How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You understand that Mr. Baynes, who as you know is arriving shortly in person, holds to the Nordic ideology regarding so-called Oriental culture. I could make the effort to dazzle him into a better comprehension with authentic works of Chinese scroll art or ceramics of our Tokugawa Period... but it is not our job to convert." (2.22)
Tagomi sometimes is a realist (see "Power" for another example); here, he simply notes that Baynes will think of the Japanese in that prejudiced manner that north Europeans do and that they'll have to do their work around that. It isn't their job to convince him not to be prejudiced. The irony here is that Tagomi doesn't know Baynes yet, so his assumption that Baynes is prejudiced is a little prejudiced itself.
Quote #2
And anyhow, the flights to Mars had distracted world attention from the difficulty in Africa. So it all came back to what he had told his fellow store owners; what the Nazis have which we lack is—nobility. Admire them for their love of work or their efficiency... but it's the dream that stirs one. Space flights first to the moon, then to Mars; if that isn't the oldest yearning of mankind, our finest hope for glory. Now, the Japanese on the other hand. I know them pretty well; I do business with them, after all, day in and day out. They are—let's face it—Orientals. Yellow people. We whites have to bow to them because they hold the power. But we watch Germany; we see what can be done where whites have conquered, and it's quite different. (2.59)
But to show that Tagomi isn't wrong, here's Childan comparing the Nordic Germans (exciting! admirable! only accidentally genocidal!) with the Japanese, who are just Orientals (which is apparently not so cool). Let's take a moment to note that prejudice can be positive or negative, as Childan thinks good things about all Germans (and whites) and bad things about all Japanese. Childan likes his categories and stereotypes. For instance…
Quote #3
He had dealt with so many Japanese... but he still had difficulty telling them apart. There were the short squat ones, built like wrestlers. Then the druggist-like ones. The tree-shrubflower-gardener ones... he had his categories. And the young ones, who were to him not like Japanese at all. Mr. Tagomi's client would probably be portly, a businessman, smoking a Philippine cigar. (2.79)
We didn't ask "who is the most racist character here?" because we think it's Childan. (But, hey, write a paper to prove us wrong.) At least at the beginning of the book, Childan tends to think of groups rather than individuals. He even says that himself, noting that "he had his categories" to help organize different people. But note that even Childan thinks that the young, post-war Japanese somehow fall into a different category.