Quote:
Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery
Being treated like a tourist. That's my complaint for today. I fully well know that I'm a gaijin, and I am not trying to sound like an elitist, but it really bothers me that people just assume that I'm a tourist.
I was shopping at H&M today and had bought a few things. I responded to the question he asked me in Japanese (basically just confirming I got the right sizes), and then proceeded to take like 400 yen off of my purchase. I asked him what it was for, and he said it was a tourist discount. This made me rage, but I didn't take it out on him. I just told him I wasn't a tourist and had him remove the discount.
He took one look at me and because of my blonde hair and blue eyes assumed I don't belong here. I don't blame him, just this kind of societal problem.
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Most foreigners who shop at H&M in Tokyo are tourists.
If you were a tourist and he didn't give you the tourist discount he would have lost his job.
I am sorry, but this story sounds quite silly. You insisted he charge you more because you are a temporary resident, rather than a tourist? I would have taken the discount and ran.
This kind of self-righteousness is what gives gaijin a bad name in Japan. Oh, good for you! You made a fuss in an essentially homogeneous country to show you were an extreme minority in order to pay MORE money for a item because you have blue eyes. The foreigners who will now have to show their visas at H&M to get that discount now surely thank you.
When you have lived there 10 years and get this treatment at stores you regularly frequent, then this complaint is legit. But when you go to the Disneyland of retail fashion and complain about being mistaken for a tourist, I feel no sympathy.