The other day I was walking through the old part of town
I passed an establishment that looked interesting (I won't mention
the name or type of venue) and walked up to the entrance to try
to gain entry. The man sitting at the door, an old man who seemed to be
pushing 90, held up his hand to stop me and muttered something
in broken engilsh that sounded like "No UN." I said (in Japanese) "Oh
do you mean I need to wear a mask?" He seemed upset that he wasn't
getting his meaning across and reached into his sleeve for something
(I thought he was going to show me an arm band or something) and
pulled out a handwritten piece of paper that was written in Japanese.
On the paper it said clearly "日本人のみ。” I said (in Japanese) "Oh, you
mean no gaikokujin?" He mumbled something that confirmed that I undurstood him correctly, all this time he my gaze. I simply said "OK" and walked away as I clearly was unwelcome there.

I had many feelings after this as it was the first time I had direct experience
of something I'd only heard about. It underscored a fundemental difference
between America and Japan. America is a place that assumes assimilation.
If you are in America it is assumed that you are American. People visiting
America for the first time complain about this because you are forced to
speak English. You will never see a sign on a business that says "Americans
Only!" Japan, on the other hand, does not encourage assimilation, and even
if I became a citizen here and spoke fairly good Japanese I would still be
turned away at this establishment. The same must go for Westerners who
grew up in Japan. I'll always be an outsider here. The sign "Japanese People
Only" reminded me of the Jim Crow era signs in the Deep South that said
"Whites Only" - signs that were abolished in the 1960s as a result of the
widespread Civil Rights reforms. So is it racism? If you asked many Japanese they'd say "No" and come up with elaborate explanations why it's not racism
(I've seen lots of posts on the Web doing just this).

I'm still thinking about this as it left an impression on me that was somewhat
of a shock. A shock probably because I've been free from racism most of
my life. It's easy to become complacent. At least it gives me insights as to how
people around me look at me.