AkihabaraTokyo · Japan

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Born With It (生まれつき）: Short film captures the angst of being a black child in Japan

By banzaitokyo

Original source: www.japansubculture.com

Born With It (生まれつき）: Short film captures the angst of being a black child in Japan

Japan is coming to a crossroads with accepting mixed race Japanese and immigrants into their mostly homogenous society. Japan is a welcoming country to foreigners, especially if you are a temporary visitor. The subtle prejudices only become visible to foreigner once you have lived here for a while and experienced the day to day difficulties you face as an outsider when you actually try to become part of the society. Any foreigner in Japan who has been turned away from renting an apartment simply because they’re not Japanese, knows that experience.

Discussion

Yubi #13161
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I suspect that it does not really convey what is happening here. The best way to win an award in an international movie festival is to pick a non-western culture and point out unfairness there :-p The director himself admits that he wants to convey his experience in Japan; what an adult experiences and perceives are not the same as what a child does. I have a mixed race, dark-skinned nephew who is well likes and popular in his school; but that does not mean that all kids are in the same boat. Having been a volunteer working with foreign students for 10 years, I can say that the picture here is much more fuzzy.

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