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Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by swombat on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @06:53PM (#18556833)
Based on my experience visiting Japan and talking to both expats and expat-friendly locals there, I think the issue is more cultural than political. If you live in Japan but don't look Japanese you never really feel welcomed as a Japanese.

Contrast that to countries like most of the West, where at least a solid proportion of people consider it socially unacceptable to discriminate socially based on someone's looks or origins...

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by jaredklewis on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @07:13PM (#18556973)
> Contrast that to countries like most of the West, where at least a solid proportion of people consider it socially unacceptable to discriminate socially based on someone's looks or origins..

Those things are also socially unacceptable in Japan. My experience is that the often discussed "micro-agressions" against foreigners happen about as often in Japan as they do in my own country (US, grew up in Texas).

Of course, the only complaints that foreigners in Japan can make is about trivia. The US is so fucked up that we cannot seem to stop shooting unarmed black men, we're separating mothers from babies, and as of last week now tear gassing families at the border. So not sure if you are American, but many of the foreigners in Japan that complain of discrimination are, and I just want to say that I think it takes a lot of balls for an American in Japan to be like "hey, you guys can do a lot better with the discrimination thing."

As horrifying as someone being impressed with your ability to use chopsticks is, it's not quite so horrifying as being literally shot for walking on the street.

Many people in the US freeze up if a black person so much as walks by them on the street. And on the other side of the pacific? Ask a random stranger for directions; 9 times out of 10 they will stop whatever they are doing and walk with you to wherever you are going.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by loveyourmother on Thursday November 29, 2018 @03:37AM (#18558881)
>The US is so fucked up that we cannot seem to stop shooting unarmed black men

Twice as many white men are shot by police but I can't remember the last time I saw a national news story about one of them. Name one in recent years you heard covered in the national news. [0] I edited out "unarmed". That ratio slightly favors white males.

>we're separating mothers from babies, and as of last week now tear gassing families at the border.

Everyday, across this beautiful land, we seperate children from their parents for commiting crimes. We have a legal immigration system.

What does Japan do to people who enter illegally? How many refugees did they take in 2017? 20. Out of 20,000 applications. They could do a little more, right? [1]

[0]https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/police...

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/16/japan-asylum-a...

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by crc32 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @04:25AM (#18559035)
> Twice as many unarmed white men are shot by police

I visited your link and could not see a matching statistic.

Filtering by "unarmed" and hovering over "Race" I got a count of 19 White, 15 Black, 4 Hispanic.

I then also had a quick look at the article for "Brett Luengo", [0] (White) which states i.e. "Luengo attacked a woman first..." etc. etc.; I mean it goes on for quite a while. So seems like there's a big variation in the definition of "unarmed man" shooting that doesn't preclude other kinds of violent or aggressive activity/indications.

Looks to me like the statistics are not really telling the whole story there so maybe that's why you don't hear them "covered in the national news".

[0] https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-met...

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by loveyourmother on Thursday November 29, 2018 @05:15AM (#18559207)
> I visited your link and could not see a matching statistic.

I was wrong. Police kill twice as many whites but I shouldn't have included the unarmed qualifier.

> I then also had a quick look at the article for "Brett Luengo"

He did attack but I think it still qualifies. I personally didn't hear of this one but a google search shows it was covered, even if not very extensively. It was picked up on national news.

Even still, the comment that law enforcement is wholesale killing young unarmed black males is just false.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by crc32 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @06:15AM (#18559424)
Oh right, I guess I thought what you were doing was saying that cases like [0] being "heard about on the national news" is showing some kind of bias, that it's not something to be concerned about because the same is happening regardless of race, and using some statistics to evidence your assertion.

I was trying to say that a) you were massively off about the relative quantities of unarmed shootings and that b) in any case; I would imagine people are more upset - i.e. it's in the national news - about e.g. [0] than; e.g. Brett Luengo, because there's a huge difference in the circumstances surrounding their deaths, something which cannot be interpreted from the statistics you cited.

Further, my admittedly limited & poor knowledge of the situation caused me to infer that the op was talking about this qualitative difference, although you are correct in saying that if you take the statement "we cannot seem to stop shooting unarmed black men" absolutely, strictly, literally; without applying any context whatsoever, then talking about quantities is completely valid.

So - my apologies.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Walter_Scott

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by mrunkel on Thursday November 29, 2018 @07:42AM (#18559766)
Given that there are 5 times as many white folks as black in the US, that stat isn't saying what you think it is.

Black people are still more likely to be shot than white people.

I don't think that anyone reasonable ever claimed that the police were 'wholesale killing young unarmed black males,' just that it happens too often.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by fredoliveira on Thursday November 29, 2018 @04:15AM (#18559010)
> Everyday, across this beautiful land, we seperate children from their parents for commiting crimes. We have a legal immigration system.

It is possible to have a legal immigration system and to be humane when dealing with people who for some reason wouldn't/couldn't go through it. Especially if it involves kids - as I'm pretty sure they are not to blame on any of this.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by philliphaydon on Thursday November 29, 2018 @03:17AM (#18558820)
It must be hard working on the border when people bring children that are not their own to fast tack their way through into the country. Or when families lie about their child’s age to loophole the system. But it’s easier for us to focus on the separation rather than the reason the separation exists to begin with.

And let’s not forget tear gas being used for crowds of people throwing stones at border patrol. No lets focus on tear gas issue and less of the people doing their job being assulted.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by crc32 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @04:33AM (#18559064)
> people bring children that are not their own to fast tack their way through into the country. Or when families lie about their child’s age to loophole the system.

Completely citation & evidence free assertions - smells like slander to me.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by crc32 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @05:57AM (#18559365)
From your fox news link:

"On Thursday, officials revealed that in seven of 102 cases involving children under 5 separated from their guardians, the adult was determined not to actually be the parent."

So ok, you're only slandering ~95% of those 102. If you don't like the term "slander" how about "generalisation" or "prejudice".

Forgive me if these words have negative connotations, or "trigger feelings" - but what term would you use, to describe declaring 100% of a group to have attributes that only apply to - by your very own research - 5% of that group?

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by isoskeles on Thursday November 29, 2018 @03:47AM (#18558913)
> Many people in the US freeze up if a black person so much as walks by them on the street.

That sounds serious. How many?

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by barry-cotter on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @09:05PM (#18557489)
Using tear gas at the border is an American thing, not a Trump thing.

https://www.businessinsider.com/border-patrol-also-used-tear...

> The use of tear gas at the border by CBP began in 2010.

> Since fiscal year 2012, CBP has employed tear gas a total of 126 times, but its use hit a 7-year high under Trump in fiscal year 2018.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by alsetmusic on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @09:21PM (#18557545)
> Using tear gas at the border is an American thing, not a Trump thing.

No one above thread claimed any individual was responsible. The apologetics of inserting that statement is unnecessary. I do respect that you added citations.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by lovemenot on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @07:03PM (#18556896)
This feeling they experienced is of course subjective. Take it from a 20-year non-native Tokyo resident - it doesn't have to feel unwelcoming. Depends on the individual I guess.

Admittedly, I've never lived in any of the out-of-the way places where most of these properties are located.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by sonnyblarney on Thursday November 29, 2018 @04:12AM (#18559003)
"you never really feel welcomed as a Japanese."

Well, maybe because you're not Japanese?

A different question is: "Would you feel welcome"

I would consider it weirdly arrogant to go to Japan and then have them ever accept me as 'Japanese'. I would hope that thy are respectful to me, and treat me well, and maybe even 'as a Japanese' but not actually 'Japanese', because - I'm not!

There's a big difference I think between 'rights' and 'cultural attribution', we mix them up a lot in the West.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by Nadya on Friday November 30, 2018 @07:57PM (#18574240)
You misunderstood. You need to look Japanese. It doesn't matter if you actually are Japanese.

This video pokes some fun at it, taken to an extreme for comedic purpose of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLt5qSm9U80

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by sonnyblarney on Friday November 30, 2018 @08:17PM (#18574332)
I understood well enough.

You're assuming that those White/Black people were Japanese because they were born and raised Japanese.

From a certain perspective, that would not be correct.

Many people (most of the world) view race as fundamentally intertwined with ethnicity, ergo, the white folks in the video may never really be considered 'fully Japanese', although surely they are mostly accommodated as such.

'American' really isn't an ethnicity so 'new world' people often have difficulty grasping how others might view ethnicity.

As longs as people are treated reasonably, frankly, I don't care.

Re:Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses by Down_n_Out on Thursday November 29, 2018 @01:28AM (#18558493)
> If you live in Japan but don't look Japanese you never really feel welcomed as a Japanese.

That goes for a lot of countries, especially if your skin color is different as well as your accent, language and whatnot. Heck, even when you are born in a country where you are not the same skin color as the majority you can feel not welcome. So, it's kind of a generalization to say that only about Japan.