There was a study done a few years ago which examined attitudes towards women among American men who were in college fraternities compared with American men in general. It found, not surprisingly, that those men in fraternities were more likely to have anti-feminist and misogynistic attitudes when compared with men in the general population. What I think would also be interesting is if a study were conducted that looked at the attitudes of white men in Japan compared with white men in the general population of their home countries. My feeling is that a similar trend would be found with regard to their attitudes about women.

Many foreign women living in Japan have told me that the white men they encounter in Japan very much fit within this description. One said that there is a common acronym that is used to describe them: “LBH” (Losers Back Home), which refers to a foreign man who is socially inept or socially unacceptable in his own country but thrives in Japan. How common are these men in Japan, and what affect do they have?

I have written from time to time on this journal about Gregory Clark, vice-president of Akita University and former Australian diplomat who has a regular opinion column in the Japan Times. Mr. Clark is a frequent contributor to the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) Japan-U.S. discussion forum (to which I also contribute), a moderated online forum of academics, businesspeople, policymakers, and others with an interest in Japan-related issues. I have written before about Mr. Clark’s controversial and inaccurate statements regarding his support for merchants who engage in racial/ethnic discrimination. He recently has been opining about the announced resignation of Japan’s prime minister and the race to succeed him, specifically focusing on the chances of Ms. Koike, a former minister of defense, who he referred to as a “still-unmarried lady” who has “coquettish appeal”. He concludes by stating that “the ease with which females come to the top in political scrums worldwide is something the political scientists, and the feminists, should be looking at”.

One professor rightly took exception to these statements, particulary that which referred to the apparent “ease” in which women rise to the top — despite the fact that only 4% of heads of state worldwide are women. Not to mention the use of term “coquettish”, a highly gendered term which does not have a masculine equivalent.

Mr. Clark then shot back: “Feminists should lighten up sometimes. If they did, women could begin rise to many other top positions and put an end to the dreadful male macho belligerence that does so much harm to this world.”

I see. So in other words, Mr. Clark believes that these uppity feminists are actually working against equal rights and equal opportunity, and that everything would be fine if they just shut up. Amazing. If we substituted “black civil rights activists” for “feminists” and “blacks” for “women”, I wonder what kind of reaction it would receive (if it even were approved by the moderator to begin with, as the above post was). Needless to say, I wrote a strong rebuke of Mr. Clark’s comments, and I wondered how the faculty and students at his university would react if they were to read such rhetoric coming from their vice-president.

This is not the first time that such anti-feminist rhetoric has been posted on the forum. Another frequent contributor to the forum, a professor at Taisho University, has also made anti-feminist statements on this forum. Earlier this year he wrote that “feminists have something of a track record of making assertions and demands that are not always well grounded and not necessarily in accord with the constituency they allegedly represent.” Again, substitute “feminists” with “black activists” and I doubt that any white professor would get away with making such a statement publicly, let alone getting it approved on such a forum.

Based on my professional and personal experiences, I have found this kind of anti-feminist rhetoric — along with much, much worse — to be unfortunately quite common among foreign white men living in Japan. One has to wonder why so many of these men come to Japan. Is there something about Japan which attracts men with such anti-feminist views? How do their views affect their personal and professional relationships with Japanese? Given that some are in senior positions within business and academia, how much of an impact does it have on policy and international relations?