The Future of Japan

[RetireJapan]

That was quite a feat of mental gymnastics.

A racist backwater is a racist backwater no matter how much window dressing you put on it, or where in the world you are.

The original article did not say that their reaction was based on race (after all, the other member's of the author's family are Japanese).

I also read it as 'outsiders would have to get used to our ways', ie people not from the village.


"This is such a beautiful place," I said to them. "I'm sure lots of people would love to live here. How would you feel if I brought my family to live here?"

The air in the room went still. The men looked at each other in silent embarrassment. Then one cleared his throat and spoke, with a worried look on his face: "Well, you would need to learn our way of life. It wouldn't be easy."

The village was on the path to extinction, yet the thought of it being invaded by "outsiders" was somehow worse."

[Gulliver]

When I read that passage, it sounded more like they were warning him off moving there for his own good.

I.E, You probably are not going to like the lifestyle here, and we are all so old we aren`t going to change. Which would seem perfectly reasonable.

Not "You are not welcome".

That was quite a feat of mental gymnastics.

A racist backwater is a racist backwater no matter how much window dressing you put on it, or where in the world you are.

I think you might be projecting onto a small anecdote. Furthermore being wary of outsiders does not necessitate racism.
Big city slickers are often met with suspicion in smaller towns.

In France, in a smaller town we had someone who refused to help us initially when we asked for directions. Was that racism? Nope, it's cause we had Parisian licence plates.

Once he realized we were foreign tourists he happily helped. Just as long as we weren't Parisians.

OK, giving the benefit of the doubt, it was a case of xenophobia and not racism. If they really weren’t afraid of having to look at gaijin faces every day and they were just distrustful of outsiders, does that make it any more acceptable?

[Moneymatters]

I think he is upset the inaka village didn’t react enthusiastically to the prospect of him and his family moving there.

When I read that passage, it sounded more like they were warning him off moving there for his own good.

I.E, You probably are not going to like the lifestyle here, and we are all so old we aren`t going to change. Which would seem perfectly reasonable.

Not "You are not welcome".

That was quite a feat of mental gymnastics.

A racist backwater is a racist backwater no matter how much window dressing you put on it, or where in the world you are.

""This is such a beautiful place," I said to them. "I'm sure lots of people would love to live here. How would you feel if I brought my family to live here?"
The air in the room went still. The men looked at each other in silent embarrassment. Then one cleared his throat and spoke, with a worried look on his face: "Well, you would need to learn our way of life. It wouldn't be easy."
The village was on the path to extinction, yet the thought of it being invaded by "outsiders" was somehow worse."

Given he couldn't understand the driving reeducation lecture, I'm not sure how he had the above conversation.
(And the fact he thinks people are allow to sleep in those lectures caused me to question his qualifications. Due to the fastidious nature of traffic rule enforcement here in Japan I've sat through that lecture more times than I care to mention.
You can do a lot of things in there. Frankly, aside from dive bombing you'd get away with many things prohibited in a public swimming pool (and I'm including the legendary "petting"!) but the one thing you can't do in there is sleep.
I'd estimate 60% of the lecturer's efforts are keeping people awake, including walking over and shouting at them! but I digress.

If anyone here is giving their noggin a work-out it's anyone thinking it's effortless to move to a rural part of anywhere and be welcomed unquestioningly with open arms and minds.

IMO. If you do actually make effort to intergrate I think you'd find it easier to integrate here simply based on supply and demand. That's based on things I've heard from people I've met or read on things like the simplelife japan board. Also my experiencing moving to a rural part of england and engaging with people that were even more rural than that!
There's a big difference between joiing a rural community and just proping up the numbers on a new build estate..

[robster]

I agree with Moneymatters on the above. I think only someone with an inadequate command of Japanese, an unfamiliarity with the culture, or a pre-disposition to find racism/xenophobia where none exists, or an axe to grind, could intuit that exchange to mean "you're not welcome here because you are different". Knowing how Japanese (particularly elder ones) feel obligated to make visitors welcome and comfortable, I would expect that they felt the need to warn him that inaka living might not be what he is used to or what he expects, and so avoid the sin of being somehow implicated in another person's discomfort or disappointment when he finds he doesn't quite fit in.
There were plenty of positive things about Japan which he expressed eloquently, but I have always felt (and call it out as snobbishness if you like) that one's ability to understand intangible things in Japan such as intentions and emotions is proportional to one's understanding of the language, and therefore he should not be taken as an expert on the country, merely an expat with some opinions.

[Gulliver]

an unfamiliarity with the culture, or a pre-disposition to find racism/xenophobia where none exists, or an axe to grind,

Where do you see evidence of this ?

Knowing how Japanese (particularly elder ones) feel obligated to make visitors welcome and comfortable,

An overgeneralization to put it mildly. I have been made to feel unwelcome by plenty of Japanese(especially elderly ones)

and so avoid the sin of being somehow implicated in another person's discomfort or disappointment when he finds he doesn't quite fit in.

So this comes from a place of selfishness. Hardly a positive point in your argument.

therefore he should not be taken as an expert on the country, merely an expat with some opinions.

Except he’s not is he? He’s a seasoned respected professional that writes from a contextual journalistic standpoint.

[robster]

That's your take on it. I've given mine and you're welcome to disagree . I don't see much to be gained in cross-examining each others opinions.

[zeroshiki]

This is the 2nd thread today where OP has been arguing about racism in Japan. Perhaps this isn't the place to keep harping on it.

[Deep Blue]

Yeah, not completely sold on that one (especially from someone in the process of moving back to the UK -I know where I'd rather be living at the moment!).

Rupert didn’t move back to the UK, he went to Manila to work as Asia correspondent for the BBC. I remember a lot of discussion elsewhere about his farewell column too.

Personally I didn’t find too much to argue about, it’s full of stereotypes but they are all broadly true. He is a nice chap, but I have to say I don’t think his work is much more than ok. Certainly when you compare his insights to other BBC foreign correspondents or other Tokyo based journalists it does seem pretty lightweight.

I think this is mostly on his shoulders for not really getting to grips with the language - I can’t imagine an effective journalist who can’t speak to 98% of the population!

[TokyoBoglehead]

Yeah, not completely sold on that one (especially from someone in the process of moving back to the UK -I know where I'd rather be living at the moment!).

Rupert didn’t move back to the UK, he went to Manila to work as Asia correspondent for the BBC. I remember a lot of discussion elsewhere about his farewell column too.

Personally I didn’t find too much to argue about, it’s full of stereotypes but they are all broadly true. He is a nice chap, but I have to say I don’t think his work is much more than ok. Certainly when you compare his insights to other BBC foreign correspondents or other Tokyo based journalists it does seem pretty lightweight.

I think this is mostly on his shoulders for not really getting to grips with the language - I can’t imagine an effective journalist who can’t speak to 98% of the population!

My colleague, who is a well known person the field, said the very same thing.

Nice guy, but everyone was rolling their eyes at his retrospective. No one is going to do a takedown on a sayonara article so everyone just sort of ignores it.

I suggest we do the same. it's a very shallow look at a range of issues.

[Gulliver]

it does seem pretty lightweight.

I agree with you on that assessment. Like I said before, I think he painted a Japan in a relatively positive light.

Just speculation but, unfortunately, he was probably holding back on some of the more damaging/hurtful things he could’ve reported. If you wanted to continue being a journalist in Asia, you would not want to completely burn your bridges.

Interesting how such a “lightweight” article ruffled so many feathers on here though.