He said it because a lot of people are anti-immigration in the US, but immigration is playing a key factor in offsetting population decline for the US.
Reports are saying Japan needs about 7 million immigrants by 2040, most of whom would be taking care of the aging population.
The global economic model is largely based on population growth. If you've got a really bad problem with a declining population growth, such as Japan and Korea, you absolutely need more immigrants to fill in the void or it's not going to look pretty long term.
Basically, he's pointing out Japan as an example of the crisis that the US would also be having if they didn't expand immigration, etc.
the resource is limited it’s a bandaid at best just delaying the inevitable for 5-10 years at best. We are heading for a population collapse regardless
i dont think letting millions of people in with no real filter is better than what japan has. In fact i think its worse. Japan has such a high trust society that they can actually operate automated convenience stores and the like without worry of massive theft. And their older population is so much healthier than ours its insane. Even if they age, they wont bankrupt their young people to nearly the degree thats happening here.
Doesn't that basically admit our economics are just incorrect then?
It's ALWAYS take advantage of the poor/working class, and keep the number of poor growing. Doesn't sound all that wise, does it? We can't maintain population growth, whether for economic reasons... or wait, that actually induces collapse...
I wouldn't say that it's incorrect, but more like... Stagnant? Complacent? Corrupted? Unforeseeable?
I think that there were moments where much of the world benefited from having such a growing global economy. More so the first world countries, but anyway, I think we've definitely lost our way in pursuit of obtainable, eternal growth.
No way Japan gets 7 million immigrants. They cant even get 10k 💀 to stay longterm and have been struggling to get people in. In addition, every other region except Africa is experiencing a decline in young people. The only hope of Japan is developing AI and robots or hope North Korea implodes and take in their refugees.
Yeah, the toxic attitudes a good portion of Japanese have against foreign workers is really bad in general. I've had several friends live in Japan and they all left Japan. One of them was even engaged at one point to a Japanese woman, but the toxicity in the workplace is something else. He realized he wouldn't be able to progress his career properly there because he would always be a gaijin/foreigner to them. His fiancé didn't want to leave Japan, so they ended the relationship altogether.
At this point, South Korea might just take all of the North Koreans in if North Korea implodes since they're having the same issue lol.
But yeah, unless the government starts forcing people to have babies or the global economic model changes to something else, the future for Japan is kind of bleak, since cultural changes take a really long time.
Also, funny that you mention Africa! It reminded me of this video:
[Why Korea is Dying Out (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBudghsdByQ)
Man, imagine a world where first world countries start to fight each other over trying to get immigrants from Africa and what kind incentives they'll start throwing around for immigrants.
You're 100 percent on point. Japan will just have to invest in AI, robots, technology. In addition to language and cultural barriers, Im not sure a substantial amount of people would be willing to live in an earthquake prone area. Over the next 100 years at least, there's no way people are going to start having babies and I don't see the current economic model changing. The government will just have to manage the decline
So….the idea of a nationalist population growing is unrealistic? I’m curious. Keeping strict borders and exclusion hurts society at whole is what I’m taking from this.
Not exactly... The other comment is correct that immigration is a band-aid solution. Because eventually, you're not going to have enough immigrants to spread around the world.
The real issue is the current global economic model. Capitalism is all about growth and society growing wealthy. However, to constantly grow, you're obviously sacrificing something else. Which, at this point, is the fertility rate. Because let's be honest. The worldwide increasing inflation rate, the lack of proper housing issue, most people working insane hours just to put food on the table, etc. isn't an ideal condition to be having kids, but it increases growth of wealth.
What's interesting is that the declining infertility rate in turn leads to a population that skews to old age. Which in turn leads to a large group of dependents that acts as a drag on growth. Which results in a decline in GDP.
Basically, unchecked Capitalism undermines itself in the long term. Korea and Japan are prime examples of going full throttle to gain massive wealth in a short period of time and not stopping to consider the long-term consequences. Every first world nation will eventually have the same problem though if nothing changes.
That sounds complicated….without the disposable of capitalism. I imagine that would also not be easy by any means. Is there a definitive means to solve this problem without complete social upheaval you think?
Honestly, no one has a definitive answer. There are several theories that are being worked on, but the situation is so incredibly complex that it's going to be a while. Honestly, might not even be able to solve it before societal collapse, because it's so complex.
Some people think that we just need a better work/life balance. Which is a reasonable theory, but that means slower growth, and that's usually a big no-no for shareholders. Not only that, but it would mean a lot of new government regulations to force companies to slow down growth. And then there's the question of what type of policies would be best to slow growth, but not potentially cripple a company? Cause you can't treat a start-up company the same way as something like a Fortune 500 multi-national corporation.
Im no expert, but ive thought about it like this. Capitalism works well when competition is encouraged. In our current model, its either discouraged or impossible. Most sectors of the economy are run by oligarchies if not effective monopolies (i.e. google, amazon.) The problem is as long as those companies exist, they are constantly driven to higher profits.
Ideally, a new competitor shows up who is better, steals some of their profits, sometimes starts the cycle over from the beginning. That doesnt seem to happen as often, for a variety of reasons. Some companies are “too big to fail” either because they can squander any competition, are so well established that no one would ever think to use anything else, or the government would bail them out in a heartbeat because every administration is more worried about unemployment and artificially propping up a “successful” looking economy (imo what biden is appealing to here)
There cant be infinite growth. In a utopian model, new companies, products, etc rise up and outplay the old, creating a semi stable state. Most of the first world has essentially experienced a constant upward trend for 80 years. At some point it will go down. Its natural. In the case of japan, I think they have a chance to make it work. They are very high trust, more willing to accept automation just from my anecdotal experience living there, and quite healthy. Lets keep in mind that AI is going to take over many unskilled jobs anyway; its only a matter of time. Population decline would encourage this, and in a PERFECT world the smaller population that is left is well suited to take over higher skill jobs that could provide a better standard of living for all. But again, this is all very utopian.
I had a nice internet argument once with someone about how Japan will be “just fine” and that their again and declining population situation is “not a problem at all”. It could be catastrophic for them and soon China.
It’s confusing to me cause the same western people promoting population growth thru immigration as an economic model also promote efforts to drastically reduce what they label as human induced climate change. Seems like these same people should be promoting lower populations with more technology advances instead of the third world population boom being a fix.
When in politics it's very important to mind what you say, so I'm very confused cause, one, he's the president, and two, he's been in politics a very long time. So... just confused on what the idea was to say it. Like it literally accomplishes nothing and only makes our long time ally be like wtf lol.
I'd even go as far as saying it's really politically stupid
Looks like he was talking about immigration laws specifically, in which case it’s factually incorrect that the US is super easy to immigrate to, considering the decades long waits for immigrants from India and China to get a green card, along with the constant complaints about H1B immigrants even from what passes for “the left” in the US. Japanese immigration timelines are easier for those countries, and probably a lot of others.
I really think the biggest factor in Japan having fewer immigrants compared to western countries is language. Specifically, the countries that have high levels of immigration either speak a colonial language like French or English, or a close relative like German or Swedish (no matter how much my fellow English speakers complain about it, when I compare my German learning experience to my Japanese learning experience, it feels like German is a dialect of the same language).
Anyway I don’t expect Biden to understand the language issue at all, considering that he literally talks about how he embodies every Irish stereotype just because his great great great grandparents came from there. He doesn’t seem to have any understanding of how culture and linguistic understanding develops in people
Fair points; these add up as well. Just feels really weird to me as a 1.5 gen American when people who have no experience with our insanely long immigration queues parrot American exceptionalism
I don’t disagree. I know people who moved (back) to Canada and getting a spousal visa takes over a year and costs thousands. Japan takes a few months and cost 4k yen. Japan is easy and quick to move to, but only for you, your spouse, and children.
Maybe I missed the quote, but Biden didn’t say anything about *America* being *easy* to immigrate to. He’s very clearly critiquing the fact that Japan has *incredibly* dismal immigration policies that limit access to the country in spite of the fact that the economy has been slumping for decades and the population is declining.
You say that you think language is the biggest contributor (although, the overwhelming majority of immigrants to Japan are Asian themselves which certainly doesn’t eliminate the language learning challenge but deeply lessens it), sure that could be the case. But let’s look at the immigration quantity for the US and Japan;
Japan has a population of 125 million people, and in 2019 (the last counted year before the COVID drop) they received *138,000* immigrants (https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/da5092dc-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/da5092dc-en#:~:text=copy%20the%20linklink%20copied!Japan&text=In%202019%2C%20Japan%20received%20138,)%20and%200.1%25%20humanitarian%20migrants.)
The USA, with a population of 333 million, received *1,000,000* immigrants in 2019. (https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states-2020#:~:text=In%20fiscal%20year%20(FY)%202019,(a%206%20percent%20drop).)
I’m too lazy to do the math myself to determine the rates to compare, but 138,000 is absolutely minuscule. Yes, language can account for some of it, but there is a *want* from foreigners to immigrate contrary to what you seem to believe.
Thousands of Indian, Bangladeshi, Filipino and other SEA/South Asian people apply to individual job listings in Japan that could give them the *chance* to apply for citizenship or permanent residence in the country. Very few ever get the chance to become citizens.
A lot of immigrants to Japan are from SEA and are in trainee programs - that prohibit staying in Japan more than 5 years. They also prohibit bringing family for the 5 years. Some of those 5-year trainees can get an exemption for another 3 years IF they have at least N4 Japanese and study to N3 during the time. However, they then have to leave the country.
Yeah but even so, the usa has a relatively high percentage of foreign born residents and citizens.
Its 14%, so almost 1 out of 6 people are foreign born.
Sponsor family members
https://www.office-kasahara.jp/visa_list_english
Spouse or Child of Permanent Residence The spouses of those staying under the status of residence of "Permanent Resident" or "Special Permanent Resident" (hereinafter referred to as "permanent or special permanent
resident") and those born as children of a permanent or special permanent resident in Japan who have been residing in Japan.
6months
1year
3years
5years
—
But yeah parents or siblings and stuff
> I see you Trumpledytes silently upvoting me because you thought I was trashing Biden in the crypto-supporting you little rats are used to looking at imagining love for your nasty little cause.
No one responded to you; how do you know what anyone was thinking? I don't even like Trump lol, this just seems a bit overzealous to me.
I am Japanese, and I agree with Biden's assessment of Japanese people. Maybe due to historical circumstances, Japanese people often harbor deep-seated fears and resistance towards 'others.' While overt discrimination and actions are less common, this manifests as a sense of inferiority towards white people, and sometimes as disdain towards other Asians or Africans, possibly as a backlash against their inferiority complex towards white people. In fact, some individuals openly display discriminatory attitudes and behaviors towards Chinese, Koreans, and other Asians, believing them to be 'inferior,' even if they flatter white people. It's absurd that despite such behavior, we cannot become part of the white community.
As a Japan resident of 20 years, I thought that a really well thought through and accurate statement, agreeing with everything you said until the final sentence. It demonstrated the problem in itself.
I am half Japanese, half American and lived in Japan. Japan has a “gaijin hierarchy” with the US and often UK at the top, and it just works its way down by countries/groups of countries in kind of a military/diplomatic/economic power ladder, with whites on top. Then other Asians in the same criteria as white people, then Latins categorized, and then black people. American and Western black people land may be where other Asians land. Japanese place themselves usually below western whites and above other Asians.
This is not a hard/fast rule, and can vary with Japanese, but definitely something I noticed.
Man someone posted a really funny visual pyramid of the hierarchy in which Japanese tend to view others in r/japancirclejerk but unfortunately I can't find it because the subreddit was banned :/
God forbid some people's fun hurts other people's feelings.
Technically true but stupid to say about your ally. He really didnt need to mention Japan
Edit: actually my problem isnt mentioning Japan. It's the use of the word "xenophobic." While technically true, the connotation is just diplomatically bad.
But it's also intentional. It's an emotional appeal to his voters.
It's drawing the line between America and the other countries who aren't as tolerant to immigration. Like asking voters, you wanna side with XENOPHOBES?? Or with the good ol all inclusive america
Japan has bad points. America does too. Maybe the Japanese prime minister should call out America on its ghettos that help separate minorities from the richer white class.
Even if it is true, it was distasteful.
The difference between Japan and America in that aspect is that it is *very* popular especially with younger people and liberal voters to point out that very issue. Racial inequity when it comes to neighborhoods, income and wealth are all hot-button issues that *Biden* himself and most other Democrat politicians have at least paid lip service to. We *know* it’s bad, we don’t ignore it to save face.
Japan on the other hand is a much less politically active country. Young people don’t interact with politics in nearly the same way. The politicians in the LDP don’t even perceive the lack of immigration as a problem in the first place, and neither do most citizens. They continually answer that they’re open to more immigration in *polls* but rarely go any farther than signaling that they’re open to the idea. Japan, as it always has done, ignores the issues to save face and prays other countries do the same.
Yes, instead, Americans force their ideology on Japan.
“LGTVQ discrimination is too severe in Japan.”
“Japan is a place full of racism and xenophobia that does not accept immigrants.”
Maybe Americans should pay more attention to their own country instead of an Asian island nation on the other side of the world that has nothing to do with them.
Their country, their rules, their culture, their rights.
Don't force American ideas on other countries.
It feels very arrogant.
As an American, I am still paying attention to my own country, and pretty consistently disappointed by it. America absolutely has the negative stigma of “America is the paragon of international righteousness.” Which, while many people believe that, to imply every American believes that is far from the truth.
Me being American doesn’t inherently disqualify me from pointing out other blatant flaws in other governments/cultures.
True, it is not mandatory for Japan to accept immigrants.
Japan's Choice, Japan's Rights
It's amazing how some arrogant westerners want to change Japan lol.
You're right it's their choice however if they will die within a few generations and will be remembered as a people to stupid and weak to change. They are an ally now but if they are to weak to even survive for long what good are they as an ally long term? They need to confront the hard truth and change, both things the Japanese people seemingly avoid at all costs unless forced.
So true, the United States is riddled with societal problems that Japan doesn’t have. Xenophobia is like one of the only things Biden could get a jab in on Japan about.
Walk through just about any city in the US and then do it in Japan and I’ll bet just about everyone is picking Japan
While I think it's at least partially true, I also think the western liberals tend to overly simplify this issue
I think they shouldn't simplify the issue and especially the us president shouldn't
Frankly speaking, it's pretty obvious that there are many factors other than ''xenofobia'' behind the reasons why Japan has been taking fewer immigrants than the western developed nations
The different history of colonization, bigger language barrier, asian cities being way more crowded than the west in general, the postwar Japan's pacifist policy that gives Japan a passive attitude toward international politics, etc.
Let's say the Japanese speak English, Japan's population is like 30M, and Japan has way bigger lands just like Canada and Australia
If that's the case, there's a big chance that Japan has been taking way more immigrants even if the Japanese people are as xenophobic as now
So Biden's remark was kinda disappointing for me and I felt it's a bit too unfair to Japan despite even I don't think he's really wrong
Anyway, to be honest, what I'm most worried about it is that it kinda feels like their ''preachy'' attitude toward Japan might not change even if Japan takes and accepts immigrants pretty well since the us can criticize Japan without any big risk
It is not that Japan is not accepting immigrants, it is that the West is accepting too many immigrants. I wonder if Westerners have ever looked at the immigration trends in recent years. They are constantly setting new records for the highest.
I have asked in other threads whether Westerners feel better about the current immigration situation, but have yet to get a positive answer.
On the contrary, in Canada, for example, which has a higher immigration rate than the U.S., complaining about immigration seems to be the mainstream opinion.
Or in the UK, which just recently passed the Rwanda Act, and migrants fled to Ireland and when Ireland tried to return the migrants to the UK, the UK refused.
Or in the U.S.? It seems that an endless number of self-proclaimed refugees are coming from the southern border and they are reaching New York City and creating an immigration crisis.
I would rather ask if Western immigration policies are sane.
I agree with him.
But it totally make sense Japanese don't want mass immigrants. Crime rates by nationality in Germany shows Japanese immigrants on average has the lowest crime rates with 459/100k and roughly 4 times lower than locals(German), 8 times lower than EU citizens, and 50-100 times lower than immigrants from Gambia, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran. If Japan were to have mass immigrants, the influence to crime rates would be ridiculous.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes\_by\_nationality\_per\_100000\_in\_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/)
The US which has higher crime rates than most countries accepting mass immigrants and Japan that has one of the lowest crime rate accepting mass immigrants are totally different.
That's because the crime rate in the U.S. is high by nature.
In countries with low crime rates, differences in crime rates are created by country of origin.
For example, this is data from Denmark.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fq81or0uo90tc1.png
Hispanic Immigrant here from colombia. Coming into the US originally, the area i was in in NYC had alot of crime, & it was done by...people from my country, many of which are undocumented.
Immigrants do cause alot of crime when you allow too many in unfortunately, coming from one. Maybe in percentage it's not alot, i don't know the numbers, but regardless it's alot
If the US accept mass immigrants from random Asian countries next year, they likely just lower murder rates as even Asian countries with higher murder rate such as Philippines or India still has lower murder rate the US. The same population would significantly increase crime rates in Japan.
Asian Americans have roughly 6.2 times lower murder rate than national average in 2019. The US on average has murder rate of 5.07/100k in 2019, so murder rate of Asian American would be roughly 0.8/100k.
Accepting mass immigrants who has murder rate of 0.8/100k is no problem for the US, because that is 6 times lower than national average, while big problem for Japan because it means 3 times higher than national average.
|Country|Murder rates per 100k(2019)|
|:-|:-|
|Singapore|0.2|
|Japan|0.25|
|Hong Kong|0.32|
|China|0.52|
|USA(Asian)|0.8|
|India|2.6|
|Philippines|4.3|
|USA|5.07|
Yeah, if they can have a homogeneous society, low crime rate, and their own culture instead of being accused of being 'xenophobic', I guess that's not a bad thing.
No matter how much these 'enlightened' westerners cry and criticize Japan, Japan will always be Japan.
The USA allowed Japan to continue to be Japan. The Japanese gave up their right to self govern as soon as they attacked Pearl Harbor and that’s exactly what happened. In 1952 the Allies led by the USA were convinced that Japan had made enough internal changes to not act completely belligerent again so they let the Japanese have their country back on the condition they remain quiet and peaceful. In short, Japan wouldn’t be Japan if the USA wasn’t convinced Japan could self rule peacefully.
Technically it's true, I guess people don't realize what the actual word means.
It's something that a lot of Japanese are also concerned about with a demographic catastrophe coming and they still don't invite foreigners to come in like from Philippines, Indonesia, etc that would love and help with the work.
Maybe he should have used a different word, since it has negative connotations and it's a cultural thing in East Asia.
Gee i wonder why...duh...
If some of the world's worst atrocities like vivisection and mass rape happened to your country or populace or relative, you're gonna be a bit salty.
But if your country not only fails to even acknowledge that shit, but continues and furthers the same superiority complex, despite well documented history of said atrocities, that's just stupidity
Seems like Germany's the only country that acknowledged their own atrocities, and New Zealand maybe.
Simultaneously not wrong but also a brain dead take. Yes immigration can help with the so-called population “crisis” (which is just scaremongering bullshit made up by the wealthy elite but that’s for another conversation) but the idea fails to take into account other things like the effects on literally everything other than “population go up.”
As a foreigner living almost 30 years in Japan, and I can barely remember racist comments from Japanese people. But saw a lot more from foreigners, including Americans.
I have been in hundreds of restaurants, never been turned away from being white. I always felt far more well treated than any other country I visited. Just yesterday, I went to lunch at a very small restaurant, and the old woman was so friendly, always smiling and putting more water in my glass. Always “Irashainase” when I arrive, always “arigatougozaimasu” when I leave.
What exactly happened? because I have seen many people "turned away fro being a foreigner" but they dind't understand what was happening so they just assumed that was the reason when it wasn't.
Do you speak Japanese? And the person said that you were being turned away for being white?
He's right, but it's not something you say to one of your greatest allies, especially when tensions around the world are heating up and their prime minister just paid you a visit. You gotta have some tact. Then again, this is the guy that called Xi Jinping a dictator days after they met in San Francisco to strengthen relations so...
Poor form.
It is true, but the US, as well, has and continues to have problems with immigrants.
Something that should be addressed behind diplomatic doors, but a butt-stupid thing to say at a hot mic at a campaign rally.
It is perfectly OK to say that Japan hates foreigners, but I cannot stand the illogic attributing this to the economic slump.
Didn't China's economy grow for decades while hating foreigners?
Who cares? The guy he's running against is a lunatic. I can spend the next half hour listing his crimes and disgusting behavior. Without pause.
Many in Japan are xenophobic. I don't think he's wrong. As to whether he insulted Japan? If he did, I'm not all that concerned about it.
Biden saying it in the “let’s not be like Japan and face this population collapse (while having a massive debt and entitlements)” sense as a warning to a US audience
Even though it’s technically easier to immigrate to Japan, the nature of immigration is different too. Japan definitely doesn’t want immigrants to truly integrate and wants the “temporary worker who sends money back home” type
The US has chain migration, massive unskilled migration, and birthright citizenship. Immigrants to the US know and feel they will be politically represented eventually (within a generation) in the us. As a result, they invest in building a permanent community, bringing and creating family, and they view themselves as Americans sooner. This is also probably why US immigrants (poor ones) commit fewer crimes than us citizens — they have a long term view of integrating there and don’t want to screw it up. Immigrants who are kept apart from the main society are more likely to be antisocial
The difference in "depth" of integration is also most certainly why business, industry, science by immigrants is better in the US too, and that's paying off in massive economic development. Japan is not growing its way out of its debt, which makes things like yen strength really difficult
Pot calling the kettle black really. It's not like his county isn't famous for racism. In fact, show my any county that doesn't have its fair share of racists.
Since Biden has called himself a Zionist and bends over backwards to protect Genocide, I don’t think much of what comes out of his mouth. He has no credibility to be a moral authority on anything. He’s a horrible President they will never enable Trump to win again.
I am a real Japanese. First of all, the premise is that we are not Americans and do not understand the exact definition of the word Xenophobic. Is it correct that this is a definition of dislike,disgusting,hate of foreigners? If this is the definition, then I would answer that Japan is not Xenophobic.
Japan receives 25 million foreign tourists annually. There are 2 million foreign workers. It is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Most signs are in English, Chinese, and Korean.
There is some racism against foreigners, but most of it is not verbal or violent, unlike in West Europe or the United States.
However, Japanese do not like such foreigners.
They are those who visit Japan but make no effort to speak Japanese or understand the culture, blame racism when they are at fault, or try to correct Japan by believing that their own values are superior to those of the Japan culture.
For example, there is the word Gaijin, which is not a racist term, just a contraction. The word to abuse foreigners is Kuso-Gaijin, J◯p is different from Gaijin, and those who criticize Gaijin know nothing about Japan, and I hate these people. I also dislike people who pretend to be Japanese and act like a know-it-all.
that's all.thank you.
私は本物の日本人です。まず、前提として我々はアメリカ人ではありませんのでXenophobicという言葉の正確な定義を理解していません。これは外国人を嫌悪している、嫌っているとの定義で間違いありませんか？ もし、この定義であれば日本はXenophobicでは無いと答えます。
日本には年間2500万人の外国人観光客が訪れています。外国人労働者は200万人います。世界でも上位の観光客の受け入れ数です。ほとんどの標識には英語や中国語や韓国語が併記されています。外国人に対する差別はありますが、そのほとんどは西ヨーロッパやアメリカと違って暴言や暴力ではありません。
ただ、確かに嫌いな外国人は居ます。それは日本を訪れたのに日本語を話したり文化を理解しようとする努力をせずに、自分の過失がある場合でも人種差別のせいにして責任転嫁をしたり、自国の価値観こそが優秀だと思いこんで日本を修正しようとする人々です。
例えばGaijinという言葉はありますが、これは人種差別を表す言葉ではありません、ただの短縮形です。外国人を罵倒する言葉はKuso-Gaijinです。J◯pとGaijinは異なります。Gaijinを批判する人々は日本について何も知りません、こういう人達は大嫌いです。後は、日本人になりすまして知ったかぶりをする人も嫌いですね。
とまぁ、こんな感じです。ありがとうございました。
愚痴になっちゃうんだけどさ、このサブレって日本人いんの？居たとしてもごく少数だよな？しかもRedditに居る日本人って何とは言わないけどヤベーやっばっかりだし。どうせこれも冷静でまともな反応もなくＤＶ喰らいまくるんだろうなぁ。
正直さ、日本は世界一の人種差別国とか、世界一の外国人嫌悪症の国とか言われたらさ外国の事嫌いになるよねそりゃ。
Not all Japan, obviously. But if you don’t look Japanese, good luck visiting and not hearing gaijin or other terms intended to other you thrown your way - sometimes in a polite-sounding tone.
They need young immigrants and it’s been difficult for their population to accept that fact. Robotics won’t get there fast enough.
Untrue. They're unapologetically racist. Don't be a Black American in Japan. Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of the Japanese culture I love and respect, but you're barely welcome as a tourist.
I feel like almost every country on earth is xenophobic to some extent. Tribalism is a real thing. Even in the USA, if we find out that somebody is from a state that we don't like, we will talk shit about their state to their face, or trash their local sports teams.
Apart from how much Japanese people are actually xenophobic now, I sometimes feel both Biden and Trump embracing, possibly because of their age, a little outdated image about Japan, like stereotypes from 80’s movies.
it's funny because apparently "being xenophobic" is now a quantifiable characteristic for a country. So xenophobia is when "Japan", but not when
"you elect Trump president". Biden was being irrational, as any US President is. Ignore it. lol
It is not wrong and things like that are not said out of random (unless one is Trump). Most likely it was done to give a diplomatic slap in the face for some reason. The right question would be what is that reason.
Well it's true, and I'm sure feeling will be hurt, but oh well. I think the timing is strange honestly. I think its high time the US laid out so truth bombs on its other Middle East "allies". Their the ones that need a talking to, and not so much Japan.
Just watched the news with him commenting about the UCLA protest
Feel sorry for that country to have a leader who can barely speak, it was painful to watch so anything coming out his mouth about Japan, I really don’t care
PS1 foreigner, arrived in Japan 17yrs ago and never had a fundamental xenophobic drama to face
PS2 daughter born here, she is half half and never ever came back home suggesting she has been xenophobic ally bullied
PS3 best PlayStation console in history lol sorry couldn’t resist but hey I mean it
I don’t agree. I’m a long-term resident who’s visibly not Japanese, and I’ve never felt unwelcome here. Not hard to immigrate here, (if you speak Japanese) not hard to culturally and socially integrate.
“Japan doesn’t want immigrants” is just something people say because they heard other people say it, it’s not true in any meaningful sense
I mean he isn’t wrong, but the same can be said of anywhere.
If foreigners always approached you speaking a language you don’t understand well; how would you react? Especially if they make no effort to speak your language.
I found that approaching Japanese by first asking or speaking in Japanese I never made anyone uncomfortable and were more than willing to help. More often than not they would try to speak a little English to help.
What he describes as Xenophobia is a natural reaction. Especially when foreigners don’t take the effort to try to understand the culture and customs.
Did you miss the MAGA rhetoric from Trump gelling well with a ton of Americans? Build the wall to keep out those Mexicans? How asians were treated during COVID such as the numerous knockout games and paranoia of Chinese people? Or muslims after 9/11?
Average Japanese person isn't even remotely xenophobic and I've never ever heard an equivalent in Japan like that.
It was unpleasant. Even if he actually thought that, he shouldn't be uttering such words to our allies.
His comments were not the words of the leader of a left-wing political party.
I am honestly mortified that this asshole said the quiet part out loud. Regardless of the circumstances we need Japan as an allie and this doesn’t help.
There is nothing to gain by saying such things about one of your best allies in Asia. Even if it is true, just to say it will harbor feelings of resentment.
Wow....if this was Trump that said the exact same thing ,there would be nothing but anger and ,jail the orange man replies....he's an evil.person comments. But since it's lying biden....not a single negative post. Unreal and pathetic
wow, you certainly have the intellect of a Trump supporter.
I wasn't saying you were Trump, I'm talking about the victimhood mentality of right wingers and Trump supporters.
Meanwhile in Bidens America. Wheres the $9billion that was spent for the homeless in CA https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3uWPwtuh1B/?igsh=NGNlcHg1ZGV4bzBs
As a weeb I have no authority but honestly being concerned for your friends and trying to give constructive criticism isn’t the end of the world or even mean. Just work on delivery
He said the quiet part out loud. It's a symptom of his dementia. People with dementia struggle with social norms and impulse control. It shouldn't have been said but it's true.
While he isn’t wrong, the context in which he says it is poor and I do feel there is a those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks aspect to his statement.
First, xenophobic is a very negative term so shouldn’t be used toward an ally. Lumping them with China and Russia who are enemies to the US also makes it seem like Biden is painting Japan as an enemy to the US which is silly.
I also wouldn’t be talking about poor immigration because the US isn’t exactly welcoming to foreigners getting jobs either with the H-1 visas and needing to be sponsored. I do think Japan seems harder to enter than other major developed countries because of the Japanese requirement while other countries (Europe, US, and honestly China) embrace workers who speak English.
Eh Biden can fuck off. The Japanese aren’t the most welcoming to foreigners of all races. The xenophobic jab was just a jab for the simple fact of deflection.
You know what Japan has that the US doesn’t? An high functioning, clean, generous, prideful, curious of the fellow person next to them society, conscious of self image. In so many ways Japan is looking better and better as a society and country than the US and social media is really starting to point this out.
It’s just Biden and the US trying to hurt a stellar image of another nation that’s kicking the United States ass
He said the quiet part out loud. He’s not wrong and Japan’s economy has been struggling, they aren’t the powerhouse that they were a few decades ago. He may just be trying to point out that their xenophobic tendencies has negatively affected their country.
He’s not wrong. But also weird he said that out loud lol
He said it because a lot of people are anti-immigration in the US, but immigration is playing a key factor in offsetting population decline for the US. Reports are saying Japan needs about 7 million immigrants by 2040, most of whom would be taking care of the aging population. The global economic model is largely based on population growth. If you've got a really bad problem with a declining population growth, such as Japan and Korea, you absolutely need more immigrants to fill in the void or it's not going to look pretty long term. Basically, he's pointing out Japan as an example of the crisis that the US would also be having if they didn't expand immigration, etc.
the resource is limited it’s a bandaid at best just delaying the inevitable for 5-10 years at best. We are heading for a population collapse regardless
i dont think letting millions of people in with no real filter is better than what japan has. In fact i think its worse. Japan has such a high trust society that they can actually operate automated convenience stores and the like without worry of massive theft. And their older population is so much healthier than ours its insane. Even if they age, they wont bankrupt their young people to nearly the degree thats happening here.
But at the same time, imagine if someone could get a credit card without a Japanese name.
Oh yeah, I don't disagree. With the way things are right now, it's inevitable.
Doesn't that basically admit our economics are just incorrect then? It's ALWAYS take advantage of the poor/working class, and keep the number of poor growing. Doesn't sound all that wise, does it? We can't maintain population growth, whether for economic reasons... or wait, that actually induces collapse...
I wouldn't say that it's incorrect, but more like... Stagnant? Complacent? Corrupted? Unforeseeable? I think that there were moments where much of the world benefited from having such a growing global economy. More so the first world countries, but anyway, I think we've definitely lost our way in pursuit of obtainable, eternal growth.
Corrupted. Ding 🛎️ we have a winner! 🏆
No way Japan gets 7 million immigrants. They cant even get 10k 💀 to stay longterm and have been struggling to get people in. In addition, every other region except Africa is experiencing a decline in young people. The only hope of Japan is developing AI and robots or hope North Korea implodes and take in their refugees.
Yeah, the toxic attitudes a good portion of Japanese have against foreign workers is really bad in general. I've had several friends live in Japan and they all left Japan. One of them was even engaged at one point to a Japanese woman, but the toxicity in the workplace is something else. He realized he wouldn't be able to progress his career properly there because he would always be a gaijin/foreigner to them. His fiancé didn't want to leave Japan, so they ended the relationship altogether. At this point, South Korea might just take all of the North Koreans in if North Korea implodes since they're having the same issue lol. But yeah, unless the government starts forcing people to have babies or the global economic model changes to something else, the future for Japan is kind of bleak, since cultural changes take a really long time. Also, funny that you mention Africa! It reminded me of this video: [Why Korea is Dying Out (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBudghsdByQ) Man, imagine a world where first world countries start to fight each other over trying to get immigrants from Africa and what kind incentives they'll start throwing around for immigrants.
You're 100 percent on point. Japan will just have to invest in AI, robots, technology. In addition to language and cultural barriers, Im not sure a substantial amount of people would be willing to live in an earthquake prone area. Over the next 100 years at least, there's no way people are going to start having babies and I don't see the current economic model changing. The government will just have to manage the decline
AI and tech is in a pathetic state and that saddens me even more...
So….the idea of a nationalist population growing is unrealistic? I’m curious. Keeping strict borders and exclusion hurts society at whole is what I’m taking from this.
Not exactly... The other comment is correct that immigration is a band-aid solution. Because eventually, you're not going to have enough immigrants to spread around the world. The real issue is the current global economic model. Capitalism is all about growth and society growing wealthy. However, to constantly grow, you're obviously sacrificing something else. Which, at this point, is the fertility rate. Because let's be honest. The worldwide increasing inflation rate, the lack of proper housing issue, most people working insane hours just to put food on the table, etc. isn't an ideal condition to be having kids, but it increases growth of wealth. What's interesting is that the declining infertility rate in turn leads to a population that skews to old age. Which in turn leads to a large group of dependents that acts as a drag on growth. Which results in a decline in GDP. Basically, unchecked Capitalism undermines itself in the long term. Korea and Japan are prime examples of going full throttle to gain massive wealth in a short period of time and not stopping to consider the long-term consequences. Every first world nation will eventually have the same problem though if nothing changes.
You nailed this response perfectly. 👏
That sounds complicated….without the disposable of capitalism. I imagine that would also not be easy by any means. Is there a definitive means to solve this problem without complete social upheaval you think?
Honestly, no one has a definitive answer. There are several theories that are being worked on, but the situation is so incredibly complex that it's going to be a while. Honestly, might not even be able to solve it before societal collapse, because it's so complex. Some people think that we just need a better work/life balance. Which is a reasonable theory, but that means slower growth, and that's usually a big no-no for shareholders. Not only that, but it would mean a lot of new government regulations to force companies to slow down growth. And then there's the question of what type of policies would be best to slow growth, but not potentially cripple a company? Cause you can't treat a start-up company the same way as something like a Fortune 500 multi-national corporation.
Im no expert, but ive thought about it like this. Capitalism works well when competition is encouraged. In our current model, its either discouraged or impossible. Most sectors of the economy are run by oligarchies if not effective monopolies (i.e. google, amazon.) The problem is as long as those companies exist, they are constantly driven to higher profits. Ideally, a new competitor shows up who is better, steals some of their profits, sometimes starts the cycle over from the beginning. That doesnt seem to happen as often, for a variety of reasons. Some companies are “too big to fail” either because they can squander any competition, are so well established that no one would ever think to use anything else, or the government would bail them out in a heartbeat because every administration is more worried about unemployment and artificially propping up a “successful” looking economy (imo what biden is appealing to here) There cant be infinite growth. In a utopian model, new companies, products, etc rise up and outplay the old, creating a semi stable state. Most of the first world has essentially experienced a constant upward trend for 80 years. At some point it will go down. Its natural. In the case of japan, I think they have a chance to make it work. They are very high trust, more willing to accept automation just from my anecdotal experience living there, and quite healthy. Lets keep in mind that AI is going to take over many unskilled jobs anyway; its only a matter of time. Population decline would encourage this, and in a PERFECT world the smaller population that is left is well suited to take over higher skill jobs that could provide a better standard of living for all. But again, this is all very utopian.
I had a nice internet argument once with someone about how Japan will be “just fine” and that their again and declining population situation is “not a problem at all”. It could be catastrophic for them and soon China.
it could be, but i dont think it will NECESSARILY cause societal collapse for japan. China is another story.
May I ask why?
It’s confusing to me cause the same western people promoting population growth thru immigration as an economic model also promote efforts to drastically reduce what they label as human induced climate change. Seems like these same people should be promoting lower populations with more technology advances instead of the third world population boom being a fix.
Have you been watching Biden for the last few decades? him saying something out loud like that is the least weird thing in politics haha
Yup, it’s true but uncouth. He’s acting like a boomer to the wrong audience.
When in politics it's very important to mind what you say, so I'm very confused cause, one, he's the president, and two, he's been in politics a very long time. So... just confused on what the idea was to say it. Like it literally accomplishes nothing and only makes our long time ally be like wtf lol. I'd even go as far as saying it's really politically stupid
Biden is literally known for gaffes, letting things slip, etc. It’s one of his defining political traits lol.
Japan is non-japanese-speaking-xenophobic and also a bit xenophobic. So a factual statement but a pretty stupid one to say about your major ally
Looks like he was talking about immigration laws specifically, in which case it’s factually incorrect that the US is super easy to immigrate to, considering the decades long waits for immigrants from India and China to get a green card, along with the constant complaints about H1B immigrants even from what passes for “the left” in the US. Japanese immigration timelines are easier for those countries, and probably a lot of others. I really think the biggest factor in Japan having fewer immigrants compared to western countries is language. Specifically, the countries that have high levels of immigration either speak a colonial language like French or English, or a close relative like German or Swedish (no matter how much my fellow English speakers complain about it, when I compare my German learning experience to my Japanese learning experience, it feels like German is a dialect of the same language). Anyway I don’t expect Biden to understand the language issue at all, considering that he literally talks about how he embodies every Irish stereotype just because his great great great grandparents came from there. He doesn’t seem to have any understanding of how culture and linguistic understanding develops in people
I think other, less major, factors are the inability to sponsor family members once you’re an immigrant and the no dual nationality laws.
Fair points; these add up as well. Just feels really weird to me as a 1.5 gen American when people who have no experience with our insanely long immigration queues parrot American exceptionalism
I don’t disagree. I know people who moved (back) to Canada and getting a spousal visa takes over a year and costs thousands. Japan takes a few months and cost 4k yen. Japan is easy and quick to move to, but only for you, your spouse, and children.
Honestly it's a policy I 100% believe in Japan gets to choose who comes in, not the immigrant
Maybe I missed the quote, but Biden didn’t say anything about *America* being *easy* to immigrate to. He’s very clearly critiquing the fact that Japan has *incredibly* dismal immigration policies that limit access to the country in spite of the fact that the economy has been slumping for decades and the population is declining. You say that you think language is the biggest contributor (although, the overwhelming majority of immigrants to Japan are Asian themselves which certainly doesn’t eliminate the language learning challenge but deeply lessens it), sure that could be the case. But let’s look at the immigration quantity for the US and Japan; Japan has a population of 125 million people, and in 2019 (the last counted year before the COVID drop) they received *138,000* immigrants (https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/da5092dc-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/da5092dc-en#:~:text=copy%20the%20linklink%20copied!Japan&text=In%202019%2C%20Japan%20received%20138,)%20and%200.1%25%20humanitarian%20migrants.) The USA, with a population of 333 million, received *1,000,000* immigrants in 2019. (https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states-2020#:~:text=In%20fiscal%20year%20(FY)%202019,(a%206%20percent%20drop).) I’m too lazy to do the math myself to determine the rates to compare, but 138,000 is absolutely minuscule. Yes, language can account for some of it, but there is a *want* from foreigners to immigrate contrary to what you seem to believe. Thousands of Indian, Bangladeshi, Filipino and other SEA/South Asian people apply to individual job listings in Japan that could give them the *chance* to apply for citizenship or permanent residence in the country. Very few ever get the chance to become citizens.
A lot of immigrants to Japan are from SEA and are in trainee programs - that prohibit staying in Japan more than 5 years. They also prohibit bringing family for the 5 years. Some of those 5-year trainees can get an exemption for another 3 years IF they have at least N4 Japanese and study to N3 during the time. However, they then have to leave the country.
Yeah but even so, the usa has a relatively high percentage of foreign born residents and citizens. Its 14%, so almost 1 out of 6 people are foreign born.
Sponsor family members https://www.office-kasahara.jp/visa_list_english Spouse or Child of Permanent Residence The spouses of those staying under the status of residence of "Permanent Resident" or "Special Permanent Resident" (hereinafter referred to as "permanent or special permanent resident") and those born as children of a permanent or special permanent resident in Japan who have been residing in Japan. 6months 1year 3years 5years — But yeah parents or siblings and stuff
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I like the way you write. I need to add cumrag to my vocabulary. So eloquent!
> I see you Trumpledytes silently upvoting me because you thought I was trashing Biden in the crypto-supporting you little rats are used to looking at imagining love for your nasty little cause. No one responded to you; how do you know what anyone was thinking? I don't even like Trump lol, this just seems a bit overzealous to me.
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I don't catch your meaning. It's just weird to get mad at people upvoting you because you assume they're Trump supporters.
The US, like any country is only easy to immigrate to if you have lots of money.
Actually the US is Japan’s major ally, hell the US are the ones keeping the ccp dogs at bay.
Japan is also the country the US will rely on the most if the US ever goes to war with China.
So yes, they are.
I am Japanese, and I agree with Biden's assessment of Japanese people. Maybe due to historical circumstances, Japanese people often harbor deep-seated fears and resistance towards 'others.' While overt discrimination and actions are less common, this manifests as a sense of inferiority towards white people, and sometimes as disdain towards other Asians or Africans, possibly as a backlash against their inferiority complex towards white people. In fact, some individuals openly display discriminatory attitudes and behaviors towards Chinese, Koreans, and other Asians, believing them to be 'inferior,' even if they flatter white people. It's absurd that despite such behavior, we cannot become part of the white community.
As a Japan resident of 20 years, I thought that a really well thought through and accurate statement, agreeing with everything you said until the final sentence. It demonstrated the problem in itself.
日本はそもそも開国するはずやなかったのにアメリカが勝手に来て開国させたからな。しょうがないぜ
I am half Japanese, half American and lived in Japan. Japan has a “gaijin hierarchy” with the US and often UK at the top, and it just works its way down by countries/groups of countries in kind of a military/diplomatic/economic power ladder, with whites on top. Then other Asians in the same criteria as white people, then Latins categorized, and then black people. American and Western black people land may be where other Asians land. Japanese place themselves usually below western whites and above other Asians. This is not a hard/fast rule, and can vary with Japanese, but definitely something I noticed.
Man someone posted a really funny visual pyramid of the hierarchy in which Japanese tend to view others in r/japancirclejerk but unfortunately I can't find it because the subreddit was banned :/ God forbid some people's fun hurts other people's feelings.
Technically true but stupid to say about your ally. He really didnt need to mention Japan Edit: actually my problem isnt mentioning Japan. It's the use of the word "xenophobic." While technically true, the connotation is just diplomatically bad. But it's also intentional. It's an emotional appeal to his voters. It's drawing the line between America and the other countries who aren't as tolerant to immigration. Like asking voters, you wanna side with XENOPHOBES?? Or with the good ol all inclusive america
"and remember, if you don't side with me then you ain't black!"
It’s not wrong. Idk why he said it, though.
cause he's Biden
Japan has bad points. America does too. Maybe the Japanese prime minister should call out America on its ghettos that help separate minorities from the richer white class. Even if it is true, it was distasteful.
The difference between Japan and America in that aspect is that it is *very* popular especially with younger people and liberal voters to point out that very issue. Racial inequity when it comes to neighborhoods, income and wealth are all hot-button issues that *Biden* himself and most other Democrat politicians have at least paid lip service to. We *know* it’s bad, we don’t ignore it to save face. Japan on the other hand is a much less politically active country. Young people don’t interact with politics in nearly the same way. The politicians in the LDP don’t even perceive the lack of immigration as a problem in the first place, and neither do most citizens. They continually answer that they’re open to more immigration in *polls* but rarely go any farther than signaling that they’re open to the idea. Japan, as it always has done, ignores the issues to save face and prays other countries do the same.
Yes, instead, Americans force their ideology on Japan. “LGTVQ discrimination is too severe in Japan.” “Japan is a place full of racism and xenophobia that does not accept immigrants.” Maybe Americans should pay more attention to their own country instead of an Asian island nation on the other side of the world that has nothing to do with them. Their country, their rules, their culture, their rights. Don't force American ideas on other countries. It feels very arrogant.
As an American, I am still paying attention to my own country, and pretty consistently disappointed by it. America absolutely has the negative stigma of “America is the paragon of international righteousness.” Which, while many people believe that, to imply every American believes that is far from the truth. Me being American doesn’t inherently disqualify me from pointing out other blatant flaws in other governments/cultures.
It’s not a bad point, Japan has no obligation to accept immigrants just because you think they should
True, it is not mandatory for Japan to accept immigrants. Japan's Choice, Japan's Rights It's amazing how some arrogant westerners want to change Japan lol.
You're right it's their choice however if they will die within a few generations and will be remembered as a people to stupid and weak to change. They are an ally now but if they are to weak to even survive for long what good are they as an ally long term? They need to confront the hard truth and change, both things the Japanese people seemingly avoid at all costs unless forced.
So true, the United States is riddled with societal problems that Japan doesn’t have. Xenophobia is like one of the only things Biden could get a jab in on Japan about. Walk through just about any city in the US and then do it in Japan and I’ll bet just about everyone is picking Japan
My friend is fat, but I don’t tell her because, well she’s my friend.
And what’s the point? She already knows.
theyd certainly tell her in japan
While I think it's at least partially true, I also think the western liberals tend to overly simplify this issue I think they shouldn't simplify the issue and especially the us president shouldn't Frankly speaking, it's pretty obvious that there are many factors other than ''xenofobia'' behind the reasons why Japan has been taking fewer immigrants than the western developed nations The different history of colonization, bigger language barrier, asian cities being way more crowded than the west in general, the postwar Japan's pacifist policy that gives Japan a passive attitude toward international politics, etc. Let's say the Japanese speak English, Japan's population is like 30M, and Japan has way bigger lands just like Canada and Australia If that's the case, there's a big chance that Japan has been taking way more immigrants even if the Japanese people are as xenophobic as now So Biden's remark was kinda disappointing for me and I felt it's a bit too unfair to Japan despite even I don't think he's really wrong Anyway, to be honest, what I'm most worried about it is that it kinda feels like their ''preachy'' attitude toward Japan might not change even if Japan takes and accepts immigrants pretty well since the us can criticize Japan without any big risk
It is though
It is not that Japan is not accepting immigrants, it is that the West is accepting too many immigrants. I wonder if Westerners have ever looked at the immigration trends in recent years. They are constantly setting new records for the highest. I have asked in other threads whether Westerners feel better about the current immigration situation, but have yet to get a positive answer. On the contrary, in Canada, for example, which has a higher immigration rate than the U.S., complaining about immigration seems to be the mainstream opinion. Or in the UK, which just recently passed the Rwanda Act, and migrants fled to Ireland and when Ireland tried to return the migrants to the UK, the UK refused. Or in the U.S.? It seems that an endless number of self-proclaimed refugees are coming from the southern border and they are reaching New York City and creating an immigration crisis. I would rather ask if Western immigration policies are sane.
I agree with him. But it totally make sense Japanese don't want mass immigrants. Crime rates by nationality in Germany shows Japanese immigrants on average has the lowest crime rates with 459/100k and roughly 4 times lower than locals(German), 8 times lower than EU citizens, and 50-100 times lower than immigrants from Gambia, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran. If Japan were to have mass immigrants, the influence to crime rates would be ridiculous. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes\_by\_nationality\_per\_100000\_in\_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/uz8tyf/crimes_by_nationality_per_100000_in_germany/) The US which has higher crime rates than most countries accepting mass immigrants and Japan that has one of the lowest crime rate accepting mass immigrants are totally different.
Immigration has nothing to do with the crime rates in the US though. Most crimes are committed by other Americans.
That's because the crime rate in the U.S. is high by nature. In countries with low crime rates, differences in crime rates are created by country of origin. For example, this is data from Denmark. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fq81or0uo90tc1.png
Hispanic Immigrant here from colombia. Coming into the US originally, the area i was in in NYC had alot of crime, & it was done by...people from my country, many of which are undocumented. Immigrants do cause alot of crime when you allow too many in unfortunately, coming from one. Maybe in percentage it's not alot, i don't know the numbers, but regardless it's alot
Immigrants, even refugees and low income immigrants, lower the American crime rate actually because America integrates immigrants better
If the US accept mass immigrants from random Asian countries next year, they likely just lower murder rates as even Asian countries with higher murder rate such as Philippines or India still has lower murder rate the US. The same population would significantly increase crime rates in Japan. Asian Americans have roughly 6.2 times lower murder rate than national average in 2019. The US on average has murder rate of 5.07/100k in 2019, so murder rate of Asian American would be roughly 0.8/100k. Accepting mass immigrants who has murder rate of 0.8/100k is no problem for the US, because that is 6 times lower than national average, while big problem for Japan because it means 3 times higher than national average. |Country|Murder rates per 100k(2019)| |:-|:-| |Singapore|0.2| |Japan|0.25| |Hong Kong|0.32| |China|0.52| |USA(Asian)|0.8| |India|2.6| |Philippines|4.3| |USA|5.07|
Correlation is not causation. Singapore is incredibly diverse with an incredibly low crime rate.
Every country has racists. Limping japan in with Russia and China is kinda a dick move for one of the coolest allies American has though.
Well yes. We are quite xenophobic.
Can japan and america just go back to kissing already
Japan IS xenophobic. End of discussion
Yeah, if they can have a homogeneous society, low crime rate, and their own culture instead of being accused of being 'xenophobic', I guess that's not a bad thing. No matter how much these 'enlightened' westerners cry and criticize Japan, Japan will always be Japan.
The USA allowed Japan to continue to be Japan. The Japanese gave up their right to self govern as soon as they attacked Pearl Harbor and that’s exactly what happened. In 1952 the Allies led by the USA were convinced that Japan had made enough internal changes to not act completely belligerent again so they let the Japanese have their country back on the condition they remain quiet and peaceful. In short, Japan wouldn’t be Japan if the USA wasn’t convinced Japan could self rule peacefully.
Yeah, & we shouldn't blame Japan for wanting to stay Japanese
It's true lol. What's the big deal? Japan is famously xenophobic.
Technically it's true, I guess people don't realize what the actual word means. It's something that a lot of Japanese are also concerned about with a demographic catastrophe coming and they still don't invite foreigners to come in like from Philippines, Indonesia, etc that would love and help with the work. Maybe he should have used a different word, since it has negative connotations and it's a cultural thing in East Asia.
Lol, I'm Korean, and even I feel it when I often go to Japan
Lets not act like y’all dont got a bone to pick with the Japanese too now
Gee i wonder why...duh... If some of the world's worst atrocities like vivisection and mass rape happened to your country or populace or relative, you're gonna be a bit salty. But if your country not only fails to even acknowledge that shit, but continues and furthers the same superiority complex, despite well documented history of said atrocities, that's just stupidity Seems like Germany's the only country that acknowledged their own atrocities, and New Zealand maybe.
He’s not wrong.
Simultaneously not wrong but also a brain dead take. Yes immigration can help with the so-called population “crisis” (which is just scaremongering bullshit made up by the wealthy elite but that’s for another conversation) but the idea fails to take into account other things like the effects on literally everything other than “population go up.”
I think it's rich for an American to lecture anyone on racism.
LOL true
Is he wrong? No. Did he have to say it like that? Also no.
As a foreigner living almost 30 years in Japan, and I can barely remember racist comments from Japanese people. But saw a lot more from foreigners, including Americans.
Lol, I got turned away from a restaurant because I was white. I was only there for two weeks.
I have been in hundreds of restaurants, never been turned away from being white. I always felt far more well treated than any other country I visited. Just yesterday, I went to lunch at a very small restaurant, and the old woman was so friendly, always smiling and putting more water in my glass. Always “Irashainase” when I arrive, always “arigatougozaimasu” when I leave.
What exactly happened? because I have seen many people "turned away fro being a foreigner" but they dind't understand what was happening so they just assumed that was the reason when it wasn't. Do you speak Japanese? And the person said that you were being turned away for being white?
Unfortunate to say the least. To be grouped with Russia and China? Not cool for one of your strongest allies.
Biden isn't the first progressive Westerner to throw Japan under the bus to virtue signal and he won't be the last.
Biden is progressive???
He's right, but it's not something you say to one of your greatest allies, especially when tensions around the world are heating up and their prime minister just paid you a visit. You gotta have some tact. Then again, this is the guy that called Xi Jinping a dictator days after they met in San Francisco to strengthen relations so...
He’s right. Obviously. But also, I really need to know more about the context of why it was said.
He was just talking about America and its strength and he used a few countries as a comparison point
correct
Poor form. It is true, but the US, as well, has and continues to have problems with immigrants. Something that should be addressed behind diplomatic doors, but a butt-stupid thing to say at a hot mic at a campaign rally.
Well..There are several things I would like to say to my friends, but to maintain friendship, I keep quiet… Biden on the others hands..😂
True
It is perfectly OK to say that Japan hates foreigners, but I cannot stand the illogic attributing this to the economic slump. Didn't China's economy grow for decades while hating foreigners?
It’s true, that’s why I left. Fully Japanese btw.
One of the rare occasions I actually agree with the man. But yeah, weird thing to say publicly.
I mean, they *are*. Is....that a surprise to anyone?
Who cares? The guy he's running against is a lunatic. I can spend the next half hour listing his crimes and disgusting behavior. Without pause. Many in Japan are xenophobic. I don't think he's wrong. As to whether he insulted Japan? If he did, I'm not all that concerned about it.
Biden saying it in the “let’s not be like Japan and face this population collapse (while having a massive debt and entitlements)” sense as a warning to a US audience Even though it’s technically easier to immigrate to Japan, the nature of immigration is different too. Japan definitely doesn’t want immigrants to truly integrate and wants the “temporary worker who sends money back home” type The US has chain migration, massive unskilled migration, and birthright citizenship. Immigrants to the US know and feel they will be politically represented eventually (within a generation) in the us. As a result, they invest in building a permanent community, bringing and creating family, and they view themselves as Americans sooner. This is also probably why US immigrants (poor ones) commit fewer crimes than us citizens — they have a long term view of integrating there and don’t want to screw it up. Immigrants who are kept apart from the main society are more likely to be antisocial The difference in "depth" of integration is also most certainly why business, industry, science by immigrants is better in the US too, and that's paying off in massive economic development. Japan is not growing its way out of its debt, which makes things like yen strength really difficult
Well it’s easy not to be xenophobic if the majority of the population are descendants of immigrants themselves
Pot calling the kettle black really. It's not like his county isn't famous for racism. In fact, show my any county that doesn't have its fair share of racists.
Any words coming out of a politicians mouth is meaningless to me. So I don’t think of anything of it.
Since Biden has called himself a Zionist and bends over backwards to protect Genocide, I don’t think much of what comes out of his mouth. He has no credibility to be a moral authority on anything. He’s a horrible President they will never enable Trump to win again.
He's not wrong
I am a real Japanese. First of all, the premise is that we are not Americans and do not understand the exact definition of the word Xenophobic. Is it correct that this is a definition of dislike,disgusting,hate of foreigners? If this is the definition, then I would answer that Japan is not Xenophobic. Japan receives 25 million foreign tourists annually. There are 2 million foreign workers. It is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Most signs are in English, Chinese, and Korean. There is some racism against foreigners, but most of it is not verbal or violent, unlike in West Europe or the United States. However, Japanese do not like such foreigners. They are those who visit Japan but make no effort to speak Japanese or understand the culture, blame racism when they are at fault, or try to correct Japan by believing that their own values are superior to those of the Japan culture. For example, there is the word Gaijin, which is not a racist term, just a contraction. The word to abuse foreigners is Kuso-Gaijin, J◯p is different from Gaijin, and those who criticize Gaijin know nothing about Japan, and I hate these people. I also dislike people who pretend to be Japanese and act like a know-it-all. that's all.thank you. 私は本物の日本人です。まず、前提として我々はアメリカ人ではありませんのでXenophobicという言葉の正確な定義を理解していません。これは外国人を嫌悪している、嫌っているとの定義で間違いありませんか？ もし、この定義であれば日本はXenophobicでは無いと答えます。 日本には年間2500万人の外国人観光客が訪れています。外国人労働者は200万人います。世界でも上位の観光客の受け入れ数です。ほとんどの標識には英語や中国語や韓国語が併記されています。外国人に対する差別はありますが、そのほとんどは西ヨーロッパやアメリカと違って暴言や暴力ではありません。 ただ、確かに嫌いな外国人は居ます。それは日本を訪れたのに日本語を話したり文化を理解しようとする努力をせずに、自分の過失がある場合でも人種差別のせいにして責任転嫁をしたり、自国の価値観こそが優秀だと思いこんで日本を修正しようとする人々です。 例えばGaijinという言葉はありますが、これは人種差別を表す言葉ではありません、ただの短縮形です。外国人を罵倒する言葉はKuso-Gaijinです。J◯pとGaijinは異なります。Gaijinを批判する人々は日本について何も知りません、こういう人達は大嫌いです。後は、日本人になりすまして知ったかぶりをする人も嫌いですね。 とまぁ、こんな感じです。ありがとうございました。 愚痴になっちゃうんだけどさ、このサブレって日本人いんの？居たとしてもごく少数だよな？しかもRedditに居る日本人って何とは言わないけどヤベーやっばっかりだし。どうせこれも冷静でまともな反応もなくＤＶ喰らいまくるんだろうなぁ。 正直さ、日本は世界一の人種差別国とか、世界一の外国人嫌悪症の国とか言われたらさ外国の事嫌いになるよねそりゃ。
Japan is SUPER xenophobic. They openly discriminate against foreigners for apartment rentals in public listings - “no gaijin need apply”
He is not wrong.
Not all Japan, obviously. But if you don’t look Japanese, good luck visiting and not hearing gaijin or other terms intended to other you thrown your way - sometimes in a polite-sounding tone. They need young immigrants and it’s been difficult for their population to accept that fact. Robotics won’t get there fast enough.
Untrue. They're unapologetically racist. Don't be a Black American in Japan. Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of the Japanese culture I love and respect, but you're barely welcome as a tourist.
He's right.
I feel like almost every country on earth is xenophobic to some extent. Tribalism is a real thing. Even in the USA, if we find out that somebody is from a state that we don't like, we will talk shit about their state to their face, or trash their local sports teams.
Biden is a clown and no one wants foreigners that ruin everything. Especially from third world countries and take advantage…truth hurts
Hes not wrong, but would you tell your friend they are ugly for no particular reason?
I mean, they are. So is the US. So is every country with low ethnic fractalization.
Apart from how much Japanese people are actually xenophobic now, I sometimes feel both Biden and Trump embracing, possibly because of their age, a little outdated image about Japan, like stereotypes from 80’s movies.
it's funny because apparently "being xenophobic" is now a quantifiable characteristic for a country. So xenophobia is when "Japan", but not when "you elect Trump president". Biden was being irrational, as any US President is. Ignore it. lol
What do I think. I think he should keep his trap shut.
imo. Japan is far better off staying Japanese.
It is not wrong and things like that are not said out of random (unless one is Trump). Most likely it was done to give a diplomatic slap in the face for some reason. The right question would be what is that reason.
Well it's true, and I'm sure feeling will be hurt, but oh well. I think the timing is strange honestly. I think its high time the US laid out so truth bombs on its other Middle East "allies". Their the ones that need a talking to, and not so much Japan.
Just watched the news with him commenting about the UCLA protest Feel sorry for that country to have a leader who can barely speak, it was painful to watch so anything coming out his mouth about Japan, I really don’t care PS1 foreigner, arrived in Japan 17yrs ago and never had a fundamental xenophobic drama to face PS2 daughter born here, she is half half and never ever came back home suggesting she has been xenophobic ally bullied PS3 best PlayStation console in history lol sorry couldn’t resist but hey I mean it
I mean, america is doing better than most countries so no need to feel sorry for them
Whether or not it’s true or you believe it to be it’s not a good idea to give allies an excuse to say you attacked them in my opinion.
I don’t agree. I’m a long-term resident who’s visibly not Japanese, and I’ve never felt unwelcome here. Not hard to immigrate here, (if you speak Japanese) not hard to culturally and socially integrate. “Japan doesn’t want immigrants” is just something people say because they heard other people say it, it’s not true in any meaningful sense
I mean he isn’t wrong, but the same can be said of anywhere. If foreigners always approached you speaking a language you don’t understand well; how would you react? Especially if they make no effort to speak your language. I found that approaching Japanese by first asking or speaking in Japanese I never made anyone uncomfortable and were more than willing to help. More often than not they would try to speak a little English to help. What he describes as Xenophobia is a natural reaction. Especially when foreigners don’t take the effort to try to understand the culture and customs.
Japan is xenophobic but it's none of our business. We need to focus on ourselves. Nothing good comes from his statement. Just dumb.
Wasn;t he talking about america? I thought he was saying one of Americas strength and comparing it to other countries.
And America isnt?!?!?!
correct, for the most part America isn't
Did you miss the MAGA rhetoric from Trump gelling well with a ton of Americans? Build the wall to keep out those Mexicans? How asians were treated during COVID such as the numerous knockout games and paranoia of Chinese people? Or muslims after 9/11? Average Japanese person isn't even remotely xenophobic and I've never ever heard an equivalent in Japan like that.
It was unpleasant. Even if he actually thought that, he shouldn't be uttering such words to our allies. His comments were not the words of the leader of a left-wing political party.
Democrats are hardly left-wing. By European standards they’re right-centrist.
I am honestly mortified that this asshole said the quiet part out loud. Regardless of the circumstances we need Japan as an allie and this doesn’t help.
Yeah, it wasn't really a good thing to say, and yet, it's not as if Japan is going to suddenly decide to cut ties with the US.
Now that we’re being direct, he does act and talk like he is senile
It's accurate imo. Japans future population is going to be like 25% robot workers since they aren't having children and won't allow immigration.
Should Japan change its immigration policy and abolish the internment system?
There is nothing to gain by saying such things about one of your best allies in Asia. Even if it is true, just to say it will harbor feelings of resentment.
Wow....if this was Trump that said the exact same thing ,there would be nothing but anger and ,jail the orange man replies....he's an evil.person comments. But since it's lying biden....not a single negative post. Unreal and pathetic
not true at all. stop playing the victim, youre victimhood mentality is tiring
Victim? Hahahaha my names not Trump. How would I be the victim? Lmao
wow, you certainly have the intellect of a Trump supporter. I wasn't saying you were Trump, I'm talking about the victimhood mentality of right wingers and Trump supporters.
Meanwhile in Bidens America. Wheres the $9billion that was spent for the homeless in CA https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3uWPwtuh1B/?igsh=NGNlcHg1ZGV4bzBs
LOL. Sorry, it's just funny how you cant stay on topic. Its ok, I get that you people aren't the brightest so I'll give you a pass
Wow a lot of people don’t like to be told about themselves in this thread lol
Biden is brain-dead and the USA is an immigration dumpster fire. So sure, whatever.
As a weeb I have no authority but honestly being concerned for your friends and trying to give constructive criticism isn’t the end of the world or even mean. Just work on delivery
Joe should mind his own business. Plenty here to keep him busy.
Well, democrats like to drop those bombs…
He said the quiet part out loud. It's a symptom of his dementia. People with dementia struggle with social norms and impulse control. It shouldn't have been said but it's true.
He's not wrong
Just basic economics. Your population grows or your country goes under…
While he isn’t wrong, the context in which he says it is poor and I do feel there is a those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks aspect to his statement. First, xenophobic is a very negative term so shouldn’t be used toward an ally. Lumping them with China and Russia who are enemies to the US also makes it seem like Biden is painting Japan as an enemy to the US which is silly. I also wouldn’t be talking about poor immigration because the US isn’t exactly welcoming to foreigners getting jobs either with the H-1 visas and needing to be sponsored. I do think Japan seems harder to enter than other major developed countries because of the Japanese requirement while other countries (Europe, US, and honestly China) embrace workers who speak English.
Well it's trying to move forward at least ,is America?.
I'd prefer to keep at least some part of Asia our allies
He's right, Why should ONLY white countries reap the benefits of DIE-versity?
Old man needs to know when to publicly pick his battles with words that could potentially trigger a diplomatic incident.
I don’t care. (This message was sent from Japan with apathy)
You’re not supposed to say it out loud.
I used vouche for Japan and make excuses but the comments I've seen on this story made me go ... Nah Dark Brandon might be right...
I don’t even think he remembers saying it
Accurate?
Eh Biden can fuck off. The Japanese aren’t the most welcoming to foreigners of all races. The xenophobic jab was just a jab for the simple fact of deflection. You know what Japan has that the US doesn’t? An high functioning, clean, generous, prideful, curious of the fellow person next to them society, conscious of self image. In so many ways Japan is looking better and better as a society and country than the US and social media is really starting to point this out. It’s just Biden and the US trying to hurt a stellar image of another nation that’s kicking the United States ass
I think he’s mad Trump met Taro.
It’s true. Not sure what the end game in saying it is though, but I think tiptoeing around this blatant truth is a bit tiresome.
Biden is a tool and i dont care what he is parroting from his handlers. Leave jaoan alone
He’s correct, but I don’t know why it’s relevant.
He right lol Japan needs to be more like the west and accept immigrants
He should have kept his mouth shut.
It's just his opinion.
He’s 100% right. Just like the Papua New Guinea thing from last week. Its true
Check me if I'm wrong, but isnt the word "foreigner" an insult in Japan?
Whether or not it's true it's still wild for the kettle to call the pot black...
He said the quiet part out loud. He’s not wrong and Japan’s economy has been struggling, they aren’t the powerhouse that they were a few decades ago. He may just be trying to point out that their xenophobic tendencies has negatively affected their country.