What is it with gaijin like David Aldwinckle (his attempts to Japanify his name are nothing short of ludicrous) and his attempts to change Japan by pointing out "racist" signs and other bullshit? Japan was here long before his kind came into Japan under Matthew Peary and gunboat diplomacy (Open up Japan or we'll invade and take over attitude) and will still be here long after. While his ancestors were hunting deer and gathering nuts, berries and squash, Japan was marking its feudal age (the samurai of which my family were part of) My family goes back 600 years in our koseki, frankly, my family is older than your country (the United States of America). Now they want to come in (take the name of their spouses - which is not done in Japan) and change Japan to suit the foreigner. I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way.
Unlike the Western Countries who opened themselves up to immigration and welcomed people in with "Bring us your huddled masses, yearning to be free", Japan was forced to be "open" at the threat of "gunpoint". It was a matter of "You guys open up your country, or we'll blow it open". Frankly, Japan doesn't want foreigners "invading" their country. Our mantra is "Come, visit...enjoy...THEN GET THE FUCKING HELL OUT!!!" See the difference. If you want to stay in Japan, you play by Japanese rules. Don't like it...tough shit. On the other hand, if you're willing to play by the rules, we welcome you with open arms. Show the proper respect, remember the social rules in Japanese society and you won't be treated like a big hairy ignorant, officious gaijin who tromps around like Godzilla trying to get his own way.
BUT it doesn't matter how long you stay, whether you learn our language, whether you decide to gain Japanese citizenship, you will always be thought of as a foreigner (a learned foreigner perhaps, but a foreigner nonetheless) in Japan. Even us Japanese-Canadians (and by that extension, Japanese-Americans) are considered foreigners. Japan is a patriarchal inheritance structure: always has been, always will be. My view is if you are a gaijin male, you will never gain entrance into Japanese society as an equal (considered Japanese). You have a foreign face, a foreign set of mannerisms and a foreign sense of entitlement that will never be accepted in Japan. There are rules that govern social interaction in Japan and there are social classes. You respect your elders. You do not rock the boat. If you want to vote, you become a Japanese citizen. But do not expect the rules to change for you.
I have more of a right to Japanese land as my name is on the koseki and I am the head of my family, no matter how old my cousins are, mainly by right of my birth as firstborn son to my father. Also I have a great antagonism towards gaijin trying to hold Japanese lands. Just because it is done in Western society, does not mean it holds true in other lands. This attempt to gain land for oneself (if you are not a Japanese citizen) that originally is held for Japanese citizens is a blatant attempt at trying to horn in on Japanese culture. If it is not done, it is NOT done. It doesn't matter if it doesn't sound right to your non-Japanese brain. This is Japan, not your country.
My impression of gaijin women is that they don't come in expecting what gaijin men expect. Most gaijin women who marry Japanese men understand what they are getting into and the ones who don't soon leave. They understand that they either are a part of the Japanese family (they take the Japanese name) or they will always be considered that "outsider" who took up with their Japanese son. The Japanese women in the family are considered expendable. It was only after the Allied Occupational Forces after WWII came in and fucked everything up socially, that the women got the idea that they wanted carte blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted. In my family, once you leave the family, you cut off all your baggage (including your family name) and you start a new family with your new man. Call it sexist, call it whatever you will, but it is the Japanese family culture. You gaijin have no right to come in and mess with the family structure. That will get you ostracized so fast your head will spin. Remember again, my family has over 600 years of heritage. You don't mess with 600 years of heritage or you will be out of the family so fast you'll wonder how the hell that happened. With that family history, I expect that any woman who enters the family to respect that and adhere to family rules. The Chikamori kazoku is one of the tightest and it is very rare for outsiders to get into that family unless they know the rigid structure of that family and are willing to adhere to that family's rules. The "ie" (household system) where the multigenerational household operates under the legal authority of a household head. I am the head of my family by virtue of my birthright as the first son to the first son (my father) of the first son (grandfather) of Chikamori family. Even though my relatives (my uncles are older than I am, they have to defer to me as the head of the family.
I, as the head of my family, would not allow my daughter to hyphenate her last name. If she chooses to marry a gaijin, she's become a part of that man's family. I'm not fond of women who trumpet that they are called "Kyoko Suzuki-Wilson" or whatever the hell hyphenated Japanese- gaijin name that they ended up. You marry a gaijin or Japanese, you take on their last name. You are no longer a part of the family other than occasional visits and family blood ties. You have no right to the "Suzuki" family lands. The lands go to the men of the family. If there is no men in that family, the lands revert back to the Imperial Crown. In the feudal age, if a woman could not bear a son, it brought shame onto the family because their lands would be forfeit, once the female child was of marrying age.
I as the head of my family do not like the idea of any of my family marrying a gaijin and having that gaijin want to take my family name because he wants to become a part of my family (a gaijin male is barred entrance from my family). He is welcome to take my daughters and go create his own family koseki under his own name. My family is Japanese men with Japanese wives first and foremost, Japanese men and foreign women (who truly want to be a part of the family and not rock the boat next) and nothing will change my mind on that point. As far as only the rights of Japanese citizens being able to own land. It wouldn't matter if the foreign male spouse took Japanese citizenship. I would rather that my lands reverted back to the Japanese Emperor than allow a gaijin to take control of my lands.
In otherwords. The Allied Occupational Forces did a great job in fucking up Japan's social structure to make it more like the United States and Western Culture. That's why we see such abominations as Hentai and Otaku running around. There is no respect for authority any more. I don't excuse Japan's behavior during the war years and the expansionist imperialist regime that they went on in the Pacific prior to the war. There is no excuse for brutality and human war crimes.
I am a black sheep in that I married a white girl. My wife on the other hand married me for love and not because she had some strange fascination with Japanese culture and she does occasionally chafe under the ie family structure, however she knows that this is how we hold the family together. I am old-school Japanese cultured. I was raised by a mixed family of wartime Japanese national and Japanese-Canadian who was interned during the Second World War, and thus my generation would have been mostly influenced by the "must retain our Japanese values to survive" mental outlook.
There aren't many traditional Japanese left. And those who are, are under fire from non-traditional families who have catered to the Western culture. There is an old Western saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do..." Plainly put, don't rock the boat. Otherwise you will be always considered as the "ugly gaijin". Just remember, you have NO rights of entitlement in Japan. Japan will always be for the Japanese first. There is no "melting pot" in Japan. If you can't deal with that fact..."Go back to where you came from!"
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