Okay, this happened with me few minutes ago. So I (28M) went to buy some meds from my local pharmacy. As I was taking the grocery basket from the entrance, there was this lady in her mid-50s or mid-60s and had this conversation with her (in japanese):
Her: You're a foreigner right ?
Me: Yes ?(Her tone shifted to an aggressive tone pretty quickly (almost to the point of shouting) but she was wearing a mask so it wasn't that loud)
Her: Get out from Japan immediately.
Me: Huh? I've been living and working here since the past 3 years.
Her: You are a foreigner, so go away.
Me: (decided it wasn't worth having the conversation) Lady, this has nothing to do with me.
Her: Haaaa ?(I walked away leaving her at the entrance)
I have been to multiple nearby prefectures and old people were generally very friendly and curious (they initiate the conversation) but this was my first time experiencing such blatant hostility ever since I came here.
Did you face any such aggression since the recent protests about immigration ? I'm curious as I don't think it is just me.
Edit: To the people thinking this is some "fan fiction" and down-voting, I'm an Indian and these recent protests are against immigration of Indians and other nearby countries. You may not be experiencing such issues because you're from a different country but due to these protests, I believe many of the Japanese now have some "hatred" for any one who looks "Indian" — they will just not show it publicly.
by Foreign_Radio8864
46 comments
Probably mentally ill. Many such cases in Japan.
No. In my 10+ years living here I can honestly say I have never once. Literally not a single time, experienced any racism or aggression of any sort. Maybe once someone honked at me? Literally that’s it. Maybe it’s different if you live in Tokyo.
that was probably just a random bigoted grandma who has nothing better to do with her time. just ignore people like that and don’t give them any attention. that’s all they want.
Not because of the protests but some foreign student got drunk near where i live and punched a guy. Since then places havent been nearly as welcoming or friendly.
Nope.
Nothing like this. Get the occasional aggressive stare. I’m a big guy though, so I guess it’s not that surprising.
I swear when someone says « Haaaa? » it makes that person sound like the most retarted thing in the universe.
> (Her tone shifted to an aggressive tone pretty quickly (almost to the point of shouting) but she was wearing a mask so it wasn’t that loud)
Now it feels like a fanfic.
Ima be honest. Not any issues since I learned Japanese.
I’m in the middle of nowhere in a residential town. I get lots of staring, but no aggression.
Not at all.
Nah, same mix of decent people, indifferent people, and weird crazies as always. Vast majority in the first two camps
Nothing of the sort. I barely even notice any stares at me, let alone something like this. People generally either ignore me or are friendly.
Not levelled at me personally luckily but people have got more comfortable saying racist stuff to me. My landlord went on an anti immigration rant the other day and when I told him I was also an immigrant he looked confused and said I wasn’t an immigrant. I didn’t try to argue with that lol
Had such an encounter once like 5 years ago.
Assholes exist anywhere in the world.
Yes some things have changed. Don’t let people tell you, you’re crazy or imagining it. A lot of it is subtle or mirco aggressions but it’s real.
Have faced no aggression in my over 2 decades living in Japan except for one irate (煽り運転) driver…
The other day I went to a FamiMa to grab my morning coffee. On my way out, there was an old lady at the entrance of the conbini. When I passed in front of her, she mumbled “damn dirty gaijins”. I didn’t confront her, but it felt pretty uncomfortable. I’ve been living and working here for 11 years and this is the first time I experienced directly something like this.
One old woman complained loudly when I crossed the road on my bike without waiting and used the G-bomb.
I retorted with something in my own tongue.
IMO, this has been happening since forever, so don’t connect some current political events and immediately assume its a mass conspiracy/racist epidemic. Just laugh at them.
OP – The downvotes are from white foreigners in Japan. People of color face discrimination left and right in Japan even if fluent in Japanese, mainly by countryside Japanese…east Japanese to be specific based on my objective experiences in the last 10 years as someone who grew up in the US 99% of my life and has lived in Kyushuu, Katori, Ibaraki, Tokyo, and many. others. I’ve been harassed by police wearing casual clothes and business formal clothes in broad day light and evenings. These occurred in tourist areas such as Akihabara, exiting popular JR ticket gates, etc. This is like the US and all these racists are coming out of the woodworks.
Tell that lady or anyone else to go back to the countryside…they don’t belong in a city, especially Tokyo that is recognized as an international diverse city when grouped with London, LA, NY, and elsewhere.
I find it hilarious that these same Japanese indulge in south asian foods and other foods and want foreigners out of Japan. Take those foreign products out of Japan as well then.
Not yet, thankfully. And this year I’ve been around (Tokyo, travelled all over Chūbu and went to Hokkaidō).
That being said, I’m a pale latino with black hair and people often ask me if I’m haafu.
As an Indian and someone who faced some bad experiences as well, I’m sorry and I empathize with what you went through. Your feelings are completely valid and real.
I haven’t noticed any change in my area, I live out in the Inaka but everyone is as friendly as they always were.
Yes, definitely a shift recently. Visited in 2023 now im back, attitudes, vibe, weird treatment everywhere now. Very weird. Kansai is still the safest place, i would leave anything up north. Kansai and below!!!!
Nothing this bad, but I had an ignorant drunk last night that was pretty into. So much so the guy he was with (one of my drinking buddies, just randomly ran into each other at the same bar), was visibly embarrassed by the way this guy was speaking…. But it was all good crack, he said some pretty racist and ignorant things, so I just said them back to him, we did this for about 30 minutes, and life moved on.
It was worse around the election.
You’re too nice OP. When I that happened to me a few years ago, I just told the oyaji kurwa! And laughed at his confused face while walking away.
Recently? No. Being said, crazy people are everywhere. Ignore it, smile, say thank you and tell them they have very ugly shoes. They’ll be too confused to argue about anything else from that point on.
I haven’t personally faced any racism or aggression but I know an American guy, and his Japanese wife was sharing some disgusting stories about South Asians and Africans on her social media. The American guy doesn’t speak Japanese, so I’m not sure if he is aware of his wife’s racist beliefs. That’s probably why many of the white guys here haven’t experienced it, and maybe aren’t aware of it. The majority of it is shared in Japanese and it’s not about them.
World has become a difficult place for us Indians, everyday it makes me scared to live in a foreign country , fortunately I have never come across such blatant confrontations . But it is very sad that everyone for some reason hates us , I studied Japanese for so many years and had a dream to live here and when it finally came true , whole world hates Indians. Just hoping that this racism won’t get too much out of hand !
Thats it. Imma say im japanese.(im clearly not)
As a white girl with no tattoos or anything deemed offensive, not at all. Unfortunately I think this will continue to happen to those who don’t look like me.
No, but it makes sense they going after Indians
JICA fxck : [https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250826_15/](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250826_15/)
500K India visa [https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250827_03/](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250827_03/)
This should be a recent thing. Something got fxck up by JICA where they/African countries misinterpreted the free immigration. And also Japan plan for 500k Indian exchange.
Those news are being twisted by someone, and there are fews protest on the street albeit small one, posted on TxkTxk n stuff, got some Japanese ignorant worked up.
I’d not be surprised: JP Twitter is filled with tweet after tweet filled deep-seated hate for インド人, saying that they’ll rape and bring “caste” culture. I’ve been following this for a week now, and dozens of them are routinely getting 10k RTs, 50k Likes, 2M impressions.
The hate-festival is clearly also being egging-on by the MAGA, white-nationalists & Islamists since they’re translating and re-tweeting each other.
(The recent protests are not against immigration as many here claim – they’re against immigration by the “sub-human” races with dark skin. I seriously doubt any Japanese have an issue with Caucasians.)
just ignore thos types of people. I am facing racism everyday but I realize each day that they’re not worth your time
No; but I also acknowledge that I am not that foreigner. My friends who are the other foreigners definitely have.
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Since Covid some Japanese still put on a mask when they see me or if they need to talk to me. Otherwise I did not notice any change.
This person does not want foreigners in Japan so there is no difference if you are a tourist or a resident.
I would have asked her back, so you want me to leave Japan ? Like right now ? Ok, got it, excuse me then. Waving bye bye.
That sucks shit, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
I just get the stares on occasion but not really any of the nastiness so far. I’m also white though, so that’s absolutely a factor, unfortunately.
I got yelled recently while drinking alone at a nearby pub by their owner once they knew I was a foreigner (since I look east asian) “go back home”. First time experiencing it as a paying customer and it’s a pub near my home
“the protests”
Yes, the totally real “protests” that actually happened in real life and weren’t just 20 crazies who pulled out signs for 30 seconds so that a disinformation agent could get an (exclusive!) video clip. It’s been chaos here, I tell you.
I don’t discount your general experience, though; it’s totally believable that you had a run-in with a racist and I’m sorry you had to go through that. You have to work on your dialogue though; nobody’s going to believe that. Just report how it happened.
Got shouted at to ‘GET OUT’ recently by a young chap. First time for me.
My first thought was that the guy seemed to have some sort of mental disability.
As a Japanese sadly most of them are close minded they are racist to anyone expect for their own race. They even said to me “you have a wife who isn’t Japanese?”. I didn’t say anything but my wife spoke up for me she said “I’m sorry but we both don’t like to speak racist people we will be going now” We both walk away
I’ve never experienced anything like this in 12 years. This old lady was probably mentally ill, or just a typical right wing extremist. They are rare, but I’m sorry you had to experience this.
yes, i have and it’s going to get worse. i warned people that there are secondary effects to this kind of rhetoric going mainstream and people dismissed me as being alarmist or “not understanding japan” – emboldening racists to openly discriminate or publicly voice racist opinions is one of those secondary effects.
I’ve had an old woman try to shoo me away when i sat next to her on the train, but thats it. I acknowledge I have white privilege in this case though. One of my black friends and I were on the trains once, and some high school girls said in Japanese (thinking we didnt speak Japanese), “Ew, I don’t want to sit next to that black girl.”
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