My Experiences With Racism in Japan

It’s been hard sometimes, but I’ve learned important lessons

Photo taken by author

I wrote an article not long ago, shortly after I arrived in Japan, wherein I said that if I had experienced any racism while here, I was not aware of it. I feel it necessary now to follow that up and discuss just how drastically things have changed since then.

As soon as I got to Japan, I was told many anecdotes about how the Japanese are not particularly accepting of foreigners. Since I, like so many Americans, have always held a singular fascination with and admiration for Japanese culture, I was inclined to receive any negative news about the Japanese in the best light.

For example, I repeatedly heard that roughly 90% of Japanese homeowners will not rent to foreigners. Mind you, this is in regards to rentals of a year or more, so it’s not as if they’re refusing to rent to people who are in the country for two weeks that will be rowdy and partying the whole time. This is someone who has attained a visa, is likely working full time in the country, and is presumably living their day-to-day life like anyone else. The only difference then is that they’re not native-born Japanese.

Yet, I shrugged this off and took it as just their way of doing things. I also heard many anecdotes about how the children of…