Something I’ve noticed having lived in Japan and Switzerland is that racism doesn’t have to be directed at those who look different. A name from a particular country or a specific accent can be all it takes for someone to go from smiling at you to walking away from you. You really don’t have to be black, just as an example, to receive the harsh discrimination dished out by some of the least open minded members of the Japanese population. You don’t need to possess overtly exotic features in Switzerland to be told that you are not the sort of foreigner they like to welcome with open arms.
It’s almost understandable for a small and prosperous country of nine million to feel the presence of foreigners, though that doesn’t excuse the behavior of some of the more bigoted people. In Japan the argument that it is still a very homogenous country is used to explain, again, not excuse, the mild xenophobic attitudes held against white or coloured people, but the reasons for the discrimination against Zainichi Koreans can’t be blamed on skin colour.In 1910 Japan Annexed Korea and thus began tough times for Koreans at the hands of the Japanese. Much of the farmland was seized forcing many Koreans to flee to Japan to survive and shortly after, once WW2 erupted, Japan decided to exploit the labour resources a colony provides and brought tens of thousands of Koreans back to Japan to work in factories and mines. By the end of the war there was an estimated 2 million Koreans working in Japan, mostly against their will. Once Japan surrendered many of the displaced Koreans returned home, but of course, since many had been forced to assimilate with Japanese culture and lead Japanese lives a great deal of them had already established their lives in Japan and couldn’t see Korea offering them better employment prospects.
These Koreans who decided against repatriation had to face even more hardship as the Japanese government ordered them to assimilate further and even counted them as Japanese citizens. Despite this, the discrimination against Koreans still thrives and even I have heard of moments of nastiness from second hand sources.I remember a school friend of mine was looking for a part time job while he was studying – at one of the most reputable universities in Japan, mind. His telephone interview was going so well until he mentioned his name, which happens to be Korean. His Japanese is flawless and his friends are for the most part Japanese and yet his name can present obstacles depending on how bigoted the person he is talking to is.
I was quite shocked to hear that such discrimination is still rife in our day and age; apparently it is still common for Koreans working in Japan to only find employment in low-level occupations such as day-labour or scrap collecting. Being so caught up with the mild discrimination I underwent as a mixed race person growing up in Japan, I never really stopped to think that the racism in Japan could extend to people who belong, technically, to the same race.What brought this to mind five years after my friend’s experience? The fact that in Switzerland the racism against Germans draws a parallel to the situation Koreans face in Japan. Flathunting in Switzerland with my German boyfriend brought many interesting aspects of subtle racism to light.
Finding a flat in Zurich is literally the closest thing to finding a needle in a haystack I have ever undertaken. First of all, the competition is horrifically high – to the point you wonder how there aren’t more than a handful of homeless people in this city. Then, of course, there is the fact that the agencies are definitely Mafiosi (ok, so I have no proof of this, but I hear lots of rumors of bribes being dished out left right and centre). When you add to the above the fact that I am under 25 (which in Swiss means prone to excessive consumption and therefore debt) and that my boyfriend is German you are left with the least eligible duo possible. Germans, you see, are not very welcome in Zurich – they’re considered a threat to the educated workforce.
The Swiss were relatively lax about the arrival of the Italians and the Turkish because they didn’t arrive fluent in German and, for the most part, brandishing fancy educations. One German couple we know found a flat after months of searching, however, there was one irrational condition they had to accept: he was not to park his German number plated car in front of the flat lest the neighbors find out the landlord has succumbed to German tenancy! In the end, we found a flat. How, you ask? The landlady is British – that is likely the only reason we are not going to be homeless in Zurich come April. Of course, we also see such discrimination take place between those of different religions and often religious disputes can take place between those who look very similar to one another; the conflict between Islam and Hinduism in India led to the creation of Pakistan.
If racism is defined strictly by the difference in race being the motive for discrimination, then perhaps what I mention above isn’t really racism per se, however, it’s a very close parallel. When the Swiss deny the Germans a truly “Swiss” salary, they are discriminating against them based on their nationality, not their abilities. When the Japanese deny Zainichi Koreans jobs of a certain echelon, they do so based on their passport and not on their level of integration with Japanese culture. Yet, the outcry when something like this happens is muffled; people see it as discrimination rather than racism and of course, racism is the worst form of offence against political correctness and being PC seems to be all the rage in the Western world at the moment. Anything else, like discrimination against certain nationalities and gender inequality will have to hang about in the waiting room while overt racism gets tackled first.