Matthew Walsh's
EFL ESL website
Opinions on discrimination: Class
10,11,12.
Dear Mr. Walsh,
I think the word ‘gaijin’ in Japanese and the word ‘foreigner’
in English mean different things. The word ‘gaijin’ has a nuance of
prejudice, but the word ‘foreigner’ does not. In Chinese letters
‘gaijin’ means ‘other people’, but I don’t understand this. What other
people? Of course, there are differences in culture, and language, but
these differences are a good thing. People are all the same when
they are born and a baby doesn’t have any prejudice. There has been
prejudice throughout human history because we have taught the children
these bad ways of thinking. We must stop this. I don’t need any borders
or words like ‘gaijin’. We are all from the same planet Earth, and I
enjoy the differences.
However, I have a problem. What should I call people from other
countries when I’m speaking Japanese?
Mr. Nukui told us that prejudice people are stupid and I agree.
These problems are scary, but we need to understand more about them in
order to stop bad things from happening again, like Auschwitz. Let’s
get rid of discrimination and prejudice!
The government in Japan’s system of separating people at birth
is clearly discrimination. They should stop the system of giving alien
registration cards to ethic-Korean Japanese people. It is the same as
Nazi Germany. Cultural identity should be that persons own
choice. If they want to be considered Korean or Chinese then, OK. If
they don’t need that label then OK too.
Most people who discriminate or have prejudice don’t know
that it is a bad thing but the victims know. I need to think more about
what I say so I don’t hurt people’s feelings.
By the way, I am a foreigner living in Japan, but I don’t
worry about it. I think the word ‘gaijin’ is strange, but when I
turn 16, I will go and get my ‘gaikokujin toroku sho”.
Sincerely,
Class 10,11,12.