What do Japanese People Think About Other Cultures?

[ghia girl]

In Japan the people are very friendly and kind, yet I hear that Japanese people have a lot of prejudice to other cultures, how can this be?

[yoshi]

Culture difference is always surprising and interesting.
In my experience, I was quite surprised and uncomfortable with kissing and hugging each other for greeting. Because in Japan, normally people just bow each other, no shake hands as well.
I was shocked in Australia their way to wash the dishes, which is very different ways with us.
They just leave washing liquid to dishes.
Eating food with their hands are also very interesting and surprising.
I am try to respect other culture though, to be honest, In Japan, still not many foreigners compare with other countries, people might have difficulties understand their cultures.

[Lee88]

When I meet Japanese travellers they are very open to new experiences and different people, but Japanese people who never travelled think differently I think because they almost never meet foreigners

[minervasirius]

Yes, my friends who have stayed long in Japan tell me that their are still those Japanese who have an ingrained fear or even hatred for "gaijins". They say it's mostly from people who grew up in a very strict and traditional Japanese family. But according to them, most of the current generations now are open and have nothing of that sort of mentality. The Korean wave or Hallyu wave wouldn't have penetrated Japan if they still have that strong mentality of isolationism.

[Louie]

I guess this thing is just one of those "cultural things" that can't be avoided. Since every culture is different from each other, there are things that you just can't change and the only thing you can do is hope that things will get better as time goes by. Japan is a very open country and although some of them are still wary of foreigners it has changed a lot over the years. My friend who visited Japan a few years ago said that although they still have reservations with foreign people, they will still help if you ask them out or point you to the right direction if ever you get lost in one of your travels (Of course, you need to be able to comprehend a bit of Japanese to do that!).

[Akash Singh]

In my view this question is not applicable to all the Japanese people, it depends on person to person. Knowing the fact that Tokyo has highest population in Japan and Tokyo being highly modernized place, many people are not into the culture.

Of course, they might believe in their own culture but they are not that curious to know about other culture. This openness of current generation people (not minding about other’s culture) makes them open and friendly.

[tsubaki nakajima]

I think that its because a lot of them tend to work too much and not travel a lot, however those who did travel (I met some of them) tends to be adventurous and very open minded on things. They do react with amusement when there's something strange to a certain scenario but they are polite in asking questions and how they talk about it. Given, there are also traditional japanese that are strict and stiff but I'd like to think that they too still respect other's culture despite not agreeing with it.

[Sakurahime]

I have rarely met Japanese people who are "a bit tolerant" of other cultures. Personally, people have either been very friendly and helpful, or they've moved away from me on the train just because they saw me and I looked different.
I think there are a couple of reasons for it, one of which is a fear of the unknown. There are areas of Japan where you can grow up without ever seeing a single foreigner, and even if you take English lessons at school, it's not the same as meeting someone (and there are so many other cultures in the world!). And you're more likely to be set in your ways, and to believe stereotypes, because you have nothing to compare it to.
The other reason could be previous experience. Some foreigners really do abuse the kindness and understanding of Japanese people, so then they are less likely to be kind to foreigners in the future. There are fewer and fewer people who directly remember WW2, but there is still some antagonism between Japan and China for example.

[Yuriyuri]

I think Japanese are very good at hospitality specially if the foreigner is a business client or partner. Foreigners traveling around Japan are probably treated well too.
Now, if you are talking about foreigners living in Japan, then it is a whole different story. And yes prejudice is inevitable in any culture in the world but there can be some unique prejudice Japan can have against other countries because Japan is a unique country.
I think groupism is strong in Japan. In Japan you are always constantly belonging to some type of group. Whether it is a part of a company or a school, you have always with people that understand you (ishin-denshin). And this grouping system make Japanese people's life so much easier. As Japan is an island country, Japan can also be considered as one big group because Japanese can easily understand each other even without words because they have a shared common sense (high-context culture). So when you don't know or don't behave according to this "shared common sense" which can be complex to understand, you are basically an outcast that do not belong to the group.And I think this is different from discrimination. Japanese don't really think about race because they haven't really experienced drastic race difference in Japan.
Another example is language. Japanese is spoken only by Japanese in Japan. If you live in Japan you need to speak the language and at Tokyo, maybe people can be nice to you and praise you for effort for learning Japanese. But the Japanese language is not tolerated easily like English is. When you speak in English, I doesn't matter if you are from Mexico or India or Korea and have an accent due to your mother language because the function of English is to transmit and communicate meaning. In Japan, if you look like a gaikokujin, and live here people can be more rigid with you in terms of pronunciation, grammars, honorifics and so on. My friends who came to Japan as an English teachers, told me they struggled the most on the language aspect. And they do not feel like part of the society because of it.
For these and many other reasons Japanese can be nice to foreigners but can also have prejudice against other cultures. And if you want to live here you need to make a lot effort to be able to please Japanese and be a part of their group (of course it doesn't apply for every case).
The good news is younger generations are changing and there are a lot Japanese getting married to gaikokujin too.
While Japan has really cool and admirable manners and culture, there might be also challenges to be able to keep up with a globalizing world and deal with some of the biggest problems in Japan right now, super-aged society and lack of manpower.