Today (diurnal-rhythm-wise), I visited a local "Whole Foods Market". The kind of place which specializes in free-range chicken and cruelty-free starfruit. My motive? These kind of places often carry a dozen or so things I can't get at my local Shnuck's. (For non St. Louis folks, that's actually the name of the store, not an epithet for a untrustworthy grocer.)

Interesting Item #1: They had a vast cheese selection. Hard to get interesting cheeses. Quite a few health- and variety-conscious folks (folks I would normally peg as dedicated Gore supporters) were poring over the cheeses, selecting just the right one. I heard a number of people discussion whether or not this or that cheese was of French origin.

Wow, I thought, even in here people are cheesed off at Chirac. Forgive the pun.

Interesting Item #2: While rounding the pre-cooked meal area, I noticed the obligatory sushi display. I read the name and emitted an exclamation of suprise, startling the authenticly-Japanese-looking chef behind the counter. "Gaijin Kitchen," the food was titled. Subtitled: "Japanese food for the outsider," or something along those lines.

I was shocked because "Gaijin" is a highly insulting Japanese epithet for non-Japanese. (Traditional Japanese culture is so xenophobic that instead of insulting specific ethnic groups, they have a derogatory term for everyone else at once. Much more efficient than degrading a zillion different ethnic groups one at a time -- you don't have to get to know them as well this way.) The word carries with it implications of "unclean" and "wrong."

It'd be a bit like saying "Gringo Kitchen", or, to our ears "Spic Kitchen."

Of course, the Japanese have a similar phenomenon, where they unknowingly purchase and use products with obscene, insulting, or simply nonsensical English words or phrases on them. (A roomate reported seeing a woman with an umbrella proudly emblazoned "Simple Today Simple Today Simple Today ..." Highly fashionable, I'm sure.)

This phenomenon is called Engrish. (See also here and here; apologies for any obscenities.)

As further evidence of the aforementioned xenophobia, today's Engrish-of-the day entry is a sign reading, in English:

Please acknowledge it although it is very sorry, because only one Japanese is asking to do the entrance store in our shop although I asked to come it to this special KING MOU.

The Japanese version is more clearly bigoted:

Sorry, but no foreigners [gaijin] allowed in KING MOU.

Saw a lot of this sort of thing in tourist destinations in New Zealand. A Japanese merchant would open a souvenir shop in some city, put a life-sized photo of himself outside, with a sign saying something to the effect of: "Acceptable place for Japanese people to shop." Translation: No dirty foreigners.

I'm not saying we're perfect here in the U.S.; that there isn't room for improvement. I'm also not saying all Japanese have this attitude.

But I am saying most of our citizens who hate and decry the U.S. as one of the most bigoted, intolerant places on the planet should take some time to learn a little more about the world to which they refer.

(See Boycott France? for statistics on which countries boycott our products.)