Is it safe for a 20's Japanese woman to live in a house by herself in Queensland?

My half-sister (who lives in Hong Kong now) was really looking forward to moving to a small suburb north of Brisbane to take her master's degree, but then 4 different people who are all quite well traveled warned us that older Australians can be racist. I'm worried because even though my sis has a caucasian last name and an American accent like me, she looks really Asian. Am I just being paranoid? I never even thought there was a problem until these people told me this stuff and I started looking it up on the internet. Honest opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Racism is in all countries I have visited in the older population.

As for living & studying in Queensland I have not heard of any Issues as Uni Students tend to group together anyway socially.

Her appearance & accent wont be a problem

Brisbane, Queensland is as safe as any place I've been to in the USA. It's a beautiful city and I'd love to go back again.

Australia has a large Asian community, particularly Sydney.

If older Australians "can be racist", that's their problem, not yours or your sister's. They are probably no more racist than other people in other countries. It may stem from a concept that Asians are coming into their country and taking jobs from Australians. (I don't know this for a fact, I'm just guessing).

I would encourage your sister to go to Brisbane, she should take advantage of the opportunity to travel, see another city, country and experience another culture. Racists are not worth wasting time worrying about. They exist everywhere and life is too short to worry over narrow-minded people.

People are the same, the world-over. Most are good people; Some are bad. I've been to Australia several times. I think, in, and around the big cities, It's probably about like Dallas, for instance, but there's always that 2 % !!!

I think you are worrying too much and you should find you are quite safe living here on your own. The younger generation do get out of control with their drinking and drugs on Friday and Saturday nights at the hotels, but the police are now coming down hard on them. So come on over and we do have security screens doors on alot of homes so you can see who is at the door before unlocking it.

Don't listen to them. Brisbane is one of the most muliticultural cities in all of Australia. Most of the North Brissie suburbs are pretty nice and shouldn't be a problem for your sister. Your sister won't be dealing with older australians all the time because if she's at school that won't happen. The people here are good and thats the truth. Brisbane is one of the best place to live, work and study.

How long is a piece of string?

Generally it would be safe but there are no guarantees in life.

I find older Australians (60+) to be racist. Maybe not blatantly, but if you scratch below the surface, it is there. There are racists all over the world, so should be taken in context.

However, they are not likely to start attacking your sister or calling her names. As I said, mostly it is ingrained and not blatant. Your sister will spend most of her time with uni friends anyway, so may not even meet many older Australian people socially.......... (maybe should should keep out of RSL clubs, some of the old buggers there are still bitter about the war)

It is just how they were brought up in their generation, so should not be taken personally.

Also there are literally thousands of Japanese people in Queensland, so she should be all right.

If she were travelling to a remote outback town, then yes I would be wary. As a white Australian I have suffered from racist remarks from red-neck old school racist Australians before (because I don鈥檛 speak with a traditional Aussie twang) but I just ignore these parochial twits.

.

There are some racist people in Australia, just like there is in any country, but Australia is such a multi-cultural country so you wont find many racist people here.

Decent Aussies love the Japanese because they're so nice!! If they have an american accent we love them even more! But you do get racist people in places where it's not so multicultural like country towns. Brisbane should be fine, there are a lot of asians there. If she speaks english, she is one up on the other asians. Just make sure she doesn't let herself be vulnerable.