Originally published at: Tokyo hotel apologizes for "Japanese only" and "foreigners only" elevator signs | Boing Boing
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I wonder what their drinking fountains and bathrooms say?
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And here I was wondering what a German pop rock band from the mid-2000s was doing in the news.
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A bit dicey to give them benefit of the doubt, especially given Japan’s history of racism - but that said they may be telling the truth re the reason behind the blunder. Japan has an extremely low Covid vaccination rate, last I looked even lower than the global average, meaning including all the countries too poor or marginalized to be able to get it, unlike Japan (if you think you see a lot of vaccine skepticism here in the USA, it pales in comparison to Japan). So it is pretty safe to assume actually that if you are in Japan and getting in an elevator with Japanese people, that you’re likely getting pretty close to unvaccinated people.
Or…they’re nationalist / racists. But it would seem a dumb move for a hotel; even if true I wouldn’t think they’d flaunt it (bad for business!).
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They are Japanese. They always know. No idea how, but they do.
And, obviously, the foreigners also always know who they are. 
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So then why the signs, I ask you?
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I mean, for many foreigners it is pretty obvious they aren’t Japanese. And not just tourists, they want a second class of people working for them. Mostly Filipinos, IIRC.
Japan has a very long history of nationalism and ethnic purity. 
They were sort of defanged after WWII, and no longer starting wars. But there have been several different nationalist movements since then.
Not everyone, of course. I know a few BBers do live or have lived in Japan who can share stories.
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People just will not segregate naturally. It has to be imposedencouraged.
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I was surprised to see this happening in Akasaka, which is a Tokyo district with a lot of nice hotels, expensive restaurants and rich foreigners. In this respect, I think the signs have to do with COVID. Although with the sh*tshow the vaccine rollout has been in Japan, you’re better off taking your chances with the foreigners.
Another thought: It’s a different flavor of discrimination from the historic Colored/White drinking fountans in the US. In Japan, the feeling behind it is more, “You outsiders are a pain to deal with,” rather than the US’s, “We want you [epithets] to know your place.”
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Covid you say? Odd, because here’s a photo my kid and I took during a trip three years ago. “Japanese Only” signs weren’t common, but we did see 'em once or twice.
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But where was this taken? Context matters because the rest of those signs in that photo look pretty dodgy.
I’m not saying “Japanese only” signs appear only during COVID - I’m saying the Akasaka district (where the hotel was) seems an unusual place for everyday segregation.
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Any place that charges $145-ish for 50 minutes of something is a place non-Japanese are well-advised to stay away from in the first place. As a first approximation, anyway.
I’m not Japanese, but I’ve been to a few places that said “Japanese customers only,” because that sort of sign is used (often? sometimes?) to discriminate by language and not race. If you’re with someone who speaks Japanese well, snacks and hostess bars are often happy to take your money in exchange for some watered-down whisky and one-sided conversation with a hostess who speaks only Japanese.
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That was in Shibuya.
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You’d think so, but then again check out the APA chain. It’s run by a well-known nationalist, and you can find his propaganda (such as this, found when I stayed in Tokyo a few years ago) prominently displayed in the rooms.
I should add that while I had no problem whatsoever with the staff of the hotel, had I known about its owner at the time I would not have stayed there.
Here’s a good write-up: APA Group (Japan) - Wikipedia
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Makes you wonder which elevator a Japanese national who has been living abroad should ride. On the one hand, they’re nationally Japanese and should ride in the “Japanese” elevator. On the other hand, by living abroad they’re arguably more likely to have Coronavirus, and should ride the “foreigners” elevator.
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are the signs more common near the us military bases?
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thanks for that
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