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How do Japanese view Japanese-americans?

yonICHIgo_G

後輩
23 Dec 2006
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I am a 4th generation Japanese american male
I am very curious to know how people from japan view Japanese americans
Regardless, i still have that yamato damashii spirit and love japan over america
I feel pride for japan and my blood
 
I am probably a bit more American, but share an affinity for Japan- though not as strong.

I am Sansei, but only hapa-nihonjin... I have the same question.
 
I'm guessing you mean fully Japanese people born & raised in a different country?

As a half it's not quite the same in my situation I guess, but I do have a friend who is fully Japanese, brought up in England(A), and a fully Japanese friend brought up in both Japan and England(B).

For anonymity and ease of reference I'll refer to them as so, lol.
(A)
In this case, he has great pride in the fact that he's Japanese, partially I beleive this is from personal preference, and partially because Japan is seen in a good way in England (I wonder if the situation would be the same if he were brought up in some parts of Korea a number of years ago). However, having had no Japanese schooling, and having only been to the country once when he was very young, he and his parents would refer to him as a typical English person, perhaps with a strong Japanophile vibe, lol. Although he has great interest in the country, when he went back there recently he couldnt communicate to his family over there without his parents around to translate for them, this left him feeling largely as an outsider in his own family, nevermind his own country. Although physically he looks nothing different from the normal Japanese lad, even if he weren't speaking, his upbringing has (I beleive) moulded the way he acts to what is typically English, and yes ofcourse I'm bringing in stereotypes into this but even the small things like normal customs (forgetting to bow, etc) led him to be set apart from those around him. His family accepted him for what he is, and he didn't really come across any strangers he had to interact with so they all probably saw his physical characteristics and thought he was the same as any Japanese, but those he did, most of them straight away saw him as a foreigner.

(B)
In her case she was born, brought up for a while in Japan but in international schooling, then moved to England and has lived here for several years. Although by blood she is completely Japanese and people like myself wouldn't dispute this fact, she herself feels very strongly that she is no longer a complete native in Japan. Perhaps there is a part of her that beleives that a "fully" Japanese person is not an "international" person. From my perspective, she looks and talks Japanese like a Japanese person, but perhaps doesn't act like the Japanese stereotypes, however I have met many Japanese brought up in Japan that don't act like the famous stereotypes so this really makes no difference to me, in this case I think it's just a matter of opinion. In Japan however, if she doesn't speak English, or mention that she lives here, they treat her the same as any Japanese person.


I hope this helps a little, if at all, lol. I won't include my perspective, since that'd be off-topic, haha (but yea, big surprise, the half likes to analyze Japan-Foreign interactions :p).
 
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