'Bamboo ceiling' hampering Asians in Australia

So its like Japan then. Major investors get the major jobs.

As an Asian living in Australia let me say that this bamboo ceiling is real though honestly it's not really that troubling for us and life for us Asians here I must say is pretty good. However in all of the jobs I've been there's always been a group of highly qualified, highly educated Asians (usually Chinese from Singapore or Malaysia) who've been with the companies for years but never receive any upward mobility even when seeking it. I had a Chinese friend who worked as an analytical technician for five years with additional tasks as assistant supervisor to make sure the rest of us weren't making mistakes. Any new managerial or supervisory jobs were always handed over to people of European descent sometimes from other departments as "people persons" with no technical knowledge of work being done whatsoever. In another place (both jobs were with the science sector) all the more experienced Asian workers (in fact all the Asians including myself had university degrees for a science but only some of the Caucasians had degrees at all) were all turned down when applying for supervisory jobs even though they had worked in the department for years in favor of again Caucasian people sometimes from other departments and in two occasions from another state. One Asian worker who tried actually even got laid off after 7 years of working for the organization. Admittedly though I'm not too offended by it. A lot of my Caucasian friends got the short end of the stick across this time period and some of this at least is probably just "ruthless business as usual". Also Asians themselves aren't really exoticised here certainly not on the same level Caucasians are exoticised in Japan, only our cuisines. There's enough of us here that are Australianized enough that the Caucasians don't really acknowledge our ancestry unless it's to crack a joke at our expense, learn about our culture or quite funnily enough seek culinary tips. Most of the time this technical racism is completely benign and completely too-way, we can make fun of whites as surely as they can make fun of us colored. So otherwise we're just like any other bloke or sheila on the street. :)

songwillem2011 well said! I am your average white Australian, and i agree with you completely...

Come to Japan. I think youll be doing a U turn right back to Ozzy land.

@5petals Indeed. Having lived in both the East and the West for roughly equal periods of my life I can safely I like both in equal in measure for different reasons; social, culinary, cultural, ethical etc. but right now I prefer my Australian home over my Asian one mostly for hygiene, health and economic reasons. Everything rots in the humidity and I have a skin condition set off by hot and humid weather. Indeed I would love to live in Japan for it's society and culture (Perth is incredibly isolated, just as expensive and taxed as Japan but with far less to offer) but definitely not to work. Not to mention I don't think I'll ever learn to read Japanese well :(. The economy is not good right now but I think Australia is about the only place in the world right now that an Asian (or anyone for that matter; I have a lot of friends from the UK in the same boat :)) can get a decent job that pays well and treats it's workers fairly. More or less. I still get racially harassed on trains or buses (similar events to that altercation with that woman in Newcastle happens here once every couple of months) and many of my bosses are rather brutal but nothing like what I've seen personally in the third world.

and yet the new South Australian Governor General Mr Hieu Van Le is an asian who came to Australia as a boat refugee in 1977. compared to 30-40 years ago Australia has accepted asian immigrants in vast numbers. now compare this to Japans "Bamboo ceiling" of foreign immigrants, the difference is huge.

now compare this to Japans "Bamboo ceiling" of foreign immigrants, the difference is huge.

More like steel door! Never mind going up, good luck getting in!

More like steel door! Never mind going up, good luck getting in!

Let's make the term more international, like 'the portcullis' of immigrants to Japan, and

the marginalizing roles of western employees in Japanese firms to just appear as foreign looking as 'the matinee' of western workers.

A first-generation Australian with Chinese and Lao roots rises to the position of national commissioner? Sounds like a land of opportunity to me.

Japan discriminates way more than Australia, or just about anywhere else.

Japan discriminates way more than Australia, or just about anywhere else.

The fact that foreigners who look like Yamato-Japanese (e.g. Koreans and Chinese) get crapped a lot more than jolly Westerner is damning to say the least.