The Land od the Rising Yen

fury against
the Jews, when the latter amounted to only one per cent of the population, and
the post-war Polish government did even better: that frightened and bungling
régime produced anti-Semitism without any Jews at all. Nothing like this has
ever happened in Japan. All Bosnians are safe.
    This ‘complete lack of racial
prejudice’ rather worried me. My main thesis had been that the Japanese are
certainly not worse than we are; but not better either. They are just human.
And to be completely without racial prejudice in this year of Our Lord is so
virtuous as to be inhuman. In the twenty-third century, perhaps; indeed, most
probably. But not today.
    But I could relax. Racial prejudice
is indeed not a national problem — Japan is, after all, one of the racially
most homogeneous nations of the world — yet I am pleased to report the
following findings:
    (1) I have already spoken about a
slight anti-American feeling which, however, is marginally different from the
anti-Americanism of, say, the French. (See Ladies and Gentlemen.)
    (2) There is a slight undercurrent
against all Europeans too. (European means white). It is no
stronger than anti-Japanese feelings in Britain. No one can say that there are
strong anti-Japanese trends in Britain. Yet a Japanese is a stranger, coming
from distant shores. An alien is an alien. And a gaijin is a gaijin.
    (3) They look down upon the Koreans.
    (4) They look down upon the Chinese.
But they also look up to the Chinese.
    (5) People who are half-Japanese and
half-American (born in large numbers after the war) have a hard time. To get
good jobs is very, very difficult for them.
    (6) When the American half was Negro,
their lot was much worse. Most of them left the country.
    If you are half-Negro, half-Japanese
and were born in Korea and brought up in China by European parents, do not
emigrate to Japan.
    Finally, there is a trace of
anti-Japanese prejudice in Japan. The slight anti-Europeanism mentioned above
combines with a slight European-mania. If you read Mr Kawasaki’s book you will
see that he believes a love of Caucasians — as he calls us — to be Japan’s main
disease and that the Japanese are almost persecuted in their own country. I
myself saw no evidence of actual persecution. Occasionally, it happened that in
a crowd or in a restaurant, when I felt lost, I was politely helped while the
Japanese were left on their own. But I needed help and they did not.
    I did notice, however, that a few
female Japanese pop-singers and television performers had had an operation to
have their eyes straightened; I also saw a very few — two, to be precise —
girls who had their beautiful black hair dyed blonde and red respectively. And
I also saw many wax models in department stores with European instead of
Japanese faces.
    On the other hand there is no
prejudice or intolerance vis-à-vis Japanese Americans — those Japanese
who became Americans or were born in some of the western states, and who no
longer speak Japanese and feel — indeed are — Americans. I am glad to
report that these people have improved their lot and their standing — and did
so by sheer merit. During the war it was suspected by the Americans that they
would form a fifth column. In fact, they proved themselves loyal, brave
soldiers and this is remembered in the United States. There is not a shadow of
resentment against them in Japan either. As one Japanese novelist told me:
‘They are Americans now. We want them to be good Americans.’
     
    There are only two serious examples
of racial prejudice.
    (1) Koreans have a tough time. There
are many of them in Japan — their country was colonized by the Japanese. It is
extremely difficult, almost impossible, for them to become naturalized, yet one
source of resentment against them is that they do not become Japanese subjects.
It is very difficult for them to get good jobs; and impossible for them to be
treated as equals.
    As Koreans outwardly resemble the
Japanese, many of them assume Japanese names and try to pass as natives.
    A Japanese friend told me that a
cousin of his wanted to marry a girl who on investigation turned out to be a
Korean. The family opposed the marriage but the boy remained adamant so, in the
end, the family gave in. A Japanese wedding is a splendid and costly ceremony:
all the bridegroom’s and the bride’s close relations must be present.
But to invite a Korean family was out of the question. So they hired about a
hundred Japanese