My cat had escaped my house (he is found now.) While I was calling out my cat’s name near my neighborhood, 2 old men asked what I was doing. With my broken Japanese (mixed with some english), I told them my cat had escaped and was lost in this area.
The first thing they asked me after that was:
“You Korean? Chinese?”
“Canada-jin desu.”
“Ok, good.” With a smile and a thumbs up.
Of course they become more helpful after that…. kinda
I kept calling my cat’s name, which was Taro.
One of the men then told me I should call him by his real name in my language. Implying that his name couldn’t possibly be Taro a japanese word…..
I did end up finding my cat under debris. However, now looking back, I found those 2 people to be extremely openly racist.
7 comments
It’s very common for people to ask about where you’re from or what your ethnicity is. Just take it in stride and be friendly. Having good relations with your neighbors can make life much easier here.
Riveting stuff.
Each week this sub gets 2 or 3 high quality “is this racism” posts which never fail to make my day. Thank you for your contribution.
I don’t want to be a pessimist, but welcome to Asia~~~.
Taro’s a pretty stupid name for a cat, to be fair.
Welcome to Asia, filled with uneducated & clueless people.
Tell them that Japanese should also stop calling their pets “Jack” & “Butch” cause there English names…hypocrites
If you had to really think about it that much, perhaps ‘extremely openly racist’ is a bit hyperbolic.
God help OP when they try looking for a new apartment on their own or applying for a credit card