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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 7
Placating and Assimilation of Foreigners

While the previous chapter dealt with mostly passive and non-interactive strategies of placating, chapter six deals with more aggressive forms of placating and attempts to assimilate into the host population [Japanese]. Such as distancing, display, association, explanation, role plays, engagement assimilation, foreigner roles, and creating understanding.

Distancing

There are circumstances where foreigners feel they are being ethnically lumped with a group they do not subscribe membership to, or they may agree to the membership but do not wish to be associated with them because of negative host reaction. In these circumstances distancing behaviors are utilized for placation effect. Distancing implies the statement, "Foreigners are not all the same, please do not treat us as if we are, regardless, we are no threat". There are three ways foreigners distance, a) by display, b) by association, and c) by explanation.

(a) Display
Displays of difference are used where the perceived audience is wide and usually unknown to the foreigner. It consists of foreigners minimizing their foreign attributes and emphasizing their assimilative aspects. An example can be given in the following quote.

Robert: "When I am out with my [Japanese] friends and I see a foreigner who is obviously new to Japan...don't ask me how I know he is new, you can just tell...I tend to speak more Japanese with my friends and not let the conversation die. I want to make sure he [the foreigner] and the Japanese around us know that I am different. That I speak Japanese, and hopefully, I can avoid eye contact with the foreigner cause I hate it when these new foreigners try to strike up a conversation with me."

Another example can be seen in the informant who came home to discover that her son had dyed his hair black. He wanted to avoid any association with "gaijin" and this was his way of distancing. "Display" was one of the most popular ways of distancing. Espiritu (1992) and Hayano (1981) identified similar tactics in the US amongst various Asian students. Likewise, Lee (1996) found that distancing was evident amongst Koreans in the US, although she also found that as a technique it was not always effective, ethnic lumping tended to occur regardless.

Other forms of distancing were discussed in the previous chapter, such as choosing a residence with no other foreigners, avoiding locations were large numbers of foreigners gather, choosing an occupation were contact with foreigners is minimized as well as taking on and displaying character or personal appearance attributes of the Japanese population.

In a very extreme case I met a British man who had lived in Japan for over 20 years. He was a farmer, with his wife and 3 children in Ibaraki prefecture. He had assimilated to the point where he refused to speak English at all, even to me. None of his children could speak any English. I honestly felt as if I was interviewing a Caucasian Japanese man. He had created a new self-identity for himself, even going to the point of changing his surname to a Japanese name. Obviously, this is an extreme case of display, but it leads me to wonder how many other foreigners there are living in Japan who have achieved the depth of assimilation that this foreigner has achieved. The success of this foreigner's assimilation, however, depended on his distancing himself from all other foreigners in Japan. If he was forced to live in an area heavily populated by foreigners, he would not have been as successful, which leads into "association."

(b) Association
Many long-term foreigners recognize the limited effectiveness of display distancing also. Often, it was used in conjunction with association distancing to enhance the assimilative effect.

Association distancing required non-Japanese to surround themselves with members of the host population, thus making themselves "seen" as assimilated ethnic foreigners. In practice this meant maximizing contact with the host population and minimizing contact with foreigners in public settings. As a concept, it can be seen to be the antithesis of ethnic lumping, where the ethnic becomes associated with other ethnic foreigners that "look" similar. Association distancing allows some foreigners to escape this ethnic labeling.

Aaron: (Japanese/American) "Getting to school was pretty horrendous. You had to get past all that verbal abuse [kids shouting "gaijin" as I walked by]. I had a certain amount of control and security at home, then I had none while I was getting to school...I learnt some ways around it. I would tag onto people going to school. I knew that if my brother and I went together we got more abuse. So I used to find excuses to stay behind. Then he would go on ahead, and I'd come and try to tag onto somebody that I knew. There were some people that it was better to go to school with than others. I remember the feeling of going along and then 'Wow-there's so-and-so!' and I would rush up and get in with their little group of people."

By being seen and associating only with Japanese, foreigners could disguise themselves and be accepted by virtue of association. Or as Goffman (1963:47) put it, "...in certain circumstances the social identity of those an individual is with can be used as a source of information concerning his own social identity, the assumption being that he is what the others are".

Association distancing is most effective when the ratio of foreigners to Japanese is low. Thus, one "gaijin" amongst ten Japanese is more effective than ten "gaijin" to one Japanese. Similarly, the status of those foreigners associate with is important. The higher the status position of Japanese, the more powerful the statement of belonging. Thus, an adult foreigner amongst ten Japanese children is not as effective as ten Japanese adults with one foreign child. From this, it can also be seen that increasing status of associates decreases the necessary ratio.

Dan: "I tend to go out with my Japanese friends more than my foreign friends. It is not really that I like my Japanese friends more, it is just that when I go out with them I can enjoy myself more because I do not have to worry about other Japanese people saying something out of order or stupid to me. If they did, my Japanese friends would stick up for me. I really relax the most when I go out with my father-in-law. He is an older man and well respected wherever he goes so I am treated almost normal when I am with him. If someone asks a stupid question, like does he [pointing at me] speak Japanese, even though my father-in-law and I have been speaking in Japanese, my father-in-law puts the guy in his place and makes him feel stupid. I would not be allowed to do that."

Association distancing is an achievement for foreigners, for it is a condition of honorary membership to the majority group. As one informant stated, "a lot of my neighbors have said to me, 'I don't perceive you as being a "gaijin", in the first instance you're one of us'". To surround oneself with members of the majority population and be immersed in the Japanese world was to escape the indignity of being a foreigner in public settings. It required, however, the use of other actors for an effective display. This necessitates the cultivation of relationships, whether of associates or of genuine friends. Thus, although the tactic is relatively simplistic, the means of enacting the tactic requires a high degree of interacting skill. The ethnic actor needs to "work" their way into a group and maintain the association for the duration of the public display.

What I found extremely interesting is that while in their home countries if they [foreigners] were told by a fellow countryman that they [the foreigner] acted Japanese it would be an insult, most foreigners agreed that in Japan, they would consider the comment a compliment.

(c) Explanation
The final type of distancing I discuss occurs through explaining. This tactic requires the most skill and interacting ability from the ethnic actor. Normally, it occurs when foreigners are amongst associates rather than amongst friends. An informant, Sharon, recounts:

"Sometimes it's quite interesting, at times I do find myself going on the defensive and I don't really need to be. Like, [at work], when [associates] read something out of the newspaper about foreigners and I might make a comment like um, 'Oh I hate it when people call me names and things and confuse me with them, we're not the same' and they just listen to me, and I often find I will come up with these comments and try and get my point across to the staff just as a way of trying to educate them hopefully...if I can help them see my side just a little bit."

Explanation distancing often requires great tact on the part of the ethnic actor. In order to present a convincing argument the ethnic must be able to "see" the world from the dominant worldview. Thus, "marginal" social types typically use this strategy. That is, those who have a sophisticated bicultural view of the world.

Paul: My neighbors and I sometimes have summertime BBQ's. This is something I began about 9 years ago to help us all get to know each other. I find myself at these gatherings having to explain everything about foreigners in Japan, from recent crimes committed to who is the newest foreigner on Japanese T.V. I both enjoy and detest these conversations. I enjoy them because it makes me feel important and part of the community to know that my neighbors trust my judgement on such things. I detest them because deep down I know I am not qualified to make such judgements on all things foreign in Japan."

Dan: "I sometimes find myself explaining the behavior of non-immersed foreigners in Japan to my Japanese friends or neighbors. I try to explain to them that foreigners have as little knowledge about Japan as Japanese have about foreign countries. It seldom really gets through to them. I think it is difficult to understand the mind of a foreigner attempting to assimilate unless you have had some experience in actually having to assimilate into a foreign culture."

It can be seen that each type of distancing requires differing levels of interaction. Display distancing is merely a fleeting indicator of difference.

Association distancing requires the recruitment of others, preferable those of higher status, while explanation distancing requires an ability to identify difference and logically present an argument counter to what interactants perceive the case to be. The effectiveness of distancing as a placating strategy is questionable. Certainly, they are reactionary responses that occur with little thought or planning. Their use, however, appears quite ubiquitous.

(4) Role Playing
So far I have detailed relatively passive tactics used in the placation exercise. As suggested, most are reactionary and occur without premeditation. In situations where an increased amount of interaction is required, different types of strategies are evident. The techniques I discuss in this section are referred to as role-plays because they require a fair degree of social acting. Role-plays incorporate a variety of performances that can, on the surface, be seen as contradictory. There are two broad categories. The first concerns assimilative roles. Here, foreigners make accentuated attempts to display their assimilation. The second category concerns playing the foreigner role. This stands in stark contrast to assimilative roles but serves the same purpose. Some Japanese are threatened by foreigners who speak Japanese extremely well. It is an affront to nationalistic beliefs that a foreigner could be so Japanese.

To placate the offender, playing the foreigner was often more effective than attempts at displaying assimilation. The aim was to cause as little friction as possible. In both cases rests the importance of stereotypes as a guide to effective performance. Foreigners must understand these stereotypes in order to use them successfully and maintain the placation effect. In contrast to the tactics presented above, role-plays require a high degree of skill on the part of the ethnic actor to produce a convincing performance. Both assimilative and foreigner roles will be detailed below.

(a) Assimilative Role Playing
Assimilative roles are the predominant form of role-play for insecure foreigners in Japan. The demand for assimilation is often encouraged by peers, co-workers, family and friends. And the perceived inability of minorities to assimilate has often been used as justification to prohibit non-Japanese from establishing themselves as a permanent part of the Japanese society. That foreigners feel the need to display assimilative behaviors - often in exaggerated form - is indication of the social pressures involved; indeed, it is an acknowledgement of their powerless status.

The first assimilative role-play I discuss here is that of engagement assimilation. There are instances where foreigners and half-Japanese, regardless of their status, are perceived as foreign. The physical distinction of the foreigner carries with it all the baggage of a foreign identity. In these circumstances, foreigners and half-Japanese may choose to counteract the stereotype by engaging the perpetrator(s) and displaying assimilative aspects. Usually, this display is not blatant. There is no overt challenge made. Instead, a normative display is projected to the perpetrator(s), indicating the stereotype was a falsity. This tactic is used with great effect when perpetrators deny a foreigner's belonging.

Dan: "I had been in Japan about 10 years and my visa was up for renewal. I never liked going to the immigration office, but it was something that had to be done every three years. I was really unlucky and got a jerk behind the counter. He was asking me some really stupid questions and being rude and disrespectful. When he asked me what the reason for my visa extension was, I exclaimed, in perfect Japanese....To Pay My Home Loan and other bills....I then joked with him that he would be doing me a favor by turning my visa extension down. Maybe then, I joked, I would not have to pay back any of my loans. He stamped my visa immediately and told me to have a nice day."

Robert: "I went to the city ward office to take care of my Japanese national health insurance. I handed the lady behind the counter my paperwork and she explained to me how lucky I was that Japan let foreigners on their health insurance plan. It really ticked me off because the system is set up on income, and since I make a lot, I pay a lot. About the equivalent of 4,000 U.S. dollars a year. This is compared to the little old lady next to me, who uses her insurance everyday, who is paying like 500 US dollars a year at the most. I jokingly said to the lady behind the counter....I guess I better get sick then...it is a waste for me to pay so much every year when I don't have the time to get sick because I am out there making money. I then counted out my money to her in a loud voice, making sure the little old lady next to me could hear how much I was having to pay to help take care of her medical bills."

Because engagement assimilation involves the breaking of stereotypes about Caucasian people as perpetually foreign, surprise is a common reaction. Another foreigner recalls:

...you get people in pubs [Japanese bars] and they say to you, 'oh yeah, you're not like a "gaijin" at all, you're like a Japanese, which says two things: first of all that you have assimilated really well, and secondly, that they thought you'd be different and not Japanese at all!

Ambivalence is another common reaction; for, on the one hand, assimilation is seen as good. The "gaijin" are just like "us". On the other hand, "being like us" is an admission of equality. To accept foreigners as part of Japan is also to negate any justification for discrimination. For this reason, many immersed foreigners who have mastered the Japanese language are referred to jokingly by members of the Japanese population as "henna (strange) gaijin."

If the foreigner is unsure of the response or is in a situation where engagement assimilation is unlikely to succeed less forceful tactics can be used. Perhaps the most insipid assimilative role-play is self-effacing. Self-effacing occurs as ethnic humor and self-mockery. Here the racial minority berates his own ethnic group as a means of gaining acceptance amongst the majority. Such self-effacing behavior is often welcomed by the majority, as it allows racial discrimination to be expressed in a joke context by the racial minority themselves. This diminishes the seriousness of racism, therefore, making it more acceptable. It also reveals to people that the minority understands his subordinate position in that society; through self-ridicule, the minority is indicating his understanding of the established hegemony.

What self-ridicule does is create a dualism for the racial minority. Distinctions arise between the assimilated self and the ethnic self. In order to understand a joke about foreigners in Japan, the foreign joke teller must become self-conscious; she must step outside of herself, and for a moment not be foreign; she must see the world from Japanese eyes, otherwise she would not "get" the joke. Joke telling, therefore, is a way for foreigners in Japan to demonstrate they are not part of the group being caricatured. Thus, self-mockery is evidence of an ethnic individual's assimilation in a given society. A joke told to me by a foreign resident follows;

...A foreign family moves into an upscale apartment building in Tokyo. The foreign child is playing in front of the apartment when a few of the Japanese children emerge. One of the Japanese kids starts telling the foreign kid that his family is better than the foreign kid's family because his father is a dentist. The foreign kid replies that his family is better because his dad is a doctor. Not to be outdone, the Japanese kid says, "oh yeah, well my mom is an accountant", to which the foreign kid replies, "well, that does not make your family better than mine, my mom is the Chief Financial Officer for an international company." The Japanese kid still wants to believe that his family is better so he says, "our apartment is bigger than your apartment, and we drive a better car." At this, the foreign kid looks the Japanese kid dead in the eyes and says, "well, at least we don't live next to a bunch of foreigners", to which the Japanese kid has no response.

Foreigners who are in situations where they are immersed amongst members of the host population are most likely to use this tactic. This is not to say that ethnic humor is not used amongst foreigners themselves - it often is; the difference however lies in the purpose of the endeavor. Amongst other foreigners, ethnic humor becomes a therapy of sorts - amongst the majority population it becomes an ingratiating tactic.

Self-effacing tactics can be referred to as "busting" and suggests "humor, self-mockery, and clowning are self-protective and resistant strategies that racial minorities use to deal with the dominant group...they are adaptations that the powerless make to deal with the powerful prior to politicization of the powerless...[consequently] those in power come to expect self-effacing behavior". It becomes a condition of their acceptance.

One negative side effect of this technique is that because it offers temporary "guest" membership into the Japanese population, many immersed foreigners become habitual at it. Therefore speaking negatively about foreigners and all things foreign to the extent that it creates gaijin denial, which was discussed earlier. It is in these cases where the foreigner casts himself out of his own ethnic group. He [the foreigner] is then left without a true identity. He is neither a member of the Japanese population nor the foreign population. It was in these cases where tendencies by the foreigner to begin showing signs of truly abnormal behavior were noted.

(b) Foreigner Roles
In contrast to self-effacing behaviors and assimilative roles, foreigner roles are less common, though still used for placation effect. These role-plays play up to stereotypes of foreigners and half-Japanese as perpetually foreign. Kenji recalls a common incident at school where:

...people often asked me, as if I represented all my father's race, certain questions like, 'What would Americans do in this sort of [situation]'. I felt like saying, 'what the Fuck are you asking me for?' (laughs). But that needed some kind of reply, so I developed over the years...bits and pieces you pick up, so that you can talk and seem to be knowledgeable about American matters. That's the way it is. It's bullshit! (laughs) I wanted to fit in with what Japanese thought of as a half-Japanese.

Kenji, a boy born to an American father and a Japanese mother, had little knowledge of things American. He considered himself more a Japanese than American. To him, being American was a label others placed on him; it was his social identity. Most multi-racial Japanese felt this way. Yet he was still perceived as a foreign person possessing all the cultural traits of someone living in America. Clearly, there is a static understanding of foreignness. This is the result of persistent stereotypes that see all non-Asian people as foreign, exotic, and strange (Parker, 1995). Playing up to the stereotype, as Kenji did, was a way of satisfying the preconceived image people had of him. The placation effect was successfully executed.

(5) Creating Understanding
There is one more tactic in the placating exercise: that of creating understanding. This tactic is similar to explanation distancing but is not an overt attempt at trying to debunk ethnic lumping. Instead, creating understanding is an attempt to bridge the gap between Japanese views of the world and non-Japanese views of the world.

Often, it is the social elite’s within ethnic communities who favor this tactic. Their position lets them publicly state through speech, publication and any other form of presentation an informed argument about the plight of the minority. Creating understanding usually pulls at emotional connections between host and minority group. Inherent in creating understanding is the statement, "we may look different but we want the same things in life as you". This type of placating strategy is usually emergent during negative shift periods where heightened intolerance initiates more articulate defensive responses from the ethnic community.

This book is an excellent example of this technique. It is my hope that in creating a more thorough understanding by both the Japanese and foreign residents in Japan, I may be able to live a more rewarding and stress free life in Japan. If I cannot, hopefully my children will be able to. Of course, we will have to wait a few years to see what actually happens.


Go on to Chapter 8
 



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