Excellent points.
I’ve actually noticed that I do avoid using knives and forks, eating bread, or drinking soft drinks in public simply so as not to draw attention or reinforce Japanese stereotypes of foreigners. It’s sad, really.

Hello Frogger88. I did some research on “model minorities”. Please tell me if my understanding is correct.

“Model Minority” is a term used by a dominant ethnic group to “praise” a minority ethnic group for its accomplishments (usually in economics, business, and academia).

The praise however is deceptive because the “model minority” group is really being used as evidence that there is no discrimination being practiced by the majority group and thus other minority groups who complain of unfair or biased treatment perpetrated by the majority group are simply making excuses for their own lack of initiative and personal discipline.

Thus “model minorities” are used as evidence to mute any criticism of the majority group of racism.

“Model minority” groups are also used as evidence in arguments against policies such as affirmative action, or preferential treatment for historically oppressed minorities in terms of college admission, jobs, promotions, etc.

Although the “Model minority” is being used as an example of “success”, the harm arises when 1) “Model minorities” are used as a basis to criticize other minority groups who have not been as “successful” and 2) “Model minority” status puts pressure on members of the model minority group to continue “keeping up appearances” and trying to meet exaggerated social expectations, thus leading to stress, anxiety, loss of personal identity and perhaps even suicide.

For example, in the United States, European Americans are considered the “dominant” group as these Caucasians as a whole comprise roughly 78% of the total U.S. population. [Fn 1].

In addition, Caucasians are the predominant face of leadership roles in business (e.g., CEOs, investment banking), politics (senators, congressmen, elected officials), law (law firm partners, law professors) and media (movies, movie stars, film production, etc.).

African Americans comprise roughly 13% of the U.S. population, Hispanics 17%, and Asians 5%. [See also Fn 1].

African Americans have fought for greater rights in the form of legislation and affirmative action programs as recompense for over 250 years of American slavery. [Fn 2]

These efforts however have led to calls from Caucasians of “reverse discrimination” and “special privileges” for minorities. That is, African-Americans are getting *special* privileges because of their race which is an unfair advantage against Caucasians and other European-Americans.

Thus Asian Americans such as Koreans, Japanese, and Indians have been held up by Caucasians as “model minorities” because these groups seemed to have achieved a measure of social, economic, and academic success *without* the need of “affirmative action” programs.

Thus these groups are used as evidence to suggest that affirmative action is not necessary and that discrimination does not exist, for if discrimination did exist, how can you explain the “success” of these minorities?

Therefore African Americas should stop complaining about racism and instead should focus on their own lifestyles, life choices, and behavior as the source of their depressed economic, social, and political status.

So what does this have to do with alleged discrimination of foreigners in Japan?

Frogger 88 suggests that I (Robert) am advocating that some foreigners in Japan become a “model minority” by behaving better than the prevailing stereotypes.

However, I think Frogger88 believes that creating such “model minorities” will only serve add undue psychological stress on foreigners and also serve to mask Japanese racism and lead to the idea that foreigners only have themselves to blame for their bad reputation and for the way they are generally treated in Japanese society.

In other words, the “model minority” approach will result in “blaming the victim” for their own persecution. Such as how some women are blamed for their own rape due to the provocative way they dress rather than due to the criminality of the rapist.

If this is Frogger88’s belief, here is my response:

I fully agree that the concept of a “model minority” is often used as a tool to mask the racist motive of a majority group.

However, I firmly believe that discriminated minority has to take responsibility for their own status and not rely on the “good will” of the majority to “correct” discrimination.

Here’s why.

If (as in the case of African-Americans towards American Caucasians) the minority group feels that the majority group is prejudice, racist, even evil…then it really makes no sense for the minority group to appeal to the majority group for “better treatment”.

It would be like asking the devil for a cool drink of water while you are languishing in hell. The devil does not have a nature to make your life any better or more comfortable, so it would be insanity to think a devil would help you and insanity to ask a devil for help.

It would make much more sense to focus on your own actions and expend your energy in finding a way out of this hell.

This doesn’t mean the majority group is a literal devil or morally wicked. It just means, it is not in the majority group’s interest to assist the minority if the majority is deriving economic and psychological benefits from putting minority groups down. They have no incentive to help you.

I think it is more empowering and more productive for those who consider themselves minorities to look to themselves for their own salvation.

If there is a notion that foreigners are more prone to criminal activity in Japan, then the way to combat that is to make sure no foreigners commit crimes while in Japan and thus deprive the Japanese of evidence for this stereotype.

African-Americans complain about the “Rockefeller Drug laws” in New York which seem to overly criminalize things such as crack cocaine (primarily used by blacks), yet do not have as harsh a punishment for being caught with powder cocaine (primarily used by European-Americans/whites).

Sure. There is a valid argument that these laws are racially motivated. No doubt.

But the solution to me would be for blacks to stop using crack cocaine rather than to complain that they are being “unfairly treated”.

If you don’t want to be called a “crack head”…don’t smoke crack cocaine.

If you don’t want to be characterized as a criminal…don’t commit crimes.

It’s just that simple.

(I’m not white…by the way…not that that should matter).

Complaining that the majority is racist also sets up a very dangerous precedent. I.e., that minorities or blacks by their very nature are *incapable* of ever doing anything wrong just by virtue of being black or ethnic.

For example, take the Trayvon Martin case in Florida where a Hispanic-American (George Zimmerman) was accused of killing an unarmed African-American 17 year old who only had an iced tea drink and some Skittles candies on him at the time.

The prevailing view in the African-American community is that Trayvon was killed simply because he was black.

However, these blacks are also suggesting that because he was black it was *impossible* for him to have done anything wrong.

All Black people, including Trayvon, are all “saints”, incapable of any wrongdoing whatsoever.

That is the hidden, underlying assumption.

That thinking is just as racist, if not more, because it just isn’t true.

Black folk do at times perform bad acts and they should be held accountable for those acts.

If a police officer pulls me over for driving too fast, I make sure I keep my hands where the officer can see them and that I don’t make any sudden moves.

I know there is a tendency for police to view African-Americans suspiciously, so I don’t give the officer a reason to get more nervous than he already is.

I would think it foolhardy for me to argue with the officer and start frantically rummaging around under my seat, and then cry “racial profiling” if I get shot.

That’s just stupid.

It’s unfortunate, but racial stereotypes are a fact of life. However, some races or groups contribute to these stereotypes by their attitudes and actions and then complain when they are stereotyped.

That’s stupid as well.

So asking foreigners in Japan to “behave themselves” isn’t unreasonable, even if it leads to model minority status. If you take away the basis for the stereotype, the stereotype itself will disappear as a result.

I’m strictly speaking in terms of criminal acts however.

This does not mean minorities should take the opposite track and try to conform themselves physically to the majority group such as lightening their skin with chemicals so they look “more white” (as they do in India and Jamaica). Or getting plastic surgery to alter their eyes and lips to appear more “western” as they do in South Korea.

That is just plain sick and a form of self-hatred. I’m not advocating that.

What I do advocate is that if you are in someone else’s country, you should try to understand their culture and sentiments and not impose your values on them.

If people such as Debito Arudou feel that Japan is racist, they should return to their home country (in his case, the U.S.) [Fn 3] and fight racism in the U.S. after having experienced it first hand in Japan.

My thought is that people (usually white Americans) who are used to being “privileged” in their home countries, taking that status for granted, suddenly find themselves the object of discrimination in Japan.

Taking affront to that, they then appeal to “universal rights”.

However, this may really be a guise for extending “white privilege” into a foreign land (a form of imperialism), which is just as “wrong” as the alleged discrimination.

But of course, that us just a theory.

I could be wrong about that.

Robert
——-footnotes——-

[Fn 1]: Year 2012 census figures found at: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

[Fn 2]: De jure (legal) slavery from 1619 to 1865 (246 years) (Jamestown to the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution); defacto (practical) slavery from 1619 to 1954 (335 years) (Jamestown to the Supreme Court ruling “separate but equal” to be unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)).

[Fn 3] Yes, I know Debito Arudou is now a legitimate, full fledged Japanese national. However, it seems that choosing that nationality was more of a political strategy rather than out of a genuine love for Japan. Again, I’m just speculating here. I could very well be wrong. He also seems to enjoy a certain celebrity status here in Japan (infamous maybe? It’s all the same), something he may not have received in his home country and that may also be a motivation for his staying in Japan. There is nothing wrong with that motivation, but you still can analyze a person’s motivations for doing what they do. You can certainly do “good things” for totally selfish or self-serving reasons. It is also possible that he is an agent of foreign powers seeking to infiltrate, weaken, and subjugate Japan to make it more accommodating to Western powers…much the same way Commodore Perry did way back when with his arrival and the subsequent “unequal treaties” that resulted. Again…just speculation.

Wow. You do seem quite angry. But I will not respond in kind. I respect your position and opinion.

For the “record”, I am a minority in my own country and I do know what racial profiling and discrimination are all about on a personal level (I even have discrimination lawsuits pending).

“Gaijin” as a hurtful word? Oh please, I’ve been called much worse than that.

Anyway.

You can’t control how people treat you. You can only control your response to it.

For example, I can’t control your manner of speaking or relating to me…calling my arguments “asinine” or apparently trying to insult my intelligence.

I could respond in kind, but I choose not to. I think that is a more positive approach.

But just as an observation, for a person who wants to be treated with human dignity, you seem awfully fast to attempt to denigrate me.

I could be wrong about that, since as you say, I have no idea who you are.

It’s just my interpretation of the evidence in front of me.

I’m not gonna answer your questions. You’re simply wasting your breath with
a load of nonsense alongside with your false speculation. You said I am a guest. Nope. I am a Japanese citizen. Both of my parents are born in the mainland Japan. None of my family members have cultural root in foreign countries.

There’s no need to emphasize the uniqueness of foreign crimes in contrast to
those made by Japanese nationals. Statistics of foreign crimes have decreased significantly in the last two decades. NPA clearly acknowledges this trend, but
they still continue this kind of non-sense until today. Speaking of obsession with perfection. No foreign crime doesn’t lead to eradication of overall crimes in Japan. If not, then, we don’t need police anymore because Japanese people don’t steal, assault, defraud, and kill whatsoever???