Job Discussion Forums

[Apsara]

There are definitely "yakuza welcome" sento around.

[Beckyyy]

[Tiger Beer]

Do you guys even live in the same JAPAN that I do?

I have blond hair...I never get stared at here. Never.

I live in a small town in northern Japan...I've also been to Osaka/Tokyo many many many times...they don't even look at anybody, let alone stare. I don't even know how to get attention there. I'd have to dye my blond hair to a bright pink or green, and even then, I don't think I'd get any second looks.

There are also a number of Japanese people who color their hair lighter shades of brown to sometimes even blond. They don't get stared at either.

TATTOOS. Quite a few of my students have tattoos...guys AND girls. Actually I think I have seen more of my female students with tattoos than males. I also see plenty of nose rings, piercings, etc. One Japanese guy even wears a kilt occassionally to school.

I also lived in Korea for years. Japan has A LOT more tattoos and they are much more commonplace in Japan than Korea. Everything else is as well.

Anyways, I have a philosphy for people who attract a lot of stares. If you are new to Japan, and staring at everyone and everything and looking for xenophobia or people looking at you...then you are basically acting strange and weird and you're going to attract attention...and people are going to look at you...probably thinking you are lost or you look kind of paranoid or something.

[mhard1]

I don't think that looking different will really get a whole bunch of reaction here. In Japan, generally they reserve their emotions, so you might have no clue what they really think about your appearance.
This brings me to my next point though, which is that as foreigner, you will generally be excluded from the "Team Japan" as I like to call it. Both Korea, and Japan have a very strong sense of national pride, however the Koreans are much more outward in their display of feelings. So, while you might think that the xenophobia is higher in Korea, I believe that the level is the same, and just that the expression of it is more apparent in Korea than Japan.

[gaijinalways]

I guess it depends on your neighborhood tiger (or how good your peripheral vision is). I get the old "Gaijin da" in central Tokyo from time to time, and it's not necessarily from kids . I guess living in a metro area doesn't always dampen 'inaka' instincts .

At times it seems to extend nation wide, except to areas where they are more accustomed to seeing foreigners (perhaps near a military base). This even extends to Japanese traveling or living overseas, who often wil comment on the number of foreigners around, often forgetting they are the foreigners when outside of Japan !