Rainbows and Peace and Ponies and Japanese Anti-Terrorism Efforts

One of the true reasons I wanted to study in Asia was to (attempt to better) understand what it feels like to be a racial/ethnic/cultural minority. I am of course a white American attending an overwhelmingly white school in an overwhelmingly white city of Ohio, yet as a part of my major I have studied in-depth the various types of issues regarding the experiences of racial "others" in America.

In light of recent terrorist threats on a global scale, Japan's government (undoubtedly encouraged by their buddy, the US) has added another precaution at their borders dealing with the permission of foreign-born persons into the country (fingerprints, even). Even people who have given up their lives in their native countries and have become permanent residents of Japan are not recognized as true Japanese citizens. Only native-born Japanese people can vote, for instance, but I won't even begin to discuss Japan's so-called democracy right now. Anyway, the borders have tightened even more so, and foreign-born residents face no lighter treatment than foreign-born visitors when it comes to entering this country. We are all suspect, basically, but I'm not sure this has anything to do with terrorism. Sounds familiar.
Link to article.


Foreign residents (gaikokojin) in Japan make up about 1.5% of the population and seem to be clumped into very apparent categories. There are Koreans, Chinese, and...everybody else. The Koreans and Chinese are distinct because Japan has an ugly history with such countries and the effects are lasting. Even though the "everybody else" category is generally treated with respect, even admiration, even as some spectacle...as a part of it I have still felt a great sense of unbelonging. The stares and whispers overwhelm me, as I am usually comfortable with "blending in". I feel like a burden, stumbling over their language, stumbling with the customs. I feel like there is never a way I could adapt or even feel apart of it. My professors, residents for more than a decade, are still "foreigners"; they will never be Japanese.

A couple of times a group of us gaijin have been denied entrance to a bar or restaurant, though they don't say why. It is humiliating, yes, but I know this is on such a low scale compared to the daily harassment, discrimination, or even physical violence against many nonwhite Americans, foreign-born or not. They may be called Americans, perhaps with some hyphenated term stuck on the front of it, but many of these people are not treated as they should be by law or, well, morals. I am not suggesting that such treatment is always personal or always intentional, as much of it is most definitely not, but it exists everywhere. We are all devoted to the idea of our nation-state, so even in such a melting pot as America, we develop this commitment to the protectionism of "our" culture and "our" people. Immigrants threaten this, maybe. We struggle with it more in the US because we don't quite understand what is our culture, our people. Our Constitution is based on these open-arms ideals, but how effective is it?

Japan, however, just refuses to open its arms. They let me in because they know I'm going home.