I flat out acknowledged that that is a personal anecdote in my comment.
Regarding the study, it requires that people self-report a negative attribute about themselves. We already know it's basic human nature to lie to cover up faults. Why do you expect a study that relies on self reporting is going to be accurate?
Go try to rent an apartment or lease a house as a foreigner in Japan. You will find it extremely difficult to do if you are not specifically looking in one of the expat housing areas. The Japanese may say they wouldn't mind a foreigner living next door in a study, but they make it an extremely difficult process for this to actually happen. This thread has already discussed the family registry, but another important aspect of it is what replaces the credit check in most Western countries - a contact at the company you work for. For a Japanese salaryman, all disputes with a landlord go through his boss. Didn't make rent? Boss talks with the salaryman. Landlord hasn't fixed the running water? Boss talks with the landlord. This isn't something you get as a foreigner unless you've been with the company for a very long time.
Buying a house? You better be doing it outright, or already have your citizenship. Even permanent resident status isn't going to be enough at many banking institutions.
You can read the accounts of plenty of expats who have lived in Japan the frequent struggles they face as foreigners, with the entire system being set up to put them at a disadvantage. There's quite a few of them that have talked about it on HN, even. And maybe Japan isn't more racist than most other countries - but it certainly is racist enough for people to have valid complaints.
> You can read the accounts of plenty of expats who have lived in Japan the frequent struggles they face as foreigners, with the entire system being set up to put them at a disadvantage.
I've read them, and I disagree with 99% of them. Sure, there's a couple legit ones, but the vast majority are massively exaggerated. Especially sites like Debito. If you go on reddit's Japan forum (/r/Japan), you mention debito, you'll get laughed at. The guy literally profits from pointing out discrimination and intolerance in Japan. That's how he makes his money so it's in his interest to exaggerate everything. He's written books on the matter.
I don't really want to come across as some overly liberal social justice warrior, but most of those complaints you speak of aren't justified. As I stated above, it's just 20-something white kids not getting treated the same as they did back home and they're not used to it. They're used to people bending over backwards for them, receiving handouts and not being ignored. They were sheltered most of their lives (as were the majority of all millennials) so when they get to Japan and get treated differently, all of the sudden it has to be "racism".
That's really what's happening here. They're conflating their culture shock with racism. I'm an expat myself. I've spoken of my time in Japan here on hackernews several times. I find it's no more racist than any other country I've traveled too. In fact, it's probably the least racist country I've been to, only behind America. Hell, I saw more racism in Sydney the last time I was there.
Regarding the study, it requires that people self-report a negative attribute about themselves. We already know it's basic human nature to lie to cover up faults. Why do you expect a study that relies on self reporting is going to be accurate?
Go try to rent an apartment or lease a house as a foreigner in Japan. You will find it extremely difficult to do if you are not specifically looking in one of the expat housing areas. The Japanese may say they wouldn't mind a foreigner living next door in a study, but they make it an extremely difficult process for this to actually happen. This thread has already discussed the family registry, but another important aspect of it is what replaces the credit check in most Western countries - a contact at the company you work for. For a Japanese salaryman, all disputes with a landlord go through his boss. Didn't make rent? Boss talks with the salaryman. Landlord hasn't fixed the running water? Boss talks with the landlord. This isn't something you get as a foreigner unless you've been with the company for a very long time.
Buying a house? You better be doing it outright, or already have your citizenship. Even permanent resident status isn't going to be enough at many banking institutions.
You can read the accounts of plenty of expats who have lived in Japan the frequent struggles they face as foreigners, with the entire system being set up to put them at a disadvantage. There's quite a few of them that have talked about it on HN, even. And maybe Japan isn't more racist than most other countries - but it certainly is racist enough for people to have valid complaints.