Yeah I tend to agree.

So weird how people who disagree with Arudou insist on attacking him personally.

Yes, I know Japanese are an ethnicity and not a race. But to me, someone who is white or another race and gains Japanese citizenship and then says I am Japanese sounds the same as a white person moving to Africa and gaining citizenship in the Congo and then saying they are black.

It is not a personal attack to call Debito a whiner. It is a description that many people feel is accurate. The way Debito tries to promote his cause comes across very negative and whiny. Contrast that with another civil rights leader whose speeches and actions were positive and uplifting. That civil rights leader from the past had a very positive and uplifting speech called “I have a Dream”. Debito could learn a lot from that leader from the past.

“So weird how people who disagree with Arudou insist on attacking him personally.”

Talk about a persecution complex! We are not attacking him personally - we are just saying he’s boring.

I have to side with Arudou on this one. I think he’s right. If a person has Japanese citizenship, he’s Japanese in my opinion. If a Caucasian becomes a citizen of Ethiopia, he’s not black, but he *IS* Ethiopian. To use kaminoge’s example, if a Japanese man, regardless of genetics, moves to Congo and obtains citizenship, he is now a Congan.

We really need a way to differentiate between one’s genetic background, and one’s nationality. Hence, the hyphens mentioned by Arudou. All he’s asking is that people in his position be acknowledged as the Japanese citizens they are, rather than scarred with a term that they feel is derogatory. While not as derogatory as other racial slurs mentioned, it carries the connotation of “outsider” that he and others feel is just not true.

BTW, I don’t think the Mr. King analogy mentioned above is a good one, but if you must use it, many who were against his movement said he was a whiner, and worse. In order to have a discussion, you have to take up a contrary position. Merely making a statement that something is not fair, or is hurtful is NOT whining. Whining implies a certain amount of helplessness, and possibly borderline crying as well. Arudou is making a point, and although he says he is hurt, he’s not whining about it. He’s providing analysis and thoughtful information to the reader. It’s up to us to accept or reject this. If you choose to reject it, that’s fine, but if you find yourself attacking the poster(or commentator) then chances are you’re blinded by some sort of emotion that is not allowing you to be open to the emotions and/or point of view of the other party. This is a requirement for true dialog and discussion.

Imazon, firstly tornadoes28’s reference to Dr King was, I think, a light-hearted poke at Arudou’s own now-famous comparison of himself to MLK.

Secondly, it’s all well and good for Arudou to insist he’s Japanese. But how on earth is any Japanese person supposed to know this from looking at him? If he’s standing around at an airport looking shifty, which he admitted himself, of course a policeman will ask to check his ID (that’s precisely why Arudou did it, so that he could loudly declare his citizenship into his concealed voice recorder). This might be the 21st century, but this is Japan - if you’re ‘foreign-looking’, then you probably ARE foreign. And if you’re behaving as a security risk, you will be checked on by the police.

Aside from all that, the focus on a single word is, in my opinion, misguided. If I call you an idiot, and you don’t like it, can I call you a moron? Is it the word you want me to change, or my attitude? The problem, if indeed there is one, is not in the word that Japanese use to refer to non-Japanese, but in the need to point out their foreign-ness at all, as in most cases it’s completely unnecessary.

Actually, if you heard his Japanese you would not think he was Japanese either. Even on intangibles unrelated to race he doesn’t really seem Japanese. Culture? No. Language? No.

Calling people racist just because they cannot see that he is Japanese from his appearance is just political correctness gone mad. I am sick of seeing this kind of stuff in my own country, and it would be a shame if the same kind of thinking infected Japan.

I am sick of seeing this kind of stuff in my own country, and it would be a shame if the same kind of thinking infected Japan.

A big A-a-a-men on that my gaijin brother!

I like the term “WOG” - it’s so bisyllabic and direct don’t you agree Eric?.

remora

@remora,
What does WOG stand for?

I really don’t think any individual can know, let alone speak on the behalf of what most people think, but I do know that Dr. William Wetherall has devoted considerable time thinking about what Debito is doing, because I read about it here.

Far from being impossible, it’s not much of a problem at all. Either don’t make any reference at all to someone’s foreign-ness, or, if you really must and it’s relevant, ask him/her or someone else where s/he’s from.

I think its freakin’ cool being a white-boy in Japan!

@Eric Gauvin (17). And Americans have this weird habit on calling all non-citizens aliens. Really, I wish people complaining about Japan’s treatment of foreigners looked closely at how other countries fare in this respect.

@ dubya (28… 29)

But we don’t use the term “alien” in the same way that Japanese use “gaijin.” “Alien” refers to a person’s immigration status as a resident in the US. I admit it’s a weird sounding word, but average people don’t go around calling each other alien. It seems a Caucasian who becomes a citizen of Japan and lives there for many years will still be called a “gaijin.” I know that may seem accurate to Japanese who are in the vast majority, but personally I think it’s wrong and disrespectful to your fellow citizens.

Just more evidence that suggests Debito is a fool and should quietly disappear from the face of the planet.

I’m worried about Brian. You would think he’d've been in by now to tell us all off for mocking the afflicted.

…your sarcastic remarks were un-published…

calm down Eric..keep your hair on..you’ve got to get used to the ruff’n tumble of Japundit - keep yer wits aboot’ye..

boy! I’ve been hammered in this place about attending Church on Sunday…did it worry me ? nah! I started going twice..just to spite those pagans.

remora

@ rem: No we live in Japan. There’s plenty of Japanese speaking doctors here

come on Eric you’ll fit in here real good!!..they used to take the piss out of me when I first came here, but I just ploughed on like a big strong draft horse, nostrils to the breeze and hooves to the soil - that’s me.
Of course, there’s a lot of clever-dicks around here so don’t drop your guard - right?

See ya

remora

And for the record, remora, you have never been, “hammered in this place about attending Church on Sunday.”

You were criticized for posting the following:

its hard to be a practicing christian in Japan..

*Japan is such a Godless vacuum*

Yes, no one supported your contention.

No, no one hammered you for attending Church on Sunday.

this is my station.

I get off here.

Wow, so much touchiness here!
First of all, gaijin is just short for gaikokujin, which is what a more courteous person would say. I don’t think anyone’s particularly proud of it, it just is what it is.
Secondly, the more correct American term is foreigner, not alien, and is actually used quite often here.
I don’t get annoyed at being called gaijin, although I know gaikokujin would be more polite. People everywhere tend to make snap judgments like that. You might call them first impressions.
My wife is always amazed that people often judge me as yasashii.
Maybe I just know how to act

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGaKYtI_flI

#22: Thanks for the link, EC. It took a while to get through it all (as I only read a bit at a time) but it was enlightening. I liked this passage in particular and found it relevant with respect to this post:

“The “ism” of “multiculturalism” designates an approach to nurturing and managing thought through minoritizing and racializing people — as though people were products, and therefore properties, of politically determined “ethnic communities” or “cultures”.

“Multiculturalism” is one of the most dehumanizing ideologies to appear in many decades. It has, in the United States, created a climate of “identity politics” that has already eroded some fundamental freedoms of thought and expression — in the name of minority/majority politics.”

The concept of gaijin is not necessarily limited to people of foreign origins, as Japanese people who quit the big city to move to the hinterlands have been quick to find out.

I remember reading a story in The Japan Times some years ago that described some individuals (Japanese) who had graduated from a hotel and hospitality school or course in Tokyo, who went out to the boonies to work in inns. They had dreams of a peaceful life surrounded by nature and friendly locals.

However, these young people had trouble renting places to live, because the locals distrusted outsiders. It article mentioned that people feared outsiders because they might be Aum Shinrikyo members or something.

I don’t know if this still holds true as small towns now scramble to attract residents to avoid death and decay due to depopulation, but I thought it was interesting when I read it.

This white man (who complains about the word “Gaijin”)
amuses himself by drawing & publishing
a cartoon of a buck-toothed Japanese man
(who looks like the “Tojo” cartoon from WW2)
and
repeatedly using the name “Little Yellow Jap”.

http://www.tanteifile.com/newswatch/2008/08/19_01/index.html
毎日新聞擁護の准教授、 HP に日本人差別の作品掲載

Arudou’s hyper-sensitivity about the word “Gaijin” seems truly absurd when you consider that he’s casually using the expression “Little Yellow Jap” 6 times in English and several times in Japanese.

http://www.debito.org/chibikurosanbo.html#parody

And there’s a new revelation: “Little Black Sambo” is published in 200+ versions in the USA.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-title=little+black+sambo

So, what exactly is the point Arudou is making by his repeated use of the racial slur “Little Yellow Jap” ?

Was “Little Black Sambo” just an excuse?