Seal > Gaijin

So there’s this seal. In Japan. No, not that kind of seal — the kind that goes ‘orf orf’ and bounces a ball on its nose.

Anyway, its name is Tama-chan, apparently since it first popped up in the Tama river in Yokohama. The seal is a national icon. Where it is at any given moment is tracked in actual™ newspapers.

All of this serves as introduction to this stunning fact: Yokohama has granted this seal residency. For a foreigner to get residency in Japan, they need to jump through a variety of hoops, not the least of which is having lived in Japan at least 10 years. The outrage was immediate and immediately ignored.

Which leaves us with the question: Do the Japanese value lost seals more than taxpaying foreigners?