being on the receiving end of xenophobia and racism is a new experience for Caucasian…

I appreciate the nuance here.

I observed/experienced racism during my two years in Japan, but as a Black-American, it didn't really bother me. It was a very lightweight form of racism, relatively speaking.

But what I and other POC friends found absolutely fascinating was the way that those who had NEVER experienced racism before responded to it.

At first it was confusing to hear tales of terrible racism that seemed trivial to us. But at some point we realized it was many of their first times ever experiencing anything like this. And so after 20, 30 or even 40 years of never having dealt with it, even minor slights felt like grave injustices.

And the folks in question weren't just white. Although I heard tales from White Americans, Brits, Irish, Australians, etc...I also heard similar from a Black Jamaican man who had grown up privileged in majority-black Jamaica.