They have to do something, but it's like the UK and Brexit - they know it's dumb, they know it's not going to work, but they made up their minds, folded their arms and are stuck with a right wing government that is fueled by jingoism, nationalism, isolationism and in Japan's case -frankly rejection of non-Japanese people and influences. Or at least that's a good chunk of the population. A lot of young japanese folks are much more progressive and forward thinking and tolerant.
You can read about the Japanese working experience on this forum. Lots of expats living in Japan. There are three or four ways to do it and tbh - I've seen successful versions of all of them, but the only way to make it work is to go in with your eyes wide open. You are not Japanese. Being white helps sometimes. Nobody in Tokyo gives a shit that you're white except little kids sometimes, or drunk Salarymen, but white people in Tokyo are ubiquitous. Once you get out into the country - you will be stared at. Being black helps sometimes but comes with more challenges (including the sort of "can I touch your hair" stories that horrify folks here in the states, but sometimes weirder). Being Asian is helpful sometimes and then other times you're the wrong kind of Asian (like third generation Japanese-Koreans who have to take a Japanese name just to get by). And so on. If you live there, you WILL encounter racism - sometimes funny and harmless, sometimes shocking and significant. It might be trouble renting an apartment, or a drunk salaryman starting a fight with you on the station paltform on friday night, ot being rejected from an onsen spa with no explanation, or being yelled at by a little nazi political worker on a truck with a megaphone, in broad daylight at Shinjuku station.
Note, this is nothing like working WITH Japanese people or going there for business - both of which are an absolute JOY. Here's my super reductive version of how to succeed there - which is missing any nuance or exceptions and is a cartoon fo sorts, but sort of true.
1. Weeaboo -- full on immersion where work is just a way to pay for anime and dinner and Japanese classes and you freaking love it even the bad stuff and you don't mind being a second class citizen and you feel like you know your place and your ambitions are limited anyway. Like, that sounds negative, but there are a lot of those folks and they can be really happy. It doesn't mean they can't have friends or be social or meet a bae. Just that they're naturally OK with the negatives and accept or even embrace those as cultural attractions.
2. Own your own business and have your Japanese employees shield you from a lot of the potential negatives and control your own destiny and be on top of the workplace social pecking order, but that occasionally will mean that your Japanese employees might have to represent you to bypass a lot of structured social barriers - and even take care of apearancesd when working with bigoted or blinkerfed clinets and customers - that is to say, you might need deputies to be Japanese for you, even if you're fluent and havew lived there for years. Depends on the nature of the business andn its surrounding networks.
3. Be That Guy. I once met a US expat, former marine, swole, 6 foot 2, fluent Japanese speaker with a perfect (allegedly - I can't tell) Hokkaido accent and a full understanding of the entire thing from top to bottom. He embraced the fact that he'd encounter racist Japanese folk, that the culture is rigid, that traditions and habits will negatively impact him and his ability to succeed or fit in. So he didn't try to fit in. He never put up with it - and would simply reply in perfect Japanese that "he wasn't going to put up with racist shit and you should say that again to his face and see what happens" - I saw that twice in one week - once at a restaurant where a Japanese waiter said something mildly jingoistic and snide to another server and once when the owner of a bar tried to screw our group on the final negotiated check (actually pretty normal to dicker over the bill at those small Izakayas) based on the fact that there were AMERICANS in the group and that had been a hassle. In both cases it was enough of a scene that I was embarassed/confused about what was going on, but I could tell in both cases that they were shocked or scared into immediate apology. Anyway, that's how he rolled. His Japanese colleagues thought he was a HOOT and loved seeing him do it, to the point I think they were encouraging him. I can't say he seemed happy, but he sure was confident. I wonder what happened to him.
