I’m a Filipino (ethnically Chinese) and I plan to live and work at Japan in a few years. I’ve been interested in their culture for years now, and I find myself relating to the Japanese a lot (quiet & polite). I would be down to learn Japanese and their culture as much as possible or when needed, but I needed to ask how other Southeast Asians are usually treated in Japan. I’ve researched through posts regarding foreigners either being treated differently or foreigners being treated politely and normally, so I needed clearance into this question. Thanks in advance!
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**How are Chinese/Southeast Asians treated in Japan?**
I’m a Filipino (ethnically Chinese) and I plan to live and work at Japan in a few years. I’ve been interested in their culture for years now, and I find myself relating to the Japanese a lot (quiet & polite). I would be down to learn Japanese and their culture as much as possible or when needed, but I needed to ask how other Southeast Asians are usually treated in Japan. I’ve researched through posts regarding foreigners either being treated differently or foreigners being treated politely and normally, so I needed clearance into this question. Thanks in advance!
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You know, being treated differently and being treated politely are not exclusive.
While I only have experience being in Japan as a white person, you might have to speak before they realize you are not Japanese if you can pass as Japanese.
So you can be treated differently as Japanese people in the sense that some landlords will refuse foreigners (the fact some foreigners leave Japan without telling anyone and leaving belongings in the appartement does not help the case as it’s difficult for the landlord to vacate the place and rent it quickly so they would lose money if that happen). It can often happen that people will treat you as a tourist, possibly asking questions about your origin, length of stay, etc. And when you are visibly not Japanese you can have kids saying hello or saying gaijin. But even if that kind of things happen, people can be nice. Like I was travelling to Himeji and went to a small restaurant, the other customers started talking with me, asking lot of questions and they offered me like 2-3 beers.
Do you want the truth or do you want me to tell you what is gonna make you feel good?
Post might contain some stereotyping and racism, but these are based on personal experience
I’m ethnically Chinese from southeast asia. If you speak japanese you’re fine. If you can’t, you’ll be treated slightly less nicer than a white foreigner.
For example, if you go to language exchange, Japanese will be very eager to speak to white foreigners, no matter whether their native language is english or not. But not so much to Asians (even if they’re American born Chinese or Singaporeans fluent in english). Oh this is for men btw, women bypass all these rules.
Also Chinese tourists have bad reputation here so it doesn’t help.
All in all I think you need to get fluent quickly, like as soon as possible, or work in international company. Else you’ll just be trapped in a bubble of friends from your own country or with only foreigners (not a bad thing either tho, just a note since having Japanese friends is a goal for some people moving here).
I know a couple of ethnically SEA in Japan and I am one myself.
Let me be honest. If you could pass as Japanese or Korean, meaning you have a paler complexity, then you won’t have any problem. When mentioning your ethnicity people will say えー見えない, as if it’s a compliment…
If you have a darker complexity typical of SEA, then some people will look down on you and assume you are a low income country immigrant worker who doesn’t speak the language. I wouldn’t say that it’s rampant since most people don’t care but there is the occasional encounter of xenophobia.
One of my best friends has a similar background to yours! He said that learning Japanese fixed most of those problems, but he also mainly has foreign friends. If I went any further explaining his experience, I would be speculating. However, when we walk together (I’m white) it often happens that women trying to get people in their bar from the street will completely stop moving and talking until we are past them. You can draw your own conclusions as to why that is.
I’m a Filipino American woman (also somewhat East Asian passing) and I feel like I get treated like any other foreigner; kindly & politely. I haven’t felt anyone react negatively to me being Southeast Asian, I don’t think they care all that much?
Japanese are very polite and don’t have a lot of experiences with foreigners. Just be as Japanese as you can, they’ll love it
I were treated indifferently(?) when hanging out with fellow sea people. Order? *drop food. Please enjoy.
On the contrary I were treated very nicely if I hang out with American or Indian and speak English. Are you guys lost? Do you need help finding way to the station? Where are you guys came from? This is the recommendation of our bar. Let’s cheer together, welcome to Japan! Kanpai! A whole bar kanpai with us. Uhmmm okay
In the office? Depends on industry, job level and office culture. You can’t really stereotype.
In my industry we were more or less treated equal to the Japanese in the office. They teach you the job to you just like to the other Japanese. Kindly and politely. But If you are introvert, nobody will talk to you outside work. The same treatment with any other introvert Japanese new hires. The boomer gen z gap. I need to take the initiative. But when white or latino came, something just switched on, and some japanese become super friendly. Some, not all. Ngl I do think latino are cool too, they speak Spanish and English. On the other hand, some Chinese employee even need to socialize outside her department. She got some Japanese friends, good for her, ms social queen. Now she can get hr support whenever she got silent treatment from sr engineer. Never heard the grumpy ojisan yell again. The treatment difference is just mind-blowing for me.
Or maybe it’s just my company, it has bad review on office culture/atmosphere.
Some of my friends are having a blast in Japan.They are true anime enthusiast, they are kinda immune to racism. I kinda envy them. It’s not even racism, just normal xenophobic behavior, which also exist in my own country. Like sitting next to you in a train only after there is no available seat. African migrant get the same treatment in my country. Racism is special to older generation where some literally verbally said to me they don’t like Chinese/Korean. Yabai yatsu they said. Younger generation are chill and don’t share the same sentiment with older people.
I believe everyone migrating experience can be different, not special to Japan only. Between international student and economic migrants. Between factory workers and software engineers. Between extrovert and introvert.
At last, it’s not for me. The favoritism just turned me off. Am I jealous? Yes. I’m moving out next year. I can get better salary outside Japan. I experienced that even Vietnamese and American are nicer to me more than the Japanese.
My partner is Chinese and the majority of our friends are Chinese as well. They enrolled in intensive Japanese courses when they first arrived, and all of them now are fluent in Japanese, working for Japanese companies and own their own apartments. Everyone has permanent residency and a couple of them even nationalized.
I’m sure everyone has some story about some racism they experienced, but I’m sure they would’ve had them if they had lived in any other country besides their own as well. It’s not like every other country is immune to racism. If you are different from others in the country you live in, you are likely to experience at least a couple of cases of racism or some other type of discrimination.
I am half white, half Japanese and have experienced discrimination both in Japan and in the US.
You won’t be treated differently when shopping, dining out, etc., as you’re just customers/guests, like everyone else. At city halls or immigration, equality prevails among non-Japanese citizens.
In public, people generally don’t care about who you are. However, there are instances where you might face different treatment, such as when renting an apartment. Many landlords are reluctant to rent to Southeast Asians due to a perceived high crime rate, as per statistics. It’s worth noting that some Southeast Asians violate apartment rules by hosting friends long-term.
Regarding making friends, it can be challenging for Southeast Asians, as many Japanese people show less interest in SEA, making it harder to form Japanese friendships compared to the ease with which white people establish Japanese acquaintances.
It really depends on who you talk to. In more urban cities like Tokyo, Osaka, they are more used to foreigners so they try to speak in English or easy Japanese. There are also impatient Japanese who hates foreigners even if you speak good enough Japanese.
Japanese are more private hence they tend to be less friendly. They are respectful to strangers so you will definitely be treated well, no racism or whatever. On the otherhand, you might find it difficult to have a close Japanese friend, at least compared to other countries.
Easiest way to interact with local people is to learn the language. Join some social activities with similar interest even if you’ll be on your own.
I think, for better or worse, your treatment will depend on your nationality (as well as perceived nationality given your appearance) as well as job. In certain countries, say Japan and HK, Filipinos have been basically allowed in to do certain types of jobs.
So to be honest, you might get less of a positive reception than say an European or American or Singaporean, who are regarded more as rich regions/countries. Not that people are actively impolite or unfriendly; but there might be some subtle looking down on people from PH or Southeast Asia.
But your job function will also play a big role. If you are coming in as a professional (lawyer, banker, diplomatic corp) or corporate executive, then less likely to be an issue on account of the status your job gives you. Finally, the better your Japanese language skills are, the better your experience.
Here’s my experience when I went abroad as a lighter skinned Filipino Canadian. (I’m 100% filipino, but my skin is so white you wouldn’t know 💀)
If you meet the beauty standard, you’ll blend in with the crowd. However, if you don’t know any Japanese and they find it out, they’ll treat you like any normal gaijin. I do feel a difference though when it comes to comparing ourselves with the more European white gaijin in both good and bad ways.
Compared to white gaijin, I feel like they’re not really as interested to talk to us since we’re just a while other type of Asian. Which can be really hard to make friends. You’ll either have to learn the language or try to make friends on your own there.
On the other hand, we won’t get gaijin seated on the train. That’s a plus.
Idk it was definitely an experience living as a foreigner without stereotypically looking like a foreigner. I wish you luck Op.
What do you do?