RACIST STAFF AT WONDERFESTIVAL:

Below is my account of what turned out to be a terrible wonderfestival experience for me.

When you get to wonderfestival the night before to "camp out", you need to register your name with your friends as a group and then memorise your name and number.

So far all good. Then the volunteers move everyone back to a certain area their groups. In the end a large line is formed with each person in a group of groups. My friend and I were in the 700 group as were no. 790.

However, at this point there is no need to actually stay in your group. the system is there so that when they call out your numbers (and they check all of them) you are ready to go and wont miss your call.

This line, btw, isnt the actual line. Its the line FOR the line. After your number is called and you confirm (so noone can jump/cut the line), you are ushered around the Big sight complex in waiting areas, so as to help the real line commence smoothly. In essence its like signing your name at a restaurant when its busy. You dont have to sit in line. Merely be near the speaker when they call your name.

Well, it was 1am and roll call wasnt happening anytime soon, or even if it was, our number was a long way away I stayed to the side of things near the front (but not in the line at the front) as many people were smoking and my friend felt a bit ill.

Then one of the lightsabre weilding volunteers came up to me and said "you had better get in line".

I explained that we would nearer the time as things were a bit cramped (this one spoke rudementary English) but thta at the moment we were happy to wait where we were until the 700's came up.

This guy was the one who told us the same thing last year. The numbers were about in the 600s and he said "Its probably time for you to go and wait", so we did.

Then he starts getting really Blotty and abusive "Why you not obey my orders? You very selfish. Everyone is group. you obey!"

I expleined my position to him and asked him why where I was sitting was in any way a violation of his system when they were going to check my bumber anyway.

"Everyone is same here. you do same too!"

At this point, some old man who was part of the volunteer group with some others came over and and started barking orders to the English speaker. perhaps he was interfereing and perhaps the English speaker, to his credit, didnt want him to "help", but they all started talking in japanese, which bty, if they had checked, they woulud have known that I understood, if even in a small way.

To translate, they were all discussig whether we should have our number erased from their list. If thats what they would do then so be it. I was tired myself and the thoughts of getting a G1 Arcee were becomming less and less desireable.

The old man kept saying things like "This ignorant gaijin doesnt understand eh?" in japanese to which I replied to thier shock.

"Actually I DO understand. I read the rules and they specify that Im at the required point for roll call only". I dont have to wai in line for the line. Check the clipboard yourselves. Its there written in three languages.

The old man kept goading the others to have my number removed and after he said "gaijin" I said "actually Im gaikokojin and not gaijin. Watch your mouth". He ten replied, "No..you are GAIJIIIIN" in a very rude way.

I then asked him if he liked to be called "Jap" and then he started saying "Now you remove his number" to the other volunteers. One member said to me "We all Jap here. Just you (are foreigner)" in order to show that I, the foreigner was the only one "being un japanese and thus bad" (a typical way of japanese to exert control on anyone disobeying orders).

I then reminded him that many people in the line were also Hong Kong Chinese as many visit Wonderfestival either as scalpers or just regular fans of the event. At this point one of them started speaking to my friend in Japanese to prove their point but this backfired when my friend said "Actually Im American and Im Vietnamese American".

It was worth noting also that at tis period many people were walking to and from the line to go to local shops so this again proves my point about there being no real need to stay in the line at this point.

I then wanted to resolve this matter. So far, none of them had removed my number, which was their position to do so, regardless of whether I was in the right or not. Instead they had resorted to imtimidation, bullying and racism by crowding around me with some 5-6 men with lighgt sticks.sabres.

I then stood up and asked the English speaker what right he had to intimidate me. At all times I was alamrmingly cool and didnt shout. "I volunteer!" I then asked him if he had any official powers given to him by wonderfestival or had in fact any connection with it. He then wouldnt give me an answer.

After more abuse I asked for his and the old mans names. Both refuesd. I told them that if they had authority to act the way that they did then they had authority to give me their full names and stand by their decision.

At this point my friend who wasnt feeling that great, pulled me away.

I honestly have nothing against Japan. However, this sort of mentality and behaviour by the the volunteers is typical abusive Japanese behaviour. It doesnt happen often but when someone even politely refuses to "be the same" as everyone else, ten some Japanese fit exactly into the behaviour I just mentioned above. The volunteers were obviously out of their depth. They had no legal or wonderfestival-related rights to move me from where I was sitting (a public place) and i certainly wasnt sitting in the way or had any ability to actually impede or jump the system in place.

So to those who go to Wonderfestival in future..a warning.

BTW: we eneded up waiting in warm McDonalds as it was a very cold and windy night. My friend managed to jump the line in the morning when the volunteers went home and the official wonderfestival staff took over. I went to my girlfriends house for a great time and then later, lots of icecream and cuddles.

My main point here is:

- sometimes Japanese rules/culture can be brutal if you ask "why".
or act differently.

- Regardless of if you agree with me or not, a team of vulunteers should NOT harass or verbally give racist abuse to someone for merely refusing to stand with the others. they should merely enect their threa of removing me from the list of numbers.

Yeah, that stuff happens. You also get people who who just don't like foreigners. I'm grateful that I usually have my Japanese wife tag along, so if somebody tries anything (even though I speak Japanese), I can get her to come and go off at them, and ask to speak to their superior, etc. The difference it makes between a "Gaijin" yelling and a Japanese citizen yelling is enormous. Here's a few examples:

1) Customs in Japan, I get pulled over to have my bag inspected. I ask if there's any reason in particular I got selected (I know it's the obvious reason), when nobody else is having their bags looked at. The customs official then very rudely says "No. Open you bags!" (he continuously refused to talk to me in Japanese, only broken English) and then proceeds to dig, very forcefully, through all of my stuff, not taking any care about things that may be fragile etc. My wife who had already gone past the inspectors, comes up and ask if everything is ok. The officer says "OH! You are with her! Ok Ok! It's alright, your bag is ok. I'm sorry, very sorry!" and lets me go straight through.

2) I went to change my Australian driver's license over to a Japanese one. Before I went, I rang the department, and made sure I had all of the necessary documentation. When I get there, the clerk starts saying I need to have my original license, that I got when I was 18! I had a certified copy of my driving history from Australia (which I had gotten specifically because I was told over the telephone to obtain it, and when my wife checked the website it said I needed it). The clerk started saying that he couldn't accept that, and if I didn't have my original license then I could never get a license in Japan. He also said I needed to have my two previous passports! That goes back to when I was 12! Of course I start going off, asking to speak to his supervisor. He starts getting very rude saying that if I don't like the rules in Japan then maybe I should not be driving and would be happier in Australia. I ask him to wait a couple of minutes, and go get my wife and her father who were waiting in the car (they drove me, because I didn't have a license). My father-in-law WENT OFF, in the manner that only an old Japanese businessman can. "What the hell are you doing, show me the documents that state these are requirements, when everything that we've seen and heard prior to this is different. GET ME YOUR BOSS NOW". The boss came out straight away and spent about five minutes chewing out the clerk, and another ten minutes apologising to my father-in-law and my wife, but not once apologising to me. My application got approved though.

3) I was with drinking with some old Japanese friends I hadn't seen in years, and we all decided to hit an onsen. I don't particularly like onsens, but hey, I wasn't gonna be a killjoy. We get there, and the guy at reception says "You can all go in, but he can't. We've reached our GAAAAIIIJIN (his emphasis) quota. He'll have to wait until someone leaves". Now, I had a few too many Sapporo and Atsukan by this point, as had my friends, so we weren't particularly polite in our reaction. I started going (in Japanese) "Bugger you man! What the hell is a GAAAAAAIIJIN quota? Good thing I'm not a gaijin, I'm a GAI-KOKU-JIN (my friends are semi-drunkenly cheering me on). I'm not good enough for your giant bath tub? Screw you. If I'm not good enough, I'm going to tell all of my friends (again, a drunken cheer) not to come here. I'm going to get my JAPANESE wife to tell all of her friends not to come here. I'm going to get her JAPANESE parents to tell all of their friends not to come here". My friends had got the point, and the five of them starting saying they'd do the same, and tell everyone they can not to come to the dump. The manager by this point had heard us, and came out asking what was wrong. We explained what happened, and what we were going to do, and he started apologising and said that of course I was welcome like any other paying customer. When I was signing my name in, guess how many foreign names I saw written in katakana? The same number of foreign guys who were in the onsen: ZERO


I try not to focus on this crap though. By and large the Japanese people are extremely kind hearted and openminded. Most of the racism that I encounter in genuinely accidental, as the number of non-Japanese people in Japan has historically always been such a low percentage that most people I speak to haven't even considered before why I don't want my son to be called a Harufu when he's born. Once I explain it to them, they are usually quite sorry, and agree that it's really not a very nice thing to say, just like Gaijin. I try to focus more on the kindness I receive on a daily basis that the asshattery I receive occassionally.

I mean, pretty much in the majority of the world being a White Male works in my favour, so it's not all bad. I'm only going to complain when things are blatantly racist.

I never understood why so many "whites" worship Japan and put it on such high esteem.

For everything else I think... Except for the war

It's a good country, it's just still a little racist in some Pre-Civil Rights US kind of way. For example, you can be quite openly discriminated against by public officials, police, etc. And while there are laws to protect you from that, they are almost never put into practice. Some establishments won't allow foreign customers (although the only places that I've seen that don't allow foreigners are Onsens and brothels, so I'm fine with being discriminated against and denied access there...). Although, to be fair, I'm not about to get lynched any time soon either, and there are very nice people.


A large number of the problems that foreigners face is due to the "individual" based Western society, and the Japanese society that values the peace and well being of the whole. A lot of the time, if you speak up, they just dismiss you as a trouble maker and don't understand why you're making so much hassle. I've over simplified, but it's just.... different.

And "whites" like Japan because it produces awesome Anime, videogames, Pocky and used to have ninjas. They don't tend to look much deeper than that.

looking at your sig i'm not sure you agree with your own comment.

Sorry for jumping in this thread so late - just adding my 20yen here - there are racists everywhere. Japan, Australia... you name it. But yeah, it's always sad when you encounter it. (-_-)

I live in a suburb of Western Sydney where we have lot of people driving around with the Southern Cross emblazened on their rear car windows or tattooed on some body part - something which even many of my white friends acknowledge as essentially a subtle symbol of white supremacy. Those who bear call it "Aussie Pride," but we all know that when these people say "Aussie," they're referring specifically to white Australians. (-_-)

I have some interesting stories of racism in Japan, but I'm sure I've already told them in other threads - my favourite is the incident at the train station with the lady smoking in the non-smoking zone where I decided to be a smart-arse to her. I'll tell it again if you've all forgotten it.