Description


This article is from the American misconceptions about Japan FAQ, by Tanaka Tomoyuki ez074520@dilbert.ucdavis.edu with numerous contributions by others.

My (Tanaka's) first day of school in the USA ... Vincent Chin (American misconceptions about Japan)

I will remember that day all my life: the first day of middle
school in January, 1976. I was 13 years old. having arrived in
the USA from Japan in the previous December, it was my first day of being a student at an American public school in southern
California.

my impressions were almost all positive: helpful teachers and
friendly fellow students. it seems that many of the experiences
I was about to have in the USA were all symbolically represented in the events of that day, and that included my first real encounter with American racism; during the P.E. (physical
education) class, I was running with a football in my hand with
some boys chasing me, and a white boy yelled at me, "Stop, Jap!"

I was not offended at all. I was just puzzled. I had read and
heard about the word "Jap" in Japan, but my understanding was
that the word ceased to be used decades ago. like most Japanese teenagers, I had no special negative feelings toward the USA (I had only positive feelings) and I naively believed that those sentiments would be shared by Americans. well, I was wrong.

in the later years I learned of the systematic way the American
society (parents, teachers, schools, churches, the media)
reinforces (i) general racial hatred and prejudice and (ii)
feelings of vengeance and grudge toward Japan regarding WW2.

these societal efforts are ethically wrong, and they annoy me in
my daily life. I felt that I had to do something when I learned
the following from the film "Who killed Vincent Chin?".
--- how Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat,
with these words: "It's because of you (little) motherfuckers that we are out of work."
--- how the killers only got small fines and probation for the
killing.
--- how there was no storm of protest about this from the
general American public.
--- how Vincent Chin's mother returned to China and left the
USA, where she believed there was no justice for Asians
and Asian Americans.

I have stored some articles on the Vincent Chin case in my
WWW site. see Section (A) for access information.