You know, I always heard about that kind of stuff in FFXI but I have never had first hand experience with it myself. Of course, you can't ever really know for sure if someone looks over you in favor of a Japanese player, but I've never been overtly dropped from a group for not being Japanese.

I've been in some really killer parties with Japanese players, which may be the reason why I seem to think of them as being generally put together. The really great parties stick out in your head, and you don't necessarily remember the mediocre ones. And plus, with the language barrier, you can't really tell when someone is saying completely idiotic things.