Gaijin Greets

[Glenski]

Why did you find it necessary to respond to a 5-year-old thread?

You are the one who is arrogantly racist. Not all Americans or Brits are white, and you canNOT tell their nationality on sight. No way. Do they have their country flags tattooed on their foreheads?

Oh, and no, Japanese do not always recognize who other Asians are by their nationality. It's just not that easy. I'd direct you to a web site that gives a test of such recognition, but I'm sure you wouldn't admit to failing it.

 

[uruwa]

It's a sticky. How's that wrong?

And no Japanese would ever admit he couldn't do what you claim, which is basically tantamount to saying Asians all look alike. As for that test you're so proud of, it better not be alllooksame.com. I can't pass it, but I'm none of the races featured there. Give me one that features Filipinos, and if I can't pass it I'll gladly admit I'm wrong.

As it stand, it seems to me it's you who can't admit you're a racist.

 

[Mike Cash]

Are you here for any other purpose than to proclaim your superiority over the rest of us?

Do you ever intend to answer my question about which Japanese university you attended on scholarship? I'm going to keep asking it.

 

[Glenski]

uruwa,
This is a thread with a poll, which was then made into a sticky. Plus, it began in 2005, and the last message before yours was in 2007, so why dredge it up after so many [years[/u]?

As for "no Japanese would ever admit he couldn't do what you claim", you don't know what you are talking about. Have seen it happen plenty of times here.

FWIW,
My wife says she can discern fairly confidently (but not with 100% certainty) Koreans from Japanese. Chinese are harder for her, but sometimes possible. Otherwise, she said she can easily detect a Filipino face as being different from those other nationalities, but she couldn't say at all which country it is from. This is normal. It is not racist.

As for the majority of Americans, they live in a multicultural and multiethnic world surrounded only by Canada (same MC and ME world) and Mexico, and only about 20% of Americans go abroad, so they have very little exposure to foreign nationalities to the point of being able to tell them apart. It's not racist. It is normal.

 

[jonway]

I will usually say hi to the person I sit next to everytime I board a bus, plane, etc where there is a long journey.
I think thats courtesy.

 

[zoomingjapan]

I rarely meet other foreigners because I live in the boonies.
I don't understand why I should greet people I don't even know - especially not in big cities.
In the countryside it's quite common to just say hello to almost everybody you come across, also when going hiking, so I just greet anybody I meet then no matter if it's a Japanese person or a foreign person.

In a really big city, e.g. the shopping arcades of Osaka, I don't see the point.
I also find it strange when random Japanese people shout a hello from behind me or so .... usually I don't react to that.
First of all, they shout from behind my back, so how should I know they mean me.
Then also, English is not my native language and we are in Japan, so why should I greet them back in English? Usually - if I answer at all - I greet them in Japanese.

Sorry, got a little OT, I guess.

 

[jonway]

I remember when I first when to California, US.
As I was walking to the lobby, someone just greeted me good morning. That person is not a staff, but a normal hotel guest just like myself.

I wasnt prepared to reply at all.

 

[ewww]

I wasnt prepared to reply at all.

Ha-ha-ha ... I do remember that too. I think that is disappearing thing, at least in the area where I am leaving, it was common about 10 years ago, and it is mostly gone now, but You still can catch it if You will go further to west.

 

[SamHuntington]

I think that would be aweful if you have these kind of problems. Fortunately for people who are or look mostly like oriental people we don't stick out of the crowd much in Japan and have the option to blend in.

 

[JapaneseRuleof7]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really understand this tendency to divide Japan into "Japanese" and "gaijin." I've lived here for a long time, and yeah sure, I get that I'm white, but beyond that, so what? Should I greet someone else just because they're white? What about black? Okay, how about Asian?
You know what I'm saying? Like, I work in a Japanese environment, and my personal life is spent with Japanese people, speaking Japanese. That doesn't make me "Japanese," but I'm not sure who I have more in common with, the people I hang out with every day, or some dude from France or Canada who just happens to be white.
I certainly don't assume that somebody's a "gaijin" from their skin color. At this point, I've met enough people who were Japanese, but didn't look Japanese, and vice-versa. I mean, sure, if you look like Bruce Springsteen and you're wheeling a suitcase and wearing a "Born in the U.S.A." t-shirt, then you're a probably not from Japan, but other than that, I don't know how much you can really know about a person just by looking at them.
On my next trip overseas, I think what I'm gonna do is wait until I see someone who looks Japanese, then run up to them and say, Konnichiwa, dude! I'm from Japan too! I'm sure that'll be a hit.

 

[misternada]

I met a few people because we were the only foreigners around, such as on a train or a food court or at a school event.
It's part of the positive experience one can have when living in japan in my opinion.

Now there are more foreigners, times are changing.

 

[Lothor]

Also the millennials seemed quite disturbed to me.

Interesting comment. Not disagreeing or agreeing, but can you say more on this?

It's now rare to see a foreigner where I live in the suburbs of Tokyo - most of the students in the nearby dorm have gone home - and I felt really pleased to see a western woman in the local supermarket. I definitely think that greeting depends on rarity.

 

[misternada]

Interesting comment. Not disagreeing or agreeing, but can you say more on this?

Sorry, I've actually edited my post because I did not want to antagonize anybody.
Spent a long time in Japan and it just seem the mentalities have changed and not for the better.

 

[misternada]

That comment was based on a experience I had recently at the airport, I was happily waiting in line, just one guy in front of me when a old Japanese guy working for the airport come to tap me on the shoulder "Go, go" indicating a empty line, I could not care less to wait but nevertheless complied just so he would shut up, just start to line up there and on the line to my right there was a gaijin couple, the guy came to me and told something like "You just took my place ...", I just told him I was told to line up her by the old guy and to take it easy. He went back to line up with his gaijin girlfriend and it took less time for the two of them to pass the control, maybe because I am resident I guess there were just tourists, while the officer was checking my documents the gaijin guy come on the other side boasting saying things like "Hey, you stole my place but I am here before you", just ignore him and hope that he would be gone when I get on the other side because he seemed to be real nutcase to me, although his appearance look quite normal. I have the impression people like that are becoming the norm in the Western therefore my comment.

 

[Lothor]

That comment was based on a experience I had recently at the airport, I was happily waiting in line, just one guy in front of me when a old Japanese guy working for the airport come to tap me on the shoulder "Go, go" indicating a empty line, I could not care less to wait but nevertheless complied just so he would shut up, just start to line up there and on the line to my right there was a gaijin couple, the guy came to me and told something like "You just took my place ...", I just told him I was told to line up her by the old guy and to take it easy. He went back to line up with his gaijin girlfriend and it took less time for the two of them to pass the control, maybe because I am resident I guess there were just tourists, while the officer was checking my documents the gaijin guy come on the other side boasting saying things like "Hey, you stole my place but I am here before you", just ignore him and hope that he would be gone when I get on the other side because he seemed to be real nutcase to me, although his appearance look quite normal. I have the impression people like that are becoming the norm in the Western therefore my comment.

Annoying but not worth generalising to millenials in general - bad experiences linger in the mind but neutral experiences don't. I'm sure you encountered many millenials in Japan that didn't behave obnoxiously.