Coronavirus and Racism: Behind the Story

There is something that I didn’t write in the previous story.

Coronavirus - Should I cancel my flight to Japan this month?
My flight is scheduled for the 26th of February 2020, and I am planning to stay in Japan with my family for three weeks....

When my mum called me for the second time about coronavirus in ten days, she talked about the discrimination towards Asian people in Europe.

She said that some Japanese media reported that Asian people including Japanese people in France were badly treated because of the fear of the virus.

“I was worried that you might be discriminated against because of your Asian face in Canada, like in France,” she said to me.

I wanted to say, “But, mum, it was not the first time that (some) French people were racist towards Asians,” but I didn’t say so.

Instead, I told her, “But mum, racists are everywhere in the world, and I am fine here so far. I don’t go out much either, anyway.”

Racists are everywhere including Japan. In fact, not many people understand about racism and equality in Japan. I can easily imagine that Japanese people feel uncomfortable to see Chinese tourists walking around in their towns nowadays, as my mum does.

I just hope they are not going too far in a way to treat Chinese people or Chinese-looking people in Japan.

 

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