Japanese Musings

Nothing much interesting happened today, apart from Rushen, Binks and played a little pool in the evening, something I haven't done for a while. I lost of course. Instead I thought I'd write a little about my impressions on Japan.

It is always said that the Japanese are xenophobic; in fact it is a Japanese stereotype. I was braced for this before arriving since every guide book and etiquette manual makes mention of the staring and comments that every foreigner will receive, not to mention the pointing and downright rudeness. Whilst this is true to a certain extent, it certainly isn't as derisive as I had been expecting. They're more of a curious people, with foreign-looking people more of a rarity in this part of the world. I think we often take our multi-cultural western world for granted and it's not until you get here do you realise how different it is.

Japan in recent years has come to embrace western society - a loss, in my opinion - which now influences everything from music to their poorly written slogans and shop titles (take "Cafe Nostalgic Baby Face Planet's" for instance). Even models in hairdresser windows and on magazine front pages are of western origin. Thus it is not surprising that in a world of Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc. a westener will turn heads.

Having been here almost three months now, I have never truly encountered a single case of racism. There have been occasions when sitting on a train, a person will move down the carriage and squash themselves into a packed row rather than sitting in an empty space next to a foreigner, however these are isolated incidents. I have found, and I think the others will agree, that the Japanese have been highly accepting and willing to help us. The number of parties we've been invited to (admiteddly due to our ethinicity) is vast, all containing free food and drink, and there are vast swarms of people queueing up to get to know us and be our friends. Rushen and Katherine were the victims of one attack with two girls coming and sitting with them in the canteen and shouting "Friend? Friend?". Brendan has himself been swarmed by girls eager to swap phone numbers, after which his evening is spent receiving poorly worded emails asking for his "continued assistance". Even when Flick and I met Yoko about a job she was more concerned about us being her friends than whether we wanted to work for her.

Overall, I think the Japanese people are misunderstood and undersold. Maybe this isn't other people's experience, but mine has been one of acceptance and friendship. I think, however, that the Japanese are extremely proud of their vast history and language, especially the older generations, but I think they know that we will never truly understand them. Perhaps that is how they would prefer it?