Things have changed for the better for foreigners since the old days in Japan.
Cries of "Expel the barbarians!" are rare now. The five settlements where foreign residents were required to live in the Meiji Era are a thing of the past. The Ee Ja Nai Ka incidents of the late 1860s — when people danced crazily in the streets shouting "Ee ja nai ka!" ("Isn't it wonderful?") after finding talismans printed with the words "Exterminate the foreigners!" that were said to have fallen from the sky — are unlikely to be repeated.
But as we enter the second decade of the third millennium, sometimes the old adage "the more things change, the more they stay the same" rings true.
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