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American Racism and Xenophobia

Did the title get your attention? America, full of all kinds of different people, still has racism and xenophobia. Short of Soviet-style mind-altering techniques, some minds are very hard to change. Documentation and exposure is the usual technique I prefer, despite the limited effectiveness of such an approach.

But I have a problem with those who make such arguments primarily by looking abroad: By saying we're backward, or that the world hates us because they know we're racist, xenophobic, or won't vote for their particular candidate. When I look abroad, I see that we're doing quite well, comparatively. Europe? Japan? These are the regions we should emulate?

While they may have many wonderful distinctions, when it comes to racism and xenophobia, they have problems that often sound worse than those in the US.

Today's quote comes from Why Japan Sucks which details some of the less-lovable parts of Japanese culture.

The author offers this anecdote about a corporate world which makes Dilbert's workplace look dowright sensible:

The French engineer gave me a perfect example of the Japanese "management" style in action. He reported to his Japanese boss that a small connecting hose needed to be replaced on an expensive and potentially dangerous piece of equipment. His boss inspected the machine, noted that it was running properly, and told the Frenchman that their couldn't be anything wrong with the hose if the machine was running correctly. The French engineer responded by telling him that he had seen this problems on hundreds of the same machine and that the hoses needed to be replaced on a regular basis or the machine would break down and could even explode. Unconvinced, the Japanese manager agreed to present the problem at the daily meeting.

At this meeting the other Japanese staff were dismissive of the whole problem. Their reasoning was that the French engineer was a younger man and therefore not as qualified or skilled as they were even though the machine was new, French-made and French-designed and the French engineer had worked with the machine for several years. The machine was working properly they reasoned, therefore, no problem existed.

Several weeks go by until one day the machine begins to develop a dangerous leak. The French engineer, recognizing the danger of an explosion, orders everyone to leave the area while he remotely shuts the machine down. Instead, the other Japanese engineers begin rushing around frantically trying to discover what is causing their million dollar machine to overheat. Finally, one of them discovers a hose is leaking and begins to remove the protective insulation while the others gather around shouting advice. The French engineer shouts at them to leave the area before the machine explodes but they ignore him and begin removing even more protective insulation! He runs out of the room and enters the control room where he pushes a panicky "safety" engineer out of the way and hits the emergency shut-off switch narrowly adverting an explosion. Meanwhile, the Japanese engineers, minus safety gear, are peeling off the insulation and poking at various parts of the machine oblivious to their danger and generally making a bigger mess of their new, now-useless machine.

The French engineer grabs the Japanese boss and tells him that they must leave the area and put on protective clothing as the chemicals leaking from the overheated machine are highly toxic. The Japanese boss just laughs and tells him to relax and watch as "more experienced" engineers handle the problem!

In the end, the Japanese engineers discover that an inexpensive hose needs to replaced and convene a three-hour meeting to decide how and when to replace the hose! The French engineer angrily points out to them that he had told them this three weeks ago and watches in amazement while the whole group seems to undergo a case of temporary amnesia. Later, his boss pulls him aside and scolds him for raising his voice to more experienced and more senior engineers!

So, the next time you hear a new story about the current economic depression with commentators blathering on about business cycles and downturns in the world economy just remember what I have written here. If there is anyone to blame for the economic mess here in Japan, it is the Japanese themselves.

And this on the Japanese sex trade:

You see, sex slaves or comfort women are not a thing of the past here in Japan... they are an aspect of everyday life and are as common as cigarette butts on the piss-stained streets! Walk down the street of any Japanese city and you will see hundreds of advertisements for sex shops employing foreign women.

The vast majority of these women are from Asia and Eastern Europe who are told by recruiters that they can introduce them to a good job in Japan working in factories or as entertainers. Once they are here, their passports are taken away and they are forced by their "kindly" Japanese hosts into the sex industry... You see these girls out on the streets every night soliciting customers to enter their clubs while their Japanese pimps stand a few feet away... you will see Philippinas, Russians, South Americans, and assorted Asian and Eastern Europeans hawking their wares only a few meters from the police station...

But wait! Isn't this illegal in Japan? Haven't the Japanese signed UN treaties forbidding this sort of thing? Shouldn't the police investigate the business of sexual slavery in Japan? Hardly likely when these prats are usually some of their best customers. The National Police Agency claims that they will let the public know if they discover any cases of sexual slavery and the Justice Ministry claims that there are no records of any sex slaves entering Japan!

Take away points for disgruntled US corporate drones?

  1. We have it good, folks. Appreciate it.
  2. Management: We are often the problem. The buck stops here. In the old days this was called "accountability" or "responsibility". It was the other half of "authority".
  3. Nobody else takes the UN seriously, we're the only ones expected to toe the line. In essense, this makes the UN a body whose only purpose is to control America, while the rest of the planet hypocritically behaves much worse.
  4. Our philosophy determines our actions and eventual standard of living. There are many places in the world which do not treat people equally without regard to gender or religion, do not respect rule of law, and do not allow freedom of speech and worship. Be grateful if you live in such a place.
  5. Technological innovation has nothing to do with societal evolution.

Comments

I've learned in my World History class that Japan emulated Old Europe; and sadly, ideas of Old Europe still exists in modern-day Japan.

And one more irony in life:

"The sins of the parents will be paid by the future generation."

Posted by: Teh on January 4, 2004 11:58 PM

RE: Portuguese selling Japanese slaves.
This information is based on documents in Portuguese and Japanese. So you must be able to read at least one of these languages, preferably both. Some people were suspicious when they learned about my book, accusing me that I was making up a story. But I must emphasize that much of this information is based on OFFICIAL documents in Portugal and Japan. For the moment, the best single source for this is a book by a Japanese scholar, Yoshitomo Okamoto. The book is entitled "16 seiki Nichio Kotsushi no Kenkyu," published in 1942 or earlier in Tokyo. This book has a very extensive annoted bibliography both in Portuguese and in Japanese.
My book entitled "Naze Taiheiyo Senso ni Nattanoka (Why Did the Pacific War Break out?), published in 2001 is heavily indebted to this book, summarizing most important information about Japanese slaves. Japanese slaves were shipped to southern China, Southeast Asia, India, especially the Goa area, and even to Portugal and Argentina. They were both men and women as well as minor boys and girls. Minors were likely to have been sexual objects of Portuguese merchants, bureaucrats, and priests. If you can read Japanese, my book is the best single source for the moment. Í am planning, if possible, to translate all relevant documents both in Portuguese and Japanese into English and publish as a book, so that more people in the world can learn about Western colonialism and racism better in detal. Do you know of any suitable publisher?

Posted by: Michio Kitahara on December 29, 2004 01:55 PM

I've spent some time in Japan, and yes the French Engineer bashed JApanese management. The problem wasn't the Japanese, it was the French guy's inability to communicate with his supervisors in a respectful manner according to their culture. In Japan if you're getting emotional, and not keeping a cool head when pointing out that there is a problem with then they see it as a sign of immaturity. I think that example simply read as miscommunication, and the French Engineer needs to start communicating with expat consultants as soon as possible to help remedy this problem. I've lived in Japan, and have worked several jobs on top of studying at a University there. The whole country is organized in the manner the french engineer stated. But trust me the Japanese does one thing that Americans have a hard time doing in the job markets. Its letting fresh blood in. Right now I see a trend of firing people in their 50s who are too expensive to keep, and not hiring young inexperienced workers into entry level positions. Leaving only middle aged Americans able to enjoy a job marketthat young adults today don't get to enjoy. In fact even the middle aged are struggling to fight off outsourcing. Anyway with anything westerners need to start reflecting on their own culture and how to communicate with people from a different cultural background. YOu will be surprised how easy miscommunication happens in intercultural exchanges. Both sides make assumptions. In Japan foreigners get a lot of leeway for the fact that many don't fully understand the culture, but even the French engineer should've understood that basic rule in Japanese work culture. I know how some French expats behave in Japan, and even other French people living in Japan will comment on it, but often times they border on being arrogant like many American expats living in Japan. So I think his supervisors just saw him as being disrespectful, and I think the guy really tried to look into it. Now what happened with the machine after they knew wht the problem was is entirely their fault. Poor management, but its quite rare for something like that to happen. Though you might end up seeing it quite commonly if you live in Japan. Anyway to each their own. As for the sex industry. That's all over the world. Japan can't really do much about it due to the Yakuza running much of their sex industry. Also its good to note that both men and women get caught in the sex trade in Japan.. They all skirt the legal lines. Can't do much in preventing it if all they are doing is having drinks with clients. And sure maybe outside of the workplace they are agreeing on well trading sexual favors for money. Anyway sex slavery is alive and well in the United States. So we can't say much. But what keeps most of law enforcement from cracking down on it in Japan is the Yakuza's influence on everything in Japan. IF you work in Japan your employer might be receiving some funding from that mafia. They're quite powerful in Japan. and around the world.

Posted by: LB on August 12, 2010 01:20 PM

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