Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "What's it like being a “Foreigner” Raised in Japan?" video.

@risatanaka4444 Your brother was educated in NZ. You may think your older brother is the same as somebody who was raised and educated in Japan. But unless you have a degree from a Japanese academic institution, it will be tough in Japan. Likewise a degree from a Japanese university will be useless in NZ as well. FYI, people with hearing disabilities can drive in Japan too. You just don't know Japan.
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Of course you can call yourself "Japanese." I hope you weren't offended because it's a translation issue. For Japanese nationals, the word Nihonjin (日本人) refers to people who have Japanese citizenship, or people who are from Japan and living abroad. The term "Nihonjin" usually does not include descendants of Japanese immigrants. We tend to say Nikkei-jin (日系人) or specifically Nikkei-Hawai-jin (日系ハワイ人) or Nikkei-America-jin (日系アメリカ人). I also didn't know "Hawaiian" only referred to those with Hawaiian/Polynesian ancestry.
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These days Japanese companies are visiting foreign universities to hire people who've majored in Japanese language (and Japanese studies) to work in Japan. Most of the students have at least N2 level. For whatever reason, UK and Russian universities have unbelievable language programs. They're fluent in the language and culture by the time they graduate from college.
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How do you arrive at the conclusion knowing what you know about Canadian history? Canada was created as a European transplant colony by seizing land from indigenous people and only has a history of a few hundred years. It's why you speak a derivative of a European language, not an indigenous one. Most of your citizens are descendants of immigrants from the last few centuries, while the first Japanese have been living in Japan from the last ice age. And this guy is a foreign citizen because their family never naturalized. Unlike former European colonies that recognizes Jus Soli citizenship rule, Japan only recognizes Jus Sanguinis citizenship. It's why he is a foreign national.
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@wolfinthewheatfields3224 You need one parent to be a Japanese national to inherit Japanese citizenship. So how can he be Japanese by birth? There is a naturalization process for foreign nationals if they wish to become Japanese citizens. And unless you have a Japanese passport, you're legally not Japanese, which is the only definition the Japanese government uses to identify who is Japanese or not. As for culture/ethnicity, that's a complicated question on identity as each person, family, or generation is different. We have an ethnic half-Uyghur and half-Uzbek politician who was born and raised in Japan and naturalized with her family as a child. She used to work for the Bank of Japan and later the United Nations. She has a Japanese identity and works for Japanese society, which is more than enough for the people of Japan to vote for her.
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@sharoneicher4131 Acceptance in Japan entirely depends on the person, education, upbringing, mindset, mannerism, etc. And an American perspective is rather useless for Japan, as your country was founded as a European transplant colony by eradicating the indigenous people, you mostly inherited British language/culture/customs/religion/education/history, and most of your ancestors are foreigners/immigrants in the past few centuries. In contrast, the first people who settled in Japan are from 40,000-50,000 years ago.
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I know many foreigners with N1 level fluency. Social acceptance and integration is entirely based on ones's personality, mannerism, mindset, skill-set, education, etc. Being fluent in a language is only a bare minimum to survive in any society. I have a friend with whom I went to highschool and university. She's ethnically Russian & Ukrainian and was educated in Japan. Her parents speak to her in Russian, but she speaks to her parents in Japanese, as she's a native speaker. She'll always be accepted in Japan because she understands Japanese language, culture, history, traditions, customs, mindset, and mannerism, etc....like any other local. Her parents both teach at university in Japan, and her entire family is now naturalized Japanese citizens. I suspect the primary reason why you're rejected by Japanese people has very little to do with your Japanese fluency. It's how you carry yourself, dress, talk, walk, sit, eat, and think. In case you don't know, we've always had naturalized citizen serving as elected officials. They're not native speakers. But they have assimilated culturally and integrated socially, which is why people are comfortable enough to vote for them.
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