{"id":14343,"date":"2016-12-08T16:58:37","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T02:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14343"},"modified":"2016-12-08T21:16:01","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T07:16:01","slug":"japan-times-riding-while-foreign-on-jr-kyushu-can-be-a-costly-business-re-train-ticket-discounts-in-japanese-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14343","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times: “Riding while foreign on JR Kyushu can be a costly business” (re train ticket discounts in Japanese only)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog.\u00a0 First have a read of this article, and then I’ll comment:<\/p>\n

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Riding while foreign on JR Kyushu can be a costly business<\/strong>
\n BY LOUISE GEORGE KITTAKA<\/strong>
\n The Japan Times Community Page, DEC 4, 2016<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2016\/12\/04\/how-tos\/riding-foreign-jr-kyushu-can-costly-business\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The last column of the year starts off with a problem regarding buying JR train tickets in Kyushu. Reader A writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought you might be interested in this issue that I encountered when using an automatic ticket machine in Hakata Station, Fukuoka.<\/em><\/p>\n

Because I don\u2019t read Japanese so well, I changed the machine to English language. As I went through the menu I could not select the \u201cnimai-kippu\u201d (two tickets of the same type) option, which offers a discount. The only options I had were two individual tickets \u2014 if I recall correctly the price difference was \u00a52,000. I canceled the sale and went to the counter and had a conversation with the clerk, who confirmed that once English is selected, the cheaper two-ticket option wouldn\u2019t be offered.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was thinking how many hundreds of thousands of yen have been taken from people simply because they select English and don\u2019t happen to know about the cheaper ticket options. My wife actually emailed JR Kyushu, but just got back a standard, \u201cThank you for your email.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I spoke to a representative in JR Kyushu\u2019s PR department. After some investigation, he confirmed that this situation still exists with some of the ticket machines once the foreign language option button (for English, Korean and Chinese) is pressed. It seems that there are two types of ticket machines, and while it isn\u2019t a problem for the \u201ctwo-ticket option\u201d for shorter distances (kin-kyori<\/em>), it does affect those for machines for longer distances (shitei kenbai<\/em>). As our reader pointed out, this could result in non-Japanese customers paying quite a bit more if they purchase tickets through the machine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile JR Kyushu isn\u2019t in a position to change the machines immediately, we will take this opportunity to discuss the situation and see how we can improve things for our foreign customers,\u201d said the rep. He thanked the reader and Lifelines for bringing the problem to the department\u2019s attention.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Has anyone encountered a similar problem with JR tickets in other parts of Japan? JR Kyushu\u2019s spokesperson said it is possible the same situation could be happening in other areas, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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COMMENT<\/strong>:\u00a0 Two things:\u00a0 One is that we have proof positive in a national newspaper of separate pricing schemes based upon language. \u00a0And this at one of Japan’s flagship companies (Japan Railways), no less. \u00a0Consider the parallels: \u00a0A restaurant with menus with cheaper prices for customers if they can read Chinese (something frowned upon as discrimination elsewhere<\/a>). \u00a0Or\u00a0travel agencies that reserve cheaper plane tickets for Japanese citizens only<\/a> (see here too<\/a>). Japan’s train network\u00a0in Kyushu is\u00a0filtering customers by language ability and charging Japanese-illiterates a premium.\u00a0 This must stop, obviously,\u00a0because it’s discriminatory.<\/p>\n

And this is a great example to bring up point two:\u00a0 How people still defend the practice, no matter what. \u00a0I waited a few days to post this, and sure enough, the Japan Times article predictably collected a few comments from guestists and denialists<\/a>. \u00a0They\u00a0decried anyone calling this practice “racist” (even though\u00a0it is, under modern definitions of racial discrimination being a process of differentiation, othering, and subordination<\/a>). \u00a0They instead went to the extreme of calling the decriers “racist”, or conversely\u00a0the practice of selling discounted train fares to foreign tourists “racist” (actually, they can be sold to Japanese-citizen tourists as well as long as they don’t live in Japan), despite all the government campaigns to promote foreign tourism these days.<\/p>\n

The point to stress is Japan’s\u00a0subtle racism is particularly devious\u00a0because of its plausible deniability. \u00a0People will seize on any excuse to justify discriminatory treatment. \u00a0Want equal rights or treatment in Japan?\u00a0 Become a Japanese citizen<\/a>.\u00a0 Want equal access to cheaper train fares?\u00a0 Learn Japanese. \u00a0You see, discrimination is the fault of those being discriminated against — because they didn’t take every measure to evade the discrimination.\u00a0 Its an acceptance of a differentiated and othered status, used to justify the subordination — which deflects\u00a0discussion of why this discriminatory system exists in the first place.<\/p>\n

Why can’t customers just be treated as customers, and their money for access be valued the same way, regardless of their language ability? Well, I’ll tell you why. \u00a0Because to JR, it’s not a matter of fairness or equality. \u00a0It’s a combination of setsuyaku<\/em>\u00a0and mendokusai<\/em>. \u00a0Making\u00a0discounts\u00a0multilingual would be\u00a0costly, and then there’s the factor of profiteering from the extra fares.\u00a0 The incentive system is clear:\u00a0 Why pay more for a system that brings in less revenue?\u00a0 And besides, the foreigners won’t realize it (because foreigners obviously don’t read Japanese), won’t complain (because they’re so powerless, with no voice in Japan except, ahem, the Japan Times), or they aren’t organized in numbers big enough for a meaningful boycott (plus, as seen above, anyone calling for organized action will be called racist even by their own side).<\/p>\n

This is one reason why discrimination is so hard to get rid of in Japan.\u00a0 It’s subtle enough at times for people to naysay it.\u00a0 Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

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Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0We are celebrating Debito.org’s 20th Anniversary in 2016, so please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JT: I thought you might be interested in this issue that I encountered when using an automatic ticket machine in Hakata Station, Fukuoka. Because I don\u2019t read Japanese so well, I changed the machine to English language. As I went through the menu I could not select the \u201cnimai-kippu\u201d (two tickets of the same type) option, which offers a discount. The only options I had were two individual tickets \u2014 if I recall correctly the price difference was \u00a52,000. I canceled the sale and went to the counter and had a conversation with the clerk, who confirmed that once English is selected, the cheaper two-ticket option wouldn\u2019t be offered. I was thinking how many hundreds of thousands of yen have been taken from people simply because they select English and don\u2019t happen to know about the cheaper ticket options. <\/p>\n

COMMENT: This is proof positive in a national newspaper of separate pricing schemes based upon language. And this at one of Japan’s flagship companies (Japan Railways), no less. Consider the parallels: A restaurant with menus with cheaper prices for customers if they can read Chinese (something frowned upon as discrimination elsewhere). Or travel agencies that reserve cheaper plane tickets for Japanese citizens only (see here). Japan’s train network in Kyushu is filtering customers by language ability and charging Japanese-illiterates a premium. This must stop, obviously, because it’s discriminatory.<\/p>\n

Why can’t customers just be treated as customers, and their money for access be valued the same way, regardless of their language ability? Well, I’ll tell you why. Because to JR, it’s not a matter of fairness or equality. It’s a combination of setsuyaku and mendokusai. Making discounts multilingual would be costly, and then there’s the factor of profiteering from the extra fares. The incentive system is clear: Why pay more for a system that brings in less revenue? And besides, the foreigners won’t realize it (because foreigners obviously don’t read Japanese), won’t complain (because they’re so powerless, with no voice in Japan except, ahem, the Japan Times), or they aren’t organized in numbers big enough for a meaningful boycott (plus, as seen above, anyone calling for organized action will be called racist even by their own side — see reader comments under the JT article).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,54,43,34,26,60,46,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-pinprick-protests","category-bad-business-practices","category-exclusionism","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-practical-advice","category-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}