How welcome are Americans seeking to move to Japan?

While I was in the military I heard of those stories, what you're saying does have merit. Unfortunately there are a lot of douchebags that ruin the reputation of many good people. Its important that I point out that raping women and beating up people isn't the reason they go over there. People get paid a lot to move to Japan. The cost of living and work style they need to be accustomed to is often more than they can handle, those guys are highly stressed being away from their family's for the first time, many don't know how to be responsible with the money they make and end up spending most of it in bars where they can relieve some stress, try to get laid or find a gf and that's where I imagine the disconnect lies, prejudice and misunderstanding leading to conflicts. Many are forced into being based there without an option to live closer to home. I personally share a disdain for many of the people who call themselves Americans but there are those of us including myself who were raised in a more respectful manner. I literally have honor and virtue tattooed on my chest because its in my nature to live up to those intrinsic values. This is turning more personal that I intended the discussion to get though lol thanks for sharing @Neet

@jm89, Unfortunately that happens, and no matter how rare is still inexcusable. But all it takes is a few individuals to completely screw things up for everyone else. What helped me get on well overseas, other than trying to learn the language (even the attempt is seen favorably), practicing the local customs and avoiding GI places. Even in Korea I would be mistaken as either not American or not military.

@Nikita I wasn't attempting to defend their behavior nor should it be tolerable. "Americans are known for being loud obnoxious disrespectful douchbags, and doesn't help much when American soldiers head over there to randomly beat people up and rape women." Americans shouldn't be classified as a group of people who are known for raping and and beating up people especially when that statement doesn't represent a full truth. The same goes for being 'loud, obnoxious, disrespectful douchebags". I agree with it being unacceptable, nobody should be presented with the need to tolerate such behavior. It equally isn't fair to describe one group of people by the actions of a few. Moving forward towards your advice, that's great insight. I'm sure those practices would help a lot but not being mistaken as an American is surprising just from learning the language and attempting to assimilate into the culture.

It depends really, a lot of Japanese have conflicting mindsets about non-Asian foreigners though... Like, a LOT of Japanese romanticize about foreigners in their foreign country, like French people in France(stereotypical scene of a fancy cafe or mansion and supermodels everywhere). Yet, there are also people who even if they love the idea of beautiful foreigners, they turn out to dislike "real" foreigners, or foreigners who are "invading" their space like loud tourists. It's usually more because of how obnoxious and inconsiderate some tourists and internet-foreigners can be. Then you have Chinese and Korean foreigners... who to some Japanese can be considered either better or worse than white people. I think the racism against Chinese and Korean is a lot stronger than against non-Asian people, because there's more involvement in history and more immigrants from China/Korea(which most racists use as scapegoats for problems like economy and crime). ---- Think of it as how Americans think of Brazilians... A lot of people fantasize about their stereotype of things like big boobs/butt and partying, but you also have a lot(not as much) of people irritated about them because of their society being less modest and more outspoken which can come off as obnoxious compared to American "stranger" etiquette.

Also if you are there, keep in mind that a LOT of Japanese people who may hate Americans will pretend that they don't, to be modest... So it's good to be wary about how you act around them even if they act like they're happy. Passive Aggressiveness is like normal behavior there, sadly. Good intentions, but hurtful results. I generally found Okinawan people more accepting of both Asian and non-Asian foreigners. I think Okinawans are more accepting of Chinese because the traditional culture is more related to China than mainland Japanese culture is to China, or maybe because they both are somewhat a minority/historically oppressed compared to mainland Japan. Or they're just used to having lots of Chinese/Taiwanese tourists. I think that's probably also the case with Americans, because a lot of Americans visit or even live in Okinawa(mostly from air base, which is how my dad met my mom). I think it can also be from how much more multi-cultural and open-minded Okinawa in general is. Like there is cuisine inspired from China, Korea, and American too. Taco rice is popular and popularized by the American military personnel and tourists. It's just not as patriotic to the whole "We are Japan #1" as mainland, and most of us consider Okinawa like its' own country sort of(it used to be...).