"Japanese Only" Signs

[Half-n-Half]

I often visit a website called www.japanprobe.com and today I saw an article about a certain sign in Japan. It was located outside a restaurant in Tsukiji which clearly states, <Japanese People Only>.

“Japanese Only” sign in Tsukiji Fish Market | debito.org

During my time in Japan, I never noticed any signs like these, however, I have read that they are not too uncommon. Apparently, the sign was not put up for race reasons, it's just the owner was having problems with customers who just happened to be foreigners (i.e not obeying Japanese customs). What do you think? To anybody who has ever visited Japan or currently lives there, have you ever noticed these signs before? If so, where and when?

As for me, I was pretty angry when I first read the article. If I had seen the sign my knee-jerk reaction would have been to confront the owner. However, that would have only perpetuated the "bad gaijin" image some Japanese have. Besides, I can't speak Japanese. The article said that after they contacted the owner, it was promptly taken down.

As I cannot read or speak Japanese, I cannot read anything else other than the <Japanese People Only> portion. I would be most grateful if someone could post the gist of it here. Perhaps then it would be easier to discuss the issue.

I humbly ask that those who post do NOT get into a "JAPAN IS RACIST! NO IT'S NOT! YES IT IS! WELL YOU ARE A RACIST!" argument. I just want to hear your thoughts on the issue, which I am almost afraid to ask as it might inevitably lead to the above-said situation.

 

[caster51]

http://www.occidentalism.org/
http://www.occidentalism.org/?p=829
I found Taiko-san

 

[Goldiegirl]

I haven't seen any signs in English. There was a sign in the entrance of a lounge we were going in to, but it said that "no mafia (or fight clubs) were allowed'.

 

[ArmandV]

I've seen Japanese-only signs at clubs in Sendai and some in Ueno.

 

[undrentide]

Maybe the translation of the rest of the sign might help to understand the background:

・当店は"お魚が大好き"な方の為のお店です。日本人の方でも下記事項をご理解いただけない方のご入店はお断りさせていただきます。
*This restaurant is for those who "LOVE FISH". We would decline the entry of those who does not appreciate the following points, even if they are Japanese.
・朝７：３０すぎの開店になります。
*We open after 7:30 in the morning.
開店前"毎日必ずお見えになる親戚みたいな方"がご入店されている事があります。また、奥のお席が予約席になる事があります。
雨の日も、雪の日も台風の日も、４０℃超の日もマイナス５℃の日も見える方の"優先席"です。
Before we open you might find some customers "WHO VISIT US EVERYDAY THUS REGARDED BY US AS A PART OF OUR FAMILY". Also there are occasions that the tables at the far end are reserved. They are "SPECIALLY RESERVED"for the people who visit us everyday regardless it rains, snows, typhoon, or when it is over 40c or 5c below zero.
・ご注文は"お茶をいれてから"伺います！！
*We will take orders only AFTER WE SERVE TEA!!!
品物に限りがあるので我先に注文を出されてしまうと大変に困りますので厳守お願いします。
We have limited stock (of fish) and we'll have a big problem if you race for ordering, so please keep order.
・店内＜禁煙＞お料理以外の＜写真撮影禁止＞です。
*<NO SMOKING> in the restaurant. <NO PHOTOGRAPH> except the food.
・大きな声で話されたり、みだりに他のお客様に声をかけたり迷惑になる行為をされる方には退店していただきます。
ルールを守って楽しくお食事してください。＜川崎魂＞
*We'll ask customers out those who talk loudly, speak to other customers abruptly or cause inconveniences to others.
Please keep the rule and enjoy your meal. <KAWASAKI SPIRIT>
・席数の少ない小さなお店ですので"２名様以上の団体様"は別々にお座りになられることをお願いします。
We are a very small restaurant with little numbers of tables, and we would ask the member of groups who is more than two people to be seated at separate tables.
・混雑時（満席の場合は絶対に）品物の出てくるのが遅くなります。焼き魚は最低１５分お時間がかかります。
予めご理解ください。
*When the restaurant is busy (surely when it is full), it takes time before the dishes are served. Grilled fish takes at least 15 minutes. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
・「天然・生ものの魚しか使ってません」というと格好は良いのですが、それはつまり、品切れ、未入荷が多くて値段が高いという事なのです。店内品札が売っているものの全てになります！！
*"WE SERVE ONLY NATURAL AND FRESH FISH" sounds great, but that means we're often out of stock, and the prices are expensive. The fish shown in the plates in the restaurant is the all available for the day.

~~~
To me it looks like that the owner of the restaurant is quite fed up with rude and far too demanding people visiting his premises. And I assume he might have experienced many problems with foreign customers because of the language barrier.
Saying "Japanese Only" does not really solve the problem and if he wants to have only well behaved customers he should show the "rules" of his restaurant both in Japanese and English instead, yet I can understand his sentiments. (Not that I think it is acceptable to put up a sign "Japanese only", of course.)

 

[Half-n-Half]

Wow Undrentide, you really went above and beyond. You didn't have to translate it all! But hey I'm not complaining, thank you very much for the work and time you put into it! That does explain a lot then. I was reading around on that website caster51 posted and it seems the "Arudo Debito" guy picks and chooses what he wants to write about. I read he is perfectly fluent in Japanese so there is no excuse for not knowing what the sign says. I think this makes it clear then that what the owner meant was not to be racist but to lay down some rules. Understandably, foreigners with a limited knowledge of Japanese would have a hard time following these rules. Again, thanks!

 

[Chidoriashi]

I've seen one sign like that in Shizuoka City, I think it was a hostess bar. Many places that put up signs like that I would not care to go anyway. Not only that I don't really want to support the business of an ignorant boob. The fact is they are not the majority of places, so it probably won't be an issue for most people. The day is coming when Japan will need foreigners way more than they need Japan. That is when stuff will get interesting for people like that.

 

[Kyoto Returnee]

Racism and discrimination working together as one at it's absolute best.

Very hard to dispute such a sign as it's as clear as the sky!

I do however understand why it could possibly their.

 

[caster51]

Racist banner looks frayed
it is an old one. it looks same
pm

 

[tokapi]

There was a sign in the entrance of a lounge we were going in to, but it said that "no mafia (or fight clubs) were allowed'.

I recently met a 30-something Taiwanese woman who have worked & lived in Japan,she confirmed to me that there are local businessess put up sign reads " no yakuza " so not always based on race or foreign background .

 

[Davey]

I have never seen any sign in Japan. Of course I wouldn't feel happy about a sign like that. But that's the same for people with a tatoo and they are not allowed to enter onsen. Not every person is a yakuza, and not every yakuza is bad... But I guess that is another topic.

 

[Kyoto Returnee]

I think the whole issue stems form Onsens in Hokkaido where Russian fisherman visit.

These fisherman have a tendency to get drunk on the stuff, and run a riot inside the Onsen.

Of course, Japanese in general are very peace loving, at least on the oustide, so tolerating these drunk fisherman would not be easy.

In Australia the same played out scenario may be tolerated to a certain level due to an easy going nature, but that level would definitely have it's limits.

The fact is, in Japan they can get away with a sign like that, In Australia, it would be splashed over the front page, as it probably would be in New Zealand, and other countries around the world..

I have a long experience in Thailand, loads of good Thai friends, and they are as racist as anything..

Burmese, Lao, Cambodian, Ethnic Hilltribes, forget it!

The kids often use the Lao or Burmese to tease their friends.. "You Lao", etc.

That's not all Thai, infact, I was talking with a good Thai friend tonight on the telephone, and she was telling me how her family is going to build a school in North Thailand for the little kiddies and English will be included, the whole package for free..

I think Racism in most society and people exsists, as does discrmination.

It's just not Public in general and it may be on the outside or in, possibly violent which is definitely the wrong way.

I used to work shi-in (full time) at a Juku in Kyoto .. A very good place that sent the local NOVA broke!

The Japanese side wanted to introduce a survey to the parents asking which teacher they liked, thought was best, etc.

If you were a goodie, all was good.. But during this time good teachers were hard to get, so any negtive points would have surely affected the teacher as their would have been a lot of bias towards a person in that survey, surely..

A few photos of me form the good ol days!


Personally, I do not agree with legal discrmination and racism by law from any countries goverment around the world.

Unfortuantely, it is their, Japan it would appear is not exempt, and I know their are many online things and petitions working to change Japanese draconian laws, which unfortunately is not an easy task at the best of times..

 

[hsakakibara1]

Back in the 80s

Back in the 1980s there were many such signs but usually at sex-related clubs. This was due to differences with customs, payments, fear of AIDS, as well as good old fashioned racism.

Nowadays, however, there are rare (but still around). Most Japanese have gotten used to nonJapanese in Japan, many more have lived abroad and so that "fear" is not as present as before.

My question is why has the government allowed these signs? Why haven't they cracked down on them? My reasoning is that the LDP regime does not want Japan to be too comfortable for foreigners. Again, this will also change and such signs will become illegal I am sure.

Let us als not forget that "Britishers Only" were all too common in Britain in the 1970s. In the US many clubs just don't let you in with the excuse that it is "members only" or some other lame excuse. Same all over Europe.

 

[Glenski]

Back in the 1980s there were many such signs but usually at sex-related clubs.

I don't doubt this, but you can't be saying that those were the only places, can you?

Nowadays, however, there are rare (but still around). Most Japanese have gotten used to nonJapanese in Japan, many more have lived abroad and so that "fear" is not as present as before.

Sigh, do I have to bring up the plethora of signs on Arudou's Rogues' Gallery as a rebuttal?

My question is why has the government allowed these signs? Why haven't they cracked down on them?

The government signed its stance on anti-discrimination back in 1995 or so. It was an image thing, IMO. Look good to the rest of the world. Some lawmakers have reported that there are no enforcements because such laws would be "difficult to enforce". Stupid reasoning, but that's it from the horse's mouth. Is that honne or tatemae? Irrelevant. The signs exist. The situation is still there. Look at some politicians' mindset. A short time ago one minister's gaffe on women as baby-making machines caused an uproar. Just this week, another minister blew people (including his fellow politicians) away with his dinosauric comments on how Japan is a homogenous race of people. These are inbred politicians (literally! Look how many currently there are with fathers and grandfathers who were also in office!) whose thinking needs to change with the times.

My reasoning is that the LDP regime does not want Japan to be too comfortable for foreigners.

Again, honne and tatemae will tell you that they outwardly feel they need foreigners. Look at the relaxation in the work visa now, where they are proposing to give a foreigner a 5-year work visa instead of a 3-year one if he has certain language requirements. It was publicly announced that this was to make foreigners feel more comfortable about coming here to work!

Again, this will also change and such signs will become illegal I am sure.

I don't share your optimism. Certainly not in any foreseeable future.

 

[pipokun]

Back in the 1980s there were many such signs but usually at sex-related clubs. This was due to differences with customs, payments, fear of AIDS, as well as good old fashioned racism.

Nowadays, however, there are rare (but still around). Most Japanese have gotten used to nonJapanese in Japan, many more have lived abroad and so that "fear" is not as present as before.
...

Right.
Back in 1980, only 782 foreigners (867 cases) arrested here or even undocumented immigrants were just around 1000.

http://www.npa.go.jp/kouhousi/biki2/img/s02_0802.jpg
Table 2 Immigration law-related violation

Arudou's Rogues' Gallery as a rebuttal

Go ahead. His lazy updating gallery is the good example how xenophobic Japanese would be.

 

[grapefruit]

I recently met a 30-something Taiwanese woman who have worked & lived in Japan,she confirmed to me that there are local businessess put up sign reads " no yakuza " so not always based on race or foreign background .

This is a good point. I have never thought about it. Some stores in Japan do have these sorts of signs (But, it does not justify their xenophobic attitude).

 

[Charles Barkley]

The owner of the store whose sign is posted at the top is just obviously insane. That list of requirements and the way that the sign is written makes me think he has more than a couple screws loose.

The only times I have seen signs like that were outside of strip clubs as I was passing by, and since I am not exactly a strip club kind of guy, aside from the temporary, hey, that's discrimination! thought that quickly appeared and then vanished from my head, I never took much else away from it.

The only time I have ever directly been denied doing something because I was foreign was that my girlfriend and I were refused, based on being foreigners, when I called up to book a ryokan. That really pissed me off...

 

[pipokun]

...
The only times I have seen signs like that were outside of strip clubs as I was passing by, and since I am not exactly a strip club kind of guy, aside from the temporary, hey, that's discrimination! thought that quickly appeared and then vanished from my head, I never took much else away from it.
...

A memory fades away, but you can easily point out the Glenski's favorite gallery consists of lots of water-running business.

 

[FrustratedDave]

That site is a joke....

 

[Glenski]

A memory fades away, but you can easily point out the Glenski's favorite gallery consists of lots of water-running business.

Is this some sort of reference to onsens or to the "water-trade" of prostitution?

In either case, you obviously can't read. Sites with "Japanese only" signs cover far more than just those 2.

Want them updated better, pipokun? Do the legwork yourself. Debito works by himself and relies only on the kindness of others to inform him of things he is not around to see across this country.

 

[pipokun]

Is this some sort of reference to onsens or to the "water-trade" of prostitution?

In either case, you obviously can't read. Sites with "Japanese only" signs cover far more than just those 2.

Want them updated better, pipokun? Do the legwork yourself. Debito works by himself and relies only on the kindness of others to inform him of things he is not around to see across this country.

Right. I cannot read what you really want to say from the particular cases.

You are always saying here, "Bring the rate, not the numbers".

571,895=>restaurants
152,400=>registered water-running business such as hostess bars, bars or something
?=>unregistered ones
More than 100,000 sites are closed/newly open every year

Then my humble request is that it is your turn to bring the rate here, "Japanese-only".

 

[hsakakibara1]

I usualy saw such signs in front of sex-related businesses and bars. Even then, usually small places.

 

[caster51]

On idyllic Gwynn’s Island, echoes of a racial divide

GWYNN’S ISLAND Sandy Tabb didn’t set out to be a pioneer. She was just homesick. The single mother of five had been living near Charlottesville, but she and her kids missed the Chesapeake Bay environs of her native Gloucester…

pilotonline.com

I think Debito can get more activities in USA