When I learned that the move to put a tighter leash on legal foreigners in a lame attempt to catch illegal foreigners had passed both of Japan's houses (lower house at the end of June, upper house yesterday), I was mad and frustrated. With the police's illegal drug testing and searching of foreigners for weapons going on, forcing us to carry cards with computer tracking chips seems like a drop in the bucket of violating our rights to peaceably go about our business. The Japanese authorities have no respect for foreign residents. They tolerate us. They're happy to take our tax money and apply it to the needs of the Japanese people. They'll use us as labor if they have no other choice or can't find locals to accept low wages, but they have no respect for our well-being or our rights as fellow human beings.
Mind you, I'm separating the government and legal authorities from the population at large. I don't think the Japanese population on the whole knows or cares about what happens to the foreigners amongst them. Some radicals might want us out. Some radicals on the other side might very much want us here, but the vast majority are indifferent and aren't going to use the power of their votes or their voices (which are the only ones that matter - every foreigner in Japan could protest and the government would not care) to help us.
Frankly, I'm sick of thinking about it and worrying about what is to come. I'm tired of feeling paranoid every time I step out the front door and wondering if this will be the day I manage to check the mail or step out to put the trash in front of the building, or go shopping, and some cop decides I need to be checked for I.D. or asks me to pee in a damn cup for no other reason than I have red hair and blue eyes. I'm fed up with it being an issue and with the Uncle Tom white boys and their apologist mentality. I'm sick of thinking about civil rights and civil liberties and living in a country where racism is condoned not only by the 98% that makes up the native population, but at least some portion of the 2% that is having its liberties and rights violated because they're too damn stupid to understand the implications of what is going on.
Frankly, I just want to accomplish what I need to and get the hell out of here. I know America is a mess right now, but at least it's a mess where I won't be treated like a criminal for no reason or surrounded by people in the same boat as me who have their heads so far up the ass of the Japanese that they can't see the clear light of day. I'm too sick of it to be mad about it. I just want to stay off the radar for the next 2 years and 10 months and slip away before it gets any worse.
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3 comments:
My sentiments exactly luv, but I don't have an easy out... not sure what to do really.... as I did not come her because i LOVE the culture and the history but because I feel in love with this Mr. that happened to be Japanese.
What choices do I have? Although I've never been treated like what you are describing cause I just wouldn't put up with that shit NO MATTER what and will tell a coper to shit in his hat...
But this is happening to others, I wonder if they are keeping away from the "whites" and using this as a way to go after those who are not of European decent?
It makes me sick to my stomach... One of the reasons why I don't or now sure about having kids, or having them here and raising them here... I don't do or like PTA as they make it seem mandatory... and I don't want me child growing up being called a "hafu" fucking idiots should start educating the children so they can educate the parents... (you know the old school idiots).
Opps Meant fell in love... (and meant know instead of now) ... but you get the jest of it.. you know what I meant.
Hi, April, and thanks for your comment. I always appreciate your viewpoint for the very reason that your views are not colored by Japanophilia or vested interest. There are a lot of people who are stuck here and know they can't get out (because of kids or work) who pretend none of these things matter because they don't want to be angry or feel bad about living here, and thankfully, you're not one of them!
I can see where you wouldn't put up with the police harassment, but I think that people like me and my husband are in a different boat. Our situation is considerably less secure since neither of us is Japanese. The police are far less likely to push a case too far if someone has a Japanese spouse or advocate. We don't have anything like that, so we'd have to cooperate if they pushed us.
I don't know if they are targeting foreigners of non-European descent or not, but I can say my husband has been stopped and asked for I.D./had his bike serial number checked as stolen property in the last 6 months and he's pretty damn white. That being said, he has dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He's not a Swede, but his skin is pretty pale.
I would imagine, however, that these are just more measures to selectively target various groups of people. Some of the white people might get pulled into the net on occasion, but I'm guessing the bigger target is the people they've been hoping to bribe into leaving (Peruvians and Brazilians with permanent resident status). But my concern, as is yours, I'm sure, isn't only with protecting my own pearly white skin. However, we both know that that is what motivates a lot of the indifference out there. People who think it won't affect them don't care.
If I were married to a Japanese person, I wouldn't want to raise a child here. If I did, I'd seriously hope the kid looked Japanese rather than "hafu" or European so that he or she wasn't discriminated against in the future like Debito's daughters (one was denied access to an onsen while the other was allowed because the former didn't look Japanese enough and the latter "passed" as Japanese).
Thanks for your comment!
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