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by VRay 1637 days ago
A lot of the foreigners living in Tokyo misinterpret tiny bits of nothing as hostility and racism

I'm a big guy, sometimes people make space for me on the train or whatever. It isn't racism. I'm a scary and weird looking guy too by local standards, it isn't racism when people gawk a little sometimes. People talk to me like a kid after I completely botch some basic phrase

The only racist thing that ever happened to me in years living there was this: I went to a bar with my white friend, and they said "No American" and made an x sign at us. I asked in Japanese "sorry, what was that you said?" and suddenly they welcomed us in.. I guess they just didn't want rowdy dudes who can't speak the language. Definitely not acceptable behavior from them, but not too bad IMO. I get way worse treatment in the USA for being Hispanic than I ever do for being a foreigner in Japan

The expat community in Tokyo is kinda obnoxious. There are a lot of lazy, burned out guys who complain about everything

2 comments

> The expat community in Tokyo is kinda obnoxious. There are a lot of lazy, burned out guys who complain about everything

How is that unique? Sounds like the expat community in any other Asian city.

Exactly. If you are looking for racism you will find it. If you are looking to get offended you will get offended.