Why don't the Japanese differentiate more between foreigners ?

[Maciamo]

Thread split from My Docomo experience

Yes, I know of about 6 people like this, myself. I'm not surprised that a good number of Japanese don't trust foreigners. I think that in large part it's a reputation we deserve. I have huge sympathy for those of us just trying to make an honest living, though.

No, the sempiternal problem is that they do not differentiate between foreigners, although there are people from hundreds of countries in Japan, and many different social classes for each country. For me, no one falls in any category wider than "country+ethnic group+social class" (i.e. every person I meet has an etiquette with these 3 basic information). If the Japanese did the same, they would notice huge (I mean huge) differences between the so-called "foreigners" depending on the categories they fit in, and probably a clear trend for each group of people sharing the same 3 factors.

If you ask me which of an "upper-middle Indian from India" or a "lower class white Briton" would behave best in Japan, I would answer the first one without hesitation. Now, you ask me a middle-class white Belgian or a middle-class white Australian, I am pretty sure that the first one will behave better too. I know that from experience living in those countries. I have also analysed the raw crime rates by nationality for Japan, although the ethnicity and social class are not mentioned (big factor in any country, but especially those with big gaps between the classes, such as the US or UK).