Raj Feridun wrote:

> No, I do not try to deny that there is a big problem in Japan of
> racism towards other Asians.

Problems with ANY manner of foreigners.

> It reminds me very much of the problem in
> America of black racism. I grew up in a whitebread, middle-class
> community that an African-American family would have had a very
> uncomfortable time of moving into.

Yes, take out a lot of the anger and violence, and foreigners in the US can feel
like blacks among racists in the US. Which is why caucasians can find being in
Japan to be a learning experience if they try.

> That pachinko parlor thing was just the very first time in my life
> where I got a taste of what it was like at the receiving end of it. So
> in that respect, educationally speaking it may have been a good thing.
> I wish the racists in the world could ALL feel it so they knew what it
> was like

Oh. Yeah, like the above. But instead I see a lot of pissed off white people.
And thanks to the terrorist attacks, I don't don't see much improvement after
they go home.

> >> Can you define "stranger" again? Also, when one of these strangers
> >> (Japanese) greets me do his actions somehow not count since I'm a
> >> foreigner??
>
> >Do you know there are Japanese who are friendly or "kind" ONLY because they
> >encounter a foreigner, for whatever reason, when they would not and DO not
> >behave the same way with a fellow Japanese? The many Japanese strangers who
> >load up my mother who does not speak the language, with gifts when she walks
> >aimlessly down the street, giving her even personal belongings and display
> >items, don't give a squirt of warm piss to the homeless, though they are the
> >ones in actual and immediate need. This is a simple fact which can be
> >demonstrated easily enough, and commonly seen.
>
> Is saying "hello" to a stranger really kindness or just a greeting?

It's an acknowledgment. Perhaps an attempt to be friendly. What they also deny
multitudes of Japanese looking strangers they encounter and people lying in the
street, in addition to what people might call kindness.

> As
> for unneeded items my experience here in Japan is that the Japanese
> tend to throw away amazing amounts of perfectly good working things
> and clothing often for no better reason than they just replaced them
> with new things or are moving and don't/can't bring them.

Precisely. Trash.

> They may not actually physically deliver them to the homeless but they put
> them on
> the street where anyone can take them.

No, they are putting out trash, it is not meant to be a compassionate
redistribution of wealth. People who care might actually take small items to
people who can use or need them.

Yes, the poor might easily eat well or find useful necessities out of the trash,
but that is no reason they should have to resort to doing so.

What an excuse. That's like people saying they are doing enough because they pay
taxes. They should have a look at how the budget is spent before claiming they
are helping the poor, for example.

Thank God Bill Gates, who plans to give away about 99.975% of his wealth before
he dies, is not so selfish. He is even kind enough to focus on the needs of
developing nations who might not accomplish anything without it.

> That's down here anyway and from what I've read and seen it's even moreso in
> the big cities.

Yes, big cities can generate a lot of trash. It is a reflection of population
size and materialism, not kindness.