Godzwilla versus Racism

I apologize to all of my fan(s) about my last entry on Staring. I didn't effectively describe "why" people stare in Japan, and I'd like to discuss that now. It's a bit of a historical post/entry today, but I promise it won't be (entirely) boring.

Japan was limited to almost zero commerce or interaction between itself and other countries until around 1854 when U.S. Commodore Perry metaphorically wedged open the country to enter trade with the US.

Perry later went on to describe this endeavor as such:

"The country was a beauty my eyes had never witnessed before. It's lush hills were balanced by a serene feeling as cloud and land combined in the clearest of lakes...and did you SEE how I totally kicked that country's ass? Oh my God they were all like "No you can't come in" but I was all HELL no, biyotches, Commodore-the man-Perry gets what he wants and he wants some SAKE. You'd have to like, drop 2 a-bombs on this country to be as douchey as me."

I'm sure I read that somewhere. And frankly if you're willing to look up his biography just to prove me wrong you've got too much freetime as it is. Get a hobby, jeez. Ass. And yes, Perry knew what a-bombs were 100 years before they were invented. It's all in that biography.

...

So anyway, Japan was highly homogeneous until a relatively short time ago. Even today, more than 99% of the population is Japanese in both nationality and ethnicity. The other 1% is mostly other Asian ethnicities, with a very small fraction of that being white people. And God help you if you're black. So naturally, it's not common to see a white/black person, even in major cities. Plus, all Japanese people assume that all white/black foreigners are American and are therefore either cool but scary/different (for young people) or the devil, come back to finish what he started with Hiroshima (more of the Old person's attitude). People will part like the red sea to Moses for us foreigners/gaijin. Nobody sits next to us on highly packed trains. And as I've already explained, they fucking stare a lot. It's not that we are disliked (although as I've said...that's not ALWAYS the case), we are just very different and are treated accordingly.

To illustrate this, here's a story, of a lovely racist...A few days ago I went out with some friends (all Japanese) to a local cafe. Those that were there already were my girlfriend, two of her friends, and myself. Before the rest of the group arrived, an older man from a close-by table started grunted loudly. At first I assumed he was choking and in true Japanese manners, pretended like I couldn't hear it. Pretty soon, though, he was shouting some (hilarious) obscenities towards my group and it was clear he was a tad drunk. My Japanese isn't great but "Cocky whiteboy" was one of the more...understood...comments. One of the members of the group, Yuki, began translating to the dismay of the other girls. It quickly turned into him shouting anti-US comments. Suffice to say...have you ever heard one of those generic anti-American rants from some middle-eastern country? "Death to America", and so on?

They've got nothing on this guy.

He acted like *I* personally dropped the A-bombs on Japan. Then, in what was the best example of irony...well, ever...he called Americans racist. Let me back that up and let you in on this. An old Japanese man was shouting at me for being white, then after assuming I was from the US (he had no evidence of this), he made a generalization about the entire citizenry...and said we are all racists. Don't forget, however, he is shouting all of this in an eating area with dozens of other people around. Instead of calling the manager (like we should have done)...we waited for him to get cocky enough to walk over.

I am not a tough dude. While I'm average weight and 6'0, I have never been in a fight. So suffice to say, I believe this hardass old dude could have taken me. But you need to remember, foreigners are somewhat feared. So when he got the courage/blood-alcohol percentage to waltz over and shout at my face, I did what any polite foreigner would do. I pushed my chair back dramatically, and slowly stood up to my full height.

Math time! Who is more intimidating...scary, 5'4 Japanese dude, or 6'0 "American" holding chopsticks...to the average Japanese person?

Quickly after he left with a "Sumimasen" (Excuse me) and we finished our meal. Who says Japan isn't tolerant?

Godzwilla versus Racism?
The winner: Probably Racism. But...

Godzwilla versus old racist dude?
The winner: Godzwilla.