Regarding the Nov. 18 Zeit Gist article, "Prejudice among obstacles facing non-Japanese tenants": Although I support anti-discrimination laws with regard to accommodations for foreigners, I can understand why many Japanese landlords discriminate against foreigners. I have heard numerous foreigners boast about how they avoided paying their last couple of months rent by leaving and not telling their landlord. I have also heard of foreigners having loud parties late at night in their apartments with no consideration of the effect on their neighbors.
I have personal experience with this. I have lived in Japan in the same apartment for seven years. I have never had cause for complaint about a Japanese neighbor. Yet, in the other apartment next to mine, I have had many foreign neighbors who have had parties from 2 to 5 o'clock in the morning.
In a related matter, I also know of many foreigners who don't pay their local government taxes and who wear this omission as a badge of honor. If we foreigners want equal rights, we should also be willing to accept equal responsibilities.
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