Living in Japan is not easy

[MMM]

Originally Posted by stringperson

After living in Japan for over five years and being a slightly fat, large breasted whitey, i would say Japanese people are very racist, however they are just not at all rude about it. I have chosen to live in the country side in a number of differnet parts of Japan and i get looks, i get pointed at and have comments made behind my back (often about my size) however i have never found anyone to be rude or mean. Curious- yes, interested- yes.
I once went to the OBGYN (ladies doctor) for a check up and by the end of the day my Japanese boyfriend's family wanted to know if i was pregnant! The word got around town real fast. Another time the bank called to find out if i was ok as a new person moved into my address....they knew it by heart.
But i love it, perhaps being a celebrity everyday is fine with me....

Nothing you have described is racist. Overweight people are pointed at in every country in the world. The first day I moved into Japan there were no lighbulbs in my apartment. I found a electronics store and bought lightbulbs. That evening I went to a small family owned restaurant and the owner said "I heard you bought lightbulbs at the electronics store." Never in my wildest dreams would I have construed that as racism. Japan is made of small tight-knit communities, and read that as their way of telling me they were watching out for me. Americans value privacy much more than Japanese do. That's a cultural thing. Do you think you are the only person the bank calls or is talked about?

[x08]

Taiwan is very much the same.... As a foreigner, I get stared at all the time - but you get used to this after a while and it doesn't bother you. Younger, high school kids often get a kick out of saying "Hello" or "Hey, man!" and walking off giggling like little schoolgirls (even the boys). The one that gets to me is being called American all the time (No offense to the Americans here, but well... I'm not American)... Once at an acupuncturist's, a kid asked his father "Is he American?", pointing at me. His father replied that he thought so, but after a few moments, the kid replied again "Nah, he can't be... he doesn't have blonde hair."

Racism exists, and I have a few good examples of it, but I would say that it's mostly much like Japan. Curiousity and lack of information.

Communities are tight-knit here too, so I know everyone in my wife's 'community' though I don't even really know our nextdoor neighbours. Especially round my area, since we live in an older area of the city and there aren't many foreigners around here. 'GuanXi' is very important and can often play a big role when getting a job or haggling over prices at the market.

Getting used to cultures is different for everyone. I adapted fast and quite like living in Taiwan - but my mother stayed for a month and hated it. Different strokes for different folks.

[MMM]

This comes up again and again. I lived in Japan for over three years and go back and visit yearly. In that time only once did I see a sign like that, and it was on the door of a pink salon ("massage" parlor).

For an essentially homogenous society, in my experience the Japanese people I dealt with were very open and open-minded. I see a LOT more racism in the US than I ever experienced in Japan.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by JapanMan2

I am sure that is true MMM, glad to have a point of view from a person who has lived there.

On the subject of Racism, I have heard of there being racism twoards Korea people that live there, have you ever witnessed it or heard about that. I just heard about it on other Japanese forums

There is a long history of tension (and war) between Koreans and Japanese and I think that exists still, especially among older generations. Now there are many Korean singers and actors that are massively popular in Japan, so for the younger generations I don't think that is so true anymore.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by JapanMan2

That is good, I think Japan need to make more of an effort to make peace with the other Asian countries.

What did you do while you were there? Were the Japanese people interested in you? I believe I have been told Japanese take great interest in the foreigners visiting their Country

I wouldn't call it a "great interest" but many people did like the chance to talk to a non-Japanese. I was am assistant high school teacher on the JET Program

[MMM]

Originally Posted by JapanMan2

That is cool, were your students good? were they interested in American culture? Did they have any miscncertions about America? I think Americans a have many misconceptions about the Japanese

No. No. (It was in a pretty industrial area.) Not as bad as some of the other teachers.

This site shows there are some misconceptions about Japan, but at least people are interested.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by JapanMan2

Did you get many girls coming on to you because you were a gaijin?

There were plenty of clubs that were basically meat markets for foreign guys to meet Japanese girls, so there is some of that.

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by MMM

There were plenty of clubs that were basically meat markets for foreign guys to meet Japanese girls, so there is some of that.

Not out in the countryside where I was... heck, there were hardly enough foreigners to fill 1 table at a restaurant if nearly every foreigner within 20 minutes train ride came to a party, much less an entire bar.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by samurai007

Not out in the countryside where I was... heck, there were hardly enough foreigners to fill 1 table at a restaurant if nearly every foreigner within 20 minutes train ride came to a party, much less an entire bar.

Oh yeah... In Osaka and Kobe there were a bunch of bars like "Isn't It" and "Sam and Dave's" and "Pig and Whistle" that catered to foreigners. It was fun when I was in my early 20s, but I don't know if I would enjoy those places now...especially on the weekends.

[Nathan]

I avoided those kinds of places in general during my stay. I like smaller pubs personally, I've never been one for huge parties.

I just managed to find the small outings that used a mix of Japanese and English. Japanese usually ended up dominating the night as more beers came, which was good for my own studying purposes.

Edit: Reference to MMM's post on Osaka gaijin bars

Edit2: JapanMan2 -> Don't expect them to fall all over you Charisma-man style, if that's what you're getting at.