The other day I caught the beginning of a program about Harry Potter on TV. As is typical with most Japanese TV shows, there was a main host and alongside him the obligatory talento (TV personalities) — in this case, two women I had never seen before and none other than Guts Ishimatsu, the former boxer-turned-B-list actor and TV personality.

As Guts was the biggest star on the panel (a telling indicator of the crappy production budget), the host began the program by asking him what he knew about Harry Potter. It turned out that old Gutsy had never even heard of the character. Normally, this might lead one to wonder what the heck he is doing appearing on a TV show about Harry Potter, but this is Japan — “the place where logic need not apply” — and so it really wasn’t all that surprising. At that point, the chirpy woman sitting next to Guts chimed in to say that she absolutely loves Harry Potter, and that “Daniel-san is SO CUTE!!!11″ In another feeble attempt to draw attention to the “big star,” the host then asked Guts, “Guts-san, what do you think of Daniel-san?”, to which Guts replied simply “Ma, gaijin da na” (”Well, he’s a foreigner, you know”), prompting laugher all around.

Although I won’t go into depth about my thoughts on the word gaijin at this time, I’ll just say that it’s a discriminatory term and there’s really no need for it to be used when their are several other inoffensive alternatives. While some may argue that gaijin is simply an abbreviation of gaikokujin (foreign national), the true meaning is quite simply “outsider” and carries derogatory connotations. Despite this, many Japanese people continue to use the word freely despite knowing that many non-Japanese people find it offensive.

Anyway, what upset me about Guts’ comment wasn’t only that it was offensive, but that those sorts of comments are shockingly common on Japanese television and never draw any kind of controversy. Just imagine of Alex Rodriguez was asked what he thought of Hideki Matsui and responded with, “Well, he’s a Jap, you know.” There would be an enormous public outcry. In Japan, however, such comments are simply par for the course.

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In lighter news, the new Harry Potter film comes out tomorrow and Judy and I have tickets to see it. I haven’t seen a movie on its opening day since Jurassic Park came out when I was in 8th grade. Of course, Judy was the one who really wanted to get tickets for tomorrow. She’s the Harry Potter fan, not me. She’ll try to deny it, of course, but don’t listen to her.