Subtle racism?

22 comments

1. Nope never happened to me. Also brown.

2. It’s a thing some people say they experience and others think is all in their head:

   * [Fake Coughing](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/f3kp1y/fake_coughing/)
   * [Advice: dealing with rude people in subways](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/10a0zhb/advice_dealing_with_rude_people_in_subways/)
   * [“Japanese people coughing in my general direction”](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/soqxm2/japanese_people_constantly_running_from_me/hwcuet1/)

   There was a pretty big thread argument about whether it exists – but I can’t seem to find it. Probably in a mega-thread.

3. I think I’ve experienced this— it’s the kind of fake cough a passive aggressive person might do when passing someone smoking in an inappropriate place— but then again it could’ve just been an ordinary throat clearing. Either way, I have a hard time getting too upset over racism so subtle I’m not even sure it was even really there.

4. I mean, I personally wouldn’t jump right to racism, but I’m a mostly white guy. Sometimes people cough to get your attention because they’re trying to tell you something. Maybe your social window was open.

5. The only racism I’ve experienced in Japan is from other foreigners.

6. I’ve definitely got a none too subtle tongue click from a passing middle aged guy and when I was younger sometimes the shoulder check. Maybe some of it was racism, but the types that do that sort of thing have many many targets beyond me.

7. I’m a white girl and I have noticed people, men and women, cough or sniff when they pass me in the street.

   However Im guessing it’s random and all in my head because a) I’ve never experienced someone intentionally turning towards me and coughing *at* me, which would indeed be aggressive rude behavior, and b) there’s bias to it, of course I only hear it from people near me because it’s a small sound, so I don’t hear it when they’re not near me.

   Or it could be a thing. Maybe they feel a bit uncomfortable when they see me and the cough/sniff is a subconscious way to relieve that tiny stress. Or maybe it’s a way to show ones not a threat by acting “distracted” near me. Who knows.

   I have also gotten tongue-clicks from older men many a time, also idk if they randomly make that noise all the time and I just got in range to hear it as I passed, or they are intentionally clicking *at me.*

8. I mean, unless you follow these people around and log what direction they cough in throughout the day, it could very well be that these are just people with bad manners overall.

9. I feel like it’s your first time standing out (like all foreigners) and is just making you anxious especially when the culture surrounding you is not about standing out. There’s always gonna be racist and curious people on the other hand. Don’t try to feel too depressed about it, most likely they are either guessing your country / style (physical features)/ or that you have a small face and tall nose (without a mask).

   Coughing could be due to pollination or yellow dust from China (currently it’s a lot today).

10. Do people look and sometimes stare. Sure. Do they avoid me actively, maybe at times but it’s not common and there could be many reasons, so it’s hard to contribute to racism. Do they say horrible things. I don’t know. Maybe.

    I think we have to expect that sometimes people do shitty things. Some are in our head and some are real. Unless it’s really bad, just let it slide and move on about your day.

11. Happens to me on occassion in Korea. Like I’m either stinking up the place or carrying strange germs.

12. Some people cough when they pass by someone else but they do so only in order to appeal “I am here”.
    I’ll do that sometimes when I pass by someone else, especially when he/she watches his/her smartphone and pays attention only to it. It’s kinda rude to say something directly in Japan and we usually try to let them notice us without saying anything.

13. Yes it’s a thing, it’s apparently quite common and I’ve experienced it a few times. I’ll copy paste what someone said from a previous thread that explains it better than I can below. Unfortunately I can’t really advise on how to deal with it other than ignoring it as best you can.

    “No, they are not imagining it. Japanese don’t generally engage in vocal confrontations, so they show their displeasure in more subtle ways, using non-verbal communication. Coughing is one of these, as well as clearing the throat, staring, or making eye contact – which in Japan, is considered aggressive.

    And before you accuse people of imaging things and chalking it up to them being paranoid that they are being targeted due to their foreign-ness, you should consider that other Japanese will attest to this behavior.

    Salarymen and women also target one another in this way, and use it to call out young people as well. It’s very, very, common.

    One thing I have noted in the expat community is that some people seem to like to think of themselves as special and above “those other foreigners,” and express this by denying that things like this never happen to them, so therefore, it must not exist.

    You’re not special, and pretending that coughing to show displeasure isn’t a thing is just stupid”.

14. > I might be paranoid

    This.

15. Both Japanese and foreigner friends told me they do that towards unmasked people kind of in a “stay away from me if you don’t wear a mask” way.

16. Ah, another one of these “Japanese people intentionally cough on me” posts

    My favorite is that one woman who believed that people were coughing on her because of her baby

    Are you new to Japan? This is peak allergy season. A good half of the general population has allergies.
    Additionally, there has been this worldwide epidemic going around, due to a virus

    I don’t think “fake coughing passive-aggressive” is a behavior in Japan

17. There are different things that could be at play, but for the most part the people you actually need to interact with will be fine.

    I just had a moment in Shimane at the weekend where some old, maskless woman put her hand over her mouth/nose and gave me a weird look as I was riding past her on a bike. Her hands were not by her face previously and weren’t when I looked back a few seconds later. It was a quiet street, so maybe she would’ve reacted like that to anyone, or maybe it’s reserved for foreigners. I’ll never know for sure.

    Anyway, people may well be reacting to your presence in some way, but it’s hard to know for sure the reason. Just try not to let it get you down, but also don’t let redditors gaslight you into thinking everything is just in your head. I’d also suggest thinking about how frequent it really is. Like, that woman in Shimane was weird, but almost everyone else in the area was either normal or even friendly towards me. I think racists exist, but the overt ones are a definite minority.

18. Self fulfilling prophecy, focus on something else

19. I agree with the grey area answer (its is probably a mix of both, but no idea of #s). I like to also throw a few wrenches into the thought process. Just take it as food for thought.

    Japan is typically a non-confrontational place, as such things are majority passive-aggressive. The problem with this is not that it is unusual or racist or dumb or silly, it is that it is non-verbal for the most part and not everyone is 360 degrees looking for these and many people probably never notice something that was intended for them in an everyday situation. If you never thought twice about it, would it matter?

    On the other side of coin, going out of ones way during their commute or on the street to go signal to some homie that “Gosh, I hate you so much!!!1111!!!” in a passive way… like coughing/sneezing/clicking/Mooing/whatever seems like one hell of a waste of time, right? I always think this. What a waste of time. LOL

    I would also state, adults are pretty noisy. They grunt, sniff, cough, sneeze, breathe noisy, have tics, etc. How do you know any better than the average Saitou-san that the specific noise was intended to berate your entire existence when it was perhaps just a cough along their way?

    ​

    Again, I agree with the grey area answer, but people disliking other people is a normal thing. Sometimes they dislike for the silliest of reasons and waste lots of time doing silly things toward that feeling, but that is their personal problem. Your duty is to be you and not to their inability to be a typical homie. Know the line to harassment and defend it if it ever becomes necessary.

20. Not my story but this happend to my sister’s friend. She’s also brown, but of Pakistani-Japanese half. She and her friend weren’t wearing a mask in a bus, although the rule for wearing mask was abolised already. (This happened a week earlier) One elderly ossan sitting next to them intentionally coughed. After few stages of coughing she puts on her mask and the ossan doesn’t cough anymore. He did that to tell them to wear mask. But I find it as disgusting as he could open his mouth and say to them by his words instead of coughing. And also masks are no longer required (it never was in Japan). I don’t know when would this country move on from mask. This happened in Tohoku though, where people are more weird and paranoid of corona as compared to other parts of Japan.

21. From my observations, Japanese folk just cough A LOT

22. >I might be paranoid

    OP I want you to relax and feel secure in the fact that you’re absolutely paranoid.

    You’ve moved to a mostly racially homogeneous society. Even among foreigners the majority of the 2% are east Asian. You’re going to stand out and people are going to look. You’re different. It would be more disturbing if they didn’t. It’s not racism it’s normal human behavior.