Great piece. Thank you! When I first read it, I was struck by the quiet courage it takes to state such plain truths. So I wasn’t surprised when someone chose to twist your words and intentions into an excuse to stir up their own foul wind.
Sadly, our society seems to have no shared understanding of what racism actually is, or even how to respond to it. As a culture, we lack a common vocabulary that can clearly, consistently, and honestly name racist attitudes and behavior.
As your article so deftly shows, many thoughts or actions labeled racist are not fully deserving of the moral weight the word carries, even when they stem from otherness, ignorance, or insensitivity. That matters because imprecision corrodes moral clarity.
Decades of fixation on ubiquitous but largely superficial slights -- sometimes solemnly codified as “microaggressions” -- have diverted attention, and even sympathy, away from racism that is far and away more consequential. Those harms are systemic, structural, and often hidden in plain sight, where they do the most damage and attract the least scrutiny.
Thank you for your comment, Dave, and your appreciation. Most disturbing about that person twisting my words is that he completely ignores I write about my personal experience, from my personal perspective. I think he's dishonest, and a coward, not to have engaged with me directly.
After 17 years in Japan, and then 30 years in my native U.S., I am very wary of the current vocabulary that includes "racism," "micro-aggressions," and other completely nonsensical words such as "Latinx." Karen, your experiences and perspectives are much more meaningful to me than the current newspeak of the U.S. legacy media and we North Americans need more of it.
Inaka people in Japan can be ignorant, blunt, and rude. I know from living in the Inaka myself. Why do they get that way? Probably because they are used to dealing with each other bluntly and suffer little for doing so. Things have changed, but I remember when it was common for meter readers and delivery people to just open the door of a house, shout out "pardon" or "water company" and drop packages or read the meter and go on to the next house. No knocking was considered necessary – they were just getting the job done. This can lead to grabbing hair and other unwelcome behavior because the manners seem to just get turned off.
At the same time, ignorance can also be accompanied by a kind of innocence. I remember being mobbed by a delightful group of yōchi-en children in a park in Imari, Saga-ken in Kyūshū who joyfully pointed at me and yelled to their friends "Look! It's one of those English-language people!" and immediately turned to me and asked me with great anticipation: "Say an English thing, say an English thing!" This was not racism, nor was it anything malicious in any way. I was indeed an English-language person and it was very exciting for them to meet me. 100% good vibes all around. An experience like that could never be appreciated by the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Tzars in North American Universities these days.
Thanks so much for your comment, Stim, and sharing your experiences. So many terms like "micro-aggressions" "Latinx" and even "people of color" (what does that even mean??) are ones I would never use. I sometimes feel Americans have lost their minds--anxious to jump on any perceived slight and charge "racism". Your experience living in Japan mirrors so much of my own. In fifty years of living here I have just had too many positive experiences with good, kind, generous people, to ever focus on the rude behavior of one country woman.
Thanks for the post. I appreciate that you took this from your experience and history of racism in US. However, perspective and perception can be different too due to diverse background. As North African muslim, I might have different experience and micro-aggresions that I cannot just dismiss with some cultural relativism and they dont know better. My concern is that (really) bad ideas tend to fly easily like what we have seen from sanseito borrowing from playbook and discourse of far right in Europe and US and people even here can nomalize them
Thank you for your comment. As I say in the essay, I write from personal experience, and my perspective of having spent most of my life -- more than half a century -- in rural, Japan. I do not doubt that your experience and perspective are different. My mention of racism in the U.S. is purely for reference and comparison.
As a long-time resident, I tucked into this fully expecting I'd have to mount my high horse. Instead, I found myself in complete agreement.
There is a difference between -- as you say -- bad behavior and racism. There is also, I'd argue, a difference between curiosity about the unfamiliar and racism. Once upon a time a Japanese woman asked me if I used shampoo or soap on my chest hair. She commented about the fact I didn't have a trash can in my tiny one-room apartment. I told her that foreigners don't generate trash.
We'll celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary next year.
I think it's critically important to look not just at behavior, but intentions. And I see a lot less racism here than I do back in the US.
Hi David -- Yes, curiosity is a real thing -- even when it an be offensive. Glad to know you ended up with the Japanese lady who was curious about you!
Happy to know I disappointed you ;-) -- and that you were grateful for my "sharing this excellent piece".
I think a lot of racism in homogenous societies like (rural) Japan is(was?) due to ignorance and sometimes misplaced curiousity because they have rarely (never?) seen someone so different. That doesn't forgive the times when they other the foreigner, but it explains it.
And it seems to me that in the 30+ years I've been exposed to Japan it's got rarer and rarer. Back in the 1990s I was certainly one of the countable number of non Japanese looking people to have visited a few places. Probably not the first, but often I guess one of a handful and perhaps the only one in a year or more who wasn't a JET program English teacher. These days, that's not the case. Plus the children who in the 1990s had their first experience with a JET teacher now have their own kids so they will tend to teach their children to behave in the presence of strange looking people.
I think much of the reported "racism" these days is due to a disbelief that the visibly different person can be communicated with (in Japanese) and/or knows how to behave appropriately. I used to think this was unjustified but regrettably, thanks to the wave of inbound tourism, that disbelief has a legitimate base these days. Yes 99% of the tourists behave well and try their best communicate but there's always the 1% idiots who seem to think Japan is just a giant theme park for their amusement.
I feel pretty confident in saying the shopkeeper who grabbed my hair had probably never had a foreigner (of any hue) come into her nursery/flower shop, in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere -- ever.
Like you, I've witnessed the change from the Japan where a foreigner could not walk down the street without giggles and pointing. It's been a transformation, as we can practically go unnoticed, at least unremarked, these days as children are more familiar with foreigners. At a minimum, they now know how to act appropriately.
Thanks for commenting, and for saying you thought it was a "great article".
I totally agree with Thomas Areton's comments. I love reading your reflections about your experiences in Japan and comparing them to mine. Had I lived there longer, I think I would have had similar insights, so it is refreshing for me to use your wisdom to revisit my experiences and shed light on my earlier impressions/assumptions. Thank you.
I agree with Thomas too! Thank you for telling me my writing has helped you to revisit your Japan experiences. It means a lot to me to know sharing my experiences resonates with you, and others.
Enjoyed your article, Karen. Anyone believing that "their" race is somehow "better" than another one needs some reality adjustment. Every race has geniuses, idiots, creative people and lazy bums.... Most people are in the middle, trying to live their lives in peace... We need not love each other (after all this is not Heaven), but we must respect each person's right to live and let live.
Well said, Tom. We must each do our part to respect others and contribute to building a peaceful world. I know you, and Lilka, have worked hard at that over many years.
I think life is full of bumps and provocations. We get hurt, traumatized and these things sometimes linger. But we also get wiser and stronger when we can understand where they are coming from. This does not always happen, and could turn into mob sentiments, totally inflated and manifests into fear and racism. I also had my “visible minority” moments. In my 20’s I started to date a Caucasian woman in Tokyo. She invited me to a party, mostly expats. As we were mingling, one guy went up to her and said “why are you dating a local?” I felt sorry for him.
Ah, I think that's a perfect example of being a "visible minority" -- as I suppose you were in a group of expats, decades ago. And like you, I feel sorry for the people who express such sentiments. I feel their world must be very narrow and limited.
A long time ago, while I was finishing my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, I did a project on Japanese architecture. I even visited the Japanese Embassy, since the ambassador himself had a deep interest in traditional Japanese architecture and owned an impressive collection of books on the subject. His secretary kindly copied everything I found useful for my research.
After graduating, I was encouraged to go to Japan to continue my studies there. Sadly, a lack of funds, and a wife expecting our first child, put those plans aside. Still, Japan and its culture have always continued to fascinate me. In 2016, my son surprised me by inviting me to travel to Japan with him, a true highlight in my life! I sometimes wonder what might have happened if things had gone differently back in 1977, especially now, reading your stories and seeing how beautifully things have turned out for you and your family.
Ad, this is so interesting. Thanks for sharing your story. How wonderful your son invited you to Japan, it must have been a very special trip! I can easily imagine Japanese culture continues to fascinate you, as I feel the same, even after living here all these years.
I'm assuming from your name you are either from Holland or Belgium. Both places I've visited. And at one time, many years ago, I thought about living in Rotterdam, where one of my best friends is from.
So much of my story is serendipity, truly unplanned. As I've written before, after coming to Japan, we just let it "unfold".
I do indeed live in the Netherlands. I have however no regrets about how things have turned out. I am now retired, have a nice life and a satisfying career behind me. I think that in everybody's life there are those crossroads where you choose a direction, and it will always remain a mystery what your life would have looked like had you taken the other turn. Wish you the best.
And, should you be interested about the crossroads I came too, and the choices I made, I invite you to read my memoir: The View From Breast Pocket Mountain. https://www.karenhillanton.com
I agree with you that the behaviors aren’t “racist,” per se, but are more extreme examples of othering. The incident with the shopkeeper grabbing your hair is beyond belief. I’ve heard of similar incidents reported by foreigners living in Japan — one white female resident of 20+ years had her breast grabbed on the train by an older female Japanese passenger who “wanted to know if it was real”. The objectification and dehumanization of foreigners in Japan (by an ignorant few) is deplorable… but here in the U.S. the treatment of immigrants is equally, if not more, deplorable… and more widespread! You are a pillar of patience to have dealt with these incidents you’ve shared.
Mari, as a fellow U.S. resident/citizen, I especially appreciate your comment. I think part of the struggle here--and everywhere--is in deciding when ignorance becomes willful and what we do about that.
Karen, your response to the shopkeeper is a good example, and I hope she learned from it. The boy in Mie's class is another, and his mother's actions surely helped him identify an important lesson.
The challenge is when racism becomes so internalized as to mask itself as ignorance. Or maybe it's easier to digest if we say "othering becomes so internalized." It's hard to fathom, in this day and age, that anyone wouldn't know better, and yet the mistakes and offenses persist. I've been guilty of them myself!
Appreciate the impetus for further thoughtful consideration of all this, Karen!
Elizabeth I think (?) we've touched on some of this before in our written exchanges. Truly, I think racism/racist are overused today -- and in America talk of both has become an obsession. And the barriers I've seen this create in recent years is disheartening--especially when we Americans have come so far, and have made such big changes (yes, we have!) These days I feel some people are poised to take offense, while others walk on those proverbial eggshells afraid to make offense.
We have touched on some of this, yes, and I don't disagree with the premise that America has grown a movement of people poised to take offense. But while I also agree that we've made big changes, for those of us on the ground here, issues around racism aren’t just about how far we’ve come, but about the very real ways racial disparities still show up in everyday life—housing, policing, healthcare, schools, or even just how people are treated in public. Many of these problems may be less visible from abroad, but they’re still deeply felt here.
I don’t see conversations about racism as an “obsession” so much as a reflection of people trying to understand and address the parts of our society that still don’t work fairly for everyone. I sometimes think the increased talk about race isn’t because things are getting worse, but because people are finally more willing to name things that were once quietly tolerated.
And while it can definitely feel like some folks take offense too quickly, I also see many others who are speaking up after years—or generations—of being expected to say nothing That can make the social atmosphere feel tense, but it also feels like part of the messy process of change.
Yes, very true, I am not "on the ground" in the U.S. -- but I also don't live under a rock! (You'll take no offense at that ;-) I grew up in that country. I know what it was once like. I have seen, and experienced, the changes, and progress. And I often find myself wishing that my father, a man born in the Mississippi Delta in 1893, could see that progress too. He'd be delighted that his grandchildren can go (indeed be welcome, and encouraged to attend) prestigious universities, hold high positions in government and academia, be recognized for their contributions to political and social life, arts and culture, and much more. Naturally, not everyone has benefited, but we cannot overlook the importance and impact regarding the choices people make, the opportunities they do not take advantage of, the responsibilities they do not assume, that directly and irrefutably perpetuate a life of living in the underclass. Who knows, Eiizabeth, I may explore this more in a future piece, but I'll have to leave it here for now ...
The incident with the woman on the train is outrageous! Utterly unconscionable. I do not think I am particularly patient. My episode with the shopkeeper was just ridiculous. Rude, and as I said, insensitive. But considering I've lived in Japan 50 years, rude behavior has been the exception, not the norm.
I removed your comment, and my reply, because I do not want to engage with you. I was surprised you did not address me personally considering I have welcomed you in my home. I do not hold myself "as a template about how to live in Japan" or anything else. That's your interpretation. I write about my experience. I do not seek agreement. Ever.
"Well, that's kinda on brand." Is it? I do not know what you mean, or refer to -- but your acrimony towards me is clear. When you left my home you told me you wanted to interview me and would get in touch. I said great. I never heard from you again -- until now. I suppose my Substack offers you an opportunity to air your grievances towards and about me.
Yes, let's "stop here". Your reference to my "methodology" "way of taking in information" "method of evaluation" "social science" "willfully ignoring others" "confirmation bias" "whataboutism" -- tells me there is no conversation to be had between us. I removed your previous comment not to "delete history" but because I do not want to clutter my site. Goodbye.
Great piece. Thank you! When I first read it, I was struck by the quiet courage it takes to state such plain truths. So I wasn’t surprised when someone chose to twist your words and intentions into an excuse to stir up their own foul wind.
Sadly, our society seems to have no shared understanding of what racism actually is, or even how to respond to it. As a culture, we lack a common vocabulary that can clearly, consistently, and honestly name racist attitudes and behavior.
As your article so deftly shows, many thoughts or actions labeled racist are not fully deserving of the moral weight the word carries, even when they stem from otherness, ignorance, or insensitivity. That matters because imprecision corrodes moral clarity.
Decades of fixation on ubiquitous but largely superficial slights -- sometimes solemnly codified as “microaggressions” -- have diverted attention, and even sympathy, away from racism that is far and away more consequential. Those harms are systemic, structural, and often hidden in plain sight, where they do the most damage and attract the least scrutiny.
Thank you for your comment, Dave, and your appreciation. Most disturbing about that person twisting my words is that he completely ignores I write about my personal experience, from my personal perspective. I think he's dishonest, and a coward, not to have engaged with me directly.
After 17 years in Japan, and then 30 years in my native U.S., I am very wary of the current vocabulary that includes "racism," "micro-aggressions," and other completely nonsensical words such as "Latinx." Karen, your experiences and perspectives are much more meaningful to me than the current newspeak of the U.S. legacy media and we North Americans need more of it.
Inaka people in Japan can be ignorant, blunt, and rude. I know from living in the Inaka myself. Why do they get that way? Probably because they are used to dealing with each other bluntly and suffer little for doing so. Things have changed, but I remember when it was common for meter readers and delivery people to just open the door of a house, shout out "pardon" or "water company" and drop packages or read the meter and go on to the next house. No knocking was considered necessary – they were just getting the job done. This can lead to grabbing hair and other unwelcome behavior because the manners seem to just get turned off.
At the same time, ignorance can also be accompanied by a kind of innocence. I remember being mobbed by a delightful group of yōchi-en children in a park in Imari, Saga-ken in Kyūshū who joyfully pointed at me and yelled to their friends "Look! It's one of those English-language people!" and immediately turned to me and asked me with great anticipation: "Say an English thing, say an English thing!" This was not racism, nor was it anything malicious in any way. I was indeed an English-language person and it was very exciting for them to meet me. 100% good vibes all around. An experience like that could never be appreciated by the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Tzars in North American Universities these days.
Thanks so much for your comment, Stim, and sharing your experiences. So many terms like "micro-aggressions" "Latinx" and even "people of color" (what does that even mean??) are ones I would never use. I sometimes feel Americans have lost their minds--anxious to jump on any perceived slight and charge "racism". Your experience living in Japan mirrors so much of my own. In fifty years of living here I have just had too many positive experiences with good, kind, generous people, to ever focus on the rude behavior of one country woman.
Thanks for the post. I appreciate that you took this from your experience and history of racism in US. However, perspective and perception can be different too due to diverse background. As North African muslim, I might have different experience and micro-aggresions that I cannot just dismiss with some cultural relativism and they dont know better. My concern is that (really) bad ideas tend to fly easily like what we have seen from sanseito borrowing from playbook and discourse of far right in Europe and US and people even here can nomalize them
Thank you for your comment. As I say in the essay, I write from personal experience, and my perspective of having spent most of my life -- more than half a century -- in rural, Japan. I do not doubt that your experience and perspective are different. My mention of racism in the U.S. is purely for reference and comparison.
As a long-time resident, I tucked into this fully expecting I'd have to mount my high horse. Instead, I found myself in complete agreement.
There is a difference between -- as you say -- bad behavior and racism. There is also, I'd argue, a difference between curiosity about the unfamiliar and racism. Once upon a time a Japanese woman asked me if I used shampoo or soap on my chest hair. She commented about the fact I didn't have a trash can in my tiny one-room apartment. I told her that foreigners don't generate trash.
We'll celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary next year.
I think it's critically important to look not just at behavior, but intentions. And I see a lot less racism here than I do back in the US.
Thanks for sharing this excellent piece.
Hi David -- Yes, curiosity is a real thing -- even when it an be offensive. Glad to know you ended up with the Japanese lady who was curious about you!
Happy to know I disappointed you ;-) -- and that you were grateful for my "sharing this excellent piece".
Great article.
I think a lot of racism in homogenous societies like (rural) Japan is(was?) due to ignorance and sometimes misplaced curiousity because they have rarely (never?) seen someone so different. That doesn't forgive the times when they other the foreigner, but it explains it.
And it seems to me that in the 30+ years I've been exposed to Japan it's got rarer and rarer. Back in the 1990s I was certainly one of the countable number of non Japanese looking people to have visited a few places. Probably not the first, but often I guess one of a handful and perhaps the only one in a year or more who wasn't a JET program English teacher. These days, that's not the case. Plus the children who in the 1990s had their first experience with a JET teacher now have their own kids so they will tend to teach their children to behave in the presence of strange looking people.
I think much of the reported "racism" these days is due to a disbelief that the visibly different person can be communicated with (in Japanese) and/or knows how to behave appropriately. I used to think this was unjustified but regrettably, thanks to the wave of inbound tourism, that disbelief has a legitimate base these days. Yes 99% of the tourists behave well and try their best communicate but there's always the 1% idiots who seem to think Japan is just a giant theme park for their amusement.
Hello Francis --
I feel pretty confident in saying the shopkeeper who grabbed my hair had probably never had a foreigner (of any hue) come into her nursery/flower shop, in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere -- ever.
Like you, I've witnessed the change from the Japan where a foreigner could not walk down the street without giggles and pointing. It's been a transformation, as we can practically go unnoticed, at least unremarked, these days as children are more familiar with foreigners. At a minimum, they now know how to act appropriately.
Thanks for commenting, and for saying you thought it was a "great article".
Mind you I still hear "Gaijinsan desu!" now and again from kids, but there's a -san at the end which is certainly an improvement
Yep!
We're in agreement-- again ...!
I totally agree with Thomas Areton's comments. I love reading your reflections about your experiences in Japan and comparing them to mine. Had I lived there longer, I think I would have had similar insights, so it is refreshing for me to use your wisdom to revisit my experiences and shed light on my earlier impressions/assumptions. Thank you.
I agree with Thomas too! Thank you for telling me my writing has helped you to revisit your Japan experiences. It means a lot to me to know sharing my experiences resonates with you, and others.
Enjoyed your article, Karen. Anyone believing that "their" race is somehow "better" than another one needs some reality adjustment. Every race has geniuses, idiots, creative people and lazy bums.... Most people are in the middle, trying to live their lives in peace... We need not love each other (after all this is not Heaven), but we must respect each person's right to live and let live.
Well said, Tom. We must each do our part to respect others and contribute to building a peaceful world. I know you, and Lilka, have worked hard at that over many years.
I very much enjoy reading your reflections. It’s very helpful to keep my own compass pointing, and not spinning.
Thank you, Sarah. And I like how you say it is helpful to keep your "compass pointing, and not spinning."
I think life is full of bumps and provocations. We get hurt, traumatized and these things sometimes linger. But we also get wiser and stronger when we can understand where they are coming from. This does not always happen, and could turn into mob sentiments, totally inflated and manifests into fear and racism. I also had my “visible minority” moments. In my 20’s I started to date a Caucasian woman in Tokyo. She invited me to a party, mostly expats. As we were mingling, one guy went up to her and said “why are you dating a local?” I felt sorry for him.
Ah, I think that's a perfect example of being a "visible minority" -- as I suppose you were in a group of expats, decades ago. And like you, I feel sorry for the people who express such sentiments. I feel their world must be very narrow and limited.
I agree. Ignorance and stupidity is not racism. In the mean time I really envy you and your family.
Yes ignorance and stupidity, most profound, were on display that day. I'll take your "envy" of me and my family as a compliment-- thank you!
A long time ago, while I was finishing my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, I did a project on Japanese architecture. I even visited the Japanese Embassy, since the ambassador himself had a deep interest in traditional Japanese architecture and owned an impressive collection of books on the subject. His secretary kindly copied everything I found useful for my research.
After graduating, I was encouraged to go to Japan to continue my studies there. Sadly, a lack of funds, and a wife expecting our first child, put those plans aside. Still, Japan and its culture have always continued to fascinate me. In 2016, my son surprised me by inviting me to travel to Japan with him, a true highlight in my life! I sometimes wonder what might have happened if things had gone differently back in 1977, especially now, reading your stories and seeing how beautifully things have turned out for you and your family.
Ad, this is so interesting. Thanks for sharing your story. How wonderful your son invited you to Japan, it must have been a very special trip! I can easily imagine Japanese culture continues to fascinate you, as I feel the same, even after living here all these years.
I'm assuming from your name you are either from Holland or Belgium. Both places I've visited. And at one time, many years ago, I thought about living in Rotterdam, where one of my best friends is from.
So much of my story is serendipity, truly unplanned. As I've written before, after coming to Japan, we just let it "unfold".
I do indeed live in the Netherlands. I have however no regrets about how things have turned out. I am now retired, have a nice life and a satisfying career behind me. I think that in everybody's life there are those crossroads where you choose a direction, and it will always remain a mystery what your life would have looked like had you taken the other turn. Wish you the best.
And I wish you the very best too!
And, should you be interested about the crossroads I came too, and the choices I made, I invite you to read my memoir: The View From Breast Pocket Mountain. https://www.karenhillanton.com
I am indeed interested and I just put your memoir on my kindle.
I agree with you that the behaviors aren’t “racist,” per se, but are more extreme examples of othering. The incident with the shopkeeper grabbing your hair is beyond belief. I’ve heard of similar incidents reported by foreigners living in Japan — one white female resident of 20+ years had her breast grabbed on the train by an older female Japanese passenger who “wanted to know if it was real”. The objectification and dehumanization of foreigners in Japan (by an ignorant few) is deplorable… but here in the U.S. the treatment of immigrants is equally, if not more, deplorable… and more widespread! You are a pillar of patience to have dealt with these incidents you’ve shared.
Mari, as a fellow U.S. resident/citizen, I especially appreciate your comment. I think part of the struggle here--and everywhere--is in deciding when ignorance becomes willful and what we do about that.
Karen, your response to the shopkeeper is a good example, and I hope she learned from it. The boy in Mie's class is another, and his mother's actions surely helped him identify an important lesson.
The challenge is when racism becomes so internalized as to mask itself as ignorance. Or maybe it's easier to digest if we say "othering becomes so internalized." It's hard to fathom, in this day and age, that anyone wouldn't know better, and yet the mistakes and offenses persist. I've been guilty of them myself!
Appreciate the impetus for further thoughtful consideration of all this, Karen!
Elizabeth I think (?) we've touched on some of this before in our written exchanges. Truly, I think racism/racist are overused today -- and in America talk of both has become an obsession. And the barriers I've seen this create in recent years is disheartening--especially when we Americans have come so far, and have made such big changes (yes, we have!) These days I feel some people are poised to take offense, while others walk on those proverbial eggshells afraid to make offense.
We have touched on some of this, yes, and I don't disagree with the premise that America has grown a movement of people poised to take offense. But while I also agree that we've made big changes, for those of us on the ground here, issues around racism aren’t just about how far we’ve come, but about the very real ways racial disparities still show up in everyday life—housing, policing, healthcare, schools, or even just how people are treated in public. Many of these problems may be less visible from abroad, but they’re still deeply felt here.
I don’t see conversations about racism as an “obsession” so much as a reflection of people trying to understand and address the parts of our society that still don’t work fairly for everyone. I sometimes think the increased talk about race isn’t because things are getting worse, but because people are finally more willing to name things that were once quietly tolerated.
And while it can definitely feel like some folks take offense too quickly, I also see many others who are speaking up after years—or generations—of being expected to say nothing That can make the social atmosphere feel tense, but it also feels like part of the messy process of change.
Yes, very true, I am not "on the ground" in the U.S. -- but I also don't live under a rock! (You'll take no offense at that ;-) I grew up in that country. I know what it was once like. I have seen, and experienced, the changes, and progress. And I often find myself wishing that my father, a man born in the Mississippi Delta in 1893, could see that progress too. He'd be delighted that his grandchildren can go (indeed be welcome, and encouraged to attend) prestigious universities, hold high positions in government and academia, be recognized for their contributions to political and social life, arts and culture, and much more. Naturally, not everyone has benefited, but we cannot overlook the importance and impact regarding the choices people make, the opportunities they do not take advantage of, the responsibilities they do not assume, that directly and irrefutably perpetuate a life of living in the underclass. Who knows, Eiizabeth, I may explore this more in a future piece, but I'll have to leave it here for now ...
The incident with the woman on the train is outrageous! Utterly unconscionable. I do not think I am particularly patient. My episode with the shopkeeper was just ridiculous. Rude, and as I said, insensitive. But considering I've lived in Japan 50 years, rude behavior has been the exception, not the norm.
I removed your comment, and my reply, because I do not want to engage with you. I was surprised you did not address me personally considering I have welcomed you in my home. I do not hold myself "as a template about how to live in Japan" or anything else. That's your interpretation. I write about my experience. I do not seek agreement. Ever.
"Well, that's kinda on brand." Is it? I do not know what you mean, or refer to -- but your acrimony towards me is clear. When you left my home you told me you wanted to interview me and would get in touch. I said great. I never heard from you again -- until now. I suppose my Substack offers you an opportunity to air your grievances towards and about me.
Yes, let's "stop here". Your reference to my "methodology" "way of taking in information" "method of evaluation" "social science" "willfully ignoring others" "confirmation bias" "whataboutism" -- tells me there is no conversation to be had between us. I removed your previous comment not to "delete history" but because I do not want to clutter my site. Goodbye.