Maybe someone can help me to understand. There's a lot online that says Japanese don't like foreigners, but at the same time it's cool to use english in music, etc.

These seem like completely opposite behaviors to me, what am I missing?

Hello

It is not so much that they dislike foreigners..
maybe it is more that some foreigners who come here sometimes don't understand the culture.. and so appear, to Japanese people, to be rude or ignorant.. maybe..

English and western music and movies and stuff are considered cool by lots of young people in Japan.. many trends are global now, aren't they

Thanks for the insight, Petina.

My understanding is that the racist aspect of Japanese culture is directed more towards the Chinese, Koreans and Black people, rather than White people, but I could be wrong.

Also, I would imagine that most of the racism comes from older generations of Japanese rather than young people. Certainly in this country many older people still hate the Germans and so on, but most young people don't really care.

Completely agreed, Sleepyhead.



Remixer

I don't think it's Racism but rather Xenophobia. Racism would imply being Racist towards particular races and also very direct (getting verbal and physically abused, which doesn't seem to happen alot in Japan from what iv heard/read). Xenophobia i think would be more a fear or direct misunderstanding of another.

Japan in regards foreign relations is still only a young country having only opened its borders to the world since Mid 19th Century. Also about 98% of the population are native Japanese. So i think its normal, particularly for more conversative older people to feel more Xenophobic regarding foreigners than the newer generations of people (because of the Influence of outside Media and also the fact Immigration has/is on the rise)

Even if you take Ireland, my home country, talk to some of the more eldery people and they would still have conservative views regarding foreigners and particularly the English. But also Ireland has a huge multi-cultural society now, mainly Chinese and Polish and have been for a good number of years now so Racism isn't neccessarily a huge issue here (although i think it would be ignorant to say that there would be no discrimination happening in some parts).

I don't know if im putting my point across well here, but im simply trying to say that i think that many misunderstand Japanese 'Racism' when it is infact a form of Xenophobia. You don't hear of Japanese people forming Lynch mobs and going after 'dem foreigners!!11!'. Give it time people, Japanese people are human just like the rest of us and it's uncool to tar an entire race with such a generalising brush.

P.S The above statement is not directed at anyone, i mean it generally