One of these people is not like the others. Can you spot who it is? Hum that one Sesame Street song quietly if it helps.Being a minority is an educational experience...for one thing, it helps justify all of my crazy-ass commie left-wing liberally-educated socialist vegetarian beliefs. Really, being the only Westerner on any given train isn't all that bad. I'd say it's one of the real draws of Japan, something that Jenn and I have recently concluded is responsible for so many gaijin dudes coming here to marry Japanese ladies: not only do you get to be different, you get to be the local authority on two entire hemispheres. If I say that everyone in America rides unicycles and wears their pants inside-out, who the hell are you to contradict me (currently trying to spread this around school -- will post the results)?
However, despite what some may think, Jenn and I are not the only gaijin in all of Osaka. Every now and then, we run into another gaijin in a train station or on the street. When this happens, there is an unspoken but highly sophisticated etiquette for our interaction. The general rule of thumb is to do absolutely everything you can to ignore one another. Right:
Optional: LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA LA LA.
Wrong:
Wrong on many levels, really.
There are many variations of the /ignore maneuver that depend on the circumstances of the gaijin in question: two expatriates living in Japan might choose to alter their routes to avoid getting any closer to one another, while an expatriate seeing an obvious tourist is allowed to stare openly and loudly comment about how stupid tourists are (in Japanese, if possible).
Really, I'm not too sure why the communication silence is so very necessary. Best I can figure, we don't want the Japanese assuming that all Westerners know one another. Plus, greeting strangers isn't really done here. We're just trying to respect the native culture, right? By the way, Japan FAQs guy (if that is your real name)? It's me, the guy walking up Kunoki-dai on weekday afternoons around 4:30. With the messy hair and stupid ties? If you're out there, I think I may have unwittingly committed a faux pas by smiling a little too often as we pass each other in the afternoons. My apologies, won't happen again.
However, despite what some may think, Jenn and I are not the only gaijin in all of Osaka. Every now and then, we run into another gaijin in a train station or on the street. When this happens, there is an unspoken but highly sophisticated etiquette for our interaction. The general rule of thumb is to do absolutely everything you can to ignore one another. Right:
Optional: LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA LA LA.Wrong:
Wrong on many levels, really.There are many variations of the /ignore maneuver that depend on the circumstances of the gaijin in question: two expatriates living in Japan might choose to alter their routes to avoid getting any closer to one another, while an expatriate seeing an obvious tourist is allowed to stare openly and loudly comment about how stupid tourists are (in Japanese, if possible).
Really, I'm not too sure why the communication silence is so very necessary. Best I can figure, we don't want the Japanese assuming that all Westerners know one another. Plus, greeting strangers isn't really done here. We're just trying to respect the native culture, right? By the way, Japan FAQs guy (if that is your real name)? It's me, the guy walking up Kunoki-dai on weekday afternoons around 4:30. With the messy hair and stupid ties? If you're out there, I think I may have unwittingly committed a faux pas by smiling a little too often as we pass each other in the afternoons. My apologies, won't happen again.
..."vegetarian beliefs?" Harry-kun, say it ain't so! You're one of my brothers (along with Orson Welles) in having never met a pot roast you didn't like!
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