences in Japan. However, I would say that I enjoyed my time in Japan and I met many wonderful and helpful people.

I accepted people as I found them and did not allow ignorant people to influence my happiness and peace of mind. I knew western people in Japan who could not stand the place and had to leave(some of them were Japanese!) When our fourth baby was born in Japan (all our children were planed) the Japanese doctor at the hospital gave my wife a hard time. He asked why she had married a foreigner! why did she not marry a Japanese! He told my wife that maybe I had Aids! and that I was unfaithful! He told her foreigners have many girlfriends! He also told her that she had a venereal infection! I was in the USA at the time and this caused great concern to my wife. The fact is that I have never had a sexual relationship with anyone in my life except my wife. Anyway, we moved to another hospital to have our baby. I have other similar stories to tell concerning ignorant attitudes of people. But I believe the Japanese have many good attributes, and overall, I like them (I did marry one!)

Racism, bigotry and prejudice exist everywhere and in every culture and religion, it is not unique to Japan. Overall, I admire the Japanese and their culture just as I do others. Japan has problems as we all do, but it takes humility to accept criticism from others out side of our own culture. Americans especially can be very critical of foreign cultures comparing them to its own. Criticism should be given with a humble heart and out of concern for the other and not from complaint. There are a number of countries in the world in which I would want to live; Japan is near the top of the list.