Discrimination against Afshin Ghotbi in J-League

[caligula]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2.../#.Uy94Sfl5NN4

[Abtin]

Disgusting behaviour, didn't expect that from the Japanese!

[Soosk]

Actually the Japanese are fiercely nationalistic and with fierce nationalism can come ignorance and racism. Also the fact that they know very little about Iran doesn't help. Surrounding countries like Korea and China know just how racist the Japanese can be. Oh well all countries have their racists and these happen to be some of the ones Japan has.

[dash_sina]

Actually the Japanese are fiercely nationalistic and with fierce nationalism can come ignorance and racism. Also the fact that they know very little about Iran doesn't help. Surrounding countries like Korea and China know just how racist the Japanese can be. Oh well all countries have their racists and these happen to be some of the ones Japan has.

Absolutely. The Japanese think of themselves as a higher race even if they don't say it they feel that way. And they are very very ignorant about middle-east and especially Iran. I had a landlord who was a Japanese Canadian and she was born in Canada, and she once said to me that Iran is just this country in the middle which is left out (meaning it is just a insignificant country). Despite being raised in Canada I could still smell the arrogance. It has to do with being an isolated island which did not contact with other countries for centuries.

[teammelli8080]

i don't know if you guys are aware of this, but iranians in japan are the prototypical "bad guys". seems like the early groups that went there had a significant presence in organized crime and mafias, and so iranians are really looked down on in japan. a lot of the "bad guys" in comics and movies are specifically iranians. it's like what they do with russians here in the US, where the over-dramatized russian dude with the thick accent and ice cold straight face is always the bad one.

[persepolisfan]

They are a proud people and extremely nationalistic, although most I have met have been unbelievably kind.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

Disgusting behaviour, didn't expect that from the Japanese!

then you don't know Japanese...

they have official demonstrations in major cities saying in English "White Pigs Go Home" ...targeted at US military base in Okinawa!

Or the latest Nippon Airline add received many complaints for making obvious racist fun of westerners...

during World Cup 2002, there were even some bars, that put banners on their doors: "only Japanese". An Australian friend of mine livin there told me.

Many times you can read in Japanese papers how domestic workers from Phillippines get abused/punished by their employers in Japan.

Not to mention Japanese war crimes in 2nd world war, for which up to now the Japanese Emperor still did not appologize!

yes Japanese are very polite and kind people and bow 100 times and every sentence starts with excuse me and ends with thanjk you very much BUT only to Japanese or foreign businessmen! But to westerners, or even far easterners living there? No
thank you very much...


(I am a frequent traveller to Japan...)

[Ali.Karimi79]

then you don't know Japanese...

they have official demonstrations in major cities saying in English "White Pigs Go Home" ...targeted at US military base in Okinawa!

Or the latest Nippon Airline add received many complaints for making obvious racist fun of westerners...

during World Cup 2002, there were even some bars, that put banners on their doors: "only Japanese". An Australian friend of mine livin there told me.

Many times you can read in Japanese papers how domestic workers from Phillippines get abused/punished by their employers in Japan.

Not to mention Japanese war crimes in 2nd world war, for which up to now the Japanese Emperor still did not appologize!

yes Japanese are very polite and kind people and bow 100 times and every sentence starts with excuse me and ends with thanjk you very much BUT only to Japanese or foreign businessmen! But to westerners, or even far easterners living there? No
thank you very much...


(I am a frequent traveller to Japan...)

Amoo Addo is right here. But actually Japanese and Iranian people have this in common.
Oh the irony.

[Zamboor]

doesent super nationalists remind you of someone else? or like they think they are a superior race? hmmm where have i read this before xD

anyway one stupid fan does not make a whole people stupid

[Persian-Pride87]

I think the reason some people are surprised by this is that we tend to view technological and economic progressiveness as equating to social and cultural progressiveness. This is a very common myth.

If you look at history and look at the countries that have committed war crimes, you will find a very small list. All these ethnicities (Germans, Serbs, Turks, Japanese) have something in common which is fierce and almost zealot like fanaticism towards their national identity. Like it has been mentioned, Japan's negihbors have suffered at the hands of Japanese racism and their belief in superiority.

It is also important to note that Japan is an extremely homogeneous country, meaning that almost the entire nation is ethnically Japanese. It is not like other countries like our own Iran where we have kurds, turks, armenians, balooch and Arab minorities. With such a homogeneous society it becomes OK to hate outsiders and xenophobia becomes more widely accepted and practised than in a country with diverse ethnic groups.

Therefore, it is important to differentiate from economical progression with cultural and social progression. Japan is economically and technologically progressive but this doesn't mean they are socially or culturally progressive.

[O-ZoNe]

then you don't know Japanese...

they have official demonstrations in major cities saying in English "White Pigs Go Home" ...targeted at US military base in Okinawa!

Or the latest Nippon Airline add received many complaints for making obvious racist fun of westerners...

during World Cup 2002, there were even some bars, that put banners on their doors: "only Japanese". An Australian friend of mine livin there told me.

Many times you can read in Japanese papers how domestic workers from Phillippines get abused/punished by their employers in Japan.

Not to mention Japanese war crimes in 2nd world war, for which up to now the Japanese Emperor still did not appologize!

yes Japanese are very polite and kind people and bow 100 times and every sentence starts with excuse me and ends with thanjk you very much BUT only to Japanese or foreign businessmen! But to westerners, or even far easterners living there? No
thank you very much...


(I am a frequent traveller to Japan...)

One brush doesn't paint an entire canvas. From this logic we must infer we do not know Iranians. I mean we see thousands rally and chant "Death to this and that". Guess all Iranians are full of hate and vengeance. We know this isn't the case, and from my experiences in Nippon I can tell you they are nothing like you describe.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

One brush doesn't paint an entire canvas. From this logic we must infer we do not know Iranians. I mean we see thousands rally and chant "Death to this and that". Guess all Iranians are full of hate and vengeance. We know this isn't the case, and from my experiences in Nippon I can tell you they are nothing like you describe.

this wasn't ONE brush... this is documented history (Japanese 2nd world war racism and war crimes versus indian and chinese, and british AND NO APPOLOGY up to now by their emperor.). This is also common knowledge in whole asia abt Japanese racism...
You can see Japanese TV adds. And you can walk down Tokyo and see the banners on some bars written on purpose in English: "Only Japanese welcome"... then count them and you will see its not ONE brush!

But anyway, I have been to Japan almost once a month since the last 8 years, and have many good Japanese friends... however, I was not surprised when I saw the first post in this thread, as this was at one point in time expected in Japan.
Ther are good Japanese and (many) racist Japanese.

All Japanese are kind and extermely polite people,... But most of them are like that to themselves, and very few are like that to everybody.

[persian-eagle-13]

we iranians are just as bad when it comes to race, but looking down on our own people by saying turka khar hastan, or looking down on afghni people as scumbags.

every nation and nationality has it own demons to deal with. some do a better job and others a worse job. the level of ignorance is daunting on this very forum as how people bash arabs etc.....

[GoIran]

i don't know if you guys are aware of this, but iranians in japan are the prototypical "bad guys". seems like the early groups that went there had a significant presence in organized crime and mafias, and so iranians are really looked down on in japan. a lot of the "bad guys" in comics and movies are specifically iranians. it's like what they do with russians here in the US, where the over-dramatized russian dude with the thick accent and ice cold straight face is always the bad one.

You are right. Iranians were able to enter and exit Japan freely. However in 1990s Japan terminated the visa-free agreement with us because of the "bad guys" and deported illegal overstayers.

[persianfire]

There are good people and idiots everywhere. Yu Darvish, one of the superstars in MLB (US baseball league) is half Iranian and half Japanese and he is the most popular athlete in Japan beating the likes of Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda. (Baseball is much more popular than football there)