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DetlefK

(16,471 posts)
Mon May 29, 2017, 08:11 AM May 2017

Longing for a reason to discriminate other people, Japan simply invents one.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/29/un-true-blood-japans-weird-taste-for-discrimination-against-type-bs

At least since the 1920s, many Japanese have held a superstitious belief that there is a serious correlation between blood type and personality. Type As, (like Jake Adelstein), are supposed to be considerate, hard-working, and pay great attention to details. Type Os are good baseball players, happy-go-lucky, easy-going, and amiable. However, in recent years, according to a prominent critic of this pseudo-science, there is discrimination against certain blood-types—especially “the opinionated and extremely curious” Type Bs.

The Japanese term for this is “blood harassment” or “burahara” when abbreviated.

...

“But even in a country like Japan where roughly 98 percent of the population is the same ethnicity, people still find a way to discriminate and group people into convenient molds.”

...

Masao Ohmura, personality psychologist at Nihon University, suggested in a Japan Times article, that because the Japanese are genetically quite a homogeneous people, grouping by blood was a way of achieving diversity—if only the illusion of diversity.

...

Negative stereotyping credits the B types as selfish, and ABs as eccentric and unpredictable.

...

Japan has long been a country where the population is 98-99 percent Japanese, and discrimination against identifiable outsiders remains prevalent. Third or fourth generation Korean-Japanese who often do not speak Korean and are indistinguishable from Japanese people in appearance often are treated with disdain. There’s even discrimination against the burakumin, the former outcast clan of Japan who were once butchers and leather workers.

Blood type discrimination is an extension of these attitudes and the government is discouraging it officially. But, ironically, Japan’s governments have done little as yet to discourage more blatant forms of racism. If only there were more aggressive and courageous B-types or open-minded internationally inclined AB types in the government, perhaps we’d see some change for the better.






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For example, if you look at old japanese video-games from the 1980s and 1990s, sometimes the character-description also mentions the blood-type. To the Non-Japanese this is just odd, but to a japanese player it tells him what kind of personality that fictional character has.
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Longing for a reason to discriminate other people, Japan simply invents one. (Original Post) DetlefK May 2017 OP
Wow. I wouldn't have guessed that one luvMIdog May 2017 #1
The fuck JHan May 2017 #2
Jake Adelstein is engaged in spreading hyperbolic nonsense kristopher May 2017 #3
It's not banter. Some Japanese do practice this kind of racism. From the same article: DetlefK May 2017 #4
I lived in Japan for 11 years kristopher May 2017 #5
Although Japanese people discuss blood types GeoWilliam750 May 2017 #6

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
3. Jake Adelstein is engaged in spreading hyperbolic nonsense
Mon May 29, 2017, 01:41 PM
May 2017

Quote
"According to professor Yamaoka’s studies, the general awareness of blood group stereotypes and people’s tendency to judge others on that basis have declined. But books on the subject are still being published and blood-type-based fortune telling is a regular on morning TV shows. It’s commonly referred to when looking at relationship compatibility. The imprinting is on-going."
End Quote

Discussions around blood type are no more discriminatory than the banter that goes on between fans of rival sports teams. This article is pure bullshit - the paragraph I quoted above is even an admission of that fact.

DetlefK

(16,471 posts)
4. It's not banter. Some Japanese do practice this kind of racism. From the same article:
Mon May 29, 2017, 01:45 PM
May 2017

In some cases, blood type becomes an excuse. In 2011, Japanese Reconstruction Minister Ryu Matsumoto was forced to resign because of callous comments about the areas devastated in the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that year. In a post resignation conference, he took the opportunity to blame his behavior on his blood group: “My blood is type B, which means I can be irritable and impulsive, and my intentions don’t always come across. My wife called me earlier to point that out. I think I need to reflect on that.” He was politely pushed out by the administration for his gaffes.

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
5. I lived in Japan for 11 years
Mon May 29, 2017, 01:57 PM
May 2017

And did my undergrad at a Japanese university. The author was a classmate and friend. While I respect his work and like him personally, his view of Japan was biased with a sense of moral superiority from the day he arrived.

He is off base in this instance.

GeoWilliam750

(2,540 posts)
6. Although Japanese people discuss blood types
Mon May 29, 2017, 02:59 PM
May 2017

It is taken about as seriously as star signs in the West. Jake's specialty has long been writing about Japan organized crime, and he did some interesting work at one time.

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