The perception of racial discrimination against Asian people in public space. The case of Japanese people in Europe.

Since the breakout of COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2) in early 2020, our daily lives have been drastically altered. For example, people were not permitted to relocate to another location, and numerous stores, pubs, and restaurants, as well as administrative offices, were shuttered. Furthermore, several countries ‘sealed’ their borders and limited entry. The situation changed our lives but also deprived us of social and human interactions. This research work focuses on how COVID-19 caused social division and discrimination against Asian people because, at first, the virus spread from China, and many media outlets reported the pandemic situation in China and other Asian countries. Consequently, many people connected Asian people with the virus and developed unfavorable attitudes toward them. As illustrated in further detail in the next part of the introduction, the number of discrimination cases against Asian people has lately increased across the world. After the epidemic began, the author – a young Japanese woman studying in Europe – also faced racial discrimination in Austria and Germany. In Vienna, for example, a man yelled “Corona” at me in the street. The encounter made me feel sad, uncomfortable, and afraid, and it inspired me to learn more about racial discrimination against Asians in public space, concentrating on what and how Asians, particularly Japanese people, experienced it.