Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "What’s it like being Half White in Japan?" video.

It really depends. We have words to describe people who don't turn up so great.
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While his Japanese pronunciation and intonation is a bit different, without doubt the half-Dutch kid grew up speaking Japanese with his family. He said "HAHA (母)" to refer to his mother, which is how we would say it in formal speech. He said his Japanese last name first, which is how a native would introduce him/herself in Japanese. And he's not translating a foreign language into Japanese in his head. He said he attended Japanese Saturday School in the Netherlands when we was younger.
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We have many famous half-Japanese people in politics, sports, show biz etc...but they're all raised and educated in Japan. People who don't share the language, culture, history, mannerism, mindset, or identity with the rest of the population...are no different from foreigners living in Japan with no Japanese ancestry. In fact, there are many Russians, Turks, Koreans, Mongolians, etc who speak near-native Japanese and receive Permanent Visa, and even citizenship. Not being served, means they entered exclusive places that don't want you in their restaurant. A local would know which stores accept first-timers, and which don't.
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ハーフの人は外見のみで判断されると認識してる人が多いみたいだけど、振舞い・歩き方・服装・雰囲気・考え方・礼儀などで日本人かどうか判断されると思う。高橋藍、酒井豪徳、室伏浩二、小野田紀美、玉城デニー、沢尻エリカを見て『外国人』だと認識する日本人はいないはず。血筋よりも育ちの方が圧倒的に重要だと思う。
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No, we've seen pretty ugly ones too. It really depends on their parents.
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@FrankBrennosTheGreatest Japanese citizenship gets stripped. It's enforced by the Embassy for those who emigrate abroad.
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@FrankBrennosTheGreatest You're clearly not Japanese, so I doubt you'll ever understand why dual-citizenship was banned in 1985. It was done for the purpose of no longer providing citizenship to descendants of Japanese emigrants. Japan goes by Jus Sanguinis so location of birth is irrelevant. Japanese citizenship is revoked when a Japanese national emigrates abroad and assumes a foreign citizenship. It is still enforced, and you'll find plenty of videos of Japanese who lost their citizenship when taking a foreign citizenship. (There is even a special naturalization process for "former Japanese".) As for people living in Japan, they are not seen as emigrants and not the primary focus of the Japanese Citizenship Law. For foreigners, not getting caught may be the same as not being illegal, but that is not the case in Japan. When the Japanese government revokes citizenship, they date the government/koseki info back to the day you lost the legal right to be a citizen.
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In Japan, there are more international marriages with Japanese men compared to Japanese women. Most foreign wives are women from neighboring countries. And most Japanese men will marry foreign women who are sufficiently fluent in Japanese language and culture, unless they plan to live abroad forever. Honestly, there is a lot of things men have to think about such as inheritance, family business, tombs, seasonal family gathering, etc. If your wife cannot function in Japanese society, it would be an enormous amount of inconvenience. From funerals to household finance to family trips to picking schools for kids, the women in the family do a lot of it in Japan. I would even say they arrange and organize most of it. So if she cannot read Japanese, it would be unrealistic and irresponsible to marry her. There is a famous UNAGI restaurant in Tokyo run by an American wife. She is more culturally Japanese than many Japanese. The other part is subjective and a matter of preference. Women from Eastern Europe and Russia appear to assimilate far better than those from Western Europe, North America, or Australia. Their Japanese fluency is far better than those from English/Germanic countries, and they tend to be more aligned to Japanese traditions and culture. The modern liberal woke American women aren't perceived as attractive in Japan. Japanese women marry foreigners from developed countries mostly because they are not perceived as attractive in Japanese perspective or they simply wish to live abroad. Most of their marriages are also with people from neighboring countries, mostly Koreans, Chinese, and Taiwanese.
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@akita_inu-il6em Most half-Japanese are children of international marriages with neighboring countries. They are treated Japanese because they are born, raised and educated in Japan and have a Japanese name. Most foreign nationals living in Japan are Asians. They speak Japanese far better than these half-Americans from the US who have the stupidity to think they will be treated Japanese despite not having received formal Japanese education. Clearly, they're just Americans with partial Japanese ancestry. We don't see them as Japanese because they don't share Japanese language, culture, and identity.
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@SarahNGeti Ultimately, we only accept and appreciate foreign-nationals who able to master Japanese language, culture, mindset, and mannerism. If you think that is "racist xenophobia"...so be it. We would very much wish to remain Japanese, if you don't mind.
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The Current Governor of Okinawa is Half-Japanese, and he really hates the US like many in his generation. Born on a US base in Japan means you were technically born in the US. (The legal address should be State of California.) Okinawa was under US military occupation until 1972. They were so poor and brutalized under US occupation, many of them had to emigrate to countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil during that era or had to marry US military personnel just to survive. After WWII, there were many sexual crimes by US military and prostitution, so special orphanages were set up for babies born from those circumstances. Most of them were sent to the US for adoption because they were not wanted in Japan even by their mothers. Children of foreign fathers weren't legally eligible for natural-born Japanese citizenship until Japanese Citizenship Law was revised in 1985. The only exception were children of single mothers. Japanese is a shared language, culture, and identity. Either you're a member of Japan or you're not. Ancestry is not what makes somebody Japanese or not. It's why a naturalized citizen can serve as Japanese politicians. The only person in this video who seem to understand what being Japanese means is the lady who grew up in Boston.
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Japanese social customs only apply to Japanese people. These people are from foreign countries.
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Central Asia to Russia to some parts in Eastern Europe...they all have varying degree of Eurasian genetic mixture, since people have migrating in all directions for thousands of years. But they are in their countries and cultures. I find it confusing that half-Japanese kids who are not raised in Japan, never received formal Japanese education, and aren't fluent in Japanese language and culture...somehow expect that they will be treated the same as locals. Does an Italian American assume he/she will be viewed as an Italian in Italy? How can you be Japanese if you don't the share the language, culture, norms, history, mannerism, and identity with the rest of population. And yes, we have had many famous half-Japanese celebrities, politicians, athletes, etc.
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@Motivational-Mango I beg to differ. It really depends on the cultural upbringing and education. We have half-Japanese politicians, athletes, celebrities, etc...but they're treated Japanese because they share Japanese language, culture, mannerism, and identity. Some Japanese people are also really sensitive with labeling and identity. They fear that "hafu" implies that they're not real Japanese or won't be full members of Japanese society. Some people like "double," others like "mixed." Interestingly we never use "hybrids." The reason why Japanese media tend to use "hafu" instead of "mixed" is because historically it had the same connotation as a "pure breed" vs "mixed-breed or mutt." These days people tend to avoid using "Mixed-breed" or "Mixed-blood" because it sounds derogatory, but "Thoroughbred" is still used in every-day Japanese language to mean "pure" outside of the context of horse-breeding. And things got increasingly more complicated after Citizenship laws changed in 1985 because children of foreign fathers were also issued Japanese citizenship. Before that only children of Japanese fathers were legally and socially Japanese, while children of foreign fathers were legally foreigners (unless they come from single mother families). The classification was clear and simple; they were foreign-nationals with Japanese mothers. But when legal boundaries were revised, I think media/society started using "half" to refer to the half/mixed kids with Japanese citizenship. To be honest, I don't remember Japanese kids with Taiwanese, Korean, or Chinese mothers to referred as "mixed blood." So I think it only referred to as biracial kids.
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