Unbelievable Japan – Discrimination

Today’s topic is “Discrimination”. Most of the people in other countries might think there must not be any discrimination in Japan. But reality is different.

Here is the list of the major discrimination available in Japan.

1.Age

Starting by the general conversation, they tend to ask our age even in the first met. Then they are segmenting your personality into some specific type asking other questions on blood type, academical back ground [理系(Sciences) or 文系(liberal arts/humanities)], zodiac sign, etc. If your age is 30 or more, you would be called “おじさん(old man)”, “おばさん(old lady)” in public.

More surprising thing on this is on hiring. Japanese companies judge whether offer or reject by applicants’ (candidates’) age. If you are in 50’s, it would be quite difficult to be hired since they consider the remaining working time by retirement age (60). I guess it comes from the Japanese lifetime employment system (終身雇用). It sounds outdated, but still exists in Japan.

2.Gender

We can still see this in hiring (oppertunity) and unequal payment in Japanese companies. The designated facilities like college, special train/compartment only for women might also be part of discrimination.

3.Nationality

Basically Japanese people are kind and friendly in most of the cases. But as mentioned in #1, they tend to put someone into their own stereotype. If your behavior is not matched with it in the wrong way, their reaction might go wrong as well. They have stereotypes in their mind like, what Americans do, Canadians do, Koreans do, etc. Another problem (maybe main problem) is that most of the Japanese people don’t speak English, which makes the stereotype stuff much worse. So, I feel sad whenever I hear “外人(Gaijin = Foreigner)”.

4.Occupation

This could be part of the personality segmentation mentioned in #1. They tend to change thier attitude depending on your occupation. If you are doctor, polititian, teacher, you will be called “先生(Sensei = Teacher)”. Teacher is called “Sensei” is OK. But polititian is “Sensei”? Anyway, this is still a positive behavior. If you are not employed or earning little money, they tend to look down on you.

That’s all for the today’s topic. I hope this would help you understand what is going on in Japan.