Ohhhh...the dark side of Japan

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Monday rejected a suit by a U.S. national who demanded compensation from the owner of an eyeglasses shop who allegedly told him he disliked black people and refused him entry to the store.

Steve McGowan, 41, a designer, demanded that the store owner pay 1.5 million yen in compensation for remarks he said were discriminatory. The court, however, ruled that the business owner did not use any such offensive words.

The case stems from an incident in Osaka Prefecture in September 2004. McGowan was talking with his friend while looking at a poster in front of the shop when the owner came out and asked the two to leave, according to the ruling. The next day, McGowan and his Japanese wife appeared at the shop, and she asked the owner what had happed the day before.

The owner explained that he had asked the two to leave after he was contacted by a customer who claimed to have had trouble entering the store because there were people in front of it.
The business owner added that he had a bad impression of black people during a stay in Germany.

McGowan, who lives in Kyoto Prefecture, maintained in the suit that the owner said he hated black people and refused him entry to the shop. The court, however, rejected the allegation. "The plaintiff should have said that he was made to leave the shop against his will," the judge said. "I have doubts about the plaintiff's level of comprehension of the Japanese language. I cannot trust his accusation over the use of discriminatory remarks."

The judge concluded that the plaintiff had merely assumed the owner made offensive remarks when he mentioned his experience in Germany. McGowan called the ruling disappointing and said it saddened him. His lawyer, Masao Niwa, called the ruling "unfair." "The ruling said there were no discriminatory remarks. But it didn't explain why the defendant asked him to leave," Niwa said. (Mainichi News)
============================

As any foreigner can tell you, discrimation is rife in Japan...don't get me wrong, it is everywhere in the world but it is especially noticeable in Japan, a country that has been for so long isolated and traditions well-preserved.

I am fortunate enough to know only people who are open-minded intellectuals - Japanese who are open-minded and truly interested in learning English. I might add that there are plenty of intellectuals, bureaucrats, who are plenty pig-headed and close-minded. I am not Japanese but if I was, I would be ashamed to have some of them as the leaders of this country. I have had almost no encounters with ultra-nationalist Japanese people who dislike foreigners.

Err...maybe I spoke too soon. The one exception being this one shop, Mobilini (see photo). I initially thought the store sold lamps and other types of home lighting. Upon entry I noticed it was not a store for lights at all - rather it was a store full of trinkets similar to Precious Moments goods back home. The store owner was a bit unenterprising and when I spoke in Japanese to ask about one of the items, it was clear that I was a foreigner. It seemed the moment they found out I was a foreigner, they two owners projected a new, hideously cold aura. Well, I did a quick 180-degree and left, never to go back again.

I guess that experience made me understand how the man in Osaka must have felt, though I am not going to go around suing people left and right. It is pointless. It is my decision to only surround myself with wonderful people and those who chose not to like me, I could care less! We should not let other people's opinion of us, no matter how prejudiced, get under our skins. When I think of that shop, I just smile a wan smile and pity all the things the poor shop owners are missing out on. If we are narrow-minded, there are so many things in life that we might miss out on.

On the flipside, Hiro's good friends stayed in NYC for about a year. They commented about how friendly some Americans were but at the same time how others were cold and unwelcoming because they were obvious foreigners. Prejudice is everywhere around us and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Just makes you appreciate all those who are free of prejudice and judgement, doesn't it?