ふざけてるんでしょう？ / You've gotta be kidding me...

No doubt slightly different English rant below...

今日は膝の怪我について日記を書きたかったがミクシィ経由にて「外人犯罪裏ファイル」についての日
記を見つけた・・・



全国のコンビ二で今発売中


・・・勘弁してくれよ。


日本は大好きだけどこの「我々島国日本人」と「外人＝犯罪や社会問題」の考え方は信じられないほどムカツクです。 もちろん、アメリカや他の国でも人種問題がありますし、人種差別主義者もいるけど殆どの国でこういう風な雑誌は許さないことじゃない？それより許せない。

もう一つの問題は、この雑誌に載っている記事は大体欧米人について、何も書いていないのに、「外人」と言う言葉を聞くと日本人のイメージは何でしょうか？中国人？違う。在日韓国人？ブブー。黒人と白人でしょう？この考え方はすごく危ないですが日本では普通みたい。

鎖国時代は150年前に終わりましたよ。好きかどうかかかわらず、2007年の人間は国際社会です。 一番心をかき乱すようなことは要望がなければコンビニや本屋さんの発売ができないはず。言いづらいですが僕の日本人友達も、僕の「外人さ」は関係ないと思ったのに、本当にそういう風に考えていますか？

すごく少ないですが、たまに「何でここに住みたい？」と思う。

日本人の皆さんは今「Hillbillyさん・・・ただ考え過ぎているだろ。」と思っているかもしれないですが逆だったらどうですか？



I was gonna write about my bum knee today, but that's sorta been put on hold. Thanks to Coal at Mixi, I found an article here & here describing a new "expose" on the "foreign crime wave" currently happening in Japan.




(translation: "The Hidden Foreign Crime Files")

Yes, this is now on sale at convenience & book stores throughout Japan.


Give me a fucking break...


I love Japan (why would I choose to live here for the last 7 years otherwise?), but this whole "We, the island bound Japanese race" and "foreigner = crime and social problems" mind set pisses me off to no end. Sure, America and other countries have their own racial problems and you're gonna find a few racist assholes no matter where you go, but I would think that in most countries that finding this kind of thing in a convenience store magazine rack would be unthinkable, not to mention illegal for the overall hate speech tones. Oh yeah, that's right...Japan is a "homogeneous and genetically pure society" so it has no need for any laws against discrimination.

The other problem I see with this is that while they never really mention Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis or any citizens of the supposed "good", i.e. mainly white countries, what is the typical image of a "foreigner" to most Japanese? Chinese? Nope. Koreans with permanent residence in Japan? Huh uh...they're Asian, so their Japanese, right? Blacks & whites? You sir win the $64 prize! This kind of thinking is just dangerous, but seems to be the status quo in Japan.

Somewhat similar to rednecks in the US and the whole Civil War thing, Japan's period when it shut itself off from the rest of the world is over. Like 150 years ago over, guys. Regardless of whether you like it or not, we live in an international society, so get over it. What's most disturbing to me is that this kind of bullshit wouldn't even get shelf space in convenience & book stores if there wasn't a demand for it, right? I hate to say it, but is this the way my Japanese friends really feel? The ones I thought looked past my "foreignness" and became friends with me because of the person I am?

It doesn't happen very often, but every now & then (like right now), there're times when I really have to ask myself, "Why the hell do I want to live in a country like this?"

Sure, some of you are probably thinking, "Hillbilly...you're being paranoid", but how would you feel if you were Japanese and something like this about "Nip Criminals Terrorize America" came out in the US?