Gaijin In Japan、外人、外国人、日本にいるの外人、Eddie Venz, Eddy Venz, Dan Venz, Edward Venz, Japan Foreigners and the Unspoken Contract

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 4
Enhancing Security or Denying Self?

"Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it. This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientists do, each in his own fashion. Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life, in order to find in this way peace and security which he can not find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience." Albert Einstein

In this chapter I discuss a general process immersed foreign residents in Japan engage in; I refer to it as the "Enhancing Security" process. Primarily, "enhancing security" involves a series of interrelated problem-solving strategies. The aim of the process is to combat feelings of uncertainty, vulnerability and exclusion - "insecurity consciousness". These feelings are the result of the conditions foreigners induce attempting to assimilate into the culture they reside (i.e., historical insecurity, political insecurity, economic insecurity, and the discrimination context).

It can be seen that the foreigners in Japan exist in a situation of extreme power asymmetry. In such a circumstance where power is so obviously skewed, foreigners have found that encouraging host tolerance or altering the conditions on which tolerance is based are the means to enhancing security. The following discussion, therefore, deals predominantly with the ways foreigners act to ensure tolerance from the surrounding Japanese society. It also deals with the consequences of their actions in this endeavor, both good and bad, and how they manage these consequences.

I will begin outlining two aspects of insecurity consciousness that are perceived as problematic by foreigners in Japan - content insecurity and emotive insecurity. I then relate these to social and ethnic identity. These play an important role in the security enhancement strategies foreigner's use. Following this, I discuss three interrelated processes: placating, affirming and challenging. These processes are ways of resolving the problem of insecurity. Within these sections I discuss the relevant conditions and consequences that are pertinent to each process.

Content versus Emotive Insecurity

Before I detail the foreigner's resolution to their perceived problem, a more explicit account of insecurity consciousness is required. This will facilitate a more concise understanding of what "enhancing security" actually means. Essentially, there are two types of insecurity consciousness. Content Insecurity and Emotive Insecurity. First, insecurity can be seen as content. By "content" I mean the physical or material aspects of being insecure. This can be conceived in terms of earning a livelihood, finding a place to live that meets standard living conditions, and avoiding personal danger. In short, content security refers to the very basic needs people depend upon to survive. This aspect of Content insecurity can be captured in comments like:

Anonymous: "My father [an Australian] came to Japan and [his] life was rather insecure, so he sought security. It's a funny thing, if you are insecure, you seek security. Subsequently, you'll see foreigners...all have their own apartments and most have [various] securities precisely because they seek security; whereas the Japanese really seem depended on the Social structure to supply them security. You know, they live with mom and dad even after they get married and their parents are constantly helping to support them, even in later years."

The above represents someone who feels as if content security has been achieved.

Kevin: "After spending 6 years in Japan, I had to get out. I just could not bear the thought of my son having to put up with what I had to endure when he grew up. I kept thinking to myself, "how the hell I am going to be able to help my son financially, when I have to get my wife's father to co-sign with me for everything I buy." I mean, eventually, my wife's parents are going to die, and then what will we do?"

Kevin's example represents the feelings of a person who has come to believe that content security is impossible for a foreigner to achieve in Japan, therefore Kevin left Japan and relocated back to Canada where he felt he could provide his children with content security.

Dean: "I love it here in Japan. Foreigners who complain about Japan are just "chronic" complainers. They would complain no matter how good they had it. Anything I could do in my own country I can do here. The foreigners that can't were basically losers in their own country anyway. If they would quit screwing around and the learn a bit of the language, they would see how much better life can be here. I mean, how can they expect to be treated with respect from the Japanese people when they cannot even carry on a conversation in Japanese. Whiners, all of them."

Dean's comments are a wonderful example of "gaijin grouping." Dean has assigned himself a status above non-immersed foreigners and has rationalized that anyone who does not love Japan must not be immersed as well as he is in the Japanese language and culture.

Dennis: "Well, of course there is good and bad in Japan. Hell, there is good and bad in any country, isn't there? The main difference is that if there was a law that to get a working visa in Japan you had to take a test in Japanese, my life would be a whole lot better. It is not the Japanese that have screwed up my life here, it is the foreigners who come here with a bad attitude and complain about Japan. I mean, every time one of those [non-immersed] foreigners does something stupid, it is us foreigners who have been here the longest that have to take the blame for it. Hell, they don't care. In two years, they will go home. We [immersed foreigners] are stuck here. I avoid those type of foreigners like the plague and my advice to all new foreigners coming to Japan is that if you don't have the tenacity to study the Japanese language and culture, we don't want you over here. Just stay home. We have enough foreigners like that over here already."

The comments above are a good example of "gaijin denial." Obviously, Dennis has immersed himself and gone through all of the stages of assimilating. He has decided to continue to live in Japan, but wants to deny he is still part of the foreign population. He has rationalized that all of his problems are the fault of other foreigners, rather than admit that actually the host population [Japanese] needs to be educated as well. He has further assigned himself an "almost Japanese" status, which is usually a sure sign of "gaijin denial."

Foreigners residing in Japan must cope with numerous barriers in obtaining "content" security. Employment contracts in Japan in regards to foreigners often openly break Japanese law and infringe upon the basic "workers rights" outlined in the constitution of Japan. Wages for foreign workers are usually based upon the position, rather than the educational level or performance ability of the foreigner. Most companies and corporations have different compensation packages for the host population [Japanese] and the foreign worker. Foreigners are almost never granted the status of a "full-time" employee, but rather sign 90 day to 1 year (making them "part-time") renewable contracts. In some cases, the contract is not renewed simply because it is cheaper for the company to hire a new foreigner at the beginning wage rather than to increase the former foreigners wage at the end of his/her contract. Foreigners who find themselves in "blue collar" jobs in Japan often times are seen by the employer as disposable goods. It was noted that in many factories migrant workers were "imported" into Japan for a wage less than half of the normal wage and were forced to live in company provided housing that was far below the Japanese standards.

In an extreme case in Saitama, I found 10 Philipino male factory workers that were forced to work from 7:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., six days a week for the equivalent of 1,100 U.S. dollars a month (the Japanese men working at the same factory were receiving the equivalent of 3,800 U.S. dollars a month. Furthermore, all 10 workers were forced to live in a cramped 2 bedroom apartment. The contracts were for six months, at which time a new group of workers would arrive and start the cycle all over again.

In stark contrast to the case in Saitama above, it was also found that many Caucasian foreigners from English speaking countries (such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) find themselves in very profitable employment positions due primarily to their physical appearance and nationality. In many instances, these workers choose the Education industry and become English as a second language (ESL) teachers, where they can earn, on average, the equivalent of between 2,500 and 4,000 U.S. dollars a month. Although the annual income of these foreigners is substantially higher than "blue collar" workers, they are still classified as "part-time" workers as far as financial institutions are concerned.

Daniel: "After teaching for the same school for about 2 years, I finally found the courage to inquire if I would ever be able to sign a contract that was longer than 3 months. I was told by the director of the school that "in Japan, all foreigners signed a 3 month contract." I knew this was bullshit, but how do you discuss something like that with someone who blatantly lies to you?"

This type of employment insecurity leads to the inability for foreigners to adequately acquire personal loans to purchase "real" property. Over 90% of the foreign population in Japan resides in rental properties even though over 50% of the foreign population in Japan meets the required annual household earning standards to receive a home loan. This is mainly due to the type of employment foreigners in Japan are forced to engage in ("full-time" conditions under "part-time" status). Banks in Japan are far more likely to loan money to a Japanese "full-time" employee earning the equivalent of 35,000 U.S. dollars annually than to a foreign "part-time" employee earning the equivalent of 45,000 U.S. dollars annually. It was also discovered that unlike other countries, Japan's immigration procedures for foreigners to obtain permanent residency [banks rarely loan money to a foreigner who does not have permanent residency status] were much stricter than other developed countries, especially in regards to a foreigner who is married to a member of the host population [Japanese]. A prime comparison would be that of a couple I interviewed in Seattle, Washington. The man was American and the woman was Japanese. The man had lived in Japan for 6 years, but was turned down for permanent residency. When the couple decided to relocate to the United States, the woman received her "green card" within 45 days of her application.

Further research reults revealed that employment or visa status were not the only reasons that foreign residents were unable to acquire fair and standard living accommodations. 90% of the real estate companies that were contacted during my research indicated that although all of their listed properties were for sale or rent to the general public, being a foreigner did set limitations on the properties that they could sell or rent to a customer. There were many instances of property owners specifically requesting the real estate company "not" to rent or sell a property to a "non-Japanese." It was further discovered that of those properties that were for sell or rent to a foreigner, all but one required that a Japanese person "co-sign" or guarantee the foreigner, regardless of the status of residence, annual income, Japanese language ability or length of time the foreigner had resided in Japan.

John: "I was really shocked when I moved to Japan with my [Japanese] wife. I expected some forms of discrimination, but I was not prepared for being turned down by the real estate office. After we had looked about 10 apartments and decided on one and were discussing the money side of things... and I had, like.. 700,000 yen (6,500 U.S. dollars) of my hard earned money sitting on the table in front of me, the manager of the real estate company comes over and whispers something to her [our agent]. She [our agent] then informs us that we must choose another apartment because the one we chose was owned by someone who has a rule of no foreigners. It was the first of many discriminatory experiences that I, and my wife would have to tolerate."

David: "A few years ago we were looking for a bigger apartment. My wife would go through the process of applying and everything would be o.k. until the real estate office noticed my name. That is when she [my wife] realized that being married to a foreigner came with a stigma. We practically had to beg to get an apartment and my wife told the real estate office that her father would guarantee us. I found that hilarious because I make more money than my father-in-law."

Anonymous: (Japanese real estate office employee) "We do not try to discriminate, but we have to take care of the property owner's wishes. If we don't, than he [the property owner] will pull his property from our company and list it with another real estate office that will abide by his [the property owner] demands. It is not us [the real estate office] that has the "no gaijin" policy, it is the property owner. There is nothing we can do about it."

Tetsuo K: (Japanese real estate office owner) My job is to rent apartments. I personally don't care if I rent to a Japanese or a foreigner, but the owners of some apartments have rented to foreigners in the past and have had trouble with them, you know being loud, not being able to speak Japanese, not putting garbage out on the right days, not separating garbage correctly, leaving the apartment in a mess, breaking the Japanese gas bath, not paying rent on time, etc...They [property owners] also worry that if they rent to a foreigner that other Japanese tenants will move out. They worry that the apartment building will only be desirable to foreigners and that Japanese customers will not want to rent an apartment in the same building as well as the fear that in the future and that the value of the property will decrease. These are legitimate worries and we have to take them into consideration."

In all of the instances above "rationalized discrimination" (as was explained earlier in the "Unspoken Contract") was apparent by the host population. Furthermore, it is easy to gain insight into the stigma [of being a foreigner] in the real estate office owner's comments. A foreigner has to cope with the opinion of the host population [Japanese] that by allowing him to rent an apartment, the value of the entire building would decrease and other tenants would flee the building because a foreigner lives there. The real estate owner seems to be unaware that this is rationalized discrimination and further unaware that his behavior [gaijin grouping] has assigned all foreigners the same "perpetual foreigner" status.

In other words, the actions of the real estate office owner are a good example of the inability of the Japanese population to distinguish immersed foreigners from non-immersed foreigners. There is no mention of the quality of immersion of the foreigner. For example, if the foreigner had lived in Japan for a number of years and had immersed himself into the Japanese language and culture, none of the problems the property owner is worried about would be relevant. The fact that this is not taken into consideration confirms my theory that there are no "real" benefits (as was mentioned earlier) for immersed foreigners and that there is little, if any, difference in the status assigned [by the Japanese population] to immersed and non-immersed foreigners in Japan.

The study did reveal that the one aspect of "content" security which was easily achieved by foreigners in Japan was "avoiding personal danger." Violence against foreigners in Japan, while existent, was almost unheard of. Approximately 76% of the foreigners asked cited the "safety" of Japan as within their top 3 reasons for continuing to reside in Japan. In fact, most foreigners stated that Japan was much safer than their home country.

Kevin: "In Japan, I was never in fear for my wife and children when I was at work. I pretty much knew that nothing bad would happen to them in Japan. My biggest fear was that they would get hit by a bicycle on the way home from school (laughing). I have to be a lot more careful here [in my own country]."

Mary: "I have lived here [in Japan] for over 5 years and have always finished work around 10:00 at night. I have never had any problems walking home from the station, or anywhere in Japan. I would not want to walk home alone from the station at that time of night in New York."

Dan: "I admit I was very nervous about my son going to Japanese elementary school. I thought he would be picked on because he was not a full Japanese kid. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well he has been treated by the teachers and students alike, and he has told me many times that he likes Japanese school better than American school."

Content insecurity is fundamental. It was the reason why many foreigners chose to leave their home country and migrate in the first place. They [foreigners] were searching for a more rewarding life. Its relevance has not faded, for the conditions foreigners in Japan find themselves in are still insecure, albeit in different ways. The significance of content insecurity lies in the powerless position foreigners living in Japan find themselves in after they have become immersed in the Japanese language and culture.

To ensure survival, foreigners need a place to live and a place to earn a living. Host tolerance is what guarantees these things. In Japan, then, content security and host tolerance can be seen a synonymous. Because content security contains the needs to ensure survival, foreigners focus more on content security than on the second type of insecurity (emotive) until such a time when the foreigner feels he/she has reached a satisfactory level of content security.

Kevin: "I loved Japan for the first few years. Everything was new to me and I felt like a kid in a candy store. It really wasn’t until I had immersed myself into the Japanese language and had my life straight...about four years...that I began to notice all the small things about Japan that I didn't like."

Keith: "It took me about 6 years to save enough money to relax a bit. I mean, I actually cannot remember a lot about those first years. I was always working. Work and save, that was my life. I was so busy that I did not have time to worry about the small stuff, and I let my [Japanese] wife handle all the day to day things anyway. I finally changed jobs and started to have more free time. That is when it hit me. The reason I did not notice the discrimination was because I just did not have the time. Once I had the time, it was suffocating. I learned how to cope with it, but I still don't like it."

Upon achieving a satisfactory level of content security, the focus of most foreigners then turns to emotive security. It was discovered that while many foreigners were able to obtain content security after a number of years in Japan, achieving emotive security proved much more difficult for foreigners in Japan.

The second type of security, emotive insecurity, refers to psychological aspects of insecurity consciousness. Feelings of anxiety, paranoia, emotional trauma, and self-alienation can all be seen as various types of emotive insecurity. In the ensuing pages many examples of this type of insecurity are given. It is, however, most concisely captured by Goffman when he writes of the consequences of public avoidance by the stigmatized.

Goffman writes: "Lacking the salutary feed-back of daily social intercourse with others, the self-isolate can become suspicious, hostile, anxious, and bewildered... 'the fear that others can disrespect a person because of something he shows means that he is always insecure in his contact with other people; and this insecurity arises, not from mysterious and somewhat disguised sources, as a great deal of anxiety does, but from something which he cannot fix'."

John: "I have noticed recently [after 4 years in Japan] that I get really pissed off easily at people who stare at me on the train or when I am walking down the street. I don't know why it gets to me so much. I mean, it never used to. Just in the past 6 months or so. I think it is because I know what they [the Japanese] are thinking now, and when I was new to Japan, I did not know what they [the Japanese] were thinking."

John proves Goffman right in this instance. It is impossible for John to know what someone who is looking, or "staring" at him as he put it, is thinking. Yet, because he is a powerless minority who does not have enough daily social intercourse with the host population [Japanese], he has become a little suspicious and insecure. He therefore feels that any Japanese who looks at him is "staring" and thinking negative thoughts about him. He has been conditioned to believe that because he is a foreigner he has been stigmatized.

O-san: (nickname used) "I really thought that after I passed my Japanese language exam and received my permanent residency, that my life would change...that the Japanese would treat me better. When it did not change, it really disappointed me. I guess I had expected too much from the Japanese. I mean, I did not expect to be treated the same as a Japanese person, but I at least expected to be treated a little better than the guys [foreigners] who had just arrived in Japan and did not know anything about Japan."

Dan: "What I have come to realize is that those people who know me, and are close to me, treat me with the same dignity and respect that Japanese people are given. I am constantly meeting new people and this is where life sucks, because I am forced to deal with their stereotypes and pre-conceived opinions regarding foreigners and the fact that it takes them a while to take me out of the "foreigner" group that my physical appearance lumps me into."

Unlike content insecurity, emotive insecurity is more difficult to "see". It often has ineffable qualities to it. It also derives from the insecurity context, where the powerlessness of foreigners combined with feelings of exclusion (i.e., non-belonging) compound anxiety, paranoia, emotional trauma, and self-alienation. Achieving emotive security requires a demand for equality, belonging and a public validation of one's ethnic identity. Tolerance on host terms does not guarantee emotive security. Rather, emotive security requires a reconstitution of tolerance standards. In order for foreigners in Japan to achieve a satisfactory level of both content and emotive security the "unspoken contract" (which was explained in the introduction) must eventually become null and void as a condition of host acceptance, while being foreign must become de-stigmatized and normal.

The first step towards foreigners achieving emotive security in Japan requires the host population [Japanese] to become educated in the difference of immersed and non-immersed foreigners, thus allowing them [Japanese] the ability to treat foreigners in Japan as individuals instead of relying solely on his [the foreigner] physical appearance.

Social and Ethnic Identities

Two more important concepts need to be introduced before the emergent theory can be presented; these are notions of social identity and ethnic identity. Both are inherent within the emergent theoretical framework. Social identities are derived from "cultural meanings and community memberships and are conferred upon the person by others." As such, this type of identity, also referred to as "role identity", is situation specific and can easily be manipulated. Potentially, people can disguise themselves to prevent being labeled.

This is significant for social identities are often associated with cultural stereotypes, so all persons categorized into a certain social type are "seen" to be possessors of stereotypical attributes. It can also be seen that social identities are public identities, they are often used as guides for the mediation of social interaction amongst strangers.

The conception of social identity is useful for it plays a large role in how foreigners choose to resolve their content insecurity concerns. An "Asian-American" living in Japan, for example, may choose to "play" at being Japanese in an attempt to disguise their American nationality once they have learned enough of the Japanese language to pass themselves off as a member of the Japanese population. In this way, the "Asian" foreigner can escape the stereotypes that are placed on other Americans by the host populations [Japanese].

Anna: "I came to Japan when I was 22. Although I am Japanese, I was born in San Diego, California and could not speak Japanese very well. I learned that I could act Japanese and pass for a Japanese person. I got really good and turning my "Japanese" personality on and off as I needed it. It was convenient to be Japanese when it was beneficial and then turn around and be American when it was beneficial."

By contrast, ethnic identity is a more of a fixed identity, involving a fairly exact equation of self with group which is the source of cultural or ethnic identification". An individual can have many social identities but tends to have only one ethnic identity. Being "Gaijin", for example, can be seen as an ethnic identity. It is how many people in the Japan media have categorized foreigners. It is seldom a label foreign people use themselves, but certain physical identifiers place foreign people within this category (e.g., blonde hair, color of skin, blue eyes, and so on).

Overt expressions of "gaijin" ethnic identity may be seen as threatening or challenging of existing cultural hegemony. They can be made public, however, under conditions of ceremonial display (such as when foreigners partake in local summer festivals by beating on the drums or by wearing a Japanese kimono). An acceptance of such displays is often portrayed as evidence of multiculturalism, but in reality are often superficial gestures of host tolerance. Due to the inability of foreigners to change their ethnic identity, their social identity becomes the focus of their attention. Some foreigners do attempt to alter their ethnic identity, such as the following example indicates.

Dan: "I remember once, about 5 years ago, my older brother [an American] came up with the brainstorm to dye his hair black. I guess he wanted to fit in better [in Japan]. Anyway (laughing) he screwed up and dyed his hair this real weird black color. It looked like his hair had been painted black, not dyed. I remember, he looked so goofy. Every time he tried to fix it by dying it again, it would look worse. It did not work anyway, he was still a foreigner. He never did that again, though."

Now that these four concepts have been explained, the emergent theory can be presented. Examples are given for the purposes of creating imagery; they are not proof. Grounded theories are suggested theories and I ask the reader to keep in mind that I am presenting findings from interviews with people who represent different foreign populations in Japan which should not, on their own, be taken as absolute facts.

Go on to Chapter 5