Implicit Xenophobia of Japanese Apartment Hunting
Theoretically, finding an apartment in Tokyo should not be all that difficult. Any residential area is full of apartment blocks in all forms and price ranges. Those who seek a new residence only need to go down to one of many national chains of apartment middlemen for quick inquiries and will be shown several units of preferable size and price in a matter of hours. The agencies take care of the paperwork and contact with landlords, and the client moves in a matter of days.
But then throw in the foreigner factor, and the process becomes not nearly as simple. Agencies, making a living on how many apartments they can rent out, are all too happy to help foreigners get the units they want. But the landlords are frequently not on the same page. Many fear foreigners who are unable to communicate in times of conflict and violate implicit rules about noise and living arrangements for various cultural reasons.
So once the reluctant landlords are taken out, the foreign clients are not left with too many choices in any neighborhood that do not have a long history of accepting foreign residents. Agencies will do their best to argue that their foreigners are unlike other foreigners, in their superior understanding of Japanese culture and language, often to no avail. All too often, foreigners are forced to live in designated units in designated geographies, not where they prefer.
Coming from the US, such a phenomenon often strikes as illegal. American fondness for litigation means that a foreigner who is rejected by a landlord on the ground of ethnicity can make a great case for racial discrimination. Precisely for the fear of being sued, an American landlord would not have the guts to reject an applicant straightforwardly because the applicant is a foreigner, even if in reality that is really the case. Workarounds must be found unlike in the Japanese case.
Japan is certainly not the only country where open discrimination against foreigners in apartment rental happens, but perhaps it is one where the general public is least aware of the problem. Similar instances of open rejection of foreigners have made headline news in Singapore and Hong Kong, Asian societies where xenophobia among landlords is also rife. Such articles have at least led to public soul-searching on what it means to be a more global society.
But here in Japan, despite continued calls for a greater embrace of internationalization in some social segments, those who are openly hostile to foreigners continue to remain uncriticized and unopposed, due to their entrenched positions of power. Whether they are landlords, or business owners, or even politicians, their continued rejection of foreigners for personal reasons are buttressed by lack of a clear legal framework to prevent such open xenophobia.
Certainly, it is difficult to expect Japan or other ethnically homogenous societies to suddenly change in prevailing social attitudes and become completely fine with foreign presence. Singapore and Hong Kong newspapers' articles on xenophobic landlords have also not yet led to the implementation of laws that make rejection of foreign clients as explicitly illegal. Public awareness, however, is at least the right direction to take as the first step for reducing outright xenophobia.
And it is my hope, and the hope of many other foreigners who are long-time residents of Japan, that eventually, there will be greater awareness among the Japanese general public of the everyday xenophobia faced by foreigners here in situations such as finding an apartment. And then the awareness can push more vocal citizens to call for laws that prevent those with the economic and political power to openly discriminate against foreigners.
But then throw in the foreigner factor, and the process becomes not nearly as simple. Agencies, making a living on how many apartments they can rent out, are all too happy to help foreigners get the units they want. But the landlords are frequently not on the same page. Many fear foreigners who are unable to communicate in times of conflict and violate implicit rules about noise and living arrangements for various cultural reasons.
So once the reluctant landlords are taken out, the foreign clients are not left with too many choices in any neighborhood that do not have a long history of accepting foreign residents. Agencies will do their best to argue that their foreigners are unlike other foreigners, in their superior understanding of Japanese culture and language, often to no avail. All too often, foreigners are forced to live in designated units in designated geographies, not where they prefer.
Coming from the US, such a phenomenon often strikes as illegal. American fondness for litigation means that a foreigner who is rejected by a landlord on the ground of ethnicity can make a great case for racial discrimination. Precisely for the fear of being sued, an American landlord would not have the guts to reject an applicant straightforwardly because the applicant is a foreigner, even if in reality that is really the case. Workarounds must be found unlike in the Japanese case.
Japan is certainly not the only country where open discrimination against foreigners in apartment rental happens, but perhaps it is one where the general public is least aware of the problem. Similar instances of open rejection of foreigners have made headline news in Singapore and Hong Kong, Asian societies where xenophobia among landlords is also rife. Such articles have at least led to public soul-searching on what it means to be a more global society.
But here in Japan, despite continued calls for a greater embrace of internationalization in some social segments, those who are openly hostile to foreigners continue to remain uncriticized and unopposed, due to their entrenched positions of power. Whether they are landlords, or business owners, or even politicians, their continued rejection of foreigners for personal reasons are buttressed by lack of a clear legal framework to prevent such open xenophobia.
Certainly, it is difficult to expect Japan or other ethnically homogenous societies to suddenly change in prevailing social attitudes and become completely fine with foreign presence. Singapore and Hong Kong newspapers' articles on xenophobic landlords have also not yet led to the implementation of laws that make rejection of foreign clients as explicitly illegal. Public awareness, however, is at least the right direction to take as the first step for reducing outright xenophobia.
And it is my hope, and the hope of many other foreigners who are long-time residents of Japan, that eventually, there will be greater awareness among the Japanese general public of the everyday xenophobia faced by foreigners here in situations such as finding an apartment. And then the awareness can push more vocal citizens to call for laws that prevent those with the economic and political power to openly discriminate against foreigners.
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