{"id":4354,"date":"2009-09-08T07:15:35","date_gmt":"2009-09-07T22:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=4354"},"modified":"2009-09-08T07:15:35","modified_gmt":"2009-09-07T22:15:35","slug":"discussion-what-do-you-think-about-special-discounts-for-nj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=4354","title":{"rendered":"Discussion: What do you think about special discounts for NJ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito<\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0The Community yahoogroup<\/a> has been having an interesting discussion about “positive discrimination”, where NJ actually get special treatment or discounts for being foreign. \u00a0What do readers of Debito.org think about that?<\/p>\n

Here are some posts from The Community developing the issue. \u00a0Comments? \u00a0Debito<\/p>\n

Just wanted to pass along a very nice thing that happened today —
\nwent out to a cafe here in Fukui with my family for lunch and was
\nsurprised to find a sign in English at the register reading “10%
\ndiscount to all foreigners”. \u00a0Although the discount is nice, it’s even
\nnicer to see a shop going out of its way to open itself up to NJs,
\nespecially in a conservative prefecture like Fukui. \u00a0It’s the first
\ntime I’ve seen anything of the sort expressly written out as a sort of
\nstore policy, so it was definitely a nice experience. \u00a0The food was
\ngood, too. \u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/p>\n

I doubt any other community members will ever get the chance to go
\nthere, but just to give credit where it’s due, here is a link to the
\nshop:<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>http:\/\/r.tabelog.com\/fukui\/A1801\/A180101\/18000645\/<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the foreigner-friendly sentiment may be admirable, do people really approve of differential pricing depending on nationality?<\/em><\/p>\n

That said, someone recently insisted on taking the tax off something I bought in a tourist-oriented shop in Kyoto, even though I was not taking it abroad. I didn’t complain too hard!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I noticed a shop nearby that was giving discounts to foreigners and they had items I needed, I wouldn’t hesitate to go there.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It does however beg the question of how they define foreign and how
\nthey determine foreignness. Would zainichi Koreans be included here,
\nand are they asking for ID or are they just basing it off appearances?
\nHow about the likes of Debito and myself, [both naturalized citizens]?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think your sympathy with the people who try to be foreigner friendly
\nis as well intentioned as the people who make those efforts.<\/em><\/p>\n

To try and convey the feeling, instead of just the principle, of what
\nI’m talking about, I’d like to relate an anecdote.<\/em><\/p>\n

There used to be a club in Roppongi called “Vanilla”. And they gave out
\ntickets that said:<\/p>\n

“with this ticket, 1.000 yen\/2d
\nForeigners & Women use only”<\/p>\n

As anyone who has gone clubbing in Roppongi, 1000 yen for two drinks and
\nadmission is a pretty sweet deal.<\/p>\n

So I showed up with some people, a mixed crowd of some Japanese, some
\nforeigners, some men, some women. Two of the men were non-Japanese Asians.<\/p>\n

At first the women at the front counter would not accept the tickets
\nfrom the Asian men. But, as you suggested a person could do, they then
\nprovided their “gaijin cards”.<\/p>\n

And the women *still* checked with the managers to make sure it was all
\nokay.<\/p>\n

The distinct feeling we got was that the idea of the foreigners discount
\nwas that they had an image of what being a foreigner who goes to a club
\nis like. They wanted the kind of young and cool black American you might
\nsee in a rap video, or a tragically hip white DJ-type you might see at a
\nrave in London.<\/p>\n

In other words, yes, my friends could prove they were, in fact, foreign
\nand eligible for the discount.<\/p>\n

<\/em>But they sure didn’t feel great about having to confront the feeling
\nthey got from the club, which could be described as “Oh… when we said
\n‘foreigners’, we didn’t mean *you*, but, I guess we have to let you in
\nanyway.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I understand the sentiment here, but we accept ladies’ day at the cinema and
\nsenior discounts or children’s discounts in a number of places. \u00a0I think any
\neffort to be foreigner-friendly (as opposed to foreigner-suspicious or
\nforeigner-hostile) should be accepted with the good will with which it was
\noffered.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are an Asian foreigner and want the good discount, you could flash
\nyour alien registration card. \u00a0If you are a “foreign”-looking Japanese
\nnational you could of course refuse the discount, but aren’t there times
\nwhen nice manners and accepting people’s attempts to be friendly trump
\npolitics? \u00a0It might even be a funny teachable moment: \u00a0“I know I look
\nforeign, but I’m actually Japanese. \u00a0Can I still have the discount? \u00a0[LOL].”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>I’m all for challenging rude and hostile treatment of foreigners (or
\nanyone), but I do fail to see what we gain by rejecting on “principle”
\npeople’s attempts to reach out in kindness.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think the reason senior and student discounts exist is because of the
\ngeneral societal consensus that those people don’t have as much
\ndisposable income as the working middle class. We respect that students
\nare working for future contribution, and seniors have given us past
\ncontribution. So we cut them some slack.<\/em><\/p>\n

With situations such as ladies night at clubs or movies, it’s marketing.
\nIf the women come, the men will follow.<\/em><\/p>\n

So the question then comes back to us as, do we want to be seen as
\ndisadvantaged (like seniors with fixed incomes) or a marketing tool
\n(like women getting half price at a bar).<\/p>\n

<\/em>Personally, I think both of those perceptions keep us viewed as
\nseparate. In the short term they are well intentioned and harmless in
\nany one specific case. But the more situations where foreigners get
\nprivilege for being foreign will keep Japanese seeing us as some kind of
\nnovelty.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, very well stated. That is really almost precisely the way I felt in reading about this. I’m sort of torn between, on one way, a desire to applaud somebody’s attempt to be kind, but at the same time concerned about the very fact that people of a different nationality are seen as either objects of discrimination or privilege. I understand the sort of “duty free” treatment of tourists, because there it is very much a question of purpose of travel rather than nationality, but when the store also gives special treatment to foreigners who are basically members of the Japanese community (in general, I watch Japanese politics more closely than American politics), then I think it requires some thinking.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Community yahoogroup has been having an interesting discussion about “positive discrimination”, where NJ actually get special treatment or discounts for being foreign. What do people here think about that?<\/p>\n

Here are some posts from The Community developing the issue. Comments? Debito<\/p>\n

Discussion begins: “Just wanted to pass along a very nice thing that happened today — went out to a cafe here in Fukui with my family for lunch and was surprised to find a sign in English at the register reading “10% discount to all foreigners”. Although the discount is nice, it’s even nicer to see a shop going out of its way to open itself up to NJs, especially in a conservative prefecture like Fukui…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,44,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-issue","category-discussions","category-shoe-on-the-other-foot-dept"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354","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=4354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}