The Gaijin Walk Among Us

    I was on the train this afternoon, headed home from school. A bunch of people got off at the Hirakata-shi station, which meant that I got to sit down. I had been standing near the door, and there was a girl sitting at the end of the row there, but a large, newly empty space next to her. So, I sat down with a 'stranger space' between us. You know, not quite enough room for another person, because you don't want them to think they smell, but not very close because you don't want to crowd them either. As soon as all the people got off the train, a ton of other people started getting on, normal thing for trains. This group of people included three older women. There was some space on my other side, but not enough for three, so I scouted over, and made room.

    They sat down, and then one next to me was very close! We kept brushing shoulders, and I was freaking out, because I'd heard tons of stories of Japanese people on trains, not wanting to sit next to gaijin (foreigners, がいじん、外人). And I didn't want her to think I was being rude or something, I had scouted over as much as I could, but I tried to scoot over a littler further, to give her plenty of room. The motion of scooting over caused us to brush elbows again and she turned to me and apologized! And then I was thinking, oh no, now she definitely thinks I'm rude, trying to scoot away from her! Ah! (Side note: Why do I care what a random Japanese woman thinks of me? Because I'm trying to be a good example of foreign culture. Because I'm trying to adapt to the culture here; trying to be more Japanese; trying to incorporate the local customs and all that jazz. Because I do, okay?)

    I end up sitting there for the rest of the ride to my stop, listening to the three of them chat, not that I understood a word, and worrying  that I was being labeled as yet another rude gaijin. Well, when we get to my stop, the lady nearest me turns, looks out the window, and asks, "Doko..." (Where [are we]?, どこ？). It being my stop, I know what station we're at so I say, "Korien eki" (Korien station, こりえんえき). She looks at me with a bit of a surprised look on my face and asks if I speak Japanese, and I say I do, a little. Then she asks if I'm from/go to Kansai Gaidai, and again I answer yes. Then she compliments my Japanese, which is a bit silly since I've said all of three words to her, all basic communication things. I do the Japanese thing and deny my ability and thank her profusely, "ii, ii, arigatogozaimasu." (no, not really, thank you very much, いいいいありがとございます) Being humble=very Japanese. She and her friends smiled and waved as I got off the train and I skipped up the stairs to the exit.

    I wanted to share this story  to show that not all non-internationally affiliated Japanese dislike foreigners. I was told many times not to worry if I sat down on a train seat and the Japanese person I sat next to got up and moved, or if I ended up sitting alone while the rest of the car stood. Some Japanese just don't like the gaijin, it's not your fault. Well, actually I think it is, a bit. The fault of a number of gaijin over the years, who haven't respected the culture they've stepped into. Who have acted like they would in their home countries, especially Americans, being loud and drinking/eating on the trains, and taking up an inordinate amount of space with their large backpacks, all of these behaviors are seen as rude and offensive to the Japanese.

    I don't know if the women I met today had met other foreigners or heard about their stereotyped behavior. I don't know what they thought of foreigners before they sat next to me. But they did sit next to me, and I tried to adapt to their culture. I was polite and tried to give them some space. I kept my large, American style backpack on my lap, taking up as little space as possible. I spoke enough Japanese to be helpful and polite. I didn't try to join their conversation, but I answered their questions. At the very least, I hope I left them with the sense that not all gaijin were rude. And I encourage you, traveling in any country, to not be too afraid of what the locals think of you, but to be polite and try to adapt to the local culture as best you can. I learned in Girl Scouts to leave the campsite cleaner than when I found it. And I've adopted this motto to a lot of things over the years, but most importantly: To leave the reputation of foreigners better (cleaner, more respectful, nicer) than it was when I came.