Current Events > Here's a nice little bar in Tokyo.

(+) Yeah! (+)

What's that little white sign by the door?

Let's get closer.

Here it is:



Ah, it's one of those "Japanese Only" signs. If you're white, don't even try to get in because they won't let you.

This one is from last month, pics were taken on April 20th:

http://www.debito.org/?p=14981

There's a lot of these signs in Tokyo and all around Japan. Restaurants, barbershops, bars, nightclubs, saunas, etc. So many places that don't want you as a customer if you're not Japanese.

Here's a nice little gallery with many more examples:

http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html
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I too visit the Japan subreddit
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BignutzisBack posted...

I too visit the Japan subreddit

cool!
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Did Jim Crow move to Japan?
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Japan is such a great country tho
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Must suck to be white in Japan. It's almost like being Black in America

And?

frozenshock posted...

Ah, it's one of those "Japanese Only" signs. If you're white, don't even try to get in because they won't let you.

This one is from last month, pics were taken on April 20th:

http://www.debito.org/?p=14981

There's a lot of these signs in Tokyo and all around Japan. Restaurants, barbershops, bars, nightclubs, saunas, etc. So many places that don't want you as a customer if you're not Japanese.

Here's a nice little gallery with many more examples:

http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html

I mean reading that link just makes it sound like they don't want to have to deal with the language barrier. There's some signs that say you're still allowed to enter if you're accompanied by a Japanese speaking person or if you're not Japanese but just speak Japanese.

This is a side effect of having an official language.
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Japan moved from black vans shouting "White pig go home!" over loudspeakers to "Japanese Only" signs... So what happens in 20 years when all of these places have to shutter their doors because Japan's population continues to shrink and shrink?
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frozenshock posted...

From the Japanese text on the sign, if you can speak Japanese, they should be willing to serve you regardless of race.
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DuneMan posted...

Japan moved from black vans shouting "White pig go home!" over loudspeakers to "Japanese Only" signs... So what happens in 20 years when all of these places have to shutter their doors because Japan's population continues to shrink and shrink?

Are you implying they should intermix with other races? Because that sounds like a complete travesty.
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Volkswagen_Bros posted...

Are you implying they should intermix with other races? Because that sounds like a complete travesty.

Why?
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Most of the time this is because of misunderstandings with foreigners that lead to some pretty bad experiences all around. To avoid this sort of thing they would rather not have tourists in there in the first place. There's plenty of places for tourists to visit otherwise.
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I dont see the problem.
Just chuck an egg at them and move on
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The sign says that none of the staff there speaks a foreign language so they don't accept foreigners for that reason. If you speak the language then they probably won't refuse you.
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WonkyKong posted...

I dont see the problem.
Just chuck an egg at them and move on

No do not vandalize businesses.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Volkswagen_Bros posted...

Are you implying they should intermix with other races? Because that sounds like a complete travesty.

Why?

Don't play stupid, brother.
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When I was in Tokyo I didnt see any of these signs I hear it is pretty common in Hokkaido though
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who wants to drink 2% shit beer anyway in japan?
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seems xenophobic
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NinjaWarrior455 posted...

The sign says that none of the staff there speaks a foreign language so they don't accept foreigners for that reason. If you speak the language then they probably won't refuse you.

Oh the irony
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awesome999 posted...

NinjaWarrior455 posted...

The sign says that none of the staff there speaks a foreign language so they don't accept foreigners for that reason. If you speak the language then they probably won't refuse you.

Oh the irony

This is America please speak English if you're here

I ran into a lot of this when I went to try and check out the gay bar scene in Shinjuku's Nichome. I'm a big black guy, obviously a foreigner, and most of the places that actually invited you in catered to the international crowd, they were also pretty tame. Naturally, all the fun scenes were mostly hosted in clubs that I couldn't enter.

chollima posted...

who wants to drink 2% shit beer anyway in japan?

You can literally buy stronger stuff at 7-11 around the corner and drink it on the train on your commute. Public drinking isn't illegal in Japan so you don't go out to drink, you go out to socialize.
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There's a ton of fucked up shit going on with Japan.
-Rising communist population?
-Japanese people rather have robots replace them than have foreigners enter the country.
-Birth rates are tanking, and the majority of the population is now "aging"
-despite the birth rates being low, STD's are pretty rampant across Japan...
-Japanese people tend to get kidnaped and forced into N. Korean labor camps.
-Chinese people that immigrated to Japan, end up doing "high risk"manual labor jobs for long hours and shitty income
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awesome999 posted...

NinjaWarrior455 posted...

The sign says that none of the staff there speaks a foreign language so they don't accept foreigners for that reason. If you speak the language then they probably won't refuse you.

Oh the irony

To be honest, it sounds like an excuse.

Some of those "japanese only" places have been known to refuse entry to a white guy who lived in Japan for years, spoke good Japanese and even had a japanese passport.

Some of those places have been convinced to take down their sign after a talk, but that hasn't always been the case.

I'm not saying Japan is a bad place and all, but it would be dishonest to say there isn't a dark side.

Like, take this example of a realtor ad for apartments:



One of the signs in the legend means "foreigners allowed."

The logo is even abbreviated in the visual to "'Gaijin' allowed" for your convenience. Thanks for making it so clear, I guess. Very Heartful.

You'll also notice that there is only one apartment of the twelve on this page which will deign to take "gaijin" (the very first one in the top left hand corner). And it's nearly the cheapest and quite possibly the crappiest one on the entire pageonly a one-room (1R). What a coincidence.

What a lovely way to welcome newcomers who have enough hurdles to jump over in this society, without having the most fundamental thing they need in their lifea place to rest their head every daydenied them when they first arrive or need to move. Moreover relegate them to lousy housing regardless of income.

The fact that this company is bold enough to make exclusionism so explicit (the realtor will no doubt counterargue that this is done by the landlord's wishes; they're just following orders) makes them an accessory to the discrimination in black and white. Debito.org wishes to discourage this type of systematic discrimination in any way possible, so the realtor gets put up on the "Rogues Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments".

If you're looking for apartments in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, I suggest someplace less tolerant of intolerance.

http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html#FukushimakuOsaka
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