In my home country, being anti-immigrant usually just means you’re a racist idiot and no one I hung out with entertained that kind of opinion.
How are things on that front here?
Recently I was browsing TikTok and came across a video of an anti-gaijin protest that happened last Sunday at Warabi station.
The protest itself was fairly packed with people, but it was the comments that upset me the most.
“the problem is some gaijin are so entitled that think they can do what they want in Japan, the way some of them disrespect their culture and act this is their homeland country”.
“ very true, these gaijin needs to be sent back home, they bring barbaric culture ..”
“Japan has always been a culture of respect it has gotten famous over the years and foreigners just dont follow the rules so if you come please do don’t act like animals 🤷♂️🤷♂️”.
“foreigners don’t care about the rules or Japanese way if life. they merely want to extract the benefits of Japan, while reshaping the country to suit gaijin’s desires. same happens in Europe.”
I’m not exaggerating when I say this was the most popular sentiment for the comment section.
I understand the point some of them are making (even if it’s being communicated in a disrespectful way), but what struck me was that the arguments being made were complete non sequiters.
No one was talking about the protest or the protestors itself, they were inventing situations or dredging up the sentiment that gaijin are disrespectful.
For me personally, I’ve had a few experiences of what I’d call discrimination, so comments like these upset me.
Anyway I could go on about this but from the people you’ve spoken to here in Japan, how is the situation?
by TokyoMeltdown8461