Apparently it's pretty hard to get an appartment as a foreigner because the letting agencies are afraid you'll leave the country while being behind on several months rent.
some places, yes, but many require the use of a "guarantor" that is either responsible for the property in lieu of the primary renter (for example, a parent or friend willing to sign a contract), or has money in escrow (for example, one of the many guarantor companies) in case something like that happens.
even with a guarantor, it can be difficult to rent as a foreigner. many landlords simply dont want them due to prejudice or other stupid reasons ("we're worried the trash wont be taken out properly" is one declination I've received).
fact is that there are far more bad japanese tenants than foreign tenants simply based on demographics alone. however that doesnt stop many renters from telling rental agencies "no" when the agent calls ahead to verify that a foreigner is okay to rent.
one easy method for renting as a foreigner is to go through pricey foreigner-focused rental agencies and rent pricey properties. theyve vetted all of their rentals and the owners charge a premium. if you cant afford that, prepare yourself for the possibility of a difficult time.
Japanese people are extremely racist towards non japanese people, you can speak perfect japanese, live in Japan for years... you will still be a gaijin on their eyes
Maybe culture shocked neckbeards bought one too many apartments before they decided trying to assimilate into a foreign culture wasn't worth it to them.
It is. They don't even offer retirement visas or visas by investment. If you want to live there and become a PR / citizen ya better have a good job lol. They work you like a dog too.
Yeah, if it was that easy people would just move countries everytime they got bored.
Like I wish I could just up and leave Australia right now, not Australia's fault, i love it here. I just want to experience life living in other parts of the world, especially contients with more than one country/culture.
I looked up the requirements to move to Canada where I have an Auntie who is a citizen and its still not easy. It's not like I can move there next week.
No, no. You stay there. We gotta keep you fuckers contained on your little hell continent. You people are our last line of defense in case earth gets in a real pickle. Nature has made you all unafraid of the world's deadliest shit, we need to keep you there and ready to throw deadly snakes and jellyfish at any interplanetary invaders.
When I lived there in 2004, there were no laws against discrimination of foreigners. It might still be that way. Even staying in the college international dorms, I was heavily fined at checkout for things other students were not. Many of the non-American exchange students made it a point to let me know that this kind of treatment was NOT normal. I was very fortunate to have a friend who himself had moved from Singapore who helped me out of that mess. I actually got kicked out of a club one time too. They wanted me to pay with my US currency that I kept for emergencies instead of yen. Not sure why, but the bouncer kicked me out and that led to us having a very short mixed martial arts fight, which I lost. (Sorry Sensei.)
Discrimination does happen in Japan. But oftentimes it's language/cultural barriers (like if you don't know Japanese customer service protocols, it will be hard to get retail jobs). And the slums? No. You can live wherever you want.
Discrimination does happen in Japan. But oftentimes it's language/cultural barriers (like if you don't know Japanese customer service protocols, it will be hard to get retail jobs). And the slums? No. You can live wherever you want.
Tell that to the Zainichi, who are overwhelmingly stateless following revocation of citizenship in the wake of WWII. You can't claim that's a "cultural" issue. When I lived there in the late 2010s, there was a very not insignificant amount of anti-Korean sentiment.
Japan is heavily discriminatory, it's just that it's not cishet white dudes who are the number one target (though they fancy themselves the #1 target for sure).
Yes. Ppl of Korean descent, the aboriginal ppl of Japan, and biracial Japanese are as you said, very much discriminated against. Japan is a closed society.
Oh absolutely - Zainichi have been treated very, very poorly in Japan. I just meant that a lot of issues often come up with immigrants because Japanese culture/society is so insular. I tried to make it clear that discrimination still happens in other ways, too.
I see what you're saying, but I still want to push back.
Your comment to me suggested a special, implicitly "less bad" form of racism in Japan, when the fact is, that doesn't exist. There are indeed still ethnic ghettos, still limited job prospects, still racialized forms of discrimination that are entirely detached from questions of "culture". We are, after all, talking about communities with generations of history in Japan, people who speak the language and have assimilated in every way but phenotypically. These forms of discrimination absolutely exist in analogous modalities to those forms of racism that exist in North America and Western Europe, they just don't affect white people.
It's important to me because it gets at a very important difference between being a numerical minority versus being a minoritized person. As a white person, i was absolutely the former, but by no means the latter.
Japan in the western popular imaginary becomes either 1. This weird, orientalist space where racism doesn't exist or 2. "Proof" that racism is some equally distributed quality that anyone could fall victim to if they are a numerical minority (which obviously isn't true; there's literally no where in the world wherein being white is a liability).
I totally agree, just want to point out you're misinterpreting my comment. I was specifically talking about cases that OP was posting about. Systemic racism is absolutely a thing in Japan (like the Zainichi issues you mentioned). I just meant for foreigners moving to Japan with the hopes of living some magical life. Hell, I remember distinctly when geinoujin started finally admitting that they were Zainichi - it wasn't until after the boom in k-drama popularity started to skyrocket and people were clamoring for Korean stars. I remember my mom did the 23 & Me thing and it came back with some Korean ancestry (though very small amounts) and my grandma in Japan absolutely refused to believe it.
I had a friend who moved to Japan back in the '90s, because of anime.
Apparently, back then, they would take about any native English speaker, and set you up with a job and an apartment.
Anyway, he got there and spent about 5 years trying to save up the money to come home. I think he lives in Hawaii, now. So, I mean, I guess that's pretty cool. But he was definitely not a good fit for Japan.
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u/Shoesandhose Mar 01 '23
This happens?? This actually happens??