No Foreigners Or Pets

From the different cities I've lived in, it can sometimes be had to tell if someone is discriminating against you because of race or because of some other factor like what people assume from your clothes or drive or such. But homogeneous areas of cities or suburbs probably have more straight up racism.

Not letting that stop me from going to Japan.

Being half Egyptian with a slightly middle eastern look gets me into trouble sometimes but as of lately it has died down to the point where people have forgotten about it. My worst experience is the first 2 or so years after 9/11, everyone around gave me this cold look, yelled racist remarks towards me or ignored me not just students or acquaintances but some teachers as well. I'm glad it's kind of over now but i will never forget or even have thought I could have experienced such racism until that day.

Racism is kinda blurry around these parts - it's used more as a joke than anything serious

It's like no one really cares who/what you are or even what you believe in - Aussie government/society believes in multi-culturalism so yeah...
I get the feeling as long as you aren't condecending or are 'up yourself' it is fine

Are pets like goldfish or hamsters ok?

i know for a fact that i will never live in japan but i would like to visit instead

Any kind of racism I faced directly ended in high school.

But, despite that, this made me want to see "Shogun" as I remember the gaijin in that TV drama had to use a translator. :3

I feel bad because of this (we're people after all). Why do Japanese feel so hostile toward us? I know that not all of them are like this but still....it's just not right.

As for the poll, in Poland racism is rare but, if there is a person like that, then it's really dangerous. Not that racists aren't dangerous, but there is just something different about Polish racists :/

Yes, unfortunately racism is quite oftenly seen here, its not a pretty sight... But that aside, what if the gaijin is fluent in japanese and has...lest say a sertificate of some sort. I find it unbelievable that they just group them and leave no room for exceptions. But this is not going to stop me from going to japan to live/studdy, not a matter such as this one, racism will not be tollerated.

Racism happen everywhere, can't be avoided.

For many of those entries, it's not so much racism as it is bad past experiences (like Danny pointed out). I knew of too many friends back in Japan who rented to foreigners only to have them wreck the place or skip out on rent. It's easier to track someone in Japan and get your rent money, than track someone who skips the country.

As for racism, here, I don't see it in my life, anymore. When I lived in the South (e.g., North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama), I got racist quotes quite a bit as an Asian. Heck, I first learned how to fight while living in North Carolina because the kids across the street didn't like the "Jap" kid living near them.

Nowadays, most of the discrimination I get is because I'm military. While most folks thank me for my service, there are some who still look down on us and/or spit at us (there's a reason I don't visit Berkeley, often...sorry, Dcg ^^; ).

Pathetic old racist baka landlords....just die already ~_~.

It happens around here every so often.

I had this one lady assume my sister and I didn't speak English, and then proceed to call us "stupid asians" -_-

I live in community with the majority with the same ethnicity as my own, so there's never really been any problems...some loose jokes here or there, but no harm done...

Poor gaijin will be found abandoned in cardboard boxes beside allies everywhere in Japan ;_;
I'll adopt a one! They sound fun and interesting to keep around! ^^

Nope, never had any problems because of my being Chinese here. Even when I first moved here and was in a class full of caucasians, the reason I was left out was because I couldn't speak English well. Had nothing to do with my background.

Being racist would get you far more criticism and social disapproval than being of any race. I do hear horror stories of immigrants not being able to find jobs, but that's more because everyone demands Canadian work experience and wants fluent English; once again, not because of your background, but perhaps your lack thereof. I'm sure some of those cases up there are the same.

The one time I heard a borderline racist comment was on free burger day at Wendy's, held in honor of their anniversary. A caucasian woman of about 50 muttered to her husband: "All these greedy Asians..." Her comment was, unfortunately, quite justified. ^^; The store was literally PACKED with people who would never come to a Wendy's otherwise, with maybe 90% of them Asian.

I never experienced any racism ever since I came to Japan. My own apartment good for foreigners but no pets allowed. ^^;;

Back in my country, I never experienced racism in my own hometown but did have at the west side of the country.

I can't say it's really racism... but it's discrimination.

though in Brazil, we do have all races and colors, so racism tends to be way less evident.

But I did ocasionally find people who would call me "Japan" or "japanese" or something like that instead of calling me by my name... not to mention the jokes, the teasing, and some other stuff that while some people don't really use it to hurt you, some others do.

Racism, as expected, is extremely evident in online games though. Multiplayer fps games is where people seem to show their true colors (no pun intended :P)

About xenophoby in Japan, I kinda understand them too, but it's still no excuse... racism, prejudice and discrimination are very reprovable practices, even more if done explicitaly like that.

Encourages others to do the same, and affects all levels of society.

The cause for bullying in schools are directly linked to the behaviour of grown ups... and that's why I'll never support it.

Even knowing that in Japan specially, there are several foreigners that are only there to gain some money, so they have absolutely no respect for japanese culture and only do bad things there... but you can't make generalizations like that, because on the other hand, we have dudes like Danny Choo, who is doing an awesome job making more and more people admire the japanese culture, affecting directly the sales of several japanese companies (for good), and helping to break down several prejudices people from other countries might have.

I wanna be part of it too, and it's one of the reasons why I started my blog.
But I already said too much... it's just that I decided that one of my purposes in life is to break stereotypes, help defeat prejudices and stop discrimination on all levels. Respect is the word.

I've been called gook even though I'm Chinese, but other Asians here call each other that too. I don't even care about that stuff anymore. Besides, I live in the San Gabriel Valley, which has a high population of Asians.

well racism is everywhere whether we admit it ourselves or not.

reminds me of the movie CRASH. it's a great moive. watch it if u haven't. ^^;

Hi! After reading this post and the comments, I registered because I feel like it is important for me to explain some of the misconceptions that have arisen about this no-renting-to-foreigners policy that so many of you seem upset about. A close family friend of mine sits on the board of directors of a particular condominium association in Texas, so I have some insight into this.

I know for a fact that the owners of those condo units (most of them are individuals, but a few are businesses I believe) won't rent to foreigners. Everyone must be a U.S. citizen and applicants always have their background and credit checks thoroughly done. This is done not because of racism, but to for security. The owners need to protect themselves and their properties from various liabilities.

I heard from them that not long ago, several units of a different condo were found to be housing illegal immigrants. All of those foreigners were workers at a nearby plant that regularly hired illegals. Many of them just happened to live at that certain apartment. Anyway, when the the plant was raided, naturally the homes of the foreigners were discovered as well. The board of that particular condo association was found liable for housing the illegals since they were aware of what was going on and turned a blind eye to it. I'm not aware of what happened to the board or the owners of the units, but I can only imagine that some of ended up in court.

Anyway, this is just one example. Renting to foreigners is risky which is why it occurs so infrequently. I can understand why this is the case in Japan as well, since it is not that different that the United States, contrary to what some might think. I hope this provides some insight into this topic.

Heheh, a caucasian in a little Canadian town that's 97% caucasian, so havn't really had any problems that way. Though I do know of a fair number of racist people around here, it tends to happen in any place that's really homogeanous.

Well if they can't understand the language or follow the various rules of the apartment, it makes sense not to rent to foreigners. I wouldn't lend a room to someone who can't follow the rules in my house.

In the Philippines, I think it's more of class status than race, since we're not really diverse here.

Maybe I can just live in an Internet cafe until I can speak fluent Japanese. LOL.

I still want to live in Japan though. Must learn how to speak Japanese!

well if someone's gonna go and live in japan, I'm pretty sure they're gonna learn the language before settling in.

I do find it offensive but I do see a reason from a language barrier point of view.

I do see racism here every so often but its mainly in the form of a joke and not really meant to insult or anything of the nature.

By foreigner do they mean someone who is not a resident of Japan or anyone who doesn't look and sound Japanese?

All the time in Texas. I am a guy with dark-red hair blue eyes and I don't tan. I get targeted the moment I walk out the door.

Being half Chinese I get strange racist commentaries anywhere I've been, from my hometown to Japan. But I've gotten used to it and sometimes it's not that bad ^^

I haven't really seen much of any racism around here...mind you; I come from a town that is probably over 99% english-speaking, white christians...so there isn't really much in the way of differences to dispute about around here.

There's no racism against my "race" here, but I know there's racism against other groups here. Especially "Indians", as just about all of America is, sadly.

I was planning to post my experience between me in Brazil and me in Japan, included the racism.

Well, I experience people rejecting me every week in Brazil...

The different races in Singapore get along pretty well most of the time. Housing-wise, there is a ratio of the different races for government apartments, for example a block of flat would be required to have XX% of Chinese, XX% of Malays, XX% of Indians, etc.

Communication-wise, we have a common language, English. Mandatory education since quite some time ago, it's quite well put into use. I do know of some Chinese learning Malay, or Malay learning Mandarin too. ^^

Singapore promotes multi-cultural society, I think its very good. Usually in school we mix around with all sorts of races and make good friends. Racism is rather dumb though, we should judge others not on how they look but more on what they can do. I don't see why we shouldn't get along together just because we are of different races.

I guess those Gaijins are making all Gaijins look bad. Those Gaijins can't even speak Japanese, so I don't see why they're even living in Japan. Since they can't speak Japanese, then there is a high chance they don't care about Japan or it's culture. What those owners did isn't wrong, but they aren't right either. This can be corrected if more Gaijins starts living in Japan, and actually pays and keep the apt. clean, ^_^

Maybe gaijin should at least know how to speak Japanese so they would not have rejected gaijin. Racism is rare in my turf.

Wow, that is quite a turnoff indeed. Wasn't there a change in the immigration system recently stating that foreigners have to hold a certain level of Japanese proficiency, what happened to that ? It wasn't popular with the foreign community of course.

Just sometimes in Vancouver, but if there is it's usually big on the news because we don't tolerate that kind of crap here. We'd call it hate crime, and it's not just limited to race but also for sexual orientation as well. We can be quite PC here in Van.

It's odd, but while I was at school, and through to university, I cannot remember seeing any racisist behaviour first hand. However, while living in the same area afew years on, I have discovered that many are picked on by younger generations for being foriegn, gay, disabled or just for their fashion sence!

A great shame, after all, tolerance costs nothing.

Can't help to think about that "no chinese or dogs allowed' sign now ;(

IMO it's totally ridiculous to deny gaijins - that's just racism.
I'm sure there are plenty japanese renting and not following the rules/don't pay rent too.

Imagine here in the west, would we deny japanese people because they can't speak english? we'd get our asses sued.

"Some other landlords have had nightmares where foreigners run a mock"
I can totally understand that:P

If the problem is language, shouldn't the sign says, "No non-Japanese Speakers"

But I can totally understand... I've been to several countries, although not necessarily living at those places... I do find some stereotypes as true for the majority, and i have to concede that I find some race as not my favorite group of people...-_-

But I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and treat people equally...

At least they bothered to use 外国人　vs. 外人, just kidding. I understand the whole leaving a bad taste thing, and it truly isn't just a communication problem, but couple with the article you wrote on the "hurdles" of renting as a foreigner (Eight times the rent just to start, and key money, blah), Danny, it's really disheartening to those of us who would be wont to obey the laws of our hosts. I mean it doesn't seem like rampant xenophobia, and at least they're "up front" about it so you don't waste your time with them, but I wouldn't want to be turned down even though I can more the effectively communicate in both written and spoken Japanese (in case they're, ya know, deaf or something). I had a friend that just came back from Japan, granted he was deep in 田舎, and had a few people that even though he spoke perfectly intelligible Japanese with them was greeted with ”わかない！わかんな～い！” a few times.

I go into Tokyo alot and run into some discrimination such as no one wanting to sit by me on the train or when a seat does open up, the Japanese next to me bolting for the open seat.

For the most part, the kids are most transperant with how they think. One time, one kid through a fit because his mom wanted to make him sit next to the Gaijin (me). He made such a scene that he almost punched me in the face while trying to bat away her arms. In the end, to keep the peace. The kid sat on his mom's lap while the seat next to me remained open. I do applaud the mom's initial efforts though in trying to make him more excepting of people who look a bit different.

Kids are also the ones who are most likely to point and go "Gaijin da!" and start laughing. Glad I didn't grow up in Japan as a Gaijin. I imagine it would probably be very rough.

Well, i already taste the gaijin atmosphere/treatment when i was in States, especially at certain airports. Being a muslim gaijin, wow what an experience.
I guess that can be a reference for me if i were to visit JP,KR,TW etc. No matter what, theres no place like home.

The problem with this discrimination is that it is based on an arbitrary criterion.

It would be perfectly reasonable to discriminate against people who can't speak Japanese, because of the communication problem. Discriminating against all foreigners turns it into a race issue.

The Japanese constitution has a clause forbidding this kind of discrimination.

Yeah the "no foreigners" thing was something I'm worried about when I move to Japan although I've found many agencys that cater for foreigners who want to live in Japan like Sakura House.

To be honest I didn't exp any discrimination while being in Tokyo. What I noticed, however was a really funny behaviour of random ppl you would usually meet on the street. I even managed to scare a poor woman only by asking her "excuse me, how can I get to the nearest train station" :)
I bet it was like seeing a ghost for her, at least her face said so :)

there have been some racist acts here.
but not so much in normal daily life, i guess.
i haven't seen such list of "no foreigners" yet, while searching for accommodation. maybe it only happens in small city/apartments?

i can somewhat get the point of view of the landlords but if its just a communication issue about then it won't be a problem if you actually understand an speak japanese but even then the discrimination doesn't stop so i don't know really looks to me like this goes beyond communication problems

It's quite sad , that people discriminate others for skin color or nationality ...

I don't experience any form of discrimination of me ... but if you are black , or asian , or Jew , or homosexualist it's hard to live in Poland ... especially in a village, because in big cities it's easier to become anonymous ... and in a villige people are rather untolerant, becouse of our tradition (in bigger cities are untolerant people too , but it's minority)

i want to move to Japan in a future , but i see it's gonna be hard :(

lol i've lived indirectly here in us >.<

None here....But there is a condition to get a apartment here...so it is expensive to live here...

May I add <a href=http://rmcafe.net>Room Mate Cafe</a> for folks that want to *share* with Japanese (since, the site being 100% JA, does not usually end up in gaijin's search results).

When I rented my current apartment I think that at the beginning the landlord was not very comfortable with the idea but after a word with the guy from the agency there was no problem at all.

Now that you mention the garbage thing, it's amazing how people can be so careless and won't even follow a minimum criteria, see it all the time in my building, most of the time is just a matter of common sense and when I see a bag with a beer can mixed with everything else it's like wtf are they doing.

I find this somehat stupid, but I think even what is even stupider is that someone would live in Japan without knowing the Language. To me, that is competely and utterly idiotic, I wouldn't even visit a country for even a few hours if I didn't feel I was fluent in at least one of it's languages.

My mom's friend told me she wouldn't let her daughter be friends with because I wasn't Chinese ^^;. She did later come to accept me because I helped her daughter a lot wit her depression.

Racism is one of the few things that makes my blood boil though.

There was this one drunk man yelling on the bus at these kids speaking French saying "SPEAK ENGLISH THIS IS CANADA!" French IS an official language of Canada.

As a white guy living in a city named Sun Prairie you can imagine that there is not much scope for racism directed toward me. I have been in situations (in Chicago, for example) where I was the temporary minority and even just that small taste was pretty uncomfortable.

The US is supposed to be so full of diversity so people won't be like that. But unfortunately, reality is much different than the pretty picture that was painted.

The children these days are so ignorant and rude when it comes to people of other races. When I go to teach I always get the "Are you related to Jackie Chan / Jet Li?" bit when I tell them my name (Mr. Lee if you're wondering). Jet Li is more understandable seeing how by pronunciation, both his name and mine are the same. But Jackie, come on now...just because his fictional name is "Lee" (in Rush Hour, and that was his first name too *facepalm*) doesn't make him in any way related. Don't even get me started on the other stereotypes they through out at you. And then there are the ignorant parents as well. No wonder these kids turn out like this...

Considering the history of the US, you would think we would've gotten past this stuff already, but it seems we still have a long way to go.

Here in ireland foreigners are actually a relatively new thing (10years ago there were pretty much none at all) while now they're a lot more common. While I haven't seen any such discrimination so far, a lot of people don't speak kindly of foreigners, having a general view of them being troublesome etc, so I guess it's probably not far off til similar things may occur.

Its commonplace here in the states for landlords to not want pets because of the obvious reasons and I can give you a good example. I rent one side of a duplex and a previous neighbor in the other unit brought with him 2 mix breed pit bulls that he chained up in the back yard. Once they were chained up the received very little attention and a few times were not fed for two or three days. Because of the lack of attention they would bark during the day and then do it at night starting around 7pm and going late till around 2am and for me that was bad because I go to sleep at 7pm on work nights. The dogs would regularly dig holes in the yard and often broke their chains to roam the neighborhood and terrorize the residents here. The city passed a law January 08 banning the tethering of dogs in yards and even after I had called the local animal control officer about the issue several times it finally took my landlord to get things to happen and the dogs to be taken away.

Had the neighbor went through with his promise to fence in his side of the back yard then he would probably still be there today but as it was he never did it which was one reason he was evicted ( add smoking in his unit as well as two unruly and highly disrespectful boys that terrorized my wife and daughter to name a few ) and because of how he chained up his dogs in the back yard my daughter was never able to play out there.

When I was working as a field technician and would regularly go into peoples homes whether it was a rental or owned pet owners always fell into two categories, clean or garbage dump. The garbage dump ones are the reason why I don't have a problem with any landlord saying no pets. When you enter a house and your shoes stick to the floor because of animal urine that has soaked into the wood or theres feces ground into the carpet or wood trim is chewed up or scratched it can cost thousands upon thousands to repair and air out a residence.

Do they mean "western" foereigners only? because I'm asian ^^

I am glad I managed to find a 2K apartment in Yamato-shi, Kanagawa-ken without any problems at all. I used Able, Chuo-Rinkan as my estate agents. Although I am not yet perapera with Nihongo (good at Japanese), I managed to convince the estate agents and the landlord that my Nihongo ability is good enough for communication. I did not pay key money.

meh, i really dont experience anything like that here in southern cali
i get confused as either japanese or korean from random people or sometimes they think im mixed asian and euro or something like that LOL ...im mostly chinese btw and i dont even know where they come up with that stuff!
when i go to japanese, korean or chinese markets- the clerks say stuff to me i dont understand- so i just smile and nod LMAO

I am sure that England and Japan are not as bad as the being in some areas of the south part of the United States. Many of them stil think that they are still the Confederate States and still belive in the Walalaces hate docturine.

Maybe foreigners are like dangerous pets, so, if no pets, also no foreigners.
I dunno, besides the barrier of language, I've seen things that downs the reputation of foreigners in japan, so it's natural they don't like us.

Here there isn't that kind of discrimination, the only I can recall is to the perubian/bolibian inmigrants that come here looking for a job, and ends being exploted and in horrible labour conditions. They're called despictevely "bolitas". Ah, and from the old +70y-o facist that supported the dictatorships, they discriminate everything, music, youth, gays, foreigners, pets, even their mothers.

'No, no. We can't rent to gaijin.'
But the wannabe yakuza who'll use the unit to deal hard drugs is ok...

Anyhow, yes. I have experienced discrimination. Even amongst the people who you would perceive would be scrupulous in being tolerant and egalitarian, there will be those who elect to discriminate because it lets them *feel superior*.
It is their loss.
That's the way to handle it.

uhh~~~ yeah its just foreigners of course they are going to have trouble...but it looks like some people just don't know how to read between the lines

Racism in Britain is a pendulum swing of subtlety. Most will just join the BNP or other equally daft UKIP and just keep to themselves. Others (re: chavs) will just shout something racist at someone from across the street.

But it swings both ways. There is a terrific amount of racism amongst Indians, Pakistanis and Bengalis. In particularly up North, in towns like Burnley and Blackburn, there's a phenomenal amount of tension.

I think this isn't "racism" in the form it should be to be called "racist". In my opinion "racism" is malicious, this just seems to be convenience. Still doesn't make it ok, mind.