fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5604 ]

[ SECRET POST #5604 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5604 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 27 secrets from Secret Submission Post #802.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do hate their attitude towards WW2. Nazis are not as old as vikings, it's too early to romanticize them! They had a few nazi themed places open, a bar and clothes shop, that were closed after complains.
I dislike their racism towards gaijins as well.

I always see comments about Japan being racist to gaijins, but from having followed hundreds of expat youtube channels and blogs (since my weeb days...), it's obvious foreigners, especially from English-speaking countries, have it really, really easy over there.

So idk what kind of racism people are talking about.

I've lived in Japan for 5+ years and I'm white as hell (not from an English speaking country) and racism is very very strong in Japan. More than "racism" itself it's xenophobia, but still. Racism is a very big problem, too. Especially towards black people. Mostly though they have problems with people from other Asian countries.
White people have it easier than all the other foreign demographics, but when you understand the language and try to work or establish long relationships in an environment almost exclusively Japanese it's almost impossible even if you're white and speak the language at a native level.

"Expats" (I fucking hate this word omg) usually have it easier in Japan because they can not abide to some societal rules that are expected from Japanese people. it's not always because they're "better" or "prettier". The vast majority of times it's because we are stupid gaijin that don't understand Japanese nor their culture and we are all tourist even if we've lived here for 10+ years.

I love Japan and I will love it forever until the day I die. It gave me a lot and made me the person I am, but saying it's a "perfect" place without racism or xenophobia is just wrong.
Keep in mind that youtube etc influencers are trying to sell something to you when broadcasting their lives on the web. Sometimes they're trying to sell the image that Japan in a perfect place to live and that they are living their best live AND YOU ARE NOT.

Also, foreign women and men have a very different experience of Japan. Always keep that in mind.

PS: One example of my "expact priviledge" is that I'm a gender non conforming woman and when I was searching for for in a Japanese firm I could do that without wearing medium/high heels (I wear men shoes), with no make-up or dying my natural short blond hair. Were I Japanese I'd have to wear medium heels, wear make up and have shoulder lenght black hair. So yeah, I'm lucky as hell. But I take so much shit over other stuff that IDK. It balances out.

nayrt
I'd not be able to move somewhere where it's so hard to make real friends...
Who has it easier, f or m foreigners?

F foreigners ha it worse. It's a very sexist country in general, but foreign women specifically are seen as more intimidating that Japanese women. Obvisouly it differs from their countries of origin and skin colour, but the general attidute is this.
being a cis white male from an English country in Japan is like winning the proviledge lottery.

How about being told to go "back home to your country" even if you were born there? People refusing to talk to you at your job because they assume you don't speak Japanese, even if you're a native speaker? How about signs in bars that literally state "no foreigners"? How about black people being harassed by the police in the hopes of catching them out in something that will allow them to deport them?

But I guess you watched some vlogs so really, you're the expert.

ayrt
I've seen about a dozen jDramas and manga. Black men are fitishised, party blonde clown wigs are a thing. Nationalism is pretty strong in both manga and anime. I've seen a video about bullying a mixed race student faced.
I hail from a multi racial country so I judge Japan hard.
However there's no need for you to know all these if you are not planning to move there tbh. There's always something problematic about media we consume, screw that. So just enjoy those vlogs.

I lived in Japan for awhile. I had an overall positive experience. Most people were very nice to me, and appreciated me for speaking Japanese even if I was shaky about it at first. I was also white, and female presenting. I hadn’t come out as being into women then, and I definitely hadn’t realized I was trans yet. I have a strong feeling that being either a lesbian or trans man would have significantly affected the treatment I got from a lot of people, even if it wouldn’t have changed everything.

Non-white foreigners, especially black people and Koreans, get treated very differently than white people. LGBT people get treated very differently than cishet people. Neurodivergant and disabled people get treated very differently than neurotypical and able bodied people. And women get treated differently than men. There is a push amongst younger Japanese people to improve all of these things in their country, so it’s untrue when people treat Japan as an all around backwards country, where everyone is a bigot, just because there is a strong conservative attitude among the older population. But change is always a matter of time and lots of effort, so these improvements won’t happen overnight.

And also, this isn’t quite xenophobia in the traditional sense, but staying out of other people’s business and ignoring inconvenient things does still happen there, so it’s definitely not a completely foreigner-friendly country(but what country is?), but it’s not a completely hostile one either. There’s a lot of nuance to this, and things will always depend on individual people, instead of generalizing entire groups as either welcoming or hostile. For instance, I was ignored by so many people when I needed directions once(this was before cellphones, much less smartphones), even though I was speaking Japanese, and was kinda panicking on the inside. But I eventually had someone come up and help me out, and he became one of my best friends. We still keep in touch.

Either way, the other anons replying are definitely correct that these vlogs aren’t a genuine representative experience for most people. They’re another kind of polished entertainment.

I also heard that the bush fat people.

AYART
Yeah. I'm someone with weight problems. Not obese right now but I yo-yo between low and high overweight BMI range. I've been publicly shamed more than once by strangers and friends alike because I'm chubby. :/
It's getting better because there are way more overweight Japanese people nowadays, but yeah... TV is also like that. Lots of jokes on fat people. They are not as awful as other cultures where they tell you things on the lines of "go kill youself you filthy pig", but it's still pretty fucked up.

I hope it'll get better! Italians can also be quite bold to their friends regarding appearances, like hair and clothes. They think they're helping.

AYART
LMAO I am Italian and this made me laugh. SO TRUE. But I think Italians are way nastier sometimes. They usually sexually harrass you more and use your weight against you if you don't find their sexist attitudes "flattering".
Japanese people on a whole are more innocent when commenting on your weight, but I also had a couple of old men making pig noises at me when I was walking alone. (I was also 70kg for 165cm at the time, so not that fat at all).

The world is a fucking mess everywhere. Also, Japan and Italy are very different countries with very different problems, but have very similar bigotted ideas with almost identical outcomes. It's kind of fascinating, actually.
I'm also gay LOL

IDK if you're Italian or not, but there's a programm called "Ma come ti vesti?" That is like the worst thing ever in term of "insulting people for their appearance with the justification of helping them". I fucking hate it.

*NAYRT
Sorry people, I'm the anon who lived in Japan 5+ years, not the AYRT. I got confused.

It’s not a problem :)

AYRT

That is true. Considering I myself have become overweight in the time since I’ve moved back to the states, I don’t know how I forgot to add that in.

Try being in the military. Among other things listed in other comments to you.

Your experience is, quite obviously, very, very limited.

Last time I was in Japan I was travelling with a friend who is a dark skinned black woman (I am white af). In popular tourist spots, it's common for students to offer tours to obvious foreigners in exchange for practicing their English. I was approached multiple times, no one ever approached my friend. After agreeing, the tour would be almost exclusively directed at me, my questions would be answered thoroughly while my friend's got the briefest response. If I asked for directions or help, people always tried to help. People would wave my friend away if she tried or flat out ignore her. Like in the US, security would sometimes follow behind us in department stores, but that never happened to me when I was out on my own.

So, y'know, the exact same kind of racism she would face almost anywhere else in the world.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #5604 ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject