Differences between attitudes of Chinese people and Japanese people towards foreigners. 中国人と日本人の外国人に対する態度の違い。

In countries like China, elderly people are very kind and welcoming towards foreigners, even towards brown-skinned Indians like me. When I visited China recently, I couldn't even speak Mandarin. But so many people were willing to talk to me, both young and old. Many families tried to take selfies with me. It felt as if being a foreigner made me feel special like a celebrity.

No restaurant or establishment refused me just because I was a foreigner. There were times they couldn't understand what I was speaking in English, but they still put up to it. I often felt guilty for wasting their time instead of taking out my phone and translating it.

In fact, I was even invited to a young 20 year old Chinese woman's house, and the woman's grandma even made food for me and told me to stay back in China.

The woman's grandpa was very eager to see me, and he even clicked a selfie with me so that he could later brag to his friends about meeting a foreigner.

Grandma even said that I could come to her place anytime if there was any problem back in my country.

There was even a young Chinese man in his 30s who advised me to marry a Chinese woman and settle down permanently in China.

In fact, when I visited rural China, old people were actually welcoming and friendly rather than being xenophobic. I really enjoyed visiting China, but I don't want to settle there because of the authoritarian rule of Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

I like Japan's democracy but recently I have been feeling that Japan's democracy and society is increasingly being unstable because of misinformations on SNS.

However, even though I speak Japanese, I got refused at a izakaya once.

In China, parents and their children were eager to see me and even shake hands with me. In Japan, moms often drag their kids away from me and exhibit a sense of "fear" and "anxiety".

India and China have often gone to war in the past, but the Chinese people know the difference between geopolitics and real interactions with people. I was surprised that even after stating I was an Indian, I was warmly welcomed by Chinese people. When I asked them, "Doesn't China hate India?". Most of their responses were along the line of "Politics and individuals are different. We should cherish our interactions and separate it from geopolitics". Some even said, "India and China are similar in terms of society, we are both nations with a billion population. We should work with each other instead of fighting." "We should leave this to the governments to deal with. We should distinguish that governments and individuals are different."

In Japan, there are instances of discriminatory attitudes towards foreigners. Things like "housing refusal", "job discrimination", "rejecting foreign customers" are commonplace. Even in universities, there is a bias towards foreign students.

The Japanese government led by LDP only views foreigners as "cheap labour", not as "humans". Regarding Wishma's death, there are still Japanese politicians like Umemura Mizuho who claim that she "faked her death".

The recent foreigner-coexistence proposals by Onoda, despite being a hafu herself shocks many foreigners. The line between "good foreigners" and "bad foreigners" are being blurred. Japan's SNS is full of people claiming they don't want any foreigners at all. Misinformation like "Foreigners don't pay taxes", "Foreigners receiving preferential treatment" are rampant.

Sometimes I feel like China is more welcoming to foreigners than Japan. China treats foreigners like guests, meanwhile many Japanese treat foreigners like "second class citizens" and see them as "invasive species".

I really love Japan and want to make Japan the best nation in the world, but I feel sad when I see anti-foreigner sentiment among ordinary Japanese people.

However, I felt a difference between Chinese and Japanese police in their attitudes towards foreigners.

Chinese people were more welcoming towards foreigners and are willing to even give things for free. I often got free food and water from Chinese businessowners.

Meanwhile Japanese people, especially old people have an attitude of "Please leave as soon as possible." There is always talk of "foreigners taking advantage of Japanese systems" even when its full of misinformation.

In China, people will still welcome foreigners even if they don't speak Mandarin. In Japan, people won't talk to you much if you can't speak Japanese.

I feel like Chinese people are more happy and enjoying their lives, while Japanese people are depressed and frustrated.