[Trevor-C]

After living in Japan for two years, I've found that 'gaijin,' or foreigners, are treated differently than Japanese people. We're looked at, talked to and watched differently than Japanese people. I would like to know if people of other races who live in North America feel this same pressure or sense of 'difference.'
Original Code G25. Click here to see responses from the original archives. Click "to respond" below to reply.

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Name : Trevor-C, Gender : M, Age : 17, City : Kobe, State : NA Country : Japan, 

[Greg D.]

I am a U.S. citizen who has lived in Japan for a total of five years over the course of the past 10, and I have lived here through a part of my life that could be considered my 'growing-up' years (18-25). So it was very important for me to fit into Japanese society when I was in high school here in 1991. I remember the way I was always looked up to and idealized, but simultaneously totally isolated from my classmates. It was like they imagined I went home to my little American planet every night and did stereotypical American boy things (which the Japanese typically imagine to be speaking English, playing football, eating lots of beef and bread, and so on). I remember this annoyed me incredibly, because here I was trying so hard to assimilate into their world and make real friends, and they were so blind to my real self and my real personality. Japan is not unique in this situation. I agree with Masaki (Original Archives) that it differs from country to country, and there are all sorts of factors at play (like he said, the 'developing country' syndrome is another good example of 'looking up' to people from other countries. In this sense, ironically I have felt on most equal footing with my Japanese friends when I have traveled with them in places like India and Vietnam, where we both were treated like rich spacemen (which is no more pleasant than being a gaijin, but for once my Japanese friends knew how it felt). I urge everyone to look past the superficial crap. It is so absurd when you think about it. I laugh at Japanese people these days who cannot see past my 'foreign-ness.' I know they don't mean it out of any sort of negativity, but regardless, being worshipped or being spat at are two sides of the same coin. So I try to laugh it off and let people know I am a lot more like them than they realize. And when they still can't see that, I leave them alone and hope that one day they'll open their eyes and see, as everyone in the world should someday.

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Name : Greg D., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 25, City : Nango, Miyazaki, State : NA Country : Japan, 

[Jahny]

Unlike here in the USA, the Japanese are all what we would call 'Asian'. In the USA we have 'Whites' 'Blacks' 'Hispanics' 'Asians' 'Native Americans' 'Middleeasterners' 'Pacific Islanders' and 'Mixed'. They must not be used to people of other races.

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Name : Jahny, City : Chestnut Ridge, State : NY Country : United States, 

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