CODE IN TOKYO

Even When You Know It Is Only Some People, Prejudice Is Still Created

The other day, I went out for drinks with an engineer friend.

He is not usually the type to get very emotional, but that day he was unusually angry.

When I asked what had happened, he said he was having trouble with a Chinese engineer on a development project he is currently involved in.

At first, I listened while thinking, “Well, interpersonal trouble is common enough in development projects.”

But then, partway through the conversation, he showed me the actual exchange on his phone.

It was awful.

I cannot write the details, but it was not at the level of ordinary business feedback or discussion. There were clear insults and abusive remarks lined up in the messages.

Avoiding Responsibility and Pushing It onto Others

That Chinese engineer is apparently in a position close to the client side.

When problems occur in the project, instead of admitting his own fault, he pushes the responsibility onto the people around him with incredible force.

And when things become inconvenient for him, he attacks the other person.

If I had only heard my friend’s side of the story, I might have thought, “There may be arguments on both sides.”

But after seeing the actual written messages, at least when it came to the abusive language, there was no way to defend it.

What inevitably came to mind then was the negative image of Chinese people that is often talked about in society:

“They quickly avoid responsibility.”

“They do not admit their own mistakes.”

Of course, I have no intention of saying that all Chinese people are like that.

But this person seemed as if he was going out of his way to perform that bad image with all his might.

Japanese Engineers Do Not Push Back

What made my friend even angrier was that the Japanese engineers around him barely pushed back at all.

The reason was simple: the project is about to end.

No one gains anything by having a major fight in a project that is near completion. They endure it a little longer and end it with an adult response.

In practical terms, I think that is the correct judgment.

If I were in the same position, I would probably do the same.

But as a result, from the perspective of the person throwing abusive remarks, the situation becomes “no one pushes back.”

I do not know how he himself is interpreting it.

Maybe he thinks he is right. Or maybe he thinks Japanese people cannot say anything back.

Either way, there is no one to stop him from running wild.

This Is How the “Bad Image of Chinese People” Is Created

I also have Chinese acquaintances.

Some are excellent, and some are sincere. Naturally, not all Chinese people are like the person in this story.

I know that.

But real human beings cannot separate things that neatly.

When you have a strong experience right in front of you, that impression remains.

Especially if you are not on the Chinese side yourself, you do not have much reason to go around defending them every time by saying, “No, there are many good Chinese people too.”

Some low-quality individuals carry their nationality on their backs while hurling abusive remarks and shifting responsibility onto the people around them.

The people who see that think, “So Chinese people really are…”

Then that story is told to a third party like me at a bar.

I also see the actual abusive messages.

In this way, a bad image spreads.

I do not want to justify racial discrimination.

However, prejudice does not suddenly appear out of nowhere.

It is a reality that the strong bad impression left by some individuals can become linked to the image of an entire nationality or ethnic group.

This time, I felt as if I had been shown that structure in a very easy-to-understand form.

One Person’s Behavior Can Lower the Image of an Entire Country

The person himself probably is not thinking that his behavior affects the image of Chinese people as a whole.

Maybe he is simply avoiding his own responsibility and attacking the person in front of him.

But the people around him will not separate things so easily.

Especially when you work overseas, for better or worse, the signboard of being “a person from this country” follows you around on its own.

The same is true for Japanese people.

If a Japanese person behaves terribly overseas, people may think, “Japanese people are like this.”

It may be unreasonable, but that is reality.

The poor morals of one engineer can smear mud on the image of his own country.

That is what I thought while looking at the abusive remarks lined up on my friend’s phone.

And what is scariest of all is that my own impression of Chinese engineers changed a little before and after hearing this story.

In my head, I know that “this is a story about only some people.”

Even so, the impression remains.

The moment prejudice is created may, surprisingly, be something like this.

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