Quote:
Originally Posted by Sangetsu
It seems that many people have a lot of misconceptions about Japan and Japanese culture. Regardless of who you are or where you are from, "The nail that stands out gets hammered down" philosophy is still pervasive here.
Personality has nothing to do with appearance, to believe otherwise is ignorant at best, or shallow at worst. The argument of "why should you care what I look like" runs both ways here. People in Japan take great pains to fit in. The cosplayers and such that westerners seem so enamored with are an exception, but on any day other than Sunday they'll be dressed like anyone else in Japan, either in a school uniform, work uniform, or a navy blue suit.
The first people Japanese tend to think about when they see someone who commits a wrong is that person's parents (I hear this almost every day). Most Japanese are very family oriented, with 2 or 3 (or 4) generations often living within the same house. You may see nothing wrong with wearing a ring in your eyebrow, but that's is how things are in your country and your culture. In Japan there is thought to be something wrong with it.
While in Japan you are a guest, and it's polite to be as respectful to your hosts as possible. It'll be obvious enough that you are a foreigner, and that you won't know too much, but you'll be respected more if you behave as much like a Japanese as possible. "When in Rome..." as they say.
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But they kind of expect strange things from gaijin, or else we wouldn't be so interesting to them.
I think ears are fine, eyebrow is iffy but not too bad. As long as you don't look like the girl in the photo you are OK. Tattoos are a whole different matter. Cover those if you have any.