Nationality Discrimination

Job possibilities

I was totally on my own, and needed a job quite badly. By profession, I am a social worker but working in that field was out of question. I remember once I volunteered to help at a senior citizens’ home. I could not speak Japanese well, and was not familiar with Japanese society nor the system at work. Thus, I could feel how my presence on that day was a nuisance, jamamono, to the staff. However, they did not turn me down out of sheer courtesy. They gave me a rag to clean the windows that actually were so clean that did not need any more cleaning! I also recall to having to spoon feed an elderly person, in silence, but with a smile on my face to at least make the meal a little more palatable. There was another obstacle as well since there was no shortage of social workers. One requirement for getting a work visa was to be able to do a job that could not be done by a Japanese national.

What could I do that a Japanese could not? The only other possibility that occurred to me was to teach a foreign language, English or possibly Persian. There was next to no chance for the latter, but a high demand for the English. However, I quickly came to learn that in those days Japanese students wanted to learn English only from the so called “native speakers”. It came as a shocking surprise to see how the people of a country who suffered greatly during the Pacific War were so overly-fascinated by western culture, especially with the United States of America. I was not deemed a qualified English teacher because I was not “native speaker of English”! From this point on, it was necessary to face the unexpected ugly truth.

I had nowhere else to go, Japan was all I had. I could not let despair take over, I would be lost. I needed to find a job at any cost. I was reading classified ads, then calling up English language schools, fervently, to find some job. Any school I called, routinely asked the same three questions, which were: “What is your nationality?”, “Have you studied in the United States?” and “Have you lived in the United States?” As soon as the answers from my lips were “Iran”, and “No, I haven’t”, there were no further questions, just a word of apology. My work experience in teaching or language-related work did not matter at all. One time when I mentioned my nationality, the guy, in a mocking tone said, “Sorry, we don’t even hire British, we only need Americans.”

Pre-judgment

I kept calling schools, and from these encounters, I realize how pre-judging I had been about Japan before coming here, just like Mark Twain says “travel is fatal to prejudice.” Among the qualities and virtues I read about Japan before coming was that 100% of Japanese population was literate as far back as a 100 years ago, a stark contrast with Iran. Biased thoughts and ignorance in societies that leads to social problems emanates from inadequate education. I arrived here with a heart full of passion. As soon as I got off the airplane I wanted to embrace every Japanese and tell them ‘thank you for making the world a better place to live’. Sometimes, when you realize that you were wrong in your judgment, it hurts even more. It was hard for me to comprehend the reason that made Japanese so biased about appearance or that only native speakers could teach English.