F*ed Gaijin criminals

[kamome]

Unfortunately, I have to say the assumption that gaijin are committing more crimes than Japanese is probably correct. While that sucks big time, and I'm affected negatively by it, it seems like gaijin crime rings (generally people from the Asian continent--Persians & Chinese being the worst culprits) do exist. Of course, I have no proof other than what I see on the streets of Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc.

But it's true that the media DOES sensationalize gaijin crimes more than Japanese crimes. I saw a story on the news once where a Chinese was suspected of murder in Japan. Instead of calling the suspect "Chinese", they just called him "gaijin". That pissed me off, because it perpetuates the mode of thinking that gaijin are all in one category without distinguishing us by nationality or race.

[sorrydaijin]

[kamome]

If you're going to argue against being called a "Gaijin" in general, just do that directly, without qualifications. Being offended by being grouped together with non-White Gaijin, smacks of the exact same racist attitude as this article was discussing. Why don't you go tell that to all of those non-Whites that are slaving away in Japanese factories and don't get the Golden Hakujin treatment. Didn't Hitler have these same delusions about non-pure people?

Whoa-ho-ho, there! Talk about totally missing the point! When I said I was pissed that they called that suspect a gaijin instead of Chinese, it's not at all because I was offended by being grouped with non-White gaijin. If you read further, I said I was upset because it perpetuates the Japanese mode of thinking whereby all non-Japanese are just "gaijin", without any reference to their individual nationality or race. When it happens on the news, it lends an air of acceptance to the term, thereby perpetuating that mode of thinking.

And to take the issue a bit further, I think it is dangerous for the news just to refer to a murder suspect as "gaijin", because that can lead the public either a) to infer that most gaijin are "bad" or criminals, or b) that I or any other law-abiding citizen is a possible suspect. Thus, if non-white ethnic group X living in Japan, for example, is statistically the group most involved in crime, then yes, I do resent being lumped together with them if that's the effect that being called "gaijin" has on the Japanese public. It has nothing to do with my attitudes about that racial/ethnic group, but rather has everything to do with how I am perceived by other Japanese.

[kamome]

You make a very good point about non-criminal, law-abiding gaijin who happen to be members of an ethnic group that statistically commits a disproportionate number of crimes in Japan. I do sympathize with those individuals who are considered guilty by association just because they happen to be a member of "non-white ethnic group X".

However, whether you like it or not, the suspect was Chinese, not white, not Persian, not black. I don't think it's racist to identify a suspect on the news by their physical features, but it should be specific to that person's physical features for the purposes of clarity and maybe for identifying the suspect in the future.

Calling him gaijin of course serves no such purpose, and that's what I was pissed about. Calling him Chinese at least is specific (and accurate in this case) and I would argue has no racist intent behind it. I'm certainly not offended if the news says that a suspect is Caucasian or American. It's unfortunate if all other Chinese in Japan might be resented by ignorant Japanese people as a result of news coverage identifying the suspect by nationality. But at least then the news wouldn't be guilty of unfair or misleading coverage affecting all gaijin.