[linguae]

I’m also a black American who lived in Japan and who frequents Japan for business and vacation; in fact, I just returned from my eighth trip a few days ago. I feel an indescribable feeling of freedom and even acceptance in Japan that have eluded me in America. By “acceptance” I don’t mean being accepted as a Japanese person; I mean being accepted as a person. I gladly prefer the treatment of being a “gaijin” to the treatment of being black in America.

[imbnwa]

That's great that it worked out for you but ask mixed-race Japanese folk like Ariana Miyamoto what it was like growing up (or Naomi Osaka what her Japanese grandparents had to say about her mother loving a Black man), they will tell you eerily similar tales and are quite the opposite of being treated as a person despite the fact they were born there, are culturally Japanese, and have spoken Japanese their entire life. You can also check out Yuya From Japan's channel on Youtube where he interviews mixed-race Japanese folk.

Foreigners likely don't realize they're participating in the same near/far dialectic that informs the way Black American comedians since the 90s have noted that white folk in America treat people from Africa better than they do the people of African-descent who's ancestors were already here well before the the ancestors of most whites in America.

[jterrys]

I think OPs and parent posts are more content with the fact they will never be Japanese, and feel comfort in that they still get treated with more dignity and respect than in America.

Your examples are of mixed race people who strive to be Japanese, but are denied due to their mixed heritage. Apples and Oranges. One group cares about integration, the other doesn't.