Anti immigration and England being 'racist'

[AngryBird6122]

Do people know that this is not just a UK thing? I see so many people saying they are ashamed to be british etc but this is happening the world over. And it can work both ways! I have close family in Japan and there are protests there too and they are being treated very differently - yes, white english! The right are gaining traction there too. Are the Japanese allowed to be proud of their country and fly their flags? What's people's thoughts on this?

Racism is racism whoever is being racist, and your the Japanese are racist too argument doesn’t hold much sway with me… I’ll just stick to not being a racist flag shagger if that ok with you.
It’s not like I look at MAGA supporters in Georgia or Texas and think - if it’s alright with them to be racist I’ll do the same.

Well nationalism and racism often go hand in hand, and can happen in just about any country. It doesn't make it right.

@Idinnaenah I am not a flag flyer. This was not supposed to be a reform supporter thread or anything! More of a musing and do people realise what's going on

@Idinnaenah I did not call the Japanese racist. I have japanese family

It doesn't. But they have really serious concerns there about immigration and in particualr about the Japanese culture disappearing

Everyone is allowed to be proud of their country and to fly the country's flag. If you've been told you can't do this then you've been grossly misinformed.

What you can't do is start spray painting public property or start attaching things to street furniture like lampposts or bridges.

The latter does not render the former untrue.

Re-read what you wrote.
Flagshag away, it’s a free country. But racism is racism in any form and the fact that other countries also have people being racist is neither here nor there.

What specific examples do they have of their culture being eroded?
Foreign residents in Japan make up 3% of the population

I can imagine that to be true. Historically Japan have always been wary of immigration and cultural change. But if someone is racist it doesn't matter where they're from. They're a bigot.

Thanks so much for the interesting discussion

I think humans are tribal and we see our countries as part of our identity and a sense of belonging so when we see that changing it makes us feel insecure.

My point is more - do people realise this is going on around the world? Japan, Australia, I've just seen things are stepping up in France. US, of course.

My family have always been treated well in JP until recently. One of them went to buy pokemon cards the other day and was told by the shop owner they only sell to Japanese 😆

Having just been to Japan I can confirm that we were some of the few non-Japanese people there and no-one, and I mean no-one, spoke anything other than Japanese. Than god for Google translate! Their culture seemed pretty Japanese to me…

Mass immigration and uncontrolled borders are not a good thing. There is nothing racist about that.

You can add all the fluff to try and label people as racist, it doesn’t work anymore. And you are not doing any favors to race relations by being in denial.

I am aware that the feeling of hostility and racism towards outsiders happens in just about every country. I'd imagine most people wouldn't think the UK is the only place experiencing it.

I'm sorry if you or anyone you know experienced racism in Japan. Or anywhere.

I go yearly. Everyone learns English in school so you can get by without speaking Japanese but it is much appreciated of course. But yes I have most of my convos in English as my Japanese isn't great! Try again.

‘My point is more - do people realise this is going on around the world? Japan, Australia, I've just seen things are stepping up in France. US, of course.’

racism is universal? Who the fuck knew!? Thanks for enlightening us OP. In that case, the English flagshaggers should just keep on painting those roundabouts and yelling at hotels.

I got by with google translate and not a single person spoke time in English at any point
but why should they? It’s their country, they can’t chat in English, I don’t speak Japanese other than a few niceties. You have your experience and I have mine. All good. Nice to see the Japanese still have their culture when it comes to unconscious Salarymen asleep in the street the morning after…

Not me personally - apart from really hard stares! (only recently)

The rhetoric there is they are sick of tourism mainly but also immigration. I get it in a way - their concerns. And perhaps they protest a bit more elegantly than people do here. But it's an issue world over, so maybe we need to look at the bigger picture

I don't understand @AngryBird6122

Are you saying that because other countries experience problems with racism, we should just accept what is happening in the UK?

Are you saying people who comes here should only speak in English?

Er, no. Where’d you get that from??? Do you expect tourists to be fluent in the language of the country that they’re visiting? Cos that would be fairly unhinged, wouldn’t it???

That does seem to be the case…

No!

I'm a little scared by what is happening here really. DH works in canary wharf where there has been quite a lot of protesting and he is brown. He has had no issues so far though, but yes it makes me a little nervous.

BUT

I do think we have an issue with immigration. And I get why people are doing things to be noticed. I also think most of those protesting want to do it peacefully.

I get why Japan would want to protect their culture - is this racist? I don't think so. I don't know. But this is not a British problem. It's a wider issue.

Sorry I don't know what you're on about. What's your point? I'm not getting what you are talking about re the language. You're also v angry