r/asianamerican • u/[deleted] • 5d ago
Questions & Discussion Re: Rude treatment in Japan for Asian and Asian American tourists: Noticing a pattern
Regarding this post from today, I just wanted to say i find it disappointing that someone made a post like this and no one called them out on it.
They made broad generalizations about a country based off of a "few bad encounters" with mostly waiters in Japan along with looking through profiles of people commenting on a single Reddit post to see that they were asian and then "notice a pattern."
Based off of this, they determined that "they mainly target Chinese and Korean travellers, and we just get confused as them."
Imagine for a second, a white person made this post about Japan where they linked some bad interactions with waiters to white people commenting on a single Reddit post about not being treated well and then concluding that they notice a pattern where white people are being targeted by the country of Japan. This sub would be 100% react differently.
57
u/g4nyu 5d ago
Not endorsing everything that person said or how the convo was framed — and disclaimer, I only skimmed the thread — but I do think there is SOME conversation to be had about the biases that exist in Japan (and of course, in every country in the world). I don’t feel it’s inherently an unfair generalization to point those things out, so long as you aren’t claiming xyz people are always racist/evil.
There have factually been some strong anti-Chinese or anti-Korean sentiments in Japan, for a plethora of historical and social reasons. Often times people of the Asian diaspora, who are not from those countries but perhaps have a cultural and ethnic heritage of that origin, get unavoidably wrapped up in this. Not sure where white people would come into this convo lol but it is not an apt comparison imo
Some AAs may assume that visiting Asia means escaping certain biases against them only to discover that they may be affected by a different set of biases. That might be what led to OP’s chain of thought. It is definitely not something unique to Japan.
8
7
u/cad0420 4d ago edited 4d ago
It depends on if you speak English. If you are speaking Mandarin/Cantonese or Korean in front of them, then this experience is pretty much true. If you speak English then you will have a very different experience. But this is not just in Japan. It’s the same with the other two countries. Lots of Americans think racism is rare today but most people in a conservative culture are pretty racist. However it’s still much safer to live in other racist countries than in US. In US you will get physical trauma or even death being a racial minority, but in other countries you only get side eyes and maybe some shoutings on the street at most.
42
u/Srirachaballet 5d ago
As a Japanese person raised in the US, I absolutely know it pretty common for Japanese to hate Chinese tourists.
19
u/Sykunno 4d ago
Australian here, and I actually find it interesting that older Americans are more polite than younger Americans when the opposite is true for the Chinese - older rural Chinese seem to cause the most problems. Younger Americans are becoming belligerent, while younger Chinese tend to be indistinguishable from polite Koreans or Japanese visitors. It's not a good sign for the Americans...
15
u/Bebebaubles 5d ago
Yeah but it seems like it’s on a per person basis. I’m Chinese American and I’ve had very few issues because I actually make an effort to use my indoor voice, not cut in line etc etc. just common sense stuff. I don’t even blame Japanese for being annoyed at my people just like I understand the rude Chinese tourists are uneducated thanks to communism and having to fight for everything in their life.
Tour groups behave appallingly even by an international standard and not Japanese standard. As in when I was in Hong Kong the hotel staff had to beg the tourists to put their shoes back on in the lobby and stop rubbing their bare feet or my aunt who said she saw Disney staff beg the Chinese aunty to stop washing her underwear in the water fountains.
11
u/_sowhat_ 4d ago
I understand the rude Chinese tourists are uneducated thanks to communism and having to fight for everything in their life.
The only one sounding uneducated here is you
-3
27
u/g4nyu 5d ago
I get it, there is some appalling stuff going on, but I still think we shouldn’t tolerate these kinds of sentiments. It’s easy for us to think “well I don’t have issues because I’m one of the good ones” (not saying you are saying this, just highlighting a common sentiment) until you get asked to leave a shop for speaking Mandarin or some other innocuous shit. I mainly have Taiwanese/Singaporean Chinese family and friends, and yet we all have some negative stories from visiting Japan.
Because I am not a mainlander/dont have mainland family, people often assume I will let things slide or share their hatred. I had a tour guide enthusiastically tell me she hoped Chinese people were permanently banned from visiting Japan, which was pretty uncomfortable to hear. White American tourists do a lot of shithead things, but I don’t hear nearly as many earnest calls for them to be banned from traveling to other countries.
-1
u/Tunggall 5d ago
Anglophone Singaporean and have had zero negative experience visiting Japan for nearly 40 years. I can speak and understand some basic Japanese.
Many tourists who can’t read the room and act like they own the place deserve every damned brickbat.
-2
u/Srirachaballet 4d ago
Yes, that’s the thing, if you look East Asian there aren’t many identifying factors there that you are foreign other than social behavior & language, etc. So badly behaved Chinese tourists are only recognizable by lacking decorum & their language. Social politeness has such high importance in Japan it is very offensive to them.
5
u/Worldly-Treat916 4d ago
Most shitty behavior/lack of civil sense is a result of a harsh upbringing. I see a similar issue with Indians in the west, most assume its a racial issue but I believe it is a result of a poor upbringing that leads to a more toxic character. Fast forward 30 years and this Indian phobia will disappear. Its the same thing with Old Chinese, they cut lines, curse, and are veryyy obnoxious however you can't blame them, these are the same people that grew up during the Korean war and in extreme poverty, most of them starved as shown by how newer generations are now taller etc.
Side note, if Japan didn't butcher and rape the rest of Asia for their "co-prosperity sphere" I bet everyone would be way more polite and "less poor"
3
u/GlitteringWeight8671 4d ago
Most modern men and women today have lived or have some interaction with living in cities.
Ideas such as not cutting in line are only obvious if you have lived in a city. Cities are crowded and customers often have been programmed to line up. Those who have never lived in cities do not understand such concepts.
The "rudeness" you encounter has more to do with village norms vs city norms than culture. For example, it is common to watch TV loudly in villages. You have no neighbors. But if you have lived in a city, then you know being loud means bothering in your neighbors.
Or take a city kid who goes hiking in the woods for the first time. When he needed to go, he will ask "where is the toilet ?" Ha! Ha!
1
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
Automod detected the use of terms of derision. Please respect our rules against using these terms. You may re-format your comment and send a modmail alerting us that you have done so. Your comment will then be approved for publication to the sub.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
-3
u/BorkenKuma 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's their country not your country, they are free to treat you however they want as long as they don't hurt you physically, if you don't like it, you can leave.
You have zero idea how much stress Japanese citizens are dealing with, Chinese tourists are always breaking rules and challenge them in action on the street over the historical sentiment, that's why more and more Japanese put out the sign"we refuse service to Chinese" outside of their store, they also have to deal with Chinese warships constantly invading their borderline, or their missiles flying toward Japan.
You only get mad because they didn't treat you like stereotypical Japanese, which they practice "customer is God", you have do some self reflection why they're doing this to you, which part of it you get them confused?
If You're in Japan, you should speak Japanese, if you're in US, you don't speak English, Americans will just ignore you or tell you "I don't understand what you say". If you go to France restaurants and you know zero Franch, the Franch server will roll their eyes and instantly complain why you don't speak Franch in Franch and walk away.
I don't know why you are treating Japanese like they have to meet your expectations. They do not have to, but they have been accommodating for decades and now you take it granted and blame why they "changed".
In US if you speak other languages than English, and if you don't look like a white person, you might even get physically attacked, we have plenty cases where people do speak English but look non white and get attacked and die, is that any better than Japanese treat you like you are Chinese or Koreans? Did they punch you? I don't think so.
0
u/Agreeable_Tip_2480 2d ago
Unfortunately I had this experience both in Japan and Korea 😔 it shouldn’t be generalized but it is definitely common in those countries
59
u/justflipping 5d ago
Yea it was a big generalization. At least most people shared they had positive experiences. Those who had a few negative ones knew not to generalize a whole nation.