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    As Japan’s popularity booms, a new survey shows strong anti-foreigner sentiment
    Japan

    As Japan’s popularity booms, a new survey shows strong anti-foreigner sentiment

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    19 Comments

    1. Honest_Committee2544 on

      When the economy is weak, shift blame to others.
      Same old tactic same old trend anywhere in the world.

    2. AnglerJared on

      I think we really need to start making these types of articles and studies define more specifically what they mean by foreigner and “anti-foreigner” sentiment. I am not suggesting that there isn’t an issue, but not wanting Chinese land investors buying property and not living there, driving up costs everywhere else, is not necessarily the same category of thinking as hating all foreigners.

      If you asked me, an American living in Japan, if I thought foreigners “should follow the rules”, I would probably answer yes, too. There might be some debate about which “rules” we should have to follow, perhaps, but it’s hardly anti-foreigner to expect people behave like civilized human beings.

      Without some clarity, this article doesn’t really paint a picture worth looking too closely at.

      Edit: Apparently a lot of you guys prefer all nuance removed from the conversation. Any conversation about troubling behavior that *some* foreigners *sometimes* do must mean foreigner hate, I guess. Sorry, I have lived here long enough to know it’s bullshit. Yeah, there are people who take it too far, but some of you look at the Yahoo comments section and think it represents everybody.

    3. Miao_Yin8964 on

      Is it *really* against **”*ALL*”** ?

      Or has a a certain segment drawn negative attention to themselves for bad behaviour

    4. truthVial on

      Well they’ve seen how badly Canada got fucked up by opening the floodgates, and every other country that did that so as to devalue wages and continue the stagnation of the country. Of course they’re against it. 

    5. dollarstoresim on

      Just today saw a japanese youtube news clip about that foreign lady stabbed in Osaka and the number one comment was something to the effect of Japan now has the same crime rate as other countries because of foreigners and exclusion is the only way forward.

      Honestly that is some scary (delusional) stuff.

    6. Old_Highlight6749 on

      There’s really some people hear the Niemoller poem and say, ‘yeah, but it wouldn’t happen to me’.

    9. Gold-Noise5230 on

      Whats the obsession of westerners with turning japan into a multicultural society? If they dont want to and limit immigration they’re in their right. They dont have any moral imperative to let people in. The only one priority of the japanese state must be the betterment of the living conditions and interests of the japanese people.

    10. cryptocurrency_wife on

      it was much better when only the dedicated traveled to Japan but now that normies “love” Japanese culture (for now, until TikTok moves on) it’s getting flooded with borderline illiterate people who don’t bother researching before visiting.

    12. WeWereHappy on

      I actually don’t know how much the anti-tourists sentiment and the ant-foreigner sentiment are linked.

      I am clearly seeing the surge in the first one around me, but not that much of the second.

    13. durangojim on

      Just got back from 3 weeks in Japan. People couldn’t have been kinder, friendlier, or more gracious. If there was anti foreigner sentiment we never experienced it. (We’re from the US if that matters)

    14. Visible-Scientist-46 on

      I just visited Japan. We found people were very kind, patient, welcoming, and gracious to us *because* we were polite. We used very basic Japanese words to say excuse me, hello, goodbye, thank you, please, and table for 4, please. I also learned how to say that everything was delicious. And “Shiba Inu kawaii!” to converse with people about their adorable dogs – perfect strangers are often quiet happy to talk about their dogs using some English. We were quiet and used two hands to accept and recieve things, and pointed with a whole hand to indicate things. I grew up taking shoes off in the house because my parents lived in Korea for 3 years. And if we didn’t know, we used google translate for extra help or Google Maps to show our cabbies. We are also huge sumo fans. We even went to a 300+ year old restaurant and people were very welcoming – some really drunk guy came up to us smiling and wanted to shake hands. So, I guess it just depends.

    15. sabedo on

      double down on sonno-joi and nationalism instead of the tiered elite nursing on their misery

      always works

      Japan is as bad as the US, it’s just hidden behind a veneer of politeness and societal customs

    17. KeenObserve on

      The problem is that there are bad apples within tourists who don’t respect Japanese culture. This reflects badly on the rest. I’ve seen this first hand in Tokyo where Japanese literally just glared at my wife and I for doing nothing lol

    18. Logical_Iron_8288 on

      At least the Japanese are thinking about the consequences before brining in hundreds of thousands of migrants a year for decades.

    19. TCNZ on

      I was raised to ‘read the air’ or as most say ‘read the room’, to show politeness and deference and follow a set of rules the West used to have.

      I get why some Japanese are upset. I see (mostly hear) North American tourists and feel embarrassed… for them. There is no awareness of others whatsoever 🤦‍♀️

      As for politics, it plays its part in fuelling uncertainty and fear in every country. Xenophobia is a fear reaction and monocultures are by nature, insular and easily frightened.

      If someone visits your house, you do not expect them to insult you, jump on the furniture, and leave the toilet unflushed. It is the same when visiting another country. You are a guest, be polite and respect your host.