Interview with Ms. D1

"Prejudice against Chinese in Japan varies depending on where you are. In Tokyo, a cosmopolitan city where people encounter foreigners every day, attitudes are more mixed. On the one hand, many Japanese have positive impressions—one Japanese friend once told me, “The Chinese people I know are all hardworking and excellent.” On the other hand, they’ve also seen foreigners who don’t follow local customs or behave in ways considered impolite, and those impressions linger too.

But in small towns, the situation is very different. There, most people rarely interact with foreigners. If a negative incident happens, it leaves a deep stain on the community’s perception. I experienced this firsthand. I once dated a Japanese man who wanted to marry me. He was ready to buy a house with me and sought his mother’s support. But the moment she learned I was Chinese, she strongly opposed the relationship. Her reasoning was that in their village the year before, a Chinese woman had married a Japanese man, taken all his assets, and then disappeared. That single case had cast suspicion over all Chinese women in the area.

Prejudice also rises and falls with social events. A few years ago, after some violent crimes involving Chinese nationals, I became nervous about speaking Chinese in public. I avoided answering phone calls in my own language, afraid of drawing unwanted attention. Recently, the situation has reversed in some ways—Japanese people worry about safety in China, especially after a murder at a Japanese school there, which left both communities on edge.

And prejudice doesn’t only come from Japanese. Among Chinese themselves, many view those of us living in Japan as hanjian—traitors. When I first decided to move here, my family objected strongly. My cousin said bluntly, “Of all the countries to go to, why Japan?” Even young children in China are taught that Japan is a “bad country,” influenced by history and reinforced by state media’s frequent criticism—such as over Japan’s release of nuclear wastewater.

Living here, I often feel caught between two worlds—misunderstood by Japanese because of my nationality, and criticized by Chinese for choosing Japan in the first place."