LogFAQs > #980167617

LtZim posted...

I went to Japan and while I was visiting the zoo I got adopted by an entire highschool baseball team and their teacher too. They were so excited to see a white guy and hang out and everyone wanted pictures and to try asking me questions. Ended up just walking around the zoo with them as if I was just another chaperone. Yes they were like the nicest most polite high schoolers you'd ever met. But it was like that everywhere, you visit Japan as gaijin and you're a celebrity to a lot of people just for existing in their country. I expect that will start to change as tourism ramps up

Depends on where you live and what you look like, really. Certain. Types are favored above other foreigners.

Ive definitely been the center of attention though. Got compared to celebrities I look nothing like, asked if I knew famous people, asked about guns, etc.

One of the nicer experiences was when I lived in a small town. It was right before Golden Week, and this old man was just standing around outside the supermarket. He stops me, asks to talk, asks some pretty mundane questions (in English, mind you, which is super rare, especially for his age), thanked me, and walked off. It was nice and genuine.

Sometimes I actually feel uncomfortable sticking out here, cause people do treat you differently, and sometimes even put huge expectations on you to be good foreign.

One bad example was this woman who kept comparing me to other foreigners. I was the good one and all the others were bad. I told her that this type of thinking hurts me too, and keeps me from major purchases, renting things, and other normal things which Japanese never have to worry about. She said it is fair, because those things need to be that way thanks to bad foreigners. It was bizarre and felt gross. Kind of like an old racist grandpa who has that one black friend.