Thread by @Gregor_Wakounig

Rant (thread) about how researching about social movements in Japan can be a major pain in the ass due to the "outer/inner" (uchi/soto)-dynamics that run the country. And why I, as a non-japanese often feel out due to being a "gaijin".

Since I came to Tokyo last year, one of the biggest struggles in my research about anti-fascist movements in JP was to get adequate informations. Articles and books, which go deeper than what's available in a mainstream bookshops.

I am especially interested in the ideological changes and developments of anti-fascist groups. From being fiercly anti-japanese until the 80s, to becoming more and more liberal and sometimes even openly rightwing since Fukushima.

I am interested in Flyers, articles, Pictures, recorded interviews etc etc.
And also in archives, especially activist-run ones, since they usually contain more material than universities and state-run archives.

Another part was and still is "spaces". I do know some leftist/antifa-spaces in Tokyo, where you see a demo-poster. But I was and still am wondering where the other few hundred posters of a 500 piece print-run go. Where are those posters hanging. There must be SPACES ffs.

Of course, I asked people. I asked A LOT. And mostly people will say that "we don't have spaces like this in Japan". And then, by your own research, you stumble upon a new space seemingly everyone knows but nobody was arsed to tell you despite you asking.

Why not? I can only assume.
But let me tell you a story.
In the last weeks, I was searching for Info about demonstrations against the Yasukuni-Shrine festivities in August. I know that there have been several demos in the last years.

So I ask around. Everyone's like "Well, I don't know".
Then I FINALLY get to see a Flyer. I ask where those come from.
Answer: "From a friend".
Me: "Well, how come this Flyer is not in location XXX?? Isn't this an important demo?"
Answer: "Well, maybe in the other space?"

So I look up "the other space".
And see: It is a leftist space, operating since almost 20 years, has a big fuckin archive of radical movements. Publishes a SUPER important monthly magazine, with a LOT of ideological discussions.

On top of that: It's near where I used to live.
So I ask myself: If everyone seemingly KNOWS this space, why the FUCK didn't anyone tell me? I asked. I did. A lot of people.

In Japan, leftist spaces are just too often closed off to a clique of very specific people. Basically, this is the fuel on which a lot of JP society runs on. "If you're not one of us, you're invisible to us."

There's even a word for it: Uchi(inside) and Soto (outside).
Becoming "uchi" is hard enough. You have to gain your trust, which takes WAY longer than in western societies. But okay, cultral differences are a real thing, it's how it is.

The problem is: If you're a foreigner, you're being seen as "soto", as "outside" inherently. You're a "gaijin", which literally translates as "person from outside". Basically you're an abomination, a temporary weirdness which will go away at some point.

The problem is: If you're a foreigner, you're being seen as "soto", as "outside" inherently. You're a "gaijin", which literally translates as "person from outside". You're just a temporary weirdness, which will go away anyway at some time.

This kind of "no girls allowed in our tree-house" thinking permaetes a large part of JP social movements. Especially leftist ones. To make it more understandeable for activists unfamiliar with japan, a concrete example:

You're in a new city and want to be active. Usually people will show you all the cool places. Squats, Autonomous Centers, leftist Bars, Clubs, will tell you which groups are active, invite you to protests, etc. etc. You know the deal.

In Japan? It usually goes like this:
"Well... I don't know... There's this foreigner-friendly space..."
You'll be dumped in those "foreigner friendly" spaces (which all of them are good, at least in Tokyo :) ). But to advance further than this: Very, very hard.

The thing is: People here don't even see how inherently racist and fucked up this kind of thinking and acting is. How excluding. But hey, it's what they've been thought from since they're small.

It's a general problem in the JP society. And an even bigger for people, who on the one hand are pretending to make antifascist/antiracist activism, but will NOT do it together with "gaijin", with foreigners.

So I have, after asking for MONTHS, finally found a almost perfect archive for my studies. I've got another 2 weeks left in Japan before I leave. And no time for visiting the archive.

Yes, I'm mad.

And on a sidenote: This kind of racism and exclusionism is being presented as a "cultural trait", a something "uniquely japanese" and all of us barbarian foreigners have to be oh-so sensitive to it.

No it's not. It's the textbook definition of racism and exclusionism. Fuck this.

And before someone asks: Yes, I do speak, read and write in Japanese.
Other than that: Language barriers are a hindrance and problem, but not a reason to willfully exclude someone.