Tokyo protests Biden’s description of Japan as “Xenophobic”

37 comments

1. He’s not wrong.

2. lol, ok, but wanting to import more people from south east Asia to fill the gap in the blue collar market for a cheap as possible isn’t much of a defence. That being said – Japan is only Japan because it’s mostly Japanese people so 🤷🏼‍♂️

3. But we are xenophobic…

4. Then don’t be .

   I mean, the US is in no position to speak neither, but you know.

5. Nothing wrong with a country not wanting to let in immigrants.

6. Some pickmes in the comments saying he’s wrong forgetting that foreigners don’t have equal protections under the law in cases of housing and employment discrimination…

7. He must’ve watch FX’s Shogun recently

8. Having spent time in Japan as a non Japanese, this is a poorly kept secret.

9. Japanese media isn’t helping the situation because it’s translating xenophobic as “dislikes foreigners”. It’s one thing to be reluctant to increase immigration or have any immigration at all. It’s another thing entirely to say Japan straight up “dislikes” foreigners. Arguably since Japanese is reluctant to use negative words like this directly, it’s tantamount to saying Japan “hates” foreigners.

10. I’m not sure other countries understand Biden sometimes just says shit in the dumbest way possible, which is why the Obama administration didn’t let him talk to anyone during the campaign.

11. He’s an idiot diplomatically here but it’s also hilarious him just spitting the truth like that out of nowhere.
    No foreigners won’t be physically assaulted here so it’s not exactly the kind of racism we fear, but Japan has a VERY weird attitude towards foreigners in general and is terrified of us.
    (Been here 8 years and worked in Japanese companies for 6)

12. Haha he said the quiet part out loud

13. [removed]

14. The difficulty I had just getting an apartment here, purely on the basis that I’m a foreigner, says he’s not wrong. Among a myriad other issues I encounter day to day, ranging from systemic xenophobia to casual racism, the fact is Japan as a whole seems to want to remain an island, regardless of what that implies for its economic wellbeing as the years of population decline drag on. Until “national origin” becomes a protected class in all of Japan’s anti-discrimination laws, regardless of anything else the country does, xenophobia is by definition government policy here.

    Sure, it’s a gaffe for the leader of the US to criticize its allies, but if the shoe fits…

15. Japan May be xenophobic but those are strong words from a country with the same xenophobic feelings of not worse and that has worse racial violence.

16. Prove him wrong then Japan. 🤷‍♀️

17. Wait so the Japanese do not know they are xenophobic? Really?

18. I’m Japanese and I can confirm we’re very xenophobic

19. Gaijin moment

20. Timing is kinda funny seeing as the police are getting sued for specifically targeting foreigners lol

21. Can people just address the argument? Biden was saying this in context of using immigration as a source of economic growth. Being against immigration is fine but at least address his point within an economic context not “omg, biden called us xenophobic!”

22. Interesting.  A Saudi state news source reporting that an ally is mad at the US.

    That’s fun.

23. Not arguing the fact here but Biden didn’t need to say that. It was a very unproductive thing to say.

24. I agree with him that Japan being xenophobic but The US which has higher crime rates than most countries accepting mass immigrants and Japan that has one of the lowest crime rate accepting mass immigrants are totally different things. The US practically don’t have the serious risk of crime rates increased by immigrants.

    It totally make sense Japanese don’t want mass immigrants. Crime rates by nationality in Germany shows Japanese immigrants on average has the lowest crime rates with 459/100k and roughly 4 times lower than locals(German), 8 times lower than EU citizens, and 50-100 times lower than immigrants from Gambia, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran. If Japan were to have mass immigrants from those countries, the influence to crime rates would be ridiculous.

    [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/)

    Asian Americans have roughly 6.2 times lower murder rate than national average in 2019. The US on average has murder rate of 5.07/100k in 2019, so murder rate of Asian American would be roughly 0.8/100k.

    Accepting tens millions immigrants from Asian countries who has murder rate of 0.8/100k is no problem for the US at least from crime rates perspective, because that is 6 times lower than national average therefore lowering crime rates, while big problem for Japan because it means 3 times higher than national average therefore significantly increase murder rate.

    |Country|Murder rates per 100k(2019)|
    |:-|:-|
    |Singapore|0.2|
    |Japan|0.25|
    |Hong Kong|0.32|
    |China|0.52|
    |USA(Asian)|0.8|
    |India|2.6|
    |Philippines|4.3|
    |USA|5.07|

25. japanese people stubborn as always

26. The truth hurts I guess.

27. If they don’t want to be called xenophobic maybe they shold stop being xenophobic? Everyone I know who’s lived in Japan had serious problems at some point because of this issue. Biden did an etiquette faux pas but maybe realizing the whole world knows will prompt Japan to do better.

28. Had a hard time at a few spots but not when I was solo. When I was with other foreigners/Americans (especially) I got the “no” X with the hands. I also understand some places are understaffed and smaller unlike places in the USA.

    I get a sense of superiority that’s Americans give to one another but don’t when it comes to foreigners in America so I was kind of surprised.

    90% of my trip ( one month ) was very friendly and welcoming though.

29. News flash!!!! The Japanese people who were heavily under an emperorship, were essentially brain washed completely from the state, and had nukes dropped on them after being fired bombed are….*checks notes*……xenophobic.

30. Ask the average Japanese and they will say they are shy and that makes it hard for them to accept foreigners into their lives. Also, Japanese is a very difficult language used in only one country, so there’s a natural barrier. What’s more telling is that Japanese students get on average six years of English education but most can’t use it, the teachers can’t teach it because they are culturally xenophobic and can’t relate to speaking a foreign language as something that should be prioritized.
    The country’s demographics are changing a little bit but it is still by and large a “pure blood” place, and proud of it it is.

    It is poor manners to openly call japan xenophobic but then again, it’s considered poor manners to criticize anything about Japanese culture and that tells you everything you need to know.

31. “How dare you point out our flaws!? The only people that can do that is us! And we NEVER do that!”

32. Denial doesn’t make it untrue.

33. Not every country wants to, or indeed should, abide by western ideas about immigration.

34. They’d rather die out then open up immigration even a little.

35. Japan is for Japanese!

36. It’s not wrong. When I was hunting for an apartment to rent, I had a list of 50 places I liked, in the end only two would rent to me due to being a foreigner, despite living here many years already.

37. i don’t like biden one bit but he’s right on this. japan is EXTREMELY xenophobic, even to their own people in the diaspora.