It is not in our genetics to be racist, it is a product of our environment.
I`m always being called gaijin here.Gaijin means foreigner but the characters
used are gai 外 which means outside and jin 人 which means person so it is a bit troubling sometimes to be called this.I ask people what gaijin means and they say foreigner.So I say to explain the meaning of this and they say non-Japanese.Japanese are brought up believing there are Japanese and foreigners.
One of my students almost had a fit when I told him that the foreigners he was referring to talking about his Australian holiday were not foreigners and in fact it was he that was the gaijin.It is usually not used in a racist context but it is terribly narrow minded and ignorant
But the most troubling thing is that the word gaijin is used non stop.I am trying to educate people around me not to use the word,in Japanese or English, unless the context makes it necessary.
It is a bit like me saying "my dark skinned Lebanese non Australian Muslim friend Fadi" rather than just "a guy I know called Fadi".
Anyway,I was in a park on day and a little girl ran up and said "konnichiwa" so I said "konnichiwa" back. Then she said "Oh you speak Japanese!I thought you were a gaijin!"
It made me smile a little.She based her view on language rather race.This happened a few years back now and I only hope she still has this way of thinking but I can`t help feeling she went home and her parents said, "Oh no no no you sweet little innocent thing.He was a gaijin!"