Would the Japanese mistreat me as a foreigner if I was born in New Zealand as a Chinese?

17 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Would the Japanese mistreat me as a foreigner if I was born in New Zealand as a Chinese?**

   Hello, I’m moving to Japan, and I’ve heard that some Japanese people may have negative feelings towards foreigners. However, I am of Chinese ethnicity and was born and raised in New Zealand. Would they treat me differently because of this? Also, wouldn’t they possibly confuse me with a Japanese person due to my Chinese appearance?

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2. If you look *super* Chinese you’ll be treated like a Chinese, I guess. Nothing extreme, though. Like if a shop owner is Chinese then they’ll try to speak Chinese to you at first. There’s a ton of mainlanders in Japan so don’t worry too much.

3. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese live in Japan without mistreatment. There’s racist groups who spout shit about China from black busses, but ignore them. Anyway, sounds like you’re a Kiwi, not Chinese.

4. Someone asked this question on Sora The Troll’s stream iirc [where he has more serious discussions away from his usual comedy] and generally speaking, if you look East Asian and you go to Japan, chances are you will be treated like a Japanese person. So I hope you are fluent enough in Japanese OP, or you might get some strange looks.

5. As with any country, adhering to social norms and behaviour is the most important thing. Although some individuals harbor ill sentiments towards other ethnicities, there are plenty of accepting people too. If individuals mistreat you based on your ethnicity or appearance, thats their problem.

   So long as you act respectfully and act cordially you should be all G

6. I’m a Chinese American in Tokyo; no one knows that I’m Chinese ethnicity. I have met many people from China or Taiwan here and everyone seems fine. Ultimately Japanese people only care that you can communicate (in Japanese). You saying you’re from New Zealand would be marginally cool to them because they usually find English/foreigners rare/fascinating if they can’t speak English themselves.

   You might find an older person who is racist (usually they’re racist towards everyone, not just Chinese), but most people are not. Most young people aren’t involved in politics, so the negative feelings between the countries doesn’t trickle down.

7. No, people wouldn’t even know you’re Chinese unless you told them. Even if you told people they most likely won’t treat you differently. And idk what you look like, but chances are people will initially think you’re Japanese until you speak to them

8. You’ll be treated the same way like people in New Zealand who think you are Chinese. Either they don’t care, or they are racist. It’s not like there’s any big difference in Japan.

   If you look Japanese, they may be surprised if you don’t speak Japanese at first, but then after that the same as above

9. Chinese American here, I have never been discriminated against here. Although all of my family members who have never been to Japan told me I would. I have the fortune of having friends from all over as well as locals. I participate in a few extracurriculars too. It’s more about whether you can communicate in Japanese or not that dictates opportunities available to you.

   Most people are so preoccupied with their day to day affairs and trials and tribulations that they won’t care. Unless you do something characteristically “bad foreigner” things that attract a lot of negative attention or you run into a racist, no one will give you a second thought.

   Regarding racists I mean they are everywhere right typical profile to unhinged fringe society incels or dumbass ignorant old heads.

   You can look up videos online if you want examples of bad foreigner behavior. Pretty much Normally Japanese people treat their communities and public spaces with a certain level of respect such as carrying their garbage home or to a proper waste bin, not talking excessively loud on a train, smoking in smoking designated areas and being considerate to not inconvenience other people. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen by them but it certainly won’t help if they know you’re a foreigner and you break those social norms.

10. I’m Chinese and from Canada. I introduce myself as being from Canada and they don’t think of me as being Chinese. It was a little weird in the beginning. But depending on where you are, the locals may think nationality = ethnicity. Anyways, speak English in the beginning a bit and it might help.

    And I look very “Chinese” whatever that means

11. depends.

    The police will not likely stop you from checking your resident card or bicycle registration compared to white and black foreigners.

    Being seen as chinese itself sometimes becomes a bad thing due to how notorious China tourists are, but in general they wont mistreat you as foreigners.

12. Hong Kong Australian here. I speak fluent enough Japanese that I blend in very well and never get treated differently unless someone actually reads my Chinese name (my parents didn’t gave me one and I never made one for myself). So unless you are really obnoxious about your Chinese heritage in your behaviour then chances are strangers on the street probably would even notice you.

    When I first came to Japan I was a JET in the country side and country people, especially little children, will be much more fascinated by Asians-westeners, but in the big cities there are enough Asian-whatever-western-country that nobody thinks too much about Asians raised in western countries. In fact you’ll probably get treated a little bit better than Chinese-Chinese people since being able to speak fluent English and being raised in a western country still gives you an extra sheen in Japan which Chinese-Chinese people don’t have because the strong dislike of China due to geopolitics and thus by extension Chinese-Chinese people and the Japanese worshipping of western/English is still very much a real thing.

    EDIT: lol downvoters pretending that Asian-westerners who speak fluent English which can gaijin-smash out of sticky situations (not that I’m endorsing abusing that power btw) much more easily than Chinese people don’t exists. That prejudice in Japanese society is oh-so-very-real.

13. Chinese and New Zealand are both foreigners so it won’t make a difference.

14. You’ll be fine.

15. It is crucial to understand how our own attitudes, prejudices, opinions, values, etc, may determine our view(s) of life, interactions with others, and outcomes of similar experiences. These are things we carry within us. Simply changing one’s geographic location ultimately changes little. Hence, the expression “wherever yo go, there you are,” so don’t self-sabotage yourself before you take a leap to try it for yourself! You might have no issues while someone else has continual difficulties.

    I was reminded of this old fable and looked it up. “A man who was traveling came upon a farmer working in his field and asked him what the people in the next village were like. The farmer asked “What were the people like in the last village you visited?” The man responded “They were kind, friendly, generous, great people.” “You’ll find the people in the next village are the same,” said the farmer.
    Another man who was traveling to the same village came up to the same farmer somewhat later and asked him what the people in the next village were like. Again the farmer asked “What were the people like in the last village you visited?” The second man responded, “They were rude, unfriendly, dishonest people.” “You’ll find the people in the next village are the same,” said the farmer.”

16. You’ll be discriminated against, but not cause of who you are (most of the time) but a lot because you’re not Japanese. This will most likely happen when signing up for things (some apartments don’t rent to foreigners etc) but you’ll be better off if you can speak good Japanese and will probably have less issues than foreigners who don’t visually fit in as well as you may. But a lot of the discrimination in Japan is child’s play in the west so it doubt it’ll ever stop you from living your best life. I’d say Japanese discrimination more likely than not comes from ignorance then from a place of hatred. So as long as you don’t do anything societally terrible (like running through someone’s house with your shoes on (which i doubt you’ll do)) you should be fine.

    One thing I’d say from what my NZ friends have mentioned, it seems Japanese people have trouble with the Kiwi accent and blank out a bit more than i’ve experienced with my American accent? So maybe don’t feel too discouraged about that and just give them time!

17. You’re still Chinese, you’re just born in a different place. Well in terms of outside appearances. Just always tell you from NZ. You’ll introduce yourself anyways. But in terms of strangers you meet in the streets they’ll surely think you’re chinese depending on the place There’s a lot of chinese as well either studying,working or citizens. You’ll be fine.