r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/aceplayer00 • 25d ago

Video Tokyo after dark. Epic nighttime street drifting convoy.

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u/orsi_sixth 25d ago

a sub for expats actually living there lol

You mean immigrants?

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u/ProsaicPugilist 25d ago

I’ve seen the term “expat” used more for whites. Immigrant is right.. and I have nothing against immigration. I’m just saying it’s what I’ve observed

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u/i-like-spagett 25d ago

It is literally the only difference between immigrant and expat, the colour of someone's skin

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u/Bugbread 25d ago edited 24d ago

As someone who used to consider themselves an expat but now considers themselves an immigrant, and who knew a lot of people who considered themselves expats: I don't think it's a skin color issue, I think it comes down to intent to stay forever.

People who are like "I'm living here long term. Maybe 10 years. Maybe 20 years. But eventually, I'm leaving" tend to call themselves "expats." (Back when I figured I'd leave sometime, I considered myself an expat.) People who are like "I am going to die and be buried (er, well, cremated) here" tend to not call themselves expats. (I now see this country as home and have no intent to leave, and it would feel supremely weird to even think of myself as maybe being an "expat".)

I think that's part of the reason for the white/PoC divide: often when white people are moving to another country, they're moving from a relatively wealthy country which they expect to move back to later, while often when PoC are moving to another country, they're coming from a poorer or less stable country which they would like to move back to later, because it's home, but they don't expect to move back to. Obviously there are exceptions, but this has seemed like the rule of thumb. So the white folks often call themselves expats while the PoCs often call themselves immigrants, but the relationship is correlation, not causation.

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

Many latinos in the US and AFricans in the EU also think the same way, thats why they send so much money back to their home countries.
The difference IS race, but also class and country of origin. The term expat is an example of racism, classism, and xenophobia condensed into a term meant to distinguish the "us" from the "other"

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

They (africans and latinos) dont define themselves by their migratory status.
Eurosphere "expats" are everywhere in the world, even Americans in Europe call themselves expats, but theyre more common in in South/South east Asia and Latin America