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Gaijin In Japan
Non-Fiction
Eddie 30才
By: Dan Edward Venz

Checkmate Press
Paperback Edition:
$19.00/\2,000

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Enjoy Reading!

外人 in 日本

  • A "First of its kind" book about being a Gaijin in Japan!
  • Finally! Someone tells it like it is!
  • The most in depth book about foreigners living in Japan ever written!
  • Take off your "Rose Tinted" glasses before you start reading this book!

Gaijin In Japan


Chapter 2
The Gaijin "Stigma" & the Gaijin "Complex"

From the time men created a society, there has always been a stigma and discriminatory behavior attached to foreigners, emmigrants and minorities. Also, from the beginning of such stigmas and discriminatory behavior being assigned to foreigners, emmigrants and minorities, there have been those who have stood up to those who have assigned stigmas and discriminatory behavior to them in the hope that the opportunities for success would be greater for their children than it was for themselves. These individuals were faced with the fear of ridicule, threats, opposition, incarceration and even assassination not only from members of the host population, but also from members of their own foreign minority community.

These fears have not changed. They (the fears) form the basic theory of "fear management." The theory that you can manage and manipulate people better if the people in your charge are in fear of what you can do them either physically or to their reputation or future job endeavors (in other words, the ability to effect both content and emotive security of those being managed or manipulated). Fear management is what kept the American slaves from confronting their plantation owners for such a long time. Once the slaves overcame their fears, however, and realized the rewards of taking the risks involved with revolting, the slave era, as we know it, became obsolete, and in time, slave owners and the descendants of slave plantations were the ones who had a stigma attached to them.

The stigma of being a foreigner in Japan (gaijin stigma) can be perceived as creating negative stereotypes of foreigners living in Japan, while the foreign complex observed by many members of the Japanese population (gaijin complex) can be perceived as creating positive stereotypes for foreigners living in Japan. The requirement of foreigners living in Japan to deal with this large contrast of positive and negative stereotypes on a daily basis was noticed to create a great deal of stress for many foreigners living in Japan.

One last type of stigma was noticed during this research. It appeared that foreigners who opted to enter marriage with members of the Japanese population had a stigma attached to them separate than the gaijin stigma. For lack of any other term, I refer to this stigma as the Ògaijin kekkonÓ (foreign marriage) stigma. It seemed that not only the foreigner in these marriages, but also the member of the Japanese population who chose to marry a foreigner, had stigmaÕs attached to them. In order to create a better understanding of the stigma and complex assigned to being a foreigner in Japan, a more detailed explanation of the Ògaijin stigmaÓ, the Ògaijin kekkon stigmaÓ and the "gaijin complex" that foreigners living in Japan as well as members of the Japanese population who have chosen to marry foreigners are forced to deal with need to be discussed.

The "gaijin stigma" can best be described as a set of negative stereotypes that are assigned to foreigners by members of the Japanese population. These negative stereotypes, coupled with the (unspoken contract), form the basis for rationalized discrimination. Some of the stereotypes associated with being a foreigner mentioned by members of the Japanese population that were interviewed included brashness, selfishness, irresponsibility, distrust of Japanese people, inability or unwillingness to learn the Japanese language, exaggerated nationalism towards their own country, inability or unwillingness to follow Japanese etiquette, , disrespect towards Japan, laziness, inability to understand the importance of punctuality, inability to understand the meaning of group harmony, impatience, inconsistency, untrustworthy, cheapness, overindulgent, hot tempered, tendency to exaggerate, egotistical, loose morals and promiscuity, immaturity and numerous other negative character traits.

It was noted that members of the Japanese population began to form these stereotypes from personal experiences with foreigners throughout the last 4 decades. The first foreigners to arrive in Japan upon completion of the reconstruction of Japan after World War II did not have to live with the gaijin stigma, for the simple reason that it did not exist. It was these first foreigner's attitudes and behavior that helped create the current gaijin stigma which foreigners living in Japan presently are forced to deal with. In stating this, it must also be observed that it is not only members of the Japanese population, but also foreigners themselves who must take responsibility for the current gaijin stigma. To better understand why members of the Japanese population have formed these stereotypes, a more thorough explanation of the stereotypes, and the difference in Japanese behavior is needed. What follows is a breakdown of each stereotype and the stark contrast in the way that members of the Japanese population view normal and acceptable Japanese behavior when compared to the stereotype as well as the views of these stereotypes by foreigners living in Japan.

Informants of the Japanese population cited the aggressiveness and brashness in many foreigners living in Japan. They cited many personal experiences where they had observed foreigners being loud and obnoxious in public settings as well as their belief that foreigners were too direct and lacked tact. While many Japanese are also loud and obnoxious, as well as being direct and lacking tact, being a foreigner made this type of behavior more noticeable by members of the Japanese population. Japanese informants stated that this type of behavior is typically not accepted in Japan and further noted that although there are Japanese who are brash, those Japanese who are brash are the exception and are probably not well liked within their own group. Foreigners interviewed stated that most foreigners are not brash as part of their personality but are forced, during certain situations, to act brash in order to achieve positive change in their working conditions or living conditions.

Many foreign informants also stated that when they are not brash, nothing gets accomplished in their favor. They cited the stereotype itself for this situation. One foreigner had this to say;

"When a foreigner wants something to change, his only real way to get a discussion going about it is to be direct and to the point. I agree that this is not the typical technique used by Japanese. The difference is that the Japanese can use tact, and not be direct, yet the Japanese management will read between the lines of what the Japanese person is saying. Foreigners do not have that option. When we try the Japanese way, our comments are taken at face value, instead of being thought about deeply, as is the case for Japanese people. The reason is because the Japanese expect foreigners to be too direct and brash, and therefore when we are not, nothing happens. After trying the Japanese way, and seeing that it will not work for us, we are left with no other option than to be direct and to the point. Then, we are considered as brash by the Japanese. If someone can tell me how to get the Japanese to "read between the lines" of our indirect and tactful attempts, I am all ears."

The next stereotype that was discussed was selfishness. It was noted that what foreigners perceive as selfish, and what Japanese perceive as selfish was slightly different. A prime example was seen during comparing job interview styles of foreigners and Japanese. A foreigner was more apt to ask questions concerning the working schedule, pay, benefits and promotion potential while members of the Japanese population were apt to ask questions about the needs of the company, the history of the company and show a desire to give more than the company wanted in order to make a good impression. It was also noted that while members of the Japanese population routinely apologized when calling in sick, the typical foreign employee would simply call in and say that he/she was sick and would be out for the day without an apology. This stereotype was one of the most difficult to discuss with foreigners living in Japan due mainly to the seemingly unwillingness of the foreigner to attempt to change their perception of what is selfish. As long as foreigners are unwilling to understand the Japanese perception of selfishness, this stereotype will stay in place. It was also noted that foreigners living in Japan had the tendency to use their own personal experiences in order to rationalize their unwillingness.

Simon: "I am not any more selfish than Japanese people. I had a Japanese friend who asked me to go out one night. I met him in Shinjuku and we went to a bar that he had picked. It was boring for me, but he seemed to like it so I did not say anything. All of a sudden he decided to change bars so went to another bar that was just as boring as the first, but again I did not say anything. This went on for quite a while and I got sleepy so I told my friend that I was going home, and told him to have a good time. The next day, he called me up, all pissed off, because I had gone home. What the hell? I put up with boring places because he seemed like he was having fun, then he has the nerve to call me selfish? Screw that. He is the one who was selfish."

While Simon may be right as to his Japanese friend being selfish, he has used this one experience to rationalize that whatever he does, there is a Japanese person who would do it too. In this way, Simon can be as selfish as he wants to be and still be able to rationalize that he is no more selfish than Japanese people. This type of rationalization amongst foreigners living in Japan was prominent in my discussions about all of the stereotypes mentioned.

Irresponsibility was also noted by Japanese informants to be a prominent character trait among foreigners living in Japan. This included not being able to follow rules and regulations, making excuses for mistakes, not accepting blame for their mistakes, breaking agreements easily and not following through with promises. When members of the foreign population were interviewed about these comments, they defended their actions by stating that they would not follow rules and regulations that were not fair, that making an excuse and giving an explanation are different, that they should not be asked to accept blame for something they did not have control over and that if a member of the Japanese population breaks the promise first they (the foreigner) have every right to break their promise as well. It was obvious that members of the Japanese population see it a certain biased way, and members of the foreign population see it in a completely different biased way. One foreign informant put it this way;

Anonymous: "How can someone ask me to abide by a regulation that only pertains to me, that they themselves would not be willing to abide by, and then say I am irresponsible because I do no want to abide by the regulation? How can someone knowingly put me in a situation where I would promise to abide by that regulation, before knowing that no other employees are asked to, and when it comes to my knowledge that I am the only one and bring it to their attention, be accused of braking a promise?"

Numerous members of the Japanese population cited foreigner's distrust of Japanese people as a main reason for confrontations and negative situations that could have been avoided if it were not for this distrust. In order to confirm if this "distrust of Japanese people" was indeed present in the foreign population I polled 100 random foreigners. The poll suggested that 80% of foreigners do indeed have a distrust of Japanese people and that they feel that, if put in a situation where they would have to rely on the Japanese person's ethics they would be in trouble. One informant put it this way;

Jake: "It is not that I think Japanese are bad people, it is more that I think they are unworldly and inexperienced in anything that is not 100% Japanese. The Directors at my company are like elementary school children who have been put in charge of the other children while the teacher is out of the classroom. They do not know how to handle the responsibility and if forced, will most likely make a wrong decision. Ethics? I think if you are not Japanese, Japanese ethics do not pertain to you. I have seen that a lot in my 10 years with this company, as well as in my everyday life in Japan. I think Japanese are very honest, decent and ethical people, as long as they are dealing with other Japanese people, but not when it comes to foreigners."

The inability or unwillingness to learn the Japanese language was also reported to be a stereotype most associated with western foreigners. This stereotype was so prevalent that western foreigners who speak even basic Japanese are constantly complimented on their Japanese ability. When asked, most Japanese informants cited their personal experiences as the reason for this belief. Most of them (Japanese) had met numerous foreigners, but only a handful of these foreigners had even more than a basic grasp of the Japanese language. When foreigners were asked about this stereotype, many of them scoffed at it. Most of them cited the reason for this stereotype to be the fact that most members of the Japanese population are so used to meeting non-immersed foreigners that do not speak Japanese, that they (Japanese) rarely, if ever, speak Japanese when conversing with a foreigner.

Most foreigners agreed that they usually speak Japanese when spoken to in Japanese, but speak English when spoken to in English. It is for this reason, that many members of the Japanese population may have had conversations, in English, with foreigners who actually had a good grasp of the Japanese language, yet they (Japanese) were not aware of it because they had started the conversation in English to which the foreigner had replied in English. It was also noted by some foreigners that they chose not to speak in Japanese because they could minimize their stress living in Japan by minimizing their usage of the Japanese language in public. Other foreigners cited the fact that speaking Japanese was sometimes a negative factor during job interviews as many companies are looking for "real" foreigners and "real" foreigners do not know how to speak Japanese. One foreign informant recalled;

Anonymous: "I had been in Japan for about 9 years and could not obtain a good job. I knew the reason was that I had been in Japan for so long. I went home and rewrote my resume. I got a great job within a month. What did I change? I wrote that I had just arrived in Japan and could not speak or write Japanese at all. I just "made up" 9 years of job history in Australia. That is what they were looking for, so that is what I gave them."

Looking at these examples it could be stated that foreigners have the ability and the willingness to learn the Japanese language, but may have the unwillingness to share their ability with members of the Japanese population due to the fear that it could effect their content security (their ability to obtain a good paying job).

Another stereotype which surfaced was an exaggerated nationalism towards the foreigner's home country. While a stereotype of all foreigners, this was far more prevalent in American, Canadian and British foreigners than other foreign nationalities. This stereotype stems from the belief that foreigners see their home countries as significantly better than their newly adopted country (Japan), and leads to members of the Japanese population forming an opinion of "if you don't like Japan, go home" in regards to these foreigners.

It was noted that New Zealanders and Australians were seen as significantly more open minded and tolerant in terms of living in a foreign country. It is interesting to note at this time that while interviewing American, Canadian and British foreigners in Japan, I too, came to the conclusion that this belief was prevalent among them (American, Canadian and British foreigners). While these foreigners had adopted Japan as their new home, they still held a high degree of nationalism towards their home countries and showed a tendency to want to compare Japan with their home country in many instances. These foreigners were also noted to be the most aggressive towards foreigner rights abuses in Japan. In other words, foreigners who showed signs of exaggerated nationalism or who had a tendency to compare Japan to their home country were also the most closed minded and demanding of members of the Japanese population in terms of foreigner rights.

In order for foreigners to become members of the Japanese society, it is of great importance that they (foreigners) understand, and abide by Japanese culture and etiquette. Many members of the Japanese population cited the inability or unwillingness to follow Japanese etiquette as a major obstacle in the ability of the Japanese population to accept foreigners as ÒtrueÓ members of Japan. This is a given in any society. In order for foreigners to truly assimilate and be given the same opportunities as members of the Japanese population, foreigners must learn and adhere to what members of the Japanese population deem as normal behavior.

When asked about adhering to Japanese etiquette, many foreigners exclaimed that this was a double edged sword. That although they adhered to Japanese etiquette at first, members of the Japanese population did not adhere to Japanese etiquette with regards to foreigners. After years of adhering to Japanese etiquette and having to put up with members of the Japanese population not adhering to the same Japanese etiquette when dealing with them the foreigners gave up and reverted to a more challenging behavioral strategy. As one foreigner recalls;

Daniel: "I remember when I became engaged to my wife. I had been in Japan for 8 years and really wanted to do everything the Japanese way. This included going around to all of her relatives, introducing myself and asking for their blessing. It was going all-right until we arrived at one uncle's house. He was an accountant with a big attitude and an obvious dislike for foreigners. I was with my wife and her mother. The conversation started off normal, and then I became invisible. The uncle actually was talking about foreigners and the consequences of marrying a foreigner right there in front of me, while ignoring me as if I was not there. No one said a word. They just let him rant on. No one stopped to think how rude he was behaving and how I must have felt. This was not in front of strangers, but in front of my wife and her mother. People who "knew" me. Who knew the kind of person I was. The kind of provider I would be. They knew that what he was saying was not only rude and impolite, but also wrong. Wrong to the core. Yet, no one said a thing. Afterwards, no one apologized to me either. It was ignored. As if by ignoring it, it would go away. Oh yeah!, I know about Japanese etiquette, the question is, do Japanese understand Japanese etiquette?"

Similar to the inability or "unwillingness to follow Japanese etiquette" is the stereotype of foreigners to show disrespect towards Japan and Japanese people. It was noted by members of the general Japanese population as well as members of the Japanese population that had foreign relatives that foreigners showed a tendency to have a certain pattern regarding this stereotype. One Japanese I spoke to recalled;

Akio: "My son in law is a good man. He has his defects, like all of us do, but in all, he is a good man. He cannot however, get out of the habit and routine of being patient with Japan for a certain amount of time, then losing patience and saying very negative and disrespectful things about Japan and Japanese people not only to his wife (my daughter), but also to me, my neighbors and other Japanese people. His children pick up on this and I fear that it will effect their emotional well being in the future. I know it is difficult to be a foreigner. I forgive him. My wife forgives him. My daughter forgives him. The truth is, though, that the typical Japanese person who is not his relative will not. I worry about him ruining his career during one of his outbursts of disrespect for Japan and all things Japanese. I wish there was a different way he could handle it."

On the same subject, the foreign son in law of the Japanese informant had this to say;

Anonymous: "He is right, my father in law. I do have a pattern. I am not just patient, I am overly patient with Japan and the Japanese people. Why? Because I love my wife and children so much. I am like an abused wife, but not abused by the husband. I am abused by the society I live in. Because the abuse is taken outside of the home, and is not seen by those who are close to me, they are not real subjects in the abuse. They do not know, nor can I explain, the type of abuse that I have to endure on a daily basis because of my love for them. When I cannot take anymore, and consequently explode because of it, they see the side of me that explodes, but not the reasons or the amount of patience that has worn thin before the explosion occurred. Although my father in law sees this as disrespectful, I honestly doubt that he could have as much patience as I do if the shoe were on the other foot. Regardless, I stopped talking about it long ago."

Laziness and the importance of punctuality was another stereotype brought up by members of the Japanese population in regards to foreigners living in Japan. Japanese see punctuality as a very important personality trait. Those who lack punctuality are often seen as lazy. While most immersed foreigners living in Japan are aware of this, new foreigners and non-immersed foreigners are not. The inability of members of the Japanese population to distinguish between immersed and non-immersed foreigners leads to the stereotype that ÒallÓ foreigners are lazy due to new and non-immersed foreigners being late for work or appointments without feeling remorse. The comments of this foreigner best sums it up;

John: "There are 75 foreign employees in my company. Everyday, at least one is late and at least one is sick or absent. This creates a burden for my company. I worked for this company for 3 years and was never late or absent. Eventually, however, I "did" get sick but was not absent. I got out of bed and went in late. I was summarily grouped in with all other foreigners by my manager as she stated "foreigners are always getting sick." I really wanted to tell her that I had been working for 3 years and had never been late or sick, but it would have been a waste of my time. She had been sick at least once a month since I started working. Other Japanese employees were also sick, but it was the foreigner who was noticeable. We were all one. I was the same as 75. Of course, when you have that many people, regardless of their nationality, someone is going to be sick. The difference was that Japanese employees were able to distinguish among themselves on an individual basis who was sick or late, but in regards to foreigners, a foreigner sick or late was a grouped in with all foreigners that had been sick or late up to that point."

Another stereotype that members of the Japanese population have regarding foreigners which hampers foreigners efforts to become an active member and participant of the Japanese population is the belief that foreigners lack the ability to understand the meaning of group harmony. Members of the Japanese population that were interviewed during this research stated that most foreigners are individualists, and have a tendency to put their own needs and desires above the needs and desires of the company and even their own family. Members of the Japanese population cited many reasons for this belief. The tendency of foreigners to become independent at a young age, the high rate of divorce among foreigners, the tendency of foreigners to change jobs frequently and the frequency of relocation of foreigners.

Members of the Japanese population cited this as one of the main reasons that foreigners in Japan are seldom offered executive long-term or lifetime positions within Japanese companies. This stereotype brings with it a fear [within members of the Japanese population] that they lack any real control over the foreign employee, and that regardless of the contract signed or the promises made, foreigners are apt to quit a job if the foreigner felt that the needs of the foreigner were not being met by the company or if a confrontation occurred.

Foreigners interviewed stated that while they agree that foreigners new to Japan or certain foreign elements in Japan who have no intention of learning the Japanese language and culture did show signs of this stereotype, the inability of members of the Japanese population to distinguish immersed foreigners from non-immersed foreigners (gaijin grouping) was the main reason while they were not offered the same job conditions as members of the Japanese population. They (foreigners) further stated that it was because of this stereotype that many immersed foreigners feel as if they have to prove themselves worthy of receiving normal working conditions and trust within a Japanese company whereas members of the Japanese population do not. This situation also leads to many foreigners in Japan forming an opinion that they (foreigners) are "guitly until proven innocent" (in other words, they are thought of negatively from the onset of relationships or employment and must work unusually hard to earn the trust and respect of members of the Japanese population. They feel that they must "walk on egg shells" much of the time.)
Go on to Chapter 3
 



Copyright (C)2005 Dan Edward Venz. All rights reserved.