Job Discussion Forums

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

yes...nice info on that other website, PaulH.

I was watching a movie one day....and there was a similar kind of thing.....Obi-wan kenobi was in a Japanese POW camp at the river Kwai...

And he was talking to the Japanese POW camp commandant......about some convention...geneva...something.....

Didn't work though.

If they don't listen to Obi-wan Kenobi.....even with his jedi mind tricks and all..........how are one of us lowly gaijin riding a bike, gonna be able to bring up international UN treaties and the law on this issue......?

It is all so zen.

[Stosskraft]

In many other parts of the world being stopped by the police also means losing some hard earned cash !!

So, they asked you for ID then let you go, right ?? and you hate a whole country for that ? What you need to do is realize Japan is not back home and get over the fact that some people may discriminate against you here. I know in my home country ( Canada ) that discrimination exist at all levels, and condemning a country for the actions of one is not a good way to go about abolishing racism.

You need to grow up and grow some balls.

Go spend sometime in South America, and then you can see how honest and non-discriminatory the police are down there.

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

E.Singer....'I HATE JAPAN'.......too strong. Be careful these forums. People will shove the boot in.

And as for people who clearly do seem to keep doing so, this topic is about what the police did, which apears to be illegal also.

It is not about E.Singer and whether he has grown his balls or not, or whether he is a weak or strong or mature or immature man or not. You don't know him.

[JimDunlop2]

What some people here fail to realize, is: who gives a crap how police behave in other countries? I say it's completely irrelevant. If we live in Japan, then our primary concern should be how police are behaving HERE first and foremost, not pontificating about whether or not it's worse (or better) elsewhere. It's still illegal, it's still discrimination and it stinks regardless of where it happens.

It's like a bunch of old folks arguing about who had it worse when they were growing up.

- When I got stopped the police they interrogated me for an hour!

- Ya wimp! They arrested me and held ME for a week!

- Child's play! First the police robbed me blind and then they beat me with iron bars for a solid month!

- Ha! I got you all beat! After they robbed and beat me, they sold all my posessions, killed my wife, molested my pets and sold my children into slavery... And that's AFTER I starved to death.....



I feel like I'm living in a Monty Python script here:

CENTURION: You know the penalty laid down by Roman law for harbouring a known criminal?
MATTHIAS: No.
CENTURION: Crucifixion.
MATTHIAS: Oh.
CENTURION: Nasty, eh?
MATTHIAS: Hm. Could be worse.
CENTURION: What do you mean, 'could be worse'?
MATTHIAS: Well, you could be stabbed.
CENTURION: Stabbed? Takes a second. Crucifixion lasts hours! It's a slow, horrible death!
MATTHIAS: Well, at least it gets you out in the open air.
CENTURION: You're weird.




------------

Anyway. I'm sorry, but I just don't accept this whole: "Be glad it isn't worse.. and If you don't like it, go home" attitude. If everyone just did that, nothing would ever change anywhere. For the time being -- I AM home. Going back to Canada would yield nothing for me -- except a place in the unemployment lineup. For goodness sakes, it doesn't matter where in the world you live. Grow a pair, call a spade a spade and speak out if something is wrong or unjust.

The severity of it is not the issue here, people. It's the fact that arbitrarily stopping people because of their ethnicity is wrong! I don't care if it IS common (or worse) in other places.

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

It is interesting skirting around the other country forums.....we are all saying the same kind of things....with differing opinions etc.

this one for Hong Kong is particularly good......http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=25908

One or 2 wise guys/girls...give a comical outlook on how we all complain and stuff....and maybe it has got to do with our own culture shock phase we are going through...how pos or neg we are feelng......

I must admit, even though others think australia is quite racist, my asian friends never told me about bad stuff that happened to them there, including my wife who was there for a year.

In this North-East asian region, there does seem to be a lot of complaints from us.....and racism and tense relations between the countries themselves.

Korea is quite blatant.....and a lurking zenophobia beneath the surface in japan, keeps getting more evident when you read the topics like this thread.....and etc for the other places.

For all my time in Thailand I have never experienced one little racist discriminatory zenophobic thing at all. But I am sure it is there.....

Korea was amazing. One instance, the cops gave my friend the finger while sitting in there car, as he just walked past. He..he....korea's too comical.

Let's all get drunk

[suntin]

[cevanne]

I live in Osaka - almost the bike theft capital of Japan and I see Japanese pulled over all the time as well - not just gaijin. I'm sorry if your experience was bad, but I am happy they were doing police work because I know MANY MANY english teachers whose bikes were stolen in Osaka.

[Big John Stud]

E. Singer wrote:

.................almost! Those f-in cops! Got stopped on my bike AGAIN tonite. I asked why are you stopping me and they said because you are a foreigner and I asked why do you want to see my ID card- they said to prevent crime! Do you think that these police realize they are damaging the reputation of the entire country by acting like such biggots? Maybe I should go out and commit some crimes!

You are going to judge over a billion people because of the actions of a few! Who is the true biggot?

[Brooks]

a billion? More like 126 million.

[SEndrigo]

I agree with JezzaYouDamnBeauty!

let's all get drunk....especially when people start talking about Korea.

I'm still laughing about Jezza's description of an incident in Korea when a guy got Tae-Kwon-Do kicked and then spat upon the next day!

Whilst it is not very funny, it shows us Japan is not so bad after all....BUT JimDunlop is right, let's not compare Japan to other places, let 's speak out against racial profiling!

I've just recently found a book in the local library titled: "The Xenophobe's Guide to Japan".

Has anyone ever read this book? It's quite short so I hope to finish it soon...looks good !

[Brooks]

is that from the Sagami-Ono library?

[AndyH]

As a former law enforcement officer who's seen some pretty pathetic excuses for cops in other countries, I have to agree with e.singer. Of course, we don't know all the details of his story, but to single out someone for being stopped, just because he/she is a foreigner, is inexcusable. Sure, worse stuff may happen in China, Korea, and the Middle East, but Japan is where we live, and to be harrassed based on the fact that we look different only lowers the professionalism of the cops and our overall image of Japan.
I left South Korea largely because I was sick and tired of being treated like crap due to my nationality, and have stayed in Japan for the past 2.5 years because I do feel comfortable here. I don't want that to change.
Personally, I love Japan, and have never been stopped by the cops, nor have I been asked to show my gaijin card, except in places like City Hall.
By the way, E.Singer, where in Japan are you?

[Lister100]

Holy Crap, I've never seen so many people defending racial profiling, especially against themselves. As a teenager it pissed me off when police singled us out based on our age. You can bet we complained something fierce when it happened just as I would over what is being discussed here.

Whatever defences can be made for this practice in the name of security, you can bet buddy on his bicycle bears no resemblance to an Al Quaida member. Treating English Teachers like terrorists is pretty ridiculous. Sure racial profiling happens in Canada, but you can bet its not used on respectable Japanese businessmen. If it happens it will probably be in a high crime area on a population that perpetrates a higher percentage of the crimes. Still doesn't justify it, but its a hell of a lot more understandable than harrassing a guy with a working visa and university degree enjoying a nice bike ride.

Since when does tolerance have to be a one way street. We are fed the message of multiculturalism in Canada since as early as I can remember. Racists are more often the ostracized group in our country as opposed to visible minorities. Why should we accept others if they will not accept us? Rejecting globalization is no excuse. I'm not for globalization as well as many other Canadians, but that doesn't give us the right to be racists does it? Everyone has to play by the same rules now. If people start taking the advice of leaving well paid jobs because they are bullied by racists and return home to unemployment and immigrant competition, the world is going to get very small for us. Stand your ground and make sure you're heard when someone's cheating you of your right as a human being with a work visa.

Half of these people defending the police probably were the very same people getting in fights with police in Canada. Either that or their sheltered and have no idea what its like to be pushed around by the police. In Japan or Canada it sucks and you shouldn't stand for it.

You can't always be trusting of law and order. Plenty of old knuckle heads I knew back in school found their way into the police force. They were dumb in high school and you can bet they're dumb now.

[E. Singer]

I understand that bike theft is quite common here, however- NOT ONCE has my bike ever been verified that it belongs to me!!

All they want to find out is where I come from and look at my ID and pass it around for their buddies to look at too.

I live in a residental area of central Tokyo.

Makes me feel like a second class and unwanted citizen. It will get worse when we alll will have the chip in our ID cards.

[ndorfn]

I've only been stopped twice, both in rural japan, both times blind drunk, riding without lights at night. both times got let off with a polite warning (and appropriate apologies on my behalf).

but the OP is right, being stopped on the basis of foreigness is defintitely NOT ON.

anyway, be far better off stopping motorists going through red lights, sending text messages, with children standing in the front seat.