Your mafia dialect is showing through.... (just kidding)

But in all seriousness... I frankly love Japan, but the people who talk about discrimination and foreigner/gaijin aversion are more likely to be correct than the ones trying to defend them. I'm not saying that everyone is racist but it is highly prevalent and fully even into the upper reaches of the government. Take for instance:

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/b...immigrant.html

Japan has a history of paying actual citizens of foreign descent to leave. This is an article from 2009, but the first time I'd heard about this was at least 25 years ago how the government created a special program to pay anyone of African descent to leave Japan and live in Brazil. I didn't actually believe it at the time, but then this article came out over a decade later which makes me think there was some truth to the first time I heard the story. This story also popped up the other day:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...hnic-identity/

Although he apologizes for it later due to the controversy, you have to consider what he was actually saying, and the pride with which he originally said it. Japan is Japanese only... and this is coming from one of the top leaders in the government. And of course:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-applications/

I think this last one speaks for itself.

Now... I'm not saying they're wrong or right. Ethnocentrism and racism have recently been repackaged as "populist" and have gained a lot of traction worldwide in recent years. I think I don't need to point out the various current world leaders that fall under this flag. However, most countries go through phases of "populism" that ebb and fade. In the case of Japan, at least according to the Deputy Prime Minister, it has lasted for 2,000 years. I don't agree with it but at the end of the day, it's their country.