The problem is that people like you and I can go to Japan and just blend in with the population. Just look at the problems The Bride caused in Kill Bill.

This is entirely in character for Japan. I will never understand the enduring fascination of the place to some folks.

Growing up with a Japanese half of the family has entirely cured me of any need to visit the ancestral homeland.

I was west of Nagano in 1995, in a small mountain city, and entered a half-filled restaurant around dinner time. We were immediately ushered out of the place - No Food For You, White Boy!! Yeah, nice shrines, but that was the foremost memory I'll have of Japan.

To be fair, when I was seven we were refused service in a restaurant for being Campbells. The place was in MacDonald territory around Loch Lomand I think.

In Nagano? Some of the smaller backwaters I can believe, where old men still hate Haku-jin/Gaijin for emberassing Nippon. But Nagano?
Wow, that's utterly odd and opposite to the reactions I was told I'd get if I ever visited Fukuoka(at the time I was 100lbs lighter, had two good knees(instead of one), and a full head of hair).

Shi gatta ga nai, neh?

I've heard so many stories of mixed married couples having to almost flee Japan because of Mid-50's-Mississippi levels of racial intolerance. Children of mixed Japanese-Western couples are institutionally discriminated against on so many levels over there. It's been off my list for years.

Unfortunately, Alan, we can't be everywhere to protect our septs. The last I heard, the MacDonalds have agreed to forgive, but not forget.

I also remember in Truro growing up that all the neighbourhood watch signs were on the roads into town, like all the bad people came from other places.

Near Nagano. Toyama. It was still a good size little city though. We were on our way to Takayama, which was a cool little preserved open-air village museum type place. I had lots of fun in Japan generally, just popped into the wrong restaurant, I suppose.

I went through Fukuoka to Beppu. My big regret is not visiting the Sex Museum there!
http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/travel/beppu.htm

Mt Aso in Kyushu was also cool - walked around the volcano that has since seen minor eruptions.
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_aso_japan.html

In 1994 Japan was still fingerprinting foreign residents. Eventually that requierment disappeared. This whole fingerprinting visitors thing will eventually blow over & be removed - although it may take a number of years.

PS, I lived in Nagano 94-96 and never had any incidence of poor treatment.

The National Trust did hire a Campbell to run the Glencoe visitor centre a few years ago. (And I believe a MacDonald was hired as head chef. Hmmmmm.)

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glencoe/visitorcentre/

In my own lineage, I have at least 3 instances of mixed blood (Campbell-MacDonald) marriages over the last 4 or 5 generations, so my inner turmoil comes to me naturally.

I was quite shocked as a lad to learn that Grannie's cousin married a MacDonald but was relieved when I met him when I was about 14 to learn he was a great gentleman nonetheless and the last member of the family to be in an all-Gaelic dance band between the wars.