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I'm a legal alien
This post touches on a controversial topic (racism) so if you do not wish to read that I suggest you move on.
Before I left Sweden, many times when I was discussing my plans to go to Japan with people - especially family - the topic of whether or not I would stay would come up. I always took the tone in it as mostly joking, but someone always said I'd fall so in love with the country that I'd end up just not leaving. I can say with certainty that this is very unlikely to happen, because Sweden is, as of this moment, my one true love (country-wise).
I was talking about this with a classmate, and we discussed what could make it difficult to see ourselves sticking around. And she's not the first one to bring this one point up.
In Japan, if you are a foreigner, you will always be a foreigner.
Doesn't matter if you've lived in Japan for four years or fifteen years or forty years; doesn't matter if you're fluent in Japanese; doesn't matter if you know over 2000 kanji (Chinese characters) and is thus considered literate in the language; doesn't matter if you're married to a Japanese person and have a Japanese name. You will always be a foreigner.
My kneejerk reaction was: Eugh, no, I don't want that.
Then I thought about it more.
Matters about race have been on my mind a decent bit even before coming here, because I knew I'd be one of few white people in this country. Don't get me wrong; I can't say the Japanese people have been anything but kind, so far. The people who treat me well are in definite majority. In Japan you get leeway as a foreigner, not scrutinised or judged harsher. I wouldn't think to call it the exact same situation, but I still thought:
Could it be fairly similar to what people of colour in countries with clear white majority might experience?
My kneejerk reaction was to see the "foreigner forever" idea as nearly a dealbreaker as to why I wouldn't want to stay longer than a year or two.
If you're a person of colour in a country with white majority, chances are you'll be assumed to be and get treated as a foreigner. A lot of people of colour were born in that country, speak the language - likely with a native accent too - and don't feel like they belong anywhere else, but might still get questions like: "Where are you really from?"
People look at you and see a foreigner.
My kneejerk reaction was: Eugh, no, I don't want that.
Think about that for a second.
Before I left Sweden, many times when I was discussing my plans to go to Japan with people - especially family - the topic of whether or not I would stay would come up. I always took the tone in it as mostly joking, but someone always said I'd fall so in love with the country that I'd end up just not leaving. I can say with certainty that this is very unlikely to happen, because Sweden is, as of this moment, my one true love (country-wise).
I was talking about this with a classmate, and we discussed what could make it difficult to see ourselves sticking around. And she's not the first one to bring this one point up.
In Japan, if you are a foreigner, you will always be a foreigner.
Doesn't matter if you've lived in Japan for four years or fifteen years or forty years; doesn't matter if you're fluent in Japanese; doesn't matter if you know over 2000 kanji (Chinese characters) and is thus considered literate in the language; doesn't matter if you're married to a Japanese person and have a Japanese name. You will always be a foreigner.
My kneejerk reaction was: Eugh, no, I don't want that.
Then I thought about it more.
Matters about race have been on my mind a decent bit even before coming here, because I knew I'd be one of few white people in this country. Don't get me wrong; I can't say the Japanese people have been anything but kind, so far. The people who treat me well are in definite majority. In Japan you get leeway as a foreigner, not scrutinised or judged harsher. I wouldn't think to call it the exact same situation, but I still thought:
Could it be fairly similar to what people of colour in countries with clear white majority might experience?
My kneejerk reaction was to see the "foreigner forever" idea as nearly a dealbreaker as to why I wouldn't want to stay longer than a year or two.
If you're a person of colour in a country with white majority, chances are you'll be assumed to be and get treated as a foreigner. A lot of people of colour were born in that country, speak the language - likely with a native accent too - and don't feel like they belong anywhere else, but might still get questions like: "Where are you really from?"
People look at you and see a foreigner.
My kneejerk reaction was: Eugh, no, I don't want that.
Think about that for a second.