Dodgy J-people

[chiquiliquis]

Okay, so I just strolled down the street to the grocery store. As I'm walking, I see a woman coming from the other direction. She sees me, and immediately moves to the other side of the street. I'm talking one lane road... so not too bad, I suppose. But all the way the other side of the street! Not a couple feet, but complete opposite side of the road! It wasn't even dark yet.

This happens to me A LOT here. I don't really get it. This certainly doesn't happen when I head into Tokyo (yes, I live in the Yamanashi "inaka" = countryside). I haven't yet noticed whether Japanese people do this with other Japaneses, but given the frequency, I'm pretty sure it's not just me (I hope)?

Actually, I'm so used to it, that I myself have adopted the habit. If there is at all a chance that I might be sharing the same side of the road with another person (and it's not at all crowded), I move clear to the other side of the road. Why do people do this?

Anyone else had experience with this... tell me it's not just me. ☝

 

[mad pierrot]

Not just you, me too.

I don't know why, either. Maybe it's time to change deodorant?

 

[chiquiliquis]

...Maybe it's time to change deodorant?

I had considered that... or maybe it was that I was really super ugly... like a dirty old man who had been beaten by an ugly stick and named chair of the Ugly Department at Ugly University, in Hollywood....

Maybe it's just a country thing...

 

[Ewok85]

I do it, for one its safety on a small single lane road and its just a normal reaction to avoiding confrontation.

 

[Buddha Smoker]

I think it goes back to olden Japanese times back in the 1200 to 1600 (maybe later or earlier)..just out of respect.

Also, I've met you and I was tempted to move to the other side of the street myself...LOL ...Just kidding.

 

[-Yu-]

Okay, so I just strolled down the street to the grocery store. As I'm walking, I see a woman coming from the other direction. She sees me, and immediately moves to the other side of the street. I'm talking one lane road... so not too bad, I suppose. But all the way the other side of the street! Not a couple feet, but complete opposite side of the road! It wasn't even dark yet.

This happens to me A LOT here. I don't really get it. This certainly doesn't happen when I head into Tokyo (yes, I live in the Yamanashi "inaka" = countryside). I haven't yet noticed whether Japanese people do this with other Japaneses, but given the frequency, I'm pretty sure it's not just me (I hope)?

Actually, I'm so used to it, that I myself have adopted the habit. If there is at all a chance that I might be sharing the same side of the road with another person (and it's not at all crowded), I move clear to the other side of the road. Why do people do this?

Anyone else had experience with this... tell me it's not just me. ☝

I think that originaly J-people tend to do a favor to others or respect others but in crowded city or somewhere you get really stressed, there is no room for caring for others so that's why you can see nasty things such as people pushing each other in order to just get into trains.

In country-side of Japan, you can see really friednly people, I think.
Perhaps what you have experienced comes from that, I guess.

BTW you are not ugly, don't worry about it!

 

[chiquiliquis]

Also, I've met you and I was tempted to move to the other side of the street myself...

Well... I guess that proves it! But it seems an odd, yet interesting way to show respect--in as much as it makes you feel a bit "avoided"... but I suppose Japanese people are comfortable with it... so, oh well...

...BTW you are not ugly, don't worry about it!

Thanks!!

Yeah... I had wondered if it had to do with people taking FULL advantage of the space the countryside has to offer--a luxury people just don't have in the city. And, of course, it always happens when we are pretty much the only people on the street. In my morning walks to work, when a fair amount of people are out and about, it never happens.

 

[Elizabeth]

I have heard of Japanese running away from foreigners in places they're not used to them being, just out of shyness or fear of the unknown. Although Yamanashi they should get plenty of tourism so it may not be in this case....

 

[chiquiliquis]

I have heard of Japanese running away from foreigners in places they're not used to them being, just out of shyness or fear of the unknown. Although Yamanashi they should get plenty of tourism so it may not be in this case....

Yeah... actually, I am one of very few foreigners in the area. But, of course, if they are people who know who I am, it doesn't seem to be the case so often. Like a good 70% of people know me by reputation (I either teach their children, or they know somebody who's children I teach). Or, rather, there are still a lot of people who greet me on the street, because they know I am a local Sensei...

... then there are the ones who "run away". Odd.

 

[Buddha Smoker]

Yeah... actually, I am one of very few foreigners in the area. But, of course, if they are people who know who I am, it doesn't seem to be the case so often. Like a good 70% of people know me by reputation (I either teach their children, or they know somebody who's children I teach). Or, rather, there are still a lot of people who greet me on the street, because they know I am a local Sensei...

... then there are the ones who "run away". Odd.

Nothing to do with you I think....just Japanese being polite and tradition.