boing boing gave debito another little fame boost. There are three kinds of people who know about debito. People outside of Japan who for some reason or another have researched Japan a little; people inside Japan who incessantly find fault with this place for not being American enough; and people in Japan who'd rather he disappeared.
Fans of this blog will quickly deduce that I'd rather he disappeared. To wit, I've done a lot of thinking on my own about how to make Japan a better place. I'm no genius, but no matter how long a list I come up with, "bang on the doors of the brothels until they let US in" just doesn't figure. While debito does some worthwhile work, the high profile stuff is petty, and counter productive.
In his on going segment, he goes to hostess bars and badgers the owners about the idea of "Japanese only" because he has a Japanese Passport, nyah nyah. Think of how many people in his circumstance who are suffering the interminable pain of not being welcomed in certain establishments. White + well-situated + fluent-speaker + Japanese citizen + interested in going to hostess bars... there must be close to a dozen!
But does it do any good for the rest of the foreign population of Japan, who are predominantly east asian, usually aren't so well situated, aren't fluent speakers, are in much more tenuous positions as regards their visa, and don't have the money, or self-obsession that it takes to have fun at a hostess club?
If you presume that these places have had or heard tell of bad experiences with foreign customers (since they're mostly in US military towns, or ports that see a lot of russian sailors, that's not hard to believe), you can understand their situation, even if you don't sympathize. They have hundreds of Japanese customers, and they all know the rules, and play by them, or break them within understood boundaries. One fluent, but pushy guy comes along and gives a sermon and some legal threats and forces his way into the club, and badgers the owner into taking the sign down. Now everything is hunkydory for the next brash russian sailor who doesn't know the rules, right?
If debito wins his war, what will Japan look like? I can't believe he expects to see all of god's children holding hands and singing kum ba yah. Either:
a. nothing changes, and Japan stays the best place ever.
b. the signs come down, and shopkeepers secretly dread the day that a gaijin comes to their shop, knowing that they're potentially at risk of a wrecked club or a lawsuit.
c. (this one is pure hysteria) the signs come down, and along with them, the reasonable assumption that your customers understand how your traditional business
works. clubs of all kinds march in lockstep down the path of strict legalese, and all the ambiguity that makes life fun is replaces with signed waivers at the entrance.
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Mr. Debito appears to be a direct descendant of those beady-eyed Victorian missionaries who came to the Orient to proselytize the yellow heathen. His gospel is American Democracy As Interpreted By Debito and he tries spreading it using the finest traditions of the 19th century British cultural imperialism. Since military support for his efforts are, alas, out of question in these days, he resorts to making a legal nuisance of himself.
One is amazed by the patience of the good people of Hokkaido. No doubt, some of them asks where are Mr. Shimazu's retainers when one needs them. Although the good old days of the 生麦事件 are over, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that a harrassed merchant or two may have a friendly chat with a heavily sunglassed representative of the local chapter of the Burly Gentlemen With Missing Pinkies who would subsequently explain Mr. Debito that his ways of spreading civilization are not entirely popular. Or, more likely, during one of his legal escapades, he might meet a less than sympathetic judge who would teach him a well-deserved lesson. If I were a Japanese judge, I would have voluptous daydreams anticipating that moment. Regardless of the actual scenario, my bet is that Mr. Debito sooner or later will paint himself in a corner and his only way out will be to run crying to the nearest U.S. consulate and, as Mr. Aldwinckle again, ask for repatriation.
Which would serve him well. The objection to his 'social activism' is that it lacks goodwill. No one questions that the 我々日本人 syndrome can become onerous for foreigners living in Japan but it should be resolved by friendly dialog, not kicking the Japanese in the groin.
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