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 Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:58 pm
So far I've gotten three different types of responses from Japanese people when I'm walking around Japan.
One is more common among older people, and though they never say anything, you can tell by the way they're looking at you they're thinking "OMG gaijin, wtf are you doing here? Go back to your own country." Needless to say, it makes me feel very unwelcome.
Another experience I've had is a college-age guy saying to his friend upon seeing me, very loudly, "Gaijin?!" It's the, "hey it's a gaijin, let's talk about how stupid they are because you know they can't understand Japanese" response. Really annoying when I have to sit next to these people in the cafeteria.
And the other is more obvious in children, because they haven't learned not to stare yet. I was walking down the street to the grocery store and a little kid was staring at me. I heard him whisper "gaikokujin" to his friends in an awed tone, and it was so cute was I just grinning for the next couple minutes.
I gotta give props to the store clerks, though, because they can manage to deal with me without a single mannerism or word of awe or disgust. They still probably laugh at me once I'm gone though, considering that while I can understand spoken Japanese pretty well, I am completely unable to speak it, and when ordering food I'm reduced to going "kore, kore" and pointing.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:42 am
Hehe, our next door neighbour's little son thought I was an alien, I think. He's probably around five, and when I said konnichiwa to him he stopped dead for a moment, then ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him. "What's this human shaped thing with blonde hair that's saying hi to me?!?!?!"
It's fun living in a neighbourhood full of small children, though - a group of them have befriended the local gaijin, and have great fun with the popularity they get for being in on my name and having spoken and played with me and such. Much more fun than all the older people who stare at me.
Older people tend to want to have conversations with me, though. Little grannies at bus stops and such.
Clerks tend to panic a bit around me, though. I said "sumimasen" to one in the local book store (which I go to relatively frequently) today, and she jumped. Once she realized that I speak some Japanese she helped me, though. (Except they were sold out of Death Note!)
It is quite humorous to see the different reactions from people, particularly in less populous areas where foreigners are not so common as in Tokyo or such places. I find myself staring at other foreigners occasionally now, though. It will be strange to get back to the United States and to see blonds on a regular basis again....
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:58 pm
Sadly I've never experienced the foreigner life... Unless you count the time I was mixed in with my international friends they were all speaking their native dialect and I was the only English speaker. I really want to experience life where I'm not a minority. I want to stand out.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:49 pm
This past June, my sensei, a couple of my friends, and I were in Japan and part of the trip was in Sado-Shima, off the coast of Niigata. Apparently they hardly ever get foreigners and the only one there was a black man who had lived there for 16 years (I love you Marcus!). While we were at the inns we ate communal dinners and the old men who sat down the table from us would be talking about us loudly. They were discussing whether or not we were Canadian and were making fun of how we were eating our food (which was completely normal, other than a slight balking at the INCREDIBLY traditional food). Apparently they didn't think we could speak japanese. When we said gochisousamadeshita, they looked like they had almost crapped themselves.
Similarly, my friends and I were often "attacked" by female store clerks who were obsessed with my friend's hair. She had her hair braided for the trip (she's black) and they couldn't figure out how it had been done. When we had trouble telling them that the ends had been burned they started making fun of us in japanese... so we threw a few slang insults back at them. After a moment of shock they started laughing and we had to go.
While it was kind of rude, it was interesting at the same time, though I'm sure it would have gotten old if we had stayed longer.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:00 pm
PannikuPanda This past June, my sensei, a couple of my friends, and I were in Japan and part of the trip was in Sado-Shima, off the coast of Niigata. Apparently they hardly ever get foreigners and the only one there was a black man who had lived there for 16 years (I love you Marcus!). While we were at the inns we ate communal dinners and the old men who sat down the table from us would be talking about us loudly. They were discussing whether or not we were Canadian and were making fun of how we were eating our food (which was completely normal, other than a slight balking at the INCREDIBLY traditional food). Apparently they didn't think we could speak japanese. When we said gochisousamadeshita, they looked like they had almost crapped themselves. Similarly, my friends and I were often "attacked" by female store clerks who were obsessed with my friend's hair. She had her hair braided for the trip (she's black) and they couldn't figure out how it had been done. When we had trouble telling them that the ends had been burned they started making fun of us in japanese... so we threw a few slang insults back at them. After a moment of shock they started laughing and we had to go. While it was kind of rude, it was interesting at the same time, though I'm sure it would have gotten old if we had stayed longer. Lol ha ha that's funny. Natives always get surprised when foreigners can speak their language. That happened to neighbour of mine. He was on a bus when these two Portuguese ladies where bad mouthing Australia and so on. So my neighbour got up and started abusing them in Portuguese. They were pretty surprised by that.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:55 pm
awwww you guys are making me so nervous. My worse fear in when i finally go to Japan is to be called an outsider. Especially to have people make fun of my in japanese right in front of my face. ;-; I'm scared.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:34 pm
Sexxiedanka02 awwww you guys are making me so nervous. My worse fear in when i finally go to Japan is to be called an outsider. Especially to have people make fun of my in japanese right in front of my face. ;-; I'm scared. Aww don't be. It might be as bad as you're imagining. Keep you wits about you, but I'm sure there are plenty of Japanese who actually want to know foreigners. I've met a few people from Japan (mainly over the internet) who seriously are interested in people from the western world and all over the place. Aiko-chan made a thread about the different areas/suburbs of Tokyo and give a description of them. They're actually pretty helpful I think.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:42 pm
Haha...the same thing happen to me when I first came to US. My classmates just stared at me because I look different. They mumbled something about asian... stare But, we were little back then...
I never experienced being a foreigner in Japan, but that's because we look the same xd
They actually thought I was Japanese! xp
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:30 am
Daisy Mai - 128K Sexxiedanka02 awwww you guys are making me so nervous. My worse fear in when i finally go to Japan is to be called an outsider. Especially to have people make fun of my in japanese right in front of my face. ;-; I'm scared. Aww don't be. It might be as bad as you're imagining. Keep you wits about you, but I'm sure there are plenty of Japanese who actually want to know foreigners. I've met a few people from Japan (mainly over the internet) who seriously are interested in people from the western world and all over the place. Aiko-chan made a thread about the different areas/suburbs of Tokyo and give a description of them. They're actually pretty helpful I think. XD Yeah I guess your right. I guess its the same thing everywhere, where some people are accepting and other arent. I'll just make friends with the ones who are ^_^
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 8:14 pm
Muku_Muku It's fun living in a neighbourhood full of small children, though - a group of them have befriended the local gaijin, and have great fun with the popularity they get for being in on my name and having spoken and played with me and such. Yeah, my dorm's near an elementary school so there's little kids everywhere. Some of the little boys say "hello" to me (in English) whenever they see me. It's really cute.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:03 pm
I can't say much for Japan, but when I was in China people would swarm around me sweatdrop The people there were really nice. They would go out of their way to make sure I was ok, and would even help me find my way around. I only met one other foreigner there, he was from Texas xd I can't wait to go to Japan. I know they definatly won't be as nice but I want to go anyways 3nodding
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:25 am
SuperTurkey I can't say much for Japan, but when I was in China people would swarm around me sweatdrop The people there were really nice. They would go out of their way to make sure I was ok, and would even help me find my way around. I only met one other foreigner there, he was from Texas xd I can't wait to go to Japan. I know they definatly won't be as nice but I want to go anyways 3nodding so i guess the chinese LIKE foreigners ninja xd ;;?? i wanna go there too someday, 'n it's nice to kno i won't have to prepare myself TOO MUCH for abuse lol Japan tho- they're all very proud of their japaneseness so i kno they won't like me when i'm there cry but i love their culture so much gonk crying so they can shove it stressed blaugh rofl ^_^ besides, i have dark hair and dark almond shaped eyes so maybe they'll pass me off as a hafu-jin. n i'll be sure to protect my dignity against their intolerance with my awesome reverse sykalogy SUPER-tolerance this post makes no sense but that's okay. never been a foriegner, wondering/worrying what it's gonna be like *rambles*
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:25 pm
SuperTurkey I can't say much for Japan, but when I was in China people would swarm around me sweatdrop The people there were really nice. They would go out of their way to make sure I was ok, and would even help me find my way around. I only met one other foreigner there, he was from Texas xd I can't wait to go to Japan. I know they definatly won't be as nice but I want to go anyways 3nodding My friend says that when her mom went to China, people were sort of rude and solitary. Like someone would push you if they were in a hurry and think nothing of it at all. Maybe it's a different part of China, or who knows what else.
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 4:15 pm
V2Larissa Haha...the same thing happen to me when I first came to US. My classmates just stared at me because I look different. They mumbled something about asian... stare But, we were little back then... I never experienced being a foreigner in Japan, but that's because we look the same xd They actually thought I was Japanese! xp it was so sad when me and my friends were in tokyo, we got so lost, we had to find another foreigner to help us around xd
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:59 am
che_hyun SuperTurkey I can't say much for Japan, but when I was in China people would swarm around me sweatdrop The people there were really nice. They would go out of their way to make sure I was ok, and would even help me find my way around. I only met one other foreigner there, he was from Texas xd I can't wait to go to Japan. I know they definatly won't be as nice but I want to go anyways 3nodding My friend says that when her mom went to China, people were sort of rude and solitary. Like someone would push you if they were in a hurry and think nothing of it at all. Maybe it's a different part of China, or who knows what else. that's wierd, I guess she must of. Then again I went to mainly tourist destinations so... sweatdrop
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