Glenski said:
Businesses are not lawmakers and cannot reserve any nonexistent rights.
Then, as Tokapi mentioned above, how do you explain the signs in US establishments that say, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone? It is their right as business owners IMO.
Have you guys never heard of the Otaru bathhouse case?...they banned all foreigners.
Of course I have. Hasn't anyone with an interest in these things? To stop further trouble, it is probably best that they ban all foreigners as many do not understand the customs. Again, I say it is their right. So what if they lost? Big deal. I wouldn't patronize that place anyway. It's not as if that's the only onsen in
Hokkaido.
And it should not be tolerated because the country signed a non-discrimination treaty.
So what? The US, among many others, signed the Geneva Convention and still torture goes on. Many countries have signed many things and still discrimination, or whatever exists. Signatures on treaties mean nothing these days. Besides, as Nisei88 said, "you cannot legislate out racism." It exists in every country, in every corner of the world, always has and always will.
Name one country on the face of the planet that does not discriminate in one way or another. One just has to learn to live with it as it will never be erased as long as there are differing nationalities and skin color no matter what laws are made, outside of execution.
I do not deny that it exists in Japan. I accept it, rare that it is, as a fact of life there, just as blacks and other nationalities understand that it exists here in the US also. They also learn to live around it. It's funny how the white man, who receives the least discrimination of all the races, cries bloody hell when he experiences it in a foreign country and demands that they change while denying that it exists in his own country or that a treaty was signed. (I'm not pointing a finger at you Glenski).
That doesn't make it right or acceptable. What are your examples, anyway (aside from the legal drinking age)?
I've seen places/signs that refuse entry to ANYONE wearing a tatoo. I know of business establishments that will refuse service to people under 30 or to other than salarymen; I know of apartment complexes that will refuse to rent to college students. It exists in Japan for the Japanese also if you look hard enough.
Poor reasons at best. Can you show me good ones? And, it is not as rare as you make it out to be.
Well I'm going to Japan again this weekend for two weeks. I will make a concerted effort to find and photograph any place in my neighborhood, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Yokohama, (places I will visit and party) etc., that have these signs and will post them here. I will also enter more than few bars, Snacks, etc on my own, and with a fellow foreign friend, and will report on my experiences. I also made my own reservation, in my own gaijin name, at an Onsen in Atami in English (and not one that foreigners frequent) and had no problem. Based on past experience, I doubt I will have much, if anything to report.
Glenski, I find it very interesting and revealing how you pick and choose things to argue about while completely ignoring and not commenting on the other aspects of the debate that one makes, such as my last paragraph above:
Pachipro said:
If foreigners want this discrimination to decrease, maybe they should learn how to conduct themselves in public or in their apartments/houses and learn a little about the customs and languages. Then and ONLY then may change take place. After all, who would want to lose business and money even from foreigners? It is only based on their experience that they probably realize that they will lose more money (in the long run) and customers by allowing the rowdy and rude foreigner in. It's a matter of business.
It makes you seem one sided with one point of view when you only pick and choose your arguments from a post. Do you not agree with what I've written or is it too close to the truth?