Re:Notes on Japan
by rayiner on Wednesday May 15, 2024 @08:22AM
(#40365972)
I had that exact same conversation with a Japanese American who was raised in the Bay Area but moved to Tokyo in his 30s. “You get the gaijin pass,” he told me, “I don’t.”
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I don't get it... would they've preferred to be treated as foreigners despite looking and speaking like a local? How would that work?
It sounds like they would, as they have about the same level of familiarity with local norms as an immigrant or a tourist would be aren't treated with the same leeway.
I have a couple of Japanese friends who live in the US but goes back to Japan regularly (1-2 times a year).
They love Japan and have kept their Japanese citizenship, but all the rules and expectations were overbearing, so for them there are a lot of pros and cons to the two countries. And they call out that for foreigners, they get to see many of the pros but fewer of the cons.