Joshua A. Reyer wrote:

>> Just guessing, but I wouldn't mind betting "gaijin" means
>> European/American in this context and they'd soon lose that
>> slogan if busloads of Brazilians started taking their weekend
>> breaks there.
> 
> "Gaijin" in this context means "Australian". 

*Australian*. Naruhodo. I thought hard about what expression to use 
there, and should have stuck to my first choice ("Caucasian").

> If busloads of Brazilians started showing up, it would not
> surprise me to see Portugese added.

I'd like to think so. Brazilians (known as "Bura" or - often with a dash 
of sarcasm - "Burajiru-san") have been made less than welcome in some 
other areas, mainly because they represent a very different 
socio-economic segment of society.

> FWIW, I entirely agree that there are levels of racism in Japan,
> and that Caucasians get preferential treatment.  But that hardly
> applies to the Otaru incident, as the ryokan stopped serving
> foreigners because of white Europeans, and Arudou, a Caucasian,
> was refused entry.  

I (also a Caucasian) was refused entry to an izakaya for the same 
reason. When my wife and I phoned them up afterwards they said that 
they'd had trouble previously. (The fact that I'd been there about a 
year before and had caused no trouble at all didn't seem to register 
with them.)

My point is rather that, whether it's preferential or otherwise, 
singling people out for special treatment on the basis of race is 
discriminatory and a bit of consciousness-raising about the fact that 
this is not the way the world is moving never comes amiss.

>  Arudou has succeeded in getting some bathhouses in Otaru to change
> their isolated policies of gaijin exclusion, while getting the majority
> of the Japanese public to turn away in shame and embarrassment.  

Well, but Japan is often spoken of as a "shame culture". Perhaps shame 
and embarrassment work, at least up to a point.

> ダーリンは外国人 captured the hearts and minds of thousands, if not
> millions, of readers, and gave them perspective they perhaps didn't
> have before.

Interesting. I hadn't come across it, but will order it and read it 
forthwith!

John