ロコさんとの対話

ぼくはわりにこういう対話好きなんです。ロコさんとの対話を続けています。
下手な英語ですが興味があればどうぞ。

空
Loco san,
Thank you for summing up. I've notice this comment just now. I'd like to add a few more points.
I am not too naive to think just just love will save us.
But I think that speaking up in Japanese will make difference in Japan.

I posted about the young people of mixed race in Japan today.
http://www.mixroots.jp/engdex....
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/kentanak...

I don't think It is humiliating for these young people to speak up:it will help the Japanese understand their Nobody is forced to do it and they might be making just a small change but I think they are doing great jobs. I think they know we are not enemies each other and they speak to us because they trust us.

で、つぎのは、空　コメントの一番下の方です。

Loco san

Thanks for the reply.

" you come here and you sermonize about how I can help open eyes about japanese"
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I am not sure if I was sermonizing.
Do you feel someone is sermonizing when s/he is asking questions and/or suggesting ?

".I think that you believe (like a lot of people believe) that most problems foreingers have in Japan stem from a lack of ability to communicate. "

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Actually lots of foreigners speak Japanese. I know that Zainichi Korean speaks perfect Japanese, and Chinese international students speak Japanese very well. I know some bloggers who writes both in English and in Japanese. And the mixed race young people above speak Japanese well: they might not have Japanese citizenship, and yet they have problems. That apparently shows that there are problems the foreigners have which do not stem from their language ability.
On the other hand, there are also lots of problems foreigners face because they can't communicate in Japanese.



" But, like you told Chris, you haven't given me a convincing argument why I should belittle myself and condescend to your people."
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I just don't understand why you think it is humiliating for people like the young mixed race people above and some other minorities to raise awareness, to tell people their experiences, to try to change the situation in the language of the local people.

"Take me for example: I've dedicated the past 4 years of my life to educating your children, and doing a hell of a job at it! Ask them. They'll tell you. "

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Nonetheless, these space monkeys show no respect to me, insult me, incite violence by the way the behave: one guy on the train behaved as if saying "You won’t be picking my pocket today! " so I hit this guy very hard, who might "had been pick-pocketed previously on a crowded train, or had had a very bad experience with some guy who looked like me in the past, or simply he was preparing to disembark and would be using his prepaid rail pass card , but they didn't fight back. "( What’s up, Loco? Question #4) I'll give you other examples these space monkeys did to me.....

Imagine a Muslim telling their people in their language to their people in your country. Imagine also he has never talked to his problems in English and has never worked with the local people about his problems.
If he started talking about his problem in English, would he be belittling himself and condescending to your people? Is that the way you see him?

Is his English---not proficient as it may be---not more effective than his native language where few local people understand his language？

Asked if he might want to talk about his problems in English and work with the local people, his answer is "my audience is my people, not Americans it is repulsive to be told that I should do so" Is he open minded or closed minded?

Is it unreasonable to interpret him as the one of American haters who just rants for the sake of ranting to share the anger with people who have similar perceptions , or someone who who whines to get sympathy from his people, or someone who just want to write a travelogue ,from the perspective of his own culture only, on indigenous people which has nothing to do with how the local people feel, think, why they feel, think and act the way they do, treating the local people as "they" and "them"? It seems to me that at least his words and reaction is not inconsistent with the interpretations.


"
You're gonna really try and sell me the notion that your people need me to tell them what they already know? It's gonna make a difference if I say what they already know? Or, are we talking about something they don't already know? "

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You don't need to do anything new, don't have to be open to new idea if you like the way you are doing now. I have no right nor intention to demand you should do this or that.
I told you before we could meet to see what was really going on around you, but you didn't respond to that, so I left it at that. Nobody can nor should force somebody to do what s/he does not like.

And yes, people sometimes need to be told what they know already to relate it with what's happening to other people that they don't already know.

Just as not many American people know the lives of the minority, not many Japanese people know the lives of the minority.
Some Japanese people would be at a loss for words to hear that some Americans people are talking as if the U.S. was better in this respect when hates crimes and hate speech are reported almost everyday and mixed race couples and/or their house are reported to be attacked verbally and physically , as if they treated gaijkokuin in the U.S well but the Japanese space monkeys don't know how to treat gaikokujin in Japan, jus as some American people are annoyed and frustrated at the indifference to the humiliating experiences the foreigners living in Japan are having.

Unfortunately we are that ignorant.
Fortunately we learn through interactions and communications.
As a side that is one reason why I appreciate you for a having dialog with me.



"Or are you gonna tell me, once again, to go get fluent in Japanese and then we can discuss it?"

To the first question, yes if you want to make difference in Japan and integrate into Japanese society. As a side, almost all host countries of immigrants are encouraging to learn the local language and to be fluent in it and isn't that what Chris B is saying to the Japanese people, if you want to make difference in a world where English is dominant, learn English, be proficient?


To the second question, we are already discussing it in English. (I thank you for being nice to me and being tolerant of my non-proficient English . )
But if you don't want to end it as a just ranting---as I said before, nothing is wrong with ranting and people sometimes need to let steam off------if your anger and hatred are to such an extent you can't resist a physical confrontation , I say, discussing it with the Japanese people in Japanese would be much better,　more reasonable and more effective than if you didn't.