I received a very perplexing question today: How is one treated as a gaijin?
While a jumble of examples filled my brain, like this one time or that other time or a few days ago, none of them felt like I could use them to generalize and so I concluded that I had no idea how to answer this question…
From various stories I’ve heard, there seems to be a multitude of ways one can be treated as a gaijin in Japan, but I cannot begin to enumerate the ways one is treated as a gaijin. I’ve known of exclusionism, alienation, and even plain rudeness, but I cannot say those are the only ways foreigners are treated here. I’m sure a lot of foreigners in Japan have sob stories to share, but I’m also pretty sure there are several who will say they’ve received nothing but hospitality and kindness from Japanese people.
When I worked in a rural town somewhere north of Tokyo as a Foreign Language Teacher, I was expecting to feel lonely, probably from being ignored by the entire population, due to stories of past teachers. Whilst during the day, the teachers were busy and didn’t pay much attention to me, the office staff always invited me over for coffee and gossip. I was getting better at Japanese then, but I still often didn’t follow some of stuff going on. When they saw I was a bit lost, though, they slowed down and tried to explain in simpler Japanese. After a few stories, they’d ask me about my country and how we thought of this or that. They always made a point to make sure I was included in the conversation. I felt quite important at that time, sharing all I could. I felt at that time that I was the only one who could shed light on some of the mysteries about my country. They almost always seemed to be interested in things foreign to them.
At school, Language Teachers usually have some designated place to have lunch, like in a classroom, or in the teacher’s room, or with the special education class, but the office staff insisted I stay with them because they had a heater in the winter and a cooler in the summer. If I’d stay in the teacher’s room, they said, I’d just feel left out. Of course, there were other foreign teachers in the place where I worked, but they said they were not given the same treatment. In fact, they felt left out and most of them left the job after a year or even less in some cases.
While I was thinking about this whole Gaijin Treatment thing I remembered that I had read this article from Ampotan a few months ago. It was quite insightful, and it has become a discussion of sorts a couple of times at work with my co-workers. We usually end up with a conclusion that you are treated how you are asking to be treated…
I’m still a bit at a loss, but is there anyone out there who might have a clearer understanding of how it is to be treated as a gaijin?
The problem is that you can’t state what it’s like to “be treated as a gaijin” because people all over Japan are different. Folks in rural areas, in opposition to popular thinking, are generally treated better overall (foreigner or not) than people in cities. So, the general assertion that ‘I’m a foreigner in a small town and am treated well’ merely reflects the fact that small town folk are more inclined to be civil, kind, and take time with everyone. It reflects nothing about the treatment of foreigners on the whole in Japan. Urban dwellers are notoriously ruder around the world and familiarity breeds contempt and more foreign folks live in the cities.
There are far too many variables to reach pat conclusions. Men are treated differently than women. People with dark hair are treated differently than those with light hair and those of Asian descent are often treated exactly the same as other Japanese folks when strangers are dealing with one another and worse when it’s discovered they’re Asian but not Japanese. And, people in urban areas are treated differently than those in rural areas.
The compulsion foreign folks have to say, ‘I’ve never been treated differently so it isn’t as bad as some gaijin claim’ doesn’t take these variables into account nor is it in any way meaningful about the larger picture. More often than not, such claims are made to say in some way, shape or form that the foreigners who are treated in a discriminatory fashion have done something to deserve it.
Thank you so much, Shari! That was the predicament I was in… there was no one way to explain, yet I felt that there were so many things I had to say.
It’s very hard to come up with a conclusion because everyone is different, every situation is different, and the way someone sees something is different. While some Japanese will welcome foreigners, others may not. And while one is welcomed somewhere, that person may not be welcomed somewhere else.
I guess “Gaijin Treatment” is also something one has to experience? There are just so many stories and blog posts out there about this topic that I wasn’t sure one could actually grasp its meaning by just listening to or reading an explanation…
I just came across another response, but in blog form. I found it quite interesting and thought you all might, too.
http://dokodemonandemo.blogspot.com/2008/01/treatment-as-foreigner-in-japan.html
Thanks to Ryan for sharing his view.
Hi Marie,
Thanks for the link! And thanks for taking the time to write your article! I think this is a topic that should be discussed more, especially by those people who have had positive experiences! I only heard the bad stuff the first time I went over.
Like Shari says, however, everyone has different experiences. Some of those are related to who they are and how they behave, and unfortunately, I’m sure some of them are related to how they look.
I dont doubt that my being a tall blond blue/green eyed male had an impact on the way I was treated, but I also believe that the way I approached every situation - physically and mentally - had a much more significant impact.
Best advice I can give? Think positive and smile a lot!
Cheers,
-Ryan
Thanks so much, Ryan!
I agree, thinking positively and smiling a lot helps with any situation.
It was really hard composing this piece because I didn’t want any negativism to reflect in what I wrote. I love Japan, warts and all, so I really wanted to tread lightly on a very sensitive topic.