Racist "Darrin the Gaijin" animation featured on JR trains.

[Iraira]

Okay, where's Duck- this thread needs a loud quack.

Ok, I'll lob a barb......faaaack yuuuu---- gaijin!

[sillygirl]

Eeh, what a larf this frikikin' topic is....

Is this racist?



Used to love this programme having been married to a J chap...

When I first came to Japan in 1993, I remember the 'gaijin dame' signs in a few restaurant windows......

[havill]

I have been living in Japan for the last 20 months, and you can add another 10 months or so if you add all of my previous business and holiday trips over the last 9 years.

Amongst the resident non-Japanese, that makes you a novice newbie. While you're still entitled to your opinion, I'd take your years and your obvious lack of comprehension of your environment as a clue that you need to more carefully ask questions before forming an opinion. To people that don't have a firm grasp of the language and culture, a lot of stuff can seem racist and insulting when it isn't.

And yes, I have lived and worked in many countries for periods exceeding at least one year, including Portugal, Canada, Britain, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore. I am a Portugal born Canadian (dual citizenship), and I am fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and know a little French and I am learning Japanese.

One of the things that I pride about myself is that I have travelled all over the world many times, and I have seen every continent except Antarctica. (And I have the passport stamps to prove it.) I have lived in more places and experienced more cultures than most people in this forum, and most likely more than you. I do not appreciate people calling me a walled off person that expects everything the same as their home country.

All of this experience is close to irrelevant when it comes to understanding Japan.

I am learning the language, but from what I read and saw in the videos, I still think you are wrong, they are clearly racist to me.

Let me repeat what I wrote above, then, but in bold letters:

To people that don't have a firm grasp of the language and culture, a lot of stuff can seem racist and insulting when it isn't.

And your experience with other languages and other cultures counts little here in Japan. Your experience overseas and your command of western European languages may impress an American in the U.S., but your skill set is not unusual in Japan amongst the NJ residents.

[kamome]

Okay, where's Duck- this thread needs a loud quack.

...and a dog mud wrestling with a Japanese guy. Buraku - will you do the honors?

[Charles]

Amongst the resident non-Japanese, that makes you a novice newbie. While you're still entitled to your opinion, I'd take your years and your obvious lack of comprehension of your environment as a clue that you need to more carefully ask questions before forming an opinion. To people that don't have a firm grasp of the language and culture, a lot of stuff can seem racist and insulting when it isn't..

There is nothing more tedious than this lame old game of comparing time in-country and bashing the people you perceive as newbies.

[FG Lurker]

There is nothing more tedious than this lame old game of comparing time in-country and bashing the people you perceive as newbies.

I'd expect no less of a comment from a guy who likes to think he is knowledgeable about Japan but has spent close to no time here himself...

[kamome]

I'd expect no less of a comment from a guy who likes to think he is knowledgeable about Japan but has spent close to no time here himself...

I forgot that what this thread really needed was a snarky comment from Chuck and a retort by FGL! Nice!

[Greji]

I forgot that what this thread really needed was a snarky comment from Chuck and a retort by FGL! Nice!

It does kinda spruce up the thread, doesn't Bird? Kinda closes the open ends nicely......

[American Oyaji]

Well, I think people could have been more kind to alicia.

I think all of us who have lived in country have at some point made a similar blunder, so to dump all over her about it is kinda silly.

[Mike Oxlong]

...to dump all over her about it is kinda silly.

Ah, but how do you know she doesn't like Cleveland steamers?

[kusai Jijii]

Well, I think people could have been more kind to alicia.
.

Fuck Alicia.

[FG Lurker]

I think all of us who have lived in country have at some point made a similar blunder, so to dump all over her about it is kinda silly.

The difference being that as far as she is concerned she hasn't made a blunder. She's like a female Chuck -- totally unable to admit that they don't have a fucking clue what they are talking about.

[maraboutslim]

I except & demand as a foreigner to receive the same amount of human rights that a Japanese receives in Canada or Western Europe.

This is a ridiculous expectation. We still live in a world of nation states. When it comes to matters of internal relations (as opposed to actions that affect people residing in other nation states), the citizens of those nations have the right to design their society as they see fit. Outsiders and visitors of choice have no right to make demands.

If you like it, you stay, if not, you go somewhere else. But it's ridiculously arrogant to expect the locals to conform themselves to the wishes of outsiders.

[Behan]

This is a ridiculous expectation. We still live in a world of nation states. When it comes to matters of internal relations (as opposed to actions that affect people residing in other nation states), the citizens of those nations have the right to design their society as they see fit. Outsiders and visitors of choice have no right to make demands.

If you like it, you stay, if not, you go somewhere else. But it's ridiculously arrogant to expect the locals to conform themselves to the wishes of outsiders.

That's right. We of off-shades of melanin only have the choice of execution method: hanging or crucifixion!

[Mulboyne]

The difference being that as far as she is concerned she hasn't made a blunder.

However, it's a lot easier to admit you are wrong when people give you the space to do so. It's not only the Japanese who have the concept of saving face.

[FG Lurker]

However, it's a lot easier to admit you are wrong when people give you the space to do so. It's not only the Japanese who have the concept of saving face.

If she had admitted early on when you kindly corrected her the first time then it is likely that the thread would have disappeared and been forgotten...

[American Oyaji]

If she had admitted early on when you kindly corrected her the first time then it is likely that the thread would have disappeared and been forgotten...

FGL, if someone sincerely believes they are right, I have no problem with them trying to defend their opinion despite correction, I've done it. You mean to tell me in your youth you never had a firm opinion that was completely wrong?

[FG Lurker]

FGL, if someone sincerely believes they are right, I have no problem with them trying to defend their opinion despite correction, I've done it.

I was responding to Mulboyne's message regarding allowing Alicia to save face.

You mean to tell me in your youth you never had a firm opinion that was completely wrong?

The older I get the more I learn and the more I realize how little I know.

[kamome]

If she had admitted early on when you kindly corrected her the first time then it is likely that the thread would have disappeared and been forgotten...

I don't know about that...the alicia bashing turned into a blood sport pretty quickly. When all the FGs get into a tizzy about something, it tends to take on a life of its own.

[FG Lurker]

I don't know about that...the alicia bashing turned into a blood sport pretty quickly. When all the FGs get into a tizzy about something, it tends to take on a life of its own.

Perhaps, but rather than admitting she got it wrong she kept digging herself deeper into the hole she was in. But hey, she knows her particles! Oh, and has had huge amounts of international experience that is oh-so-relevant to understanding Japan.

[NoCityHeadAche]

Racist pricks !!!!!!!

[Samurai_Jerk]

I don't know about that...the alicia bashing turned into a blood sport pretty quickly. When all the FGs get into a tizzy about something, it tends to take on a life of its own.

I think it's also because she's never posted anything on here but negative anti-Japan crap before.

[Maths Dude]

Not much changes around here does it?

[amdg]

This is a ridiculous expectation. We still live in a world of nation states. When it comes to matters of internal relations (as opposed to actions that affect people residing in other nation states), the citizens of those nations have the right to design their society as they see fit. Outsiders and visitors of choice have no right to make demands.

If you like it, you stay, if not, you go somewhere else. But it's ridiculously arrogant to expect the locals to conform themselves to the wishes of outsiders.

Both extremes of this relativism question are positions that are basically unsupportable. You've accused her of taking one position, then gone and taken the opposite.

Does that mean if Japan passed a law tomorrow that all foreigner's property was to be confiscated and the foreigners themselves deported, you'd be OK with it? After all it's their right to pass any laws they see fit to, and you have no say.

[kamome]

I think it's also because she's never posted anything on here but negative anti-Japan crap before.

I reviewed her posts since April and didn't find that much negative on Japan. She is certainly sensitive about human rights and racism (and has posted negative comments about Japan's record in that regard) but there are other posts that are completely innocuous. For a comparison, take a look at Buraku's posts over the same period and then tell me which person you think is really anti-Japanese.

[maraboutslim]

Both extremes of this relativism question are positions that are basically unsupportable. You've accused her of taking one position, then gone and taken the opposite.

Does that mean if Japan passed a law tomorrow that all foreigner's property was to be confiscated and the foreigners themselves deported, you'd be OK with it? After all it's their right to pass any laws they see fit to, and you have no say.

Sounds fine with me. Property ownership is overrated anyway. Guests just have to play along with the rules the hosts set up. I see no way around it unless we abolish the idea of nation states (an idea i'm not necessarily adverse to).

[Greji]

I reviewed her posts since April and didn't find that much negative on Japan. She is certainly sensitive about human rights and racism (and has posted negative comments about Japan's record in that regard) but there are other posts that are completely innocuous. For a comparison, take a look at Buraku's posts over the same period and then tell me which person you think is really anti-Japanese.

Hey Bird, you need to lay-off Buraku! He's got the dog.....

[Samurai_Jerk]

I reviewed her posts since April and didn't find that much negative on Japan. She is certainly sensitive about human rights and racism (and has posted negative comments about Japan's record in that regard) but there are other posts that are completely innocuous. For a comparison, take a look at Buraku's posts over the same period and then tell me which person you think is really anti-Japanese.

Buraku's as dick too. Anyway, Alicia needs to get on her knees and suck it.

[FG Lurker]

For a comparison, take a look at Buraku's posts over the same period and then tell me which person you think is really anti-Japanese.

You mean Alicia isn't Buraku in drag?

[Greji]

Buraku's as dick too. Anyway, Alicia needs to get on her knees and suck it.

Hmmmm, she might be all right after all...