Nothing Scarier Than a Gaijin

Wed, Oct 31, 2007

I know this is coming kind of late, but I sort of forgot to post this earlier D:

Gaijin

Apparently, somewhere in Nagoya, 外人さん (Mr. Foreigner) “costumes” consisting only of a nose and a pair of eyes are being sold. Not the most politically incorrect costume I’ve ever seen, but I thought it might be good for a chuckle (hopefully). Which makes me wonder, what do you perceive as the attitude Japanese people have toward foreigners? Here’s a little blurb from Wikipedia (the source of nearly all hastily gotten knowledge):

By global standards, Japan is highly homogenous ethnically. Thus, there are some issues which many non-Japanese find insensitive. The debate over these issues parallel the debate over political correctness in the West.

Anyway, you guys, have a good night, whatever you may be doing. We (the Tofugu team) probably won’t be doing much in the way of tricking or treating, so maybe we’ll finish up those other articles we’ve got waiting in the wings.

Source: merefflorescence

** 11/2 Edit: It’s not that Japanese don’t like foreigners. In my opinion, I would say that (generally speaking, of course) they merely find non-Japanese people to be intrinsically different from them. Not that foreigners aren’t human or anything, they’re just different. I think, perhaps, that it has something to do with the idea of uchi (内 or “inside”) and soto (外 or “outside”), too. Maybe we’ll explain this concept further in a different article, if anyone’s interested. Also, I feel that Japanese have a better sense of racial humor in general. They’re not too sensitive about that kind of thing. **

candy, cosplay, costume, foreigners, Halloween, holidays, 外人

This post was written by:

Erin - who has written 36 posts on Tofugu.com.

Erin is Tofugu's culture, food, and fashion writer. She's a quiet Hawaii girl who loves shopping, eating sweets, and traveling whenever she has the time and money to spend. She also has a little photo blog going, which can be found here.

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Viewing 15 Comments

Elsa 1 year ago 1 point
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I saw that at a Kid's World in Hirakata (Osaka)! The sticker's covering up the name in the picture. The full name is ”ハロー外人さん,” if I remember correctly.

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http://chakuriku.blogspot.com

Onimusha Nosferatu 1 year ago 1 point
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if there aren't any other gaijin-san costume then japanese people equate caucasianness with foreignness.... what about everybody else? i think b/c japan is so homogeneous they don't realize sometimes that some things may be offensive to foreigners. overall i think most japanese are accepting of foreigners, but only to a degree, much like any country.

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mrthundercleese4 1 year ago 1 point
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Only accepting to a degree.., is that like thanks for visiting, but after a week it is time for you to go back to your own country. I think this anti outsider presence in Japan is so interesting because it is so very opposite of the way we do things in America. I have also heard Getting citizenship is difficult or impossible for not native born Japanese, how true is that?

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StupidFresh 1 year ago 1 point
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"think this anti outsider presence in Japan is so interesting because it is so very opposite of the way we do things in America."
Oh, Really?

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あけと 1 year ago 1 point
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I'm just sick of it.

All you Japanese people out there, get over it.

There are other nationalities and races in the world. We're all humans. We all have two eyes, two ears a nose, a mouth, two arms, two legs, you know what I mean?

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Eevee 1 year ago 1 point
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Since I'm growing up in a Canadian home, and we have had many foreign students over the years, I can't really say what I think of the Japanese and how accepting they are of foreigners.

On the one hand, I have the dozen or so students we've had stay with us for weeks at a time and when they leave they seriously suggest that I come and visit them.
On the other hand, I haven't really experienced Japanese culture as a whole, or any Japanese people while they're in their own country. Who knows, maybe it's just these few people (fans of western and English-speaking culture) who are accepting, or they've decided they'd love to have us after staying here?

All I know is, our Korean kids aren't too fond of the Japanese... and I'm definitely taking up those offers of visiting them!

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Erin 1 year ago 1 point
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Eevee (and others) :

Please see the edit in my post

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http://www.tofugu.com

Lee 1 year ago 1 point
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I would say that it isn't unexpected. The Japanese are a cloistered society, and don't interact well with foreigners. Examples of this are beyond numerous.
I wouldn't call this "terribly" racist; it's certainly not the worst I've seen, but it's politically incorrect. Granted, I was never one to care about political correctness, but I could see some people being offended by it.

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Kevinnwhat 1 year ago 1 point
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LMAO i started dying once i seen the picture olol!!!!

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Kevinnwhat 1 year ago 1 point
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im kinda with you on that "あけと" (sorry for double post)

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Shtephen 1 year ago 1 point
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I would say they Japanese people are more intigued by foreigners then are racist toward them of course when I walk through the streets of Japan I do feel like an outsider. They other day I was walking through a neighborhood in Japan going home and there were two Japanese kids walking home from school one of them noticed me and told his friend that there was a "Gaikokujin" behind him then they both turned faced me and said "Konnichiwa" I replied back to them and went on my way. I guess the point is if you dont look Japanese you will stick, out its not bad, nor good, its just the way it is. Some places you walk into will not let you in and they give you the "X" with their arms and say "No gaijin". I dont feel they are being racist but just stereo typing me. But it can be expected since the area I live in had four American Marines rape a Japanese girl about a week ago. I think everyone has a little bit of a stereo typing in them were all human but we are different for better or worse.

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Uriel Erubey 1 year ago 1 point
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"Some places you walk into will not let you in and they give you the “X” with their arms and say “No gaijin”. I dont feel they are being racist"

Being culturally sensitive to other people's practices is nice, but that is obviously racist. Sure, they have reasons for doing so, and they are not necessarily from one incident, as in the one you alluded to, but it's not justification but simply an excuse. I'm not painting all of Japan here with this however, don't get me wrong.

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japan-fan 11 months ago 1 point
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i am muslim (i wear the head scarf and generally loose clothes), i personally like japan and would like to visit someday. but r the japanese racist towards muslims and such? if you read this and have the answer then please let me know.

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Zane 9 months ago 1 point
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japan-fan, there are masjids in japan, 3 i think. There will always be problems with religion wherever anyone goes, I don't think Japan has too many problems in that aspect (at least I hope they don't ^^;) anywho, i'm sure Erin or the rest of the group could say something or another about this.

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Peggy 6 months ago 1 point
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Never gone to Japan, but the Japanese students at my university seemed shy, but if you approached them to talk they seemed really happy about it. A couple of them confessed that they're afraid that the Americans wouldn't bother taking the time to talk to them because their accents were too thick or they were self-concious about their English. Because of this self consciousness, they hung back and stuck to themselves. Although they seemed cloistered and reserved, many of them were just waiting for someone to make the first moved. Once I'd make an effort to get to know them, they'd approach me/sit with me next time. And they were all super-patient about us westerners constantly wanting to talk about Japan.

There were "Japanese Only" parties, but I think that was just so they could take a break from English.

I mean, they all sat together at lunch and there were even a couple "Japanese Only" parties (but I think that was mainly just so they could take a break from English).

When one of my American acquaintences actually *went* to Japan, he said they were quite bruque with him. Then again......this guy was kind of a tool. As for my sister, she went there with a Japanese buddy and ran around with his friends. My sister--who is quite socially graceful and not a tool in the least--said that everyone was exceedingly nice, considerate, and accomodating. So, I reckon a lot of it depends on who you are as an individual....not just whether you're gaijin or not....

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