While continuing my job search in the hard-hit financial and insurance sector, I was again informed that another job was for "Japanese only." The written ads call for "Japanese native speakers," but that's just a euphemism; when you call to inquire about the job, they tell you quite directly that they are only considering a Japanese person.
I hear this every day now and, like anyone who has lived in Japan, I've gotten used to it. But from time to time, it should be called what it is: racial discrimination. It is the biggest obstacle to finding a job or a rental apartment.
Racial discrimination is not something the average Japanese person thinks about in daily life, I am sure. It reminds me of the phrase "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Japan is very progressive about introducing rules and information campaigns to engineer social behavior — such as recycling and polite cell-phone usage. So where are the laws, policies and information campaigns addressing racial discrimination?