I really enjoyed this piece, there was a ton of truth in it and some really funny anecdotes. I've been lucky to only work for a Japanese company for a short time, and it was in fact a rather unusual company, so I haven't had to suffer through a lot of the other salaryman pain described in the piece, although without a doubt this is an accurate description based on hearing stories from many friends and family, both Japanese and non-Japanese.
However, I would caution against making this kind of comparison:
That said: is racism a bigger problem in Japan than e.g. in the United States? Oh, yes. Unquestionably.
First of all I don't think the piece makes any egregious mistakes in how it discusses racism--I want to make that clear. But as with many complicated things, the answer is "it depends," and in this case it specifically depends on who you are. (As a white guy living in Japan,) I think it's really hard for a white guy living in Japan to get a sense of how to accurately compare--as a random but probably highly pertinent example in the case of their respective countries--the experience of an African-American with that of a Zainichi Korean. The U.S. has a history with regards to those of African heritage, and Japan has a history with regards to those of Korean heritage, and those are both enormously complicated things. So I think it's simply best to acknowledge, "yeah, Japan has some stuff to work on, just like the U.S. does, and probably everywhere."
But I can say that it's absolutely the case that a white dude really doesn't have it that rough, and the racism I've experienced up until now (after 3.5 years here) is on the level of persistent annoyance, and I think Patrick absolutely nailed the most annoying thing I encounter day-to-day, which is this:
Imagine walking the tax return for your multinational software company into the local tax office and being asked, in a clerk’s best speaking-to-a-slow-child voice, “Who can I call (mimes phone) if I have a question (shrugs) about this paper (points)?”
...it makes me want to scream on a bad day, but I think he's also entirely correct that
Few things in life are worth fighting over. Fights that are worth fighting are usually worth winning.
At some point, your response just ends up being a shrug and the familiar Japanese "shouganai..."
(EDIT: a little for grammar and to clarify quoting from the piece.)
However, I would caution against making this kind of comparison:
That said: is racism a bigger problem in Japan than e.g. in the United States? Oh, yes. Unquestionably.
First of all I don't think the piece makes any egregious mistakes in how it discusses racism--I want to make that clear. But as with many complicated things, the answer is "it depends," and in this case it specifically depends on who you are. (As a white guy living in Japan,) I think it's really hard for a white guy living in Japan to get a sense of how to accurately compare--as a random but probably highly pertinent example in the case of their respective countries--the experience of an African-American with that of a Zainichi Korean. The U.S. has a history with regards to those of African heritage, and Japan has a history with regards to those of Korean heritage, and those are both enormously complicated things. So I think it's simply best to acknowledge, "yeah, Japan has some stuff to work on, just like the U.S. does, and probably everywhere."
But I can say that it's absolutely the case that a white dude really doesn't have it that rough, and the racism I've experienced up until now (after 3.5 years here) is on the level of persistent annoyance, and I think Patrick absolutely nailed the most annoying thing I encounter day-to-day, which is this:
Imagine walking the tax return for your multinational software company into the local tax office and being asked, in a clerk’s best speaking-to-a-slow-child voice, “Who can I call (mimes phone) if I have a question (shrugs) about this paper (points)?”
...it makes me want to scream on a bad day, but I think he's also entirely correct that
Few things in life are worth fighting over. Fights that are worth fighting are usually worth winning.
At some point, your response just ends up being a shrug and the familiar Japanese "shouganai..."
(EDIT: a little for grammar and to clarify quoting from the piece.)