Acceptance

Just wondering about the general level of 'acceptance' many foreigners living in Japan for a number of years feel. After a few years in Japan, I seem to have become almost transparent in my neighbourhood: no one seems to see me as foreign; kids don't bat an eye, elderly folks speak to me in Japanese, people ignore me pretty much as they do anyone else. Just wondering if this is a local phenomenon, of fairly wide spread.

hiltonjapan said:

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elderly folks speak to me in Japanese,

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In which language did they speak to you back then?

I read an autobiography by Prof. D. Keene, and he said he felt accepted when a woman asked him a direction she wanted to go somewhere in Tokyo.

What exactly is your neighborhood -- Tokyo or a remote fishing village?
Do you get the same treatment elsewhere in the country?

I always do my best to reply in Japanese, but I find it more interesting that they talk to me in Japanese in the first place. When I travel around Honshu, people seem to want to speak English (which, may be a friendly gesture as well).

This is in Sapporo, and I know Hokkaido is supposed to be pretty easy going compared to other areas of Japan. I've been living in the neighbourhood for a couple years, so maybe no one really cares I'm gaijin so much anymore.