as a japanese, i have to say no, it’s not true, as long as you (or any other person coming to japan) respect/follow our culture, mannerism and social rules, it don’t matter who you are or where you from, the problem is many pipol from west ignore this rules thus feel rejected
As a Thai-Japanese, I’d say Thais look down on people with darker skin or from “lesser” neighboring countries than Japanese do. Its not so common among people in their 20s now tho, maybe 35+
I think it’s a completely different kind of scenario but I have to say yes. Full disclosure I’m not Asian I just watch a lot of Asian stuff and some of it is quite jarring at times. One Viet drama was sponsored by different skin bleaching products, or at least every cream they put out advertised making your skin whiter and they all came from different brands.
This isn’t trying to look white as in Caucasian or some kind of racial disparity, as far as I can tell, it’s just a beauty standard, the same way white people slag on people for not being tan enough (or used to no idea if it’s still in fashion).
Personally I feel like the subconscious reason why bleaching and tanning is a beauty standard is it evens out the skin tone and hides blemishes.
Some Chinese people in particular do seem to dislike dark skin, this is definitely racial as well though, I’m thinking of that wacky “washing the black guy to make him a clean Chinese person” commercial from back in the day.
But as far as Japanese people go I don’t see it. Maybe in the idol industry there is? Same beauty standard but if anything it doesn’t seem to be pushed as much as it is in Asian countries with significantly more dark Asians like Philippians or Thailand or even/especially India.
In Thailand they have different ethnicities as far as I can remember, one looking more Han Chinese and the other Malay(?). I very, very rarely see dark Thai people as main characters in dramas and the main characters are often complimented for such white skin (often by darker people).
That said there’s nothing extreme to note that much resembles the sort of racism you get in America.
> I live in the U.S so i can empathize with racism and the politics behind it.
Japan is on another level lol. You’re trying to compare one of the most mixed societies in the world with one of the most homogenous societies in the world.
100% yes but i wouldn’t say it’s intentional or conscious most of the time – no one would admit to it, even if some gauche things are said. even darker complexion japanese people from the north/south get throwaway comments or snide remarks at times, but the general awareness of how hurtful it can be is pretty low.
Kinda! Racism varies a lot by the person (and area you’re in). There is a lot of general dislike of anything or anyone seen as “not Japanese” but of course ultimately whether or not you see someone gossiping behind your back or insulting you or ghosting you depends on them personally too. A lot of the bigger cities with international travel are more likely to be accepting since they rely on the tourism and have experience with other types of people.
Lived in Japan for years, have Japanese family. I would say that there is a feeling among the Japanese that they aren’t necessarily better, but much of Japan does not consider themselves to be “Asian”. They think of Asian as being Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. In their eyes, Japanese is Japanese. They are unique from Asia.
Yes
It’s usually called colorism in this kind of case. Just some info if people want to look up more details, I’m not trying to be obnoxious.
Yup they do
In ww2 those yellow demons slaughtered millions of filipinos & brought upon them hardship all because they believed they were the superior race & that filipinos were subhumans
During the bataan deathmarch the filipino soldiers who were ordered to surrender instead of fighting to the death by the american generals were tortured & slaughtered by the Japanese
During the rape of manila a hundred thousand filipino unarmed civillians were massacred by the Nipponese in just the span of a month
All this because of how lowly they viewed the filipino people. They came and raped & pillaged a young nation which was due for independence in just 4 years just because they viewed themselves as superior beings
My grandfather himself was a veteran of bataan & he told a story of how these racist yellow demons murdered his friends by bayonetting & burying them alive during the death march
Though I don’t hold a grudge anymore as the sins of their ancestors aren’t the sins of the current generation but sadly alot of modern day japanese still are highly racist & hostile towards filipinos
Yes. Not as egregious with younger people as with older people who were alive during the imperialist propaganda of the war, but the sentiment of Japan being the best and every other Asian country being inferior (and darker therefore inferior) is definitely still there. We mostly ignore it, but whitening creams are all over the place, actors are only extremely pale, etc.
from what i recall, filipinos see it as someone who is going to lead a hard life
I read a comment recently on reddit that I thought summed up the way intra-Asian racial attitudes can be described really well.
Whoever it was said that there are generally two different kinds of Asians: Fancy Asians and Jungle Asians. You can find both in most Asian countries, but the Japanese don’t really have any Jungle Asians within their culture so they’re different in that way.
Hope that provides a little clarity.
I’ve spoken to a Japanese person before, and the idea is they are concerned about preserving their culture. As for racist attitudes, you will face racism anywhere you go on earth. Some childish trashy people will find it fun to mock you just because they perceive you as different.
Yes. It’s also a huge thing in Korea. I don’t really want to repeat it here, but they have a specific term for darker Asians that’s really dehumanizing and offensive. Not sure if the Japanese also use it, though.
I was told by a Filipina that there is absolutely a hierarchy in Asia. 1. Japanese 2. Korean 3. Chinese 4. Everyone else.
Japan is a country full of people. They will be horrible to each other.
Japan is not exempt from human nature. The lyrics may be different, but we’re all singing the same tune.
Here’s a fun story.
My company had our head English teacher (American) handle the hiring process. The owner, (Japanese) would more or less take the decision made by the head teacher.
The head teacher was interviewing some Filipino candidates when, for some reason, the owner butts in and apologizes preemptively for any racism they might experience when on the job because he said something to the effect of “Japanese think less of Filipinos.”
In the owner’s defense, his English is good but it’s not fluent. He was trying to be polite and welcoming, it just came out REALLY weird. The head teacher was freaking out over the whole thing, too, and had to apologize profusely afterwards.
Candidate still came to work for us, though. Good save, head teacher. Good save.
I thought that generally all Asians desired to be lighter skinned and that darker skinned folks deal with racial backlash. I could be wrong.
I think it’s never a good idea to say the Japanese are this or that considering there are over 126 million people who live in Japan. There are some who look down on people from developing and or poor countries. I’m not sure if it’s because of the color of the skin. Rather it seems to me to be based on a socio-economic bias or snobbery.
When it comes to looking down on people from countries with lower GDP than Japan’s, there are more than a few who do it, which I find disturbing as a fellow Japanese person. This is an impression by reading on line, people expressing themselves in Japanese, BTW. Some seem to do it to other citizens in less fortunate financial circumstances as well.
Im not generalizing but some do yes, why? its actually connected way back centuries, where poor people work in the field and have tan skin while the royalties sit in one side and have pale skin, and I think that explains why most east Asian’s have that mindset, but i also think that southeast Asian’s have fault themselves, cause their fellow southeast Asians are the one who brings them down, and results to themselves bringing themselves down too, sad but it really happens in here, no one finds something wrong about a product that could whiten your skin instead even praising it, no one finds something wrong when a brown person shows up years later with pale skin, not really insulting them but its kind of sad how they only think that being pretty is having a pale skin, being chained to the ideal beauty of society is saddening
​
even me myself are also a victim to that cause being **”maputi”** (means light skin) in here is a praise, and i think everyone around me wanted to be praised with that word too, i mean who wouldnt be happy if someone called them a word that is associated being pretty ‘or handsome, im glad that quarantine gave me the time to be comfortable in my own skin, and i hope people realize that no matter what skin you have, **you are beautiful**.
I’m Malaysian-Chinese and lived in Osaka in 2018. From my experience most Japanese can’t tell Asians apart unless they look *distinctly* different. Heck, I had the most touristy getup when visiting Yanagawa for a day and an ojisan asked me “which part of Japan are you from? Tokyo?” when I passed by him and nodded lol.
I also noticed there’s a *lot* of south-east Asians who study/work there, especially Indonesians, in Osaka at least. So I feel like the current generation probably doesn’t think it so much? Definitely nothing compared to the level of racism they have for westerners at least…
EDIT: If we’re going into ‘dark-skinned’ territory, I did have a Sri Lankan friend I brought around in Japan and he was basically treated like an African (we almost got stopped from entering a stall in Tokyo once until I said I could speak Japanese)
Japanese people look down on all Asian countries not for their skin or class but because Japan is king when it comes to the contribution they have made in many aspects of everyone’s life around the world: their craftsmanship, technology (everything sony especially the PlayStation), gaming, toys, economics, anime etc.
On a serious note. Japan has done so much for the world that they’re so above it all that they could care less about color or class of another person. Now, when it comes to Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai/Lao, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia – those people do look down on darker skinned. These countries pay a ton of money to revamp their entire facial structure and if you’re fair skinned? Automatic upper status, especially in the southeast. I feel the discrimination from them even here in the US. Pale filipinos don’t associate themselves with darker filipinos, same with Thai, Viet and Cambodians. It’s evident in itself.
I wish my people were not like that, you think they would give Manny Pacquiao the time of day of that much fame if he wasn’t a good boxer? Pale Filipinos love pacman for reasons that are vain. The only time a country would show support to a fellow dark skinned is if they are good at singing, sports or dancing.
My gf is Thai, out of her family she is the only fair skinned one and has always witnessed her relatives treating her differently than her brothers who were dark/tan. They praised her with her milky skin even though she always preferred to be tan. We both acknowledge that this kind of discrimination in the community is real and it’s outdated. We receive a positive experience being around Japanese people as they are laid back here in the US and they don’t really have anything to prove when it comes to who you’re being seen with in public.
Of course, I’ve been told that this is all in my head but that’s a quick statement to say to anyone that you don’t quite have an answer for especially for something you never had to experience. Discrimination on skin color does exist, idk how on earth I’d be the only one to come up with that idea on my own.
Then again, I’m the wrong person to ask as I have a lot of animosity towards the asian community due to personal anecdotes which to most people doesn’t provide enough proof that there is such a thing as discrimination in the asian community. It’s about statistics now rather than experience. But that’s my experience lol
For any asians asking about this question the very key to success in Japan is assimilation. Assimilation. Assimilation. Assimilation. I know southeast asian men that have married Japanese women and vice versa but those that are not Japanese must assimilate. Blend in and assimilate. Don’t stand out. MaryJun Takahashi is a filipino japanese actress and she’s doing just fine. And you can clearly tell she’s mixed with filipino.
26 comments
as a japanese, i have to say no, it’s not true, as long as you (or any other person coming to japan) respect/follow our culture, mannerism and social rules, it don’t matter who you are or where you from, the problem is many pipol from west ignore this rules thus feel rejected
As a Thai-Japanese, I’d say Thais look down on people with darker skin or from “lesser” neighboring countries than Japanese do. Its not so common among people in their 20s now tho, maybe 35+
I think it’s a completely different kind of scenario but I have to say yes. Full disclosure I’m not Asian I just watch a lot of Asian stuff and some of it is quite jarring at times. One Viet drama was sponsored by different skin bleaching products, or at least every cream they put out advertised making your skin whiter and they all came from different brands.
This isn’t trying to look white as in Caucasian or some kind of racial disparity, as far as I can tell, it’s just a beauty standard, the same way white people slag on people for not being tan enough (or used to no idea if it’s still in fashion).
Personally I feel like the subconscious reason why bleaching and tanning is a beauty standard is it evens out the skin tone and hides blemishes.
Some Chinese people in particular do seem to dislike dark skin, this is definitely racial as well though, I’m thinking of that wacky “washing the black guy to make him a clean Chinese person” commercial from back in the day.
But as far as Japanese people go I don’t see it. Maybe in the idol industry there is? Same beauty standard but if anything it doesn’t seem to be pushed as much as it is in Asian countries with significantly more dark Asians like Philippians or Thailand or even/especially India.
In Thailand they have different ethnicities as far as I can remember, one looking more Han Chinese and the other Malay(?). I very, very rarely see dark Thai people as main characters in dramas and the main characters are often complimented for such white skin (often by darker people).
That said there’s nothing extreme to note that much resembles the sort of racism you get in America.
> I live in the U.S so i can empathize with racism and the politics behind it.
Japan is on another level lol. You’re trying to compare one of the most mixed societies in the world with one of the most homogenous societies in the world.
100% yes but i wouldn’t say it’s intentional or conscious most of the time – no one would admit to it, even if some gauche things are said. even darker complexion japanese people from the north/south get throwaway comments or snide remarks at times, but the general awareness of how hurtful it can be is pretty low.
Reminds me of this video: [But we’re speaking Japanese!](https://youtu.be/oLt5qSm9U80)
Reminds me of this video: [But we’re speaking Japanese!](https://youtu.be/oLt5qSm9U80)
Kinda! Racism varies a lot by the person (and area you’re in). There is a lot of general dislike of anything or anyone seen as “not Japanese” but of course ultimately whether or not you see someone gossiping behind your back or insulting you or ghosting you depends on them personally too. A lot of the bigger cities with international travel are more likely to be accepting since they rely on the tourism and have experience with other types of people.
Lived in Japan for years, have Japanese family. I would say that there is a feeling among the Japanese that they aren’t necessarily better, but much of Japan does not consider themselves to be “Asian”. They think of Asian as being Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. In their eyes, Japanese is Japanese. They are unique from Asia.
Yes
It’s usually called colorism in this kind of case. Just some info if people want to look up more details, I’m not trying to be obnoxious.
Yup they do
In ww2 those yellow demons slaughtered millions of filipinos & brought upon them hardship all because they believed they were the superior race & that filipinos were subhumans
During the bataan deathmarch the filipino soldiers who were ordered to surrender instead of fighting to the death by the american generals were tortured & slaughtered by the Japanese
During the rape of manila a hundred thousand filipino unarmed civillians were massacred by the Nipponese in just the span of a month
All this because of how lowly they viewed the filipino people. They came and raped & pillaged a young nation which was due for independence in just 4 years just because they viewed themselves as superior beings
My grandfather himself was a veteran of bataan & he told a story of how these racist yellow demons murdered his friends by bayonetting & burying them alive during the death march
Though I don’t hold a grudge anymore as the sins of their ancestors aren’t the sins of the current generation but sadly alot of modern day japanese still are highly racist & hostile towards filipinos
Yes. Not as egregious with younger people as with older people who were alive during the imperialist propaganda of the war, but the sentiment of Japan being the best and every other Asian country being inferior (and darker therefore inferior) is definitely still there. We mostly ignore it, but whitening creams are all over the place, actors are only extremely pale, etc.
from what i recall, filipinos see it as someone who is going to lead a hard life
I read a comment recently on reddit that I thought summed up the way intra-Asian racial attitudes can be described really well.
Whoever it was said that there are generally two different kinds of Asians: Fancy Asians and Jungle Asians. You can find both in most Asian countries, but the Japanese don’t really have any Jungle Asians within their culture so they’re different in that way.
Hope that provides a little clarity.
I’ve spoken to a Japanese person before, and the idea is they are concerned about preserving their culture. As for racist attitudes, you will face racism anywhere you go on earth. Some childish trashy people will find it fun to mock you just because they perceive you as different.
Yes. It’s also a huge thing in Korea. I don’t really want to repeat it here, but they have a specific term for darker Asians that’s really dehumanizing and offensive. Not sure if the Japanese also use it, though.
I was told by a Filipina that there is absolutely a hierarchy in Asia. 1. Japanese 2. Korean 3. Chinese 4. Everyone else.
Japan is a country full of people. They will be horrible to each other.
Japan is not exempt from human nature. The lyrics may be different, but we’re all singing the same tune.
Here’s a fun story.
My company had our head English teacher (American) handle the hiring process. The owner, (Japanese) would more or less take the decision made by the head teacher.
The head teacher was interviewing some Filipino candidates when, for some reason, the owner butts in and apologizes preemptively for any racism they might experience when on the job because he said something to the effect of “Japanese think less of Filipinos.”
In the owner’s defense, his English is good but it’s not fluent. He was trying to be polite and welcoming, it just came out REALLY weird. The head teacher was freaking out over the whole thing, too, and had to apologize profusely afterwards.
Candidate still came to work for us, though. Good save, head teacher. Good save.
I thought that generally all Asians desired to be lighter skinned and that darker skinned folks deal with racial backlash. I could be wrong.
I think it’s never a good idea to say the Japanese are this or that considering there are over 126 million people who live in Japan. There are some who look down on people from developing and or poor countries. I’m not sure if it’s because of the color of the skin. Rather it seems to me to be based on a socio-economic bias or snobbery.
When it comes to looking down on people from countries with lower GDP than Japan’s, there are more than a few who do it, which I find disturbing as a fellow Japanese person. This is an impression by reading on line, people expressing themselves in Japanese, BTW. Some seem to do it to other citizens in less fortunate financial circumstances as well.
Im not generalizing but some do yes, why? its actually connected way back centuries, where poor people work in the field and have tan skin while the royalties sit in one side and have pale skin, and I think that explains why most east Asian’s have that mindset, but i also think that southeast Asian’s have fault themselves, cause their fellow southeast Asians are the one who brings them down, and results to themselves bringing themselves down too, sad but it really happens in here, no one finds something wrong about a product that could whiten your skin instead even praising it, no one finds something wrong when a brown person shows up years later with pale skin, not really insulting them but its kind of sad how they only think that being pretty is having a pale skin, being chained to the ideal beauty of society is saddening
​
even me myself are also a victim to that cause being **”maputi”** (means light skin) in here is a praise, and i think everyone around me wanted to be praised with that word too, i mean who wouldnt be happy if someone called them a word that is associated being pretty ‘or handsome, im glad that quarantine gave me the time to be comfortable in my own skin, and i hope people realize that no matter what skin you have, **you are beautiful**.
I’m Malaysian-Chinese and lived in Osaka in 2018. From my experience most Japanese can’t tell Asians apart unless they look *distinctly* different. Heck, I had the most touristy getup when visiting Yanagawa for a day and an ojisan asked me “which part of Japan are you from? Tokyo?” when I passed by him and nodded lol.
I also noticed there’s a *lot* of south-east Asians who study/work there, especially Indonesians, in Osaka at least. So I feel like the current generation probably doesn’t think it so much? Definitely nothing compared to the level of racism they have for westerners at least…
EDIT: If we’re going into ‘dark-skinned’ territory, I did have a Sri Lankan friend I brought around in Japan and he was basically treated like an African (we almost got stopped from entering a stall in Tokyo once until I said I could speak Japanese)
Japanese people look down on all Asian countries not for their skin or class but because Japan is king when it comes to the contribution they have made in many aspects of everyone’s life around the world: their craftsmanship, technology (everything sony especially the PlayStation), gaming, toys, economics, anime etc.
On a serious note. Japan has done so much for the world that they’re so above it all that they could care less about color or class of another person. Now, when it comes to Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai/Lao, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia – those people do look down on darker skinned. These countries pay a ton of money to revamp their entire facial structure and if you’re fair skinned? Automatic upper status, especially in the southeast. I feel the discrimination from them even here in the US. Pale filipinos don’t associate themselves with darker filipinos, same with Thai, Viet and Cambodians. It’s evident in itself.
I wish my people were not like that, you think they would give Manny Pacquiao the time of day of that much fame if he wasn’t a good boxer? Pale Filipinos love pacman for reasons that are vain. The only time a country would show support to a fellow dark skinned is if they are good at singing, sports or dancing.
My gf is Thai, out of her family she is the only fair skinned one and has always witnessed her relatives treating her differently than her brothers who were dark/tan. They praised her with her milky skin even though she always preferred to be tan. We both acknowledge that this kind of discrimination in the community is real and it’s outdated. We receive a positive experience being around Japanese people as they are laid back here in the US and they don’t really have anything to prove when it comes to who you’re being seen with in public.
Of course, I’ve been told that this is all in my head but that’s a quick statement to say to anyone that you don’t quite have an answer for especially for something you never had to experience. Discrimination on skin color does exist, idk how on earth I’d be the only one to come up with that idea on my own.
Then again, I’m the wrong person to ask as I have a lot of animosity towards the asian community due to personal anecdotes which to most people doesn’t provide enough proof that there is such a thing as discrimination in the asian community. It’s about statistics now rather than experience. But that’s my experience lol
For any asians asking about this question the very key to success in Japan is assimilation. Assimilation. Assimilation. Assimilation. I know southeast asian men that have married Japanese women and vice versa but those that are not Japanese must assimilate. Blend in and assimilate. Don’t stand out. MaryJun Takahashi is a filipino japanese actress and she’s doing just fine. And you can clearly tell she’s mixed with filipino.