Wa-pedia Home > Japan Forum & Europe Forum
Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 77

Thread: Comparing Japan and the world => tolerance & prejudices

  1. #1
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location
    ¼‹ž
    Posts
    2,434

    Arrow Comparing Japan and the world => tolerance & prejudices

    Let us have a look again at the stats from Nationmaster. This time I'd like to see where Japan stands in terms of tolerance and prejudices.

    The following stats show the percentage of people who do not want to live next to a particular kind of people. The higher the %age and the higher the prejudice, I presume.

    Japan actually tops the list of developed countries for several categories of undesirable neighbours.

    As many as 82% wouldn't want to live next to Political extremists. The 2nd highest is Germany with 71% (understandably due to the Nazi past), and the lowest score is for Denmark with only 10% of the people who would object.

    One of the biggest gap between Japan and Western countries can be seen in the tolerance toward homosexuals. 69% of Japanese are uncomfortable about having gay neighbours, followed by Austria with 43% (that's a 26% gap !). Even the US with all the recent debate about gay marriage only comes 4th with only 34% (so not all people who voted "Bush" were anti-gay ). The Dutch and Scandinavians are the most tolerant (11 to 18%).

    Japanese are also the most numerous (62%) in those who fear living next to emotionally unstable people (that is why so many of them look constantly worried, as it's hard to find a block of house without a hysteric girl or a crabby grandmother ). Americans come next (47%), but I understand that much more esily, because of the high rate of gun-ownership. Swiss and Danish people care the least (11%).

    77% of the Japanese feel uncomfortable living next to someone who has AIDS, the 2nd highest score after Switzerland (88%). Denmark is still the most tolerant with only 9% of the people caring about it.

    Japan has the highest intolerance level when it comes to drug addicts, with 91% fearing to live next to some of them. The USA comes 2nd with 80%. Switzerland (39%) and France (44%) are the most tolerant. Surprisingly, the Dutch are among the most intolerant (73%) as well as the Scandinavians.

    That was for Japan as the most prejudiced country. When it comes to heavy drinking, American, Australian, Austrian and Dutch people are all equally the most intolerant (61-62%), followed very closely by Japan (58%). The Irish are the most open (eheh) with only 34% objecting to heavy drinking neigbhours (probably because the rest are heavy drinkers ).

    Americans fear most to have neighbours with a criminal record (54%), then the Irish (52%), then the Japanese (50%). Swiss (13%) and French (20%) people care the least. Isn't it strange that more Japanese fear living next to an homosexual or somebody who has AIDS than a criminal ?

    The highest tolerance level for all countries were for living next to someone of a difference race. Belgians and Fins are the most racist here (17%), while Japan comes only 4th with just 11% (but why do most landowners make so much fuss about renting their accommodation to a foreigner, even to Japan-born Koreans ?). I guess the people who surveyed the Japanese must have been non-Japanese, and many people didn't answer frankly on this one.

    Visit Japan for free with Wa-pedia
    See what's new on the forum ?
    Eupedia : Europe Guide & Genetics
    Maciamo & Eupedia on Twitter

    "What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?", Winston Churchill.

  2. #2
    Hullu RockLee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 22, 2004
    Location
    Espoo
    Age
    41
    Posts
    217
    Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
    the Dutch are among the most intolerant (73%) as well as the Scandinavians.
    hahaha...when u ask someone about Holland they automatically say ohh WEED??? :P

    The Irish are the most open (eheh) with only 34% objecting to heavy drinking neigbhours (probably because the rest are heavy drinkers ).
    hehe..figures...the irish !!! lol

    Isn't it strange that more Japanese fear living next to an homosexual or somebody who has AIDS than a criminal ?
    yeh that's weird allright

    The highest tolerance level for all countries were for living next to someone of a difference race. Belgians and Fins are the most racist here (17%), while Japan comes only 4th with just 11% (but why do most landowners make so much fuss about renting their accommodation to a foreigner, even to Japan-born Koreans ?). I guess the people who surveyed the Japanese must have been non-Japanese, and many people didn't answer frankly on this one.
    Well If you live in belgium you would understand why so many are rascists...in some areas there isn't almost a single belgian...and the immigrants there act like ******* criminals XD, that Japan comes out fourth is very surprising...I guess indeed they didn't want to answer on that hehe...
    ~ Parempi hullu kuin tylsä - Better crazy than boring ~
    http://www.fin-style.be/blog -> My Blog about Finland and other random thingies.

  3. #3
    Junior Member DoctorP's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 3, 2004
    Age
    54
    Posts
    198
    One of the biggest gap between Japan and Western countries can be seen in the tolerance toward homosexuals. 69% of Japanese are uncomfortable about having gay neighbours, followed by Austria with 43% (that's a 26% gap !). Even the US with all the recent debate about gay marriage only comes 4th with only 34% (so not all people who voted "Bush" were anti-gay ). The Dutch and Scandinavians are the most tolerant (11 to 18%).
    I could be wrong, but it looks like the figures for the US came from a study of only roughly 8000 people...hardly an in depth study!

  4. #4
    Heimin
    Join Date
    Mar 31, 2005
    Posts
    12
    About homosexuality, most of the younger generations don't mind homosexuality at all and aren't really sexually shy. They love to see their bishounen-stars getting it on with eachother. And the millions of fanfics can prove it. It probably depends on which place you are at in Japan.
    The younger generations are more open and tolerant then their elders. That's what everything is about.

  5. #5
    tsuyaku o tsukete kudasai nurizeko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 19, 2005
    Location
    aberdeen, scotland
    Age
    39
    Posts
    165
    a normal friday night out for some of my mates is to tongue each other fairly passionatly infront of girls to get their attention..

    suffice to say homosexuality, and what is considored gay is now considored pretty harmless and normal for the most part.

    but, interesting to note my mates dont considor themselves gay and still make gay jabs.

    emotionally unstable is a harder one, since that ranges from just a bit needy or fairly rude, to downright out their head.

    if you have aids i feel for ya, but i aint moving out, so tough =P.

    i could live next to a criminal but ide be more aware of his/her activities.

    man i live in britain, ive been around people of different origins since i can remember, i would be hard pressed to tell a foreigner from a brit purely based on colour.

  6. #6
    Go to shopping PopCulturePooka's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 8, 2004
    Age
    43
    Posts
    96
    I feel uncomfortable living next to drug addicts, alcoholics and emotionally unstable people, but then I've lived to 2 out of 3 of those groups (alcoholics and emotionally unstables) at various points and it can be quite a scray, nasty experience to do so.

  7. #7
    Regular Member MeAndroo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 29, 2004
    Location
    Asago-shi, Hyogo-ken
    Age
    42
    Posts
    28
    Go live in a college dorm. I lived on the same floor as political extremists, homosexuals, heavy drinkers and drug users, emotional headcases and people with criminal records. Talk about broadening your horizons.

    But I'm sure it's not the norm. It's so cal after all. As far as Japan is concerned, the only one that surprised me was the race one. This is a country that still has problems letting Japan born Koreans vote, and makes white people famous if they can just speak the language. For stuff like political extremism or criminals, I guess it all goes back to social harmony (wa) and its role in traditional Japanese society. I was also surprised by the lack of AIDS awareness for the most part. It seemed like people just didn't talk about it when I was there.
    Go Trojans! Fight On!

  8. #8
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Feb 4, 2005
    Posts
    189
    The highest tolerance level for all countries were for living next to someone of a difference race. Belgians and Fins are the most racist here (17%), while Japan comes only 4th with just 11% (but why do most landowners make so much fuss about renting their accommodation to a foreigner, even to Japan-born Koreans ?). I guess the people who surveyed the Japanese must have been non-Japanese, and many people didn't answer frankly on this one.
    Not all Japanese are landlords.

  9. #9
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location
    ¼‹ž
    Posts
    2,434
    Quote Originally Posted by pipokun
    Not all Japanese are landlords.
    The survey is about "neighbours", and except a few homeless, every Japanese lives in a house/flat. Anyway, it's about one's feelings if one were in that situation, not real experience.

  10. #10
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Feb 4, 2005
    Posts
    189
    The survey is about "neighbours", and except a few homeless, every Japanese lives in a house/flat. Anyway, it's about one's feelings if one were in that situation, not real experience.
    Yeah, I know. What I wanted to say is that it may be different result if the landlords had been asked. As I am not rich, I cannot share their feelings.


    To MeAndroo,
    Concerning the AIDS awaireness, you are right. It is sad that Japanese are really lack of it. And the recent survey shows gradual increase of the patients in Japan, though the number and rate of the patients is still smaller and lower than any other countries.
    About the ethnic Korean voting right in Japan, I am against it as far as they retain their South/North Korean citizenships.
    If I remember correctly, the South pushing hard to get the right, but the North does not.

  11. #11
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location
    ¼‹ž
    Posts
    2,434
    Quote Originally Posted by Meiki
    About homosexuality, most of the younger generations don't mind homosexuality at all and aren't really sexually shy. They love to see their bishounen-stars getting it on with eachother. And the millions of fanfics can prove it. It probably depends on which place you are at in Japan.
    The younger generations are more open and tolerant then their elders. That's what everything is about.
    I agree that the younger Japanese are usually more open-minded than their elders (also less critical). But hentai manga isn't really the way to judge people's acceptance of homosexuality in real life ! Like in most Western countries, lesbians are more easily accepted than male gays in Japan, especially if they are bisexual (some men really fantasize women like that). But it's still a big no-no to admit yo are gay in Japan.

    If you check "“¯©�" (homosexuality) on Amazon Japan, there is only one book !! Likewise, if you type "ƒzƒ‚ƒZƒNƒVƒ…ƒAƒ‹" (homosexual), there are only 3 books among the millions of Japanese publications available on Amazon. The keyword "ƒQƒC" (gay) gives 171 results.

    In comparison, checking Amazon US, there are 1444 books for the keyword "homosexuality", 917 for "homosexual" and 10,097 for "gay" !

    Even Amazon France (with a market half the size of Japan's) has 1147 books in French about "homosexualite", and 1540 books in French with the keyword "gay", a word used less often in French than in Japanese (you know, French people don't like using English words, but the Japanese just love it ).

    Not that I care, but this gives us a good idea of how taboo homosexuality still is in Japanese society outside pornography.

    Searching Google, I have found the following results for the above keywords :

    - “¯©� => 661
    - ƒzƒ‚ƒZƒNƒVƒ…ƒAƒ‹ => 9,000

    - homosexual => 3,790,000
    - homosexuality => 3,690,000
    - gay => 52,300,000

    - homosexualite (with accent on the "e") => 433,000

    Again, even anonymously on the web, the Japanese very rarely discuss or write about homosexuality.

  12. #12
    Your Goddess is here Ma Cherie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 24, 2004
    Location
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Posts
    92
    By checking out Nationmaster I found something to be quite interesting and strange. Attitude of Women-should have equal rights, while Canada came in at 70%, the US at 62%, Switzerland 39%, Japan came in at 21%. However, this is what I found strange. The attitude that women are better off than their grandmothers Japan came in at 96%. Unless I'm the only one who finds this odd, Japan also ranked 82% in the area that women are happier now. A huge gap considering that United Kingdom ranked 42%. Canada 33%, Germany 29%, and the US 28%. (Yes, I skipped some countries ). Is this odd or what?
    "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  13. #13
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location
    ¼‹ž
    Posts
    2,434
    Quote Originally Posted by Ma Cherie
    By checking out Nationmaster I found something to be quite interesting and strange. Attitude of Women-should have equal rights, while Canada came in at 70%, the US at 62%, Switzerland 39%, Japan came in at 21%. However, this is what I found strange. The attitude that women are better off than their grandmothers Japan came in at 96%. Unless I'm the only one who finds this odd, Japan also ranked 82% in the area that women are happier now. A huge gap considering that United Kingdom ranked 42%. Canada 33%, Germany 29%, and the US 28%.
    I also noticed it before. I suppose this is because it is true that women (and men !) are better off now than their grandmothers (or grandfathers). This is because society has evolved, and in Japan's case, the US "imposed" democracy and relatively equal rights for men and women (e.g. for education, voting rights, etc.). So forcedly Japanese women are better off and happier now, although it doesn't mean that most people think they should have equal rights for everything (e.g. promotion at work). I am surprised at the number of young Japanese women who still think that men have more "rights" or deserve more respect than women.

  14. #14
    Junior Member Aria28's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 4, 2005
    Location
    Geneva
    Age
    46
    Posts
    2
    Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
    I am surprised at the number of young Japanese women who still think that men have more "rights" or deserve more respect than women.
    I think this is due to the fact that the evolution of women rights was somewhat forced upon Japan in the first decades after the war, and was too fast and unnatural. Therefore I would suppose that there's a gap between laws and mentalities, since the latter are much slower to change than laws -read: takes one or more generations. Hence the education of most women who are today in their 30s or more certainly still carried on the belief that men have more rights. Hell, i wonder if that's not still the case for many young girls in today. Anyone knows about this?

  15. #15
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 17, 2002
    Location
    ¼‹ž
    Posts
    2,434
    Quote Originally Posted by Aria28
    Hence the education of most women who are today in their 30s or more certainly still carried on the belief that men have more rights. Hell, i wonder if that's not still the case for many young girls in today. Anyone knows about this?
    What do you mean by young girls ? I can tell you it's true for those in their 20's, and I suspect also teenagers. Under that there is no point questioning as they probably don't understand what rights are, and they haven't got enough maturity to judge anyway.

  16. #16
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Oct 16, 2006
    Posts
    20
    Belgians and Fins are the most racist here (17%). There is something what we should really work out.

  17. #17
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 1, 2006
    Posts
    5
    The Belgians being the most racist are exactly where I think they should be. Their colonial history in Africa is one of psychopathic brutality towards the Africans. I am just not surprised by these findings.

  18. #18
    Virgin Islands Girl
    Join Date
    Feb 15, 2007
    Location
    St. Thomas
    Age
    36
    Posts
    3
    I guess landowners don't want to rent to foreigners because they assume foreigners are more messy than Japanese people, more likely to cause a disturbance, and just don't understand enough about Japanese culture to be responsible.

  19. #19
    Non-Member
    Join Date
    Sep 18, 2005
    Posts
    153
    Face it, foreigners present a risk. For a number of reasons, a landlord can not take it for granted that a foreigner will stay in Japan for the duration of the contract. And worse than that, some people seem to think that they are under no obligation to follow up on their end of their contract when in Japan.

    When I did a stunt at eikaiwa, it was not unheard of for teachers to just up and leave without any warning. I know of people who leave Japan without paying their cell phone and other bills from my college days.

    Anyone who has had business dealings with such people are understandable wary of us foreigners. I know I don't blame them.

  20. #20
    Just me Glenski's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 20, 2003
    Location
    Somecity, Japan (American)
    Posts
    80
    For tolerance and prejudices, let's see how many countries still post signs like "No foreigners allowed". Japan has them in places, despite signing the anti-discrimination treaty 12 years ago. NO laws have been enacted to enforce that signing.

  21. #21
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Feb 27, 2005
    Location
    japan
    Posts
    176
    ‚h@‚”‚�‰‚Ž‚‹@it is distinguish though it is not discrimination.

  22. #22
    Regular Member KirinMan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 23, 2007
    Posts
    42
    Quote Originally Posted by caster51 View Post
    ‚h@‚”‚�‰‚Ž‚‹@it is distinguish though it is not discrimination.
    How is it not discrimination?

  23. #23
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Feb 27, 2005
    Location
    japan
    Posts
    176
    the most case is at Hostess bar that is witten like that.

    only sitting in the bar is ¥10.000 charge and they can not speak English at all.

    i think it is kind of them.

    good japanese speaker of the chinese and the Korean are not included.

    If I were a master of hostess bar and i can not speak english at all,
    I could not take care of them there and I could not say "please pay money" with out conversation service

  24. #24
    Regular Member KirinMan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 23, 2007
    Posts
    42
    Quote Originally Posted by caster51 View Post
    the most case is at Hostess bar that is witten like that.
    only sitting in the bar is ��10.000 charge and they can not speak English at all.
    i think it is kind of them.
    good japanese speaker of the chinese and the Korean are not included.
    If I were a master of hostess bar and i can not speak english at all,
    I could not take care of them there and I could not say "please pay money" with out conversation service
    Mmm then what do you call it when a "gaijin" that speaks Japanese is refused service.

    To assume that "all foreigners" can not speak Japanese is not only discriminatory but also racist and to collectively refuse them all service is the same as well.

  25. #25
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Feb 27, 2005
    Location
    japan
    Posts
    176
    Mmm then what do you call it when a "gaijin" that speaks Japanese is refused service.
    It is Ok to enter , however I would keep sign like that.
    if they keep to complain about that , they are not a customer

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Have you encountered discrimination or prejudices in Japan ?
    By Maciamo in forum Immigration & Foreigners
    Replies: 314
    Last Post: Oct 24, 2012, 13:21
  2. Replies: 11
    Last Post: Jan 14, 2008, 09:14
  3. Replies: 26
    Last Post: Jan 4, 2006, 14:31
  4. Replies: 5
    Last Post: Jan 4, 2005, 10:54

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •