Not too long ago, the city where we live sent out surveys to a bunch of foreign residents to see how they like living here. The whole survey was rather long and involved, but one of the best questions was: Do you feel discriminated against?

I thought the question was rather timely since Hero Material and I have been trying to find a bigger place to live for the past six months. Our apartment is currently about 600 sq-ft (slightly less than 60 sq-meters), and it's just not big enough for a family of three.

Anyway, in August (or was it July?) we went to a real estate agency to inquire about the availability of two rental homes advertised. They were in good locations, and the asking rent was reasonable. But the landlord (both were owned by the same guy) refused to even consider us because we were not Japanese! Never mind that Hero Material and The Boy have green cards (permanent residency), and I have a spouse visa. Never mind that we have sufficient income to pay the rent. Never mind that the language is no barrier.

Just the fact that we aren't Japanese was enough to get us rejected sight unseen by the landlord over the phone!

So of course we answered YES to the “Do you feel discriminated against?” question. Then we specified why (“When trying to rent a place to live”). I also wanted to check “I cannot describe when, but I feel discriminated against nonetheless” just because I've been feeling rather annoyed about the whole incident, but Hero Material decided that maybe it was too vague.

With the falling population in this country, you'd think that the government would encourage citizens to be more open-minded and welcoming to immigrants. But I guess they're happy with their shrinking serfs taxbase.