A recent addition to convenience store shelves here is a shock rag entitled “Foreigner Crime File”. Intended to highlight crime committed by foreigners, presumably to incite hatred and a desire to rid Japan of immigrants, the magazine features photograps, articles, and stories about foreign crime.
The cover features cartoons of non-Japanese people, all with glowing bloodshot evil eyes, and all of whom look like contestants in some Stereotype Contest. The back cover features a world map giving a “danger rating” for each country, decorated with knives, guns, and skulls. The inside is full of headlines about how Tokyo is decending into lawlessness at the hands of “degenerate criminal aliens”. There are articles featuring photographs taken on the street of (somewhat gross, but obviously consensual) public displays of affection between foreign men and Japanese women, featuring captions such as “Hey nigger! Why are you touching a Japanese woman’s ass!” and “Asshole! Go back to your own country and kiss your own women!”. There are articles describing the differences between Korean prostitutes and Japanese ones (hint: kimchee aroma). There are photographs of foreign men drunk on the sidewalk (Japanese men, of course, never get drunk). In short, they haul out every disgusting stereotype that they can think of in order to make their point.
As you will have guessed, this magazine has caused quite a buzz among the foreign community in Japan, but try as I might, I just can’t bring myself to be too offended by this. It’s hard to describe the reason exactly, but essentially I liken it to the 3-year-old pitching a temper tantrum and calling you a poopy-head. Sure, at the moment that he says it, he hates you more than anything else in the world. But any legitimate point that he may have is completely and totally lost in the over-the-top delivery, the childishness, andthe poor execution of the message, and you find yourself actually amused at the crude attempts to offend you, and embarrassed for him that he failed so completely.
The only thing that bothers me a bit is that Family Mart, a convenience store chain that employs many of the same Degenerate Criminal Aliens™ that the magazine tries to offend, chose to sell this thing. On the plus side, some regular Japanese folks seem to realize that this thing is nasty—never in my 30+ years have I seen anyone as akward and embarrassed as the manager of my local Family Mart when I plunked the magazine down on the counter in front of him…
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