Gai Jin Set 1: with fake big nose and blue eyes. The label says "Hello, Gaijin san" in Japanese.

Don’t get me wrong, I heart the Japanese. They’re one of the most friendly people in the world (considering that I’ve probably gained a lot of weight from the gourmet food my otousan cooks me everyday). Since I’ve arrived, I’ve only been greeted with humble and polite hospitality. And if I could stay Japan until I graduate, I will.

But there are some little things in Japan that bug me, too.

You might have heard of a foreigner being stared at, seats on a train being left vacant because a foreigner is sitting there, or a foreigner being ignored when asking Japanese people in English. In Japanese politics class I took a while ago, we talked a little about how people with Japanese blood—like Nikkeijins or the Japanese who aren’t born on Japan’s soil—who can’t even speak Japanese are more welcomed in Japan than those who’ve lived in Japan for generations, spoken Japanese and adopted Japanese traditions—like the Chinese and Koreans.

Well, the excitement of being in Japan overshadowed them all; I wasn’t thinking about all these things.

Until, I was stared at.

And when I say stare, I’m not talking about covert staring. I’m talking about that what-the-hell-is-this-creature look little kids use when they find something unusual.

Obviously, I’m in a different situation than my friend Daniel and my host sister Kendra who get stared at because they are different. People like Evelyn and I, who could be considered Japanese with our considerably light skin and Asian faces get stared at for a different reason: we speak English.

I started noticing it in a train where we all speak English to each other and kids would stare at us—perhaps surprised that we aren’t speaking Japanese. Not that being stared at bothers me. In fact, I like being distinguished. But it invokes my curiosity when I become an “alien” just because I speak languages other than Japanese. You’d think that in a country visited by so many foreign tourists, the Japanese would be used to gaijins and at least pretend that we’re nothing special.

Evidently, they aren’t.

Now I'm Osama bin Laden

On a train to Umeda this past Saturday, Evelyn, I and three other friends—all Asian—were talking casually in English. But once we sat down next to this lady, she stood up and walked away, leaving us flabbergasted. Being positive, I told myself she left because she got on the wrong train. But who knows. Maybe she was really afraid of the English-speaking, Asian-looking people.

Then my friends told their story of when they were almost approached by a lady, but she turned away once they started speaking in English. My conclusion: you don’t need blond hair and blue eyes to stand out in Japan. You only have to not be Japanese.

Of course, there are many people who are nice and receive foreigners with warm welcome. But that doesn’t mean racism doesn’t exist in Japan. Worst of all, the government has been notorious for trying to ignore the problem. Even an independent UN investigator said that racism in Japan is very profound and the government doesn’t recognize the depth of this problem.

On the government level, Japan is known for being very difficult with its naturalization policies. It is very, very hard for people to become a Japanese citizen—even for those immigrants who have been living in Japan and adopted Japanese culture. The reason lies in the belief that Japan is a homogeneous society. They are very proud of their Japanese blood—and have been since before WWII. You can argue that Japan’s constitution guarantees that “all people” are equal. But that’s just in the English version. In the Japanese version, it only says “citizen.” Hence, the difficult naturalization policies.

In Japan, minorities like the Ainu and Ryukyuan people (Okinawans) are almost non-existent. They have been forced to assimilate. Their cultures and heritages are denied. For those who’ve watched Departures, you’ll know that many Japanese also have strong opinions against the Burakumins, too.

These are the facts that the Japanese might be reluctant to admit. But many accounts have shown that sometimes, many Japanese view themselves as superior than other ethnicities. You can find some Japanese Prime Ministers making very racist remarks. Yasuhiro Nakasone once said that Japan was a homogeneous nation with one ethnicity, one state and one language. He further said that Americans’ intellectual level was below that of the Japanese because people like blacks, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.

Sometimes, foreigners are even blamed for rising crime rates in Japan. The police might stop a foreigner for “security reasons.” And business might deny a foreigner services, which isn’t so rare in Japan. So keep a look out, one of these days you might see signs like these in front of a restaurant.

Gai jin set 2: blond eyebrows

So today, I worked up the courage to ask my otousan why the Japanese have been staring at me when I talk to my friends in English. His answer: they’re afraid. He said that Japanese people don’t speak good English, and that might be the reason why they are trying avoid foreigners or surprisingly stare at them. And when they don’t sit next to me on the train? That could mean they respect me.

Who knows, maybe that really is the reason why.

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