Are Japanese people really that racist?

k_amp_s
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:05:50 +0000

Even if it was popular before western influence, there is no doubt that Asians admire the caucasian double-eyelid. It makes your eyes appear bigger, and that’s what they really want. Now, they associate big eyes=caucasian=pretty, regardless of what it was before.



Have to differentiate btwn Asians in Asia and Asian-Americans and other Asians in the West.

About 60% of SE Asians and 40% of NE Asians have natural double eyelids (which is different from the Caucasian double-eyelid).

In Asia – women want to look like the Asian female celebs (who generally have natural double eyelids) – while in the US (and other places) Asian-American women often undergo the surgery b/c they mistakenly think it makes them look more “white” (due to the limited and often stereotypical portrayal of Asians).



I mean, also all Europeans go and have a sun tan so that they get darker skin…



The whole tanning thing has to do w/ socio-economic class. Asians (particularly the women) still generally regard pale skin as showing higher social class – while Europeans (and Americans) have abandoned powdering their faces since (due to work place having shifted indoors from the fields) getting a tan was seen as a sign of living the life of privilege.

Nonetheless, there is a bias against people w/ naturally darker skin pretty much all over the world (South/Central America to East Asia to South Asia to Europe, etc.)



k&s,

It isn’t? So when an Arab is sitting on an airplane and every other passenger is staring at him, glaring, and whispering to each other about his presence, that’s not discrimination?



UCLA – the situation you use here is quite **different/b.

I’m not saying that there also isn’t the former directed at white expats in Japan (but the same also applies to Chinese or Korean nationals visiting Japan as well).



That’s what you get in Japan, except that it’s supposedly “benign.” To be honest, I don’t often side with Debito Arudo on his pet issues, but he is right on one thing: Japan is EXCEPTIONALLY closed when it comes to non-natives. Even those who naturalize face a lifetime of discrimination.



Right – but they are like that to ALL foreigners (albeit w/ a distinct hierarchy in treatment – whites generally at the top - with East Asians, South Asians/Arabs and blacks following).



i grew up in asia.



That doesn’t mean that you aren’t ignorant about this issue.

Yeah, the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, etc. have a lot of “national pride” – but at the same time, they will usually treat a white person better than an Asian person from another country (there isn’t a belief that all Asians are “superior”).



Lol Chinese ppl and korean ppl hate japanese ppl more than vice versa.



Uhh, that’s due to Japan’s past aggressions against China and Korea and Japan’s failure to own up to it like Germany has done to its neighbors and to the Jews.

Nonetheless, Japan has a history of discrimination against the Chinese and Koreans (not to mention their own indigenous people such as the Ainu) – even against those whose families were forcibly moved to Japan as forced labor.



@ k&s: you call other people “ignorant”, when really you’re also sort of ignorant. Japanese pop culture sort of idolizes caucasian features and celebrities, and that translates into business and politics. The US has had a huge impact on Japan. And yes, anime does feature “caucasian” characteristics. Big eyes, prominent brow bone, curved noses, t&a (coming from an asian, it’s just true). Ever wonder why getting the “double-lid” plastic eye surgery is insanely popular in Korea/Japan?



How am I “ignorant” when I am already well aware of the use of white American celebs in Japan?

It seems your ignorance has come to the forefront upon making superficial assumptions about these this topic.

Japan has increasingly used Korean celebs in commercials/advertisements - does that mean that Japan idolizes “Korean features” (besides, the use of American celebs has been declining since its heyday in the '90s)?

Again - women in Asia get double-eyelid surgery to look like their favorite female Asian celeb (usually bringing in a photo of the celeb w/ the facial feature they would like to emulate).

And no - (once again) anime did not originate depicting Caucasian characteristics - but rather the “cutesy look” originated by Disney (as seen in his depiction of animal characters).