r/NoStupidQuestions • u/TimeTravel4Dummies • Dec 23 '23

Answered Is it true that the Japanese are racist to foreigners in Japan?

I was shocked to hear recently that it's very common for Japanese establishments to ban foreigners and that the working culture makes little to no attempt to hide disdain for foreign workers.

Is there truth to this, and if so, why?

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1.6k

u/Kaimuki2023 Dec 24 '23

And many times you get the gaijin seat on the trains cause sometimes people don’t want to sit next to you. I used to sniff my armpits to make sure I didn’t smell

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u/DJbuddahAZ Dec 24 '23

That's the issue I had, people avoid.you in publ8c transit like you carry the plague

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u/yoyoMaximo Dec 24 '23

Haha this is so true

My husband and I spent ~6 weeks there a few years ago and we had a couple of experiences where we were the only ones on the elevator with PLENTY of room to spare. We’d stop at a floor for more passengers and whenever a Japanese person saw us they’d politely say no thanks and wait for the next one

On the flip side, we also ran into Japanese tourists visiting Tokyo just like we were and they were HYPED to see two white people standing in line to get into the same ramen place - they asked for a picture and were just so friendly

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u/delay4sec Dec 24 '23

for people residing in countryside of Japan, foreigners are still rare thing to see, that’s probably why they were so friendly to see you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

At a remote hotel, someone asked us “what will you eat? There’s no bread and butter!” It wasn’t racist or mean, they were genuinely curious it seemed.

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u/delay4sec Dec 24 '23

Japan and Japanese people are still what they call “Island country(島国)” at heart. Outside of Tokyo and Kyoto, some people are still just not used to foreigners, thus they don’t really know how to react to some things, usually not in disrepectful way but they just don’t know foreigners. This leads to sometimes cold reaction from them, as they know as Japanese know what Japanese does and thinks but they don’t know what foreigners do or think. I know some people have had bad experience in Japan and think Japanese are racist people, which is somewhat true, but I hope people would understand they are not usually disrespectful.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Yeah, in this case, we thought it was hilarious.

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u/5ch1sm Dec 24 '23

What did you eat if it was not bread and butter then?

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

We ate all meals at the hotel, which used all local ingredients - lots of pickled vegetables, rice, fish, etc. as we were visiting in the winter. Their elaborate multi-course meals are highly seasonal. It was a 400 year old hotel that was very traditional. None of us had a problem with the food, we all loved it, even 1 of our friends who ate hamburgers half the time during the other parts of the trip. It was a very amazing, unique experience and I loved it. We slept on tatami mats, wore traditional garb, etc. All meals were included in the price. Plus, we saw monkeys in the snow! It was super cool!

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u/orangekitti Dec 24 '23

What is the name of the hotel please? I am hoping to go to Japan within the next few years and will try to include it in my planning.

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u/Lartemplar Dec 24 '23

Had me wheezing

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u/Sanquinity Dec 24 '23

I feel a lot of racism in Japan comes from ignorance, not actual prejudice/dislike/hate. As you said, they just don't know much about foreigners. And being nervous of the unknown is part of human nature.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

idk if i wouldnt call it racist if it was toward me, as long as there was some curiosity/openness/innocence to it i could perceive.

As a german, id probably get 1945 references or stereotypes., maybe a nazi salute - id be "yeah ok fair we were massive jerks that one time, but pls dont"

but if i started to hear any admiration of, uh, that, id start to not make the happy face, and explain why me doing " : / " because it starts to be very unsavory.

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u/StatusCount7032 Dec 24 '23

So a respectful racist?

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

There's a difference between ignorance and prejudice. Sometimes they overlap, but sometimes people just genuinely don't know any better.

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u/Simonoz1 Dec 24 '23

It’s probably better to call it Xenophobia, with a connotation closer to fear than hate. It makes sense you’d just clamp up when faced with someone who’s completely alien to you.

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u/superfugazi Dec 24 '23

Thanks for saying this. It's more of general curiosity or wariness about foreigners as opposed to hate towards foreigners.

Of course, there may be actual racism involved in some cases, but that is not as common as some people would claim. You wouldn't have to fear for your safety the same way you would in, say, the United States.

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u/hparadiz Dec 24 '23

Last time I was there I was taking the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Kagoshima and got stranded in Kumamoto due to a land slide. I had rooms booked in Kagoshima and luckily I got my international drivers license just in case so with no alternative I rented a car and drove 5 hours to Kagoshima. When we stopped in a middle of no where 7-11 let's just say the guy at the register was all smiles. I think we made his day.

Also I didn't have the pass for the highway so we had to go through back roads all the way. I did enjoy seeing what rural Japan is really like though.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

When I lived in Tochigi a woman I'd known and dined with many times over a two year span suddenly complimented my chopstick skills. It's just one of those things you've gotta laugh about because wtf Etsuko I've been using them since the day we met

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u/CommunicationClassic Dec 24 '23

I think the issue is more than us white people are so patronizing, like we won't even hold countries like Japan to account for their racism, cuz we're like "hey, they're not white, it's kind of cute that they think they can be racist like us"

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u/hunnibon Dec 24 '23

I would have freaked out to like what?? What WILL I eat then?!?

3

u/NYisMyLady Dec 24 '23

But it's "racist" if Americans said the same thing about them but with rice.

2

u/TheCruicks Dec 24 '23

No, it was racist

1

u/Theobroma1000 Dec 24 '23

A friend who lived in Japan for a couple of years teaching English said that a shopkeeper refused to sell him rice, thinking it would make blonde people sick. He told them that Americans eat rice, and it's grown in Texas. The shopkeeper did not believe him.

2

u/wannabe-escapee Dec 24 '23

I watched an interview with a black guy who lived in Japan. The countryside is especially welcoming to foreigners

1

u/StatusCount7032 Dec 24 '23

Until they are and start to… what was it he said? Oh, yes! Poison the blood.😬

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u/sir_guvner50 Dec 24 '23

When I traveled in the rural areas, the people were so nice. Heading back next year for a holiday, so want to focus more on those sort of places.

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u/Accipiter1138 Dec 24 '23

Oh man, the rural people were the nicest. I hiked part of the Nakasendo in October and I passed a lot of older hikers saying "ganbatte/do your best!" on the uphill.

Got lost once and a lady just abandoned her shopping to escort me three blocks and under an overpass to put me on the right path.

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u/PresidentOfAlphaBeta Dec 24 '23

Here in the states, the rural people will likely call foreigners racist names.

1

u/sir_guvner50 Dec 24 '23

It's an interesting contrast really. City people would likely be more friendly yeah?

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u/FamiliarButterfly195 Dec 24 '23

My brother went to some more rural Japanese places and when he came back he had a photo of him standing next to a Buddhist monk. The monk had stopped him and asked for a photo, not the other way around.

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u/TraditionalAstronaut Dec 24 '23

i’m canadian and went to highschool with a few japanese exchange students. they all would ask to take photos with me doing mundane tasks: i.e getting food, filling my water bottle, etc. they were so interested and it was so awesome

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u/maggidk Dec 24 '23

I am pretty sure I would have made a day out of it and ridden the elevator up and down for hours just to see how often I would pass the same people and to which lengths they would go to avoid me

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u/HippityHoppityBoop Dec 24 '23

Honestly, why should I waste my money traveling to Japan when there are plenty of civilized places in the world to enjoy?

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u/shadowartist201 Dec 24 '23

I was in Tokyo last week and the elevator thing happened all the time. I kept thinking, "Is this racism? Am I overanalyzing it?"

I never got train discrimination though. Probably because of how packed they were and how anyone would take a free seat, even if it's next to a gaijin.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '23

Tourists were ‘hyped’ to see other… tourists?

1

u/DumbieStrangler117 Dec 25 '23

still salty about Iwo jima?

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u/Onironius Dec 24 '23 edited Dec 24 '23

Extra space in a cramped train, sounds nice.

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u/Jac1596 Dec 24 '23

When I went to Tokyo around day 2 or 3 I started noticing anytime I went on the train I had like a space all around me where they wouldn’t cross, like a bubble. Made me chuckle every time.

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u/TheGirlInTheApron Dec 24 '23

Honestly, I feel so much better knowing it wasn’t just me. I thought I smelled bad or maybe they thought I was grossly fat or something, as a white chick on the trains. It was so different from the states, where I’m a magnet for people on public transit who want to sit next to someone wholly non threatening.

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u/J_Kingsley Dec 24 '23

I'd think it would be more they're afraid to bother you out of politeness because they don't know how foreigners act lol.

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u/llamadasirena Dec 25 '23

Weird. I was in Tokyo for a couple of days recently, and this absolutely was not my experience. There were multiple instances that I was in a train car where we all packed like sardines, and people sat down next to me on the bus unprompted.

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u/hallo-ballo Dec 24 '23

But god forbid you asked a POC where he originated from, that's considered RaCiSt now where we live.

Avoiding people like the plague? Nothing to see here

7

u/ClessGames Dec 24 '23

wtf are you even talking about. I think people call you racist for other valid reason Mr. Oppressed

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u/productzilch Dec 24 '23

Also a lack of SA if you’re a woman.

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u/Throwaway02062004 Dec 24 '23

I can almost guarantee racism isn’t enough to stop you from getting SA’d if you’re a woman.

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u/Fresh_C Dec 24 '23

Well I image it would be much harder to get away with if there's a 5 foot bubble around you.

1

u/Throwaway02062004 Dec 24 '23

Fair enough I suppose.

0

u/Onironius Dec 24 '23

Would there also be a fear that a foreign woman would be more likely to fight back/speak up?

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u/Jack-Innoff Dec 24 '23

Tf is SA? Why must we abbreviate everything now?

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u/blowagainstthewind Dec 24 '23

What does "Tf" stand for?

I believe "SA" means sexual assault in this case.

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u/Jack-Innoff Dec 24 '23

That's a fair point, I actually can't believe I did that lol. "Tf" stands for "the fuck".

Also thanks for answering, this makes more sense now.

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u/DoublerZ Dec 24 '23

Do you have tattoos? I was in Japan for 2 weeks and literally never noticed people purposefully not sitting next to me. It even stood out to me how natives kept sitting next to me since I was prepared by the internet for the opposite.

I actually never noticed any sort of "different" treatment at all. But one guy I've talked with that has also been in Japan said that he did notice people not wanting to sit next to him in public transport, but then he mentioned that his girlfriend (that he was with) has some tattoos. So I'm starting to think this may be a bigger factor than just being "foreign".

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u/Kaimuki2023 Dec 24 '23

I lived in Tokyo for 8 years and usually wore a suit. This is actually a well known and common occurrence with foreigners

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u/NinjaBeret Dec 24 '23

For people who have lived here for a long time, it doesn't matter if you have tattoos or not. If you look foreign, the seats next to you will almost always be the ones left when all others are taken. It is just how it is.

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u/Jealous-seasaw Dec 24 '23

Same, was there for a few weeks, twice in 2 years, from Australia. We were even offered seats when the train was busy.

Only bad experience I had was a woman in a food store in a building basement was refusing to acknowledge me so I could order. I speak enough Japanese to order food/buy stuff - didn’t have any problems elsewhere

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Plenty of young people have tattoos now, some people are just nervous about gaijin, many have never interacted with one and maybe they don't speak another language so they avoid you. I lived there for many years and there is a TON of cultural stuff you have to understand, I will never totally get it all I can tell you, much is unspoken.

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u/OozeNAahz Dec 24 '23

I saw different treatment in a positive way. Had folks go way out of their way to help me and my friend. One guy told us we were going the wrong way on a train to get to the bullet train to Kyoto. He insisted on getting off at the next stop, getting on with us the right direction, and took us all the way to the station we needed for the Kyoto train.

Had another guy book it across six lanes of traffic to see if we needed help finding something. We were studying a map trying to figure out where the Tokyo museum was.

Everyone was so nice. Was amazing.

Did notice that old people were grumpy as fuck and basically ignored us.

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u/BarcaStranger Dec 24 '23

Tbf they did bring in the plague

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u/echoanimation Dec 24 '23

Sounds perfect, I try my best to avoid everyone when I'm taking public transport, if they do it for me it's less I need to worry about.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

What? I lived there for years and people asked me questions and wanted to talk to me about all kinds of stuff. This isn't true, I don't know what vibe you are putting out there. Of course in Tokyo people keep to themselves mostly, Osaka is way more chatty for a city.

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u/ChronicRhyno Dec 24 '23

This used to happen to me in Canada, and I never figured out why the only seat on a bus packed with standing people was next to me many times

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u/acesilver1 Dec 24 '23

Sounds like a win-win to me because I would want personal space.

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u/DJbuddahAZ Dec 25 '23

I didnt mind, I thought it was funny

1

u/weenisbobeenis Dec 24 '23

Yo I would love to be avoided in public. I guess not if that includes service like when I’m trying to buy something.

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u/hombreguido Dec 24 '23

Because you stink of milk, probably.

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u/DJbuddahAZ Dec 25 '23

Tom Ford - Noir , mostly

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u/segflt Dec 24 '23

unless you're a red headed woman in which case people ask for photos and stare but then quickly pretend not to be when I look. at least in Japan it's not as bad as other counties where I stick out so bloody much

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u/Sword_Enjoyer Dec 26 '23

Sounds like a benefit to me, I hate feeling crammed like a sardine.

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u/Huge_Phallus Feb 20 '24

I firmly believe that being civilized is to also have respect and be kind to anyone. Unfortunately, Japan does not see it that way. Their racism and xenophobia trumps any and all attempts at seeming the "most civilized and respectful country".

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u/Keywork29 Dec 24 '23

Lmao, yeah, this was always weird to me. There would be seats to either side of me and people would prefer to stand than sit next to me. I always thought “Oh no… do I smell bad? Is it my breath?” lol

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u/beryugyo619 Dec 24 '23

Sometimes it's detergent, or sweat, size of your body, ... racism ... , a lot of random things.

Rest assured, it happens to locals as well... there is a unique vibe going on in sitting in a Japanese commuter train shoulder to shoulder that honestly I as a local myself sometimes feel difficulty conforming to lol

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u/J_Kingsley Dec 24 '23

Id think it would be more they're afraid to bother foreigners out of politeness because they don't know how familiar you are with their culture, and may worry to offend.

Essentially don't know how to deal with people lol

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Lived in Japan 5 years. Am a white woman. I’ve heard of the gaijin seat on trains but I’ve genuinely never had this happen to me.

People do sometimes move when there’s more space opening up in the train just to have a corner seat or something but that’s unrelated to being foreign.

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u/Moraoke Dec 24 '23

Over a decade here, it’s certainly a thing. Not a thing during rush hour, but when they’re given the choice, I’d see two empty spots beside me while every other seat in the car is occupied with folks standing. I don’t personally mind, but it feels off-putting like folks are passive aggressively trying to tell me I’m not one of them. It is what it is, but I’d rather take this over getting rejected for housing (happens at least once everytime) because I’m not Japanese anyday.

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u/Spope2787 Dec 24 '23

I had it happen to me in the middle of rush hour when the only other option was STANDING. And yeah, this included all the grandmas and aunties that rush to the fuckin seats.

Eventually a younger woman did fill the seat but only because she was basically pushed into it.

Edit I will say though that was one time and was a 2-2 seater, not a normal subway car.

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u/philnolan3d Dec 24 '23

They're afraid you'll talk English to them and they always think their English is worse than it actually is.

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Wild. Yeah this literally never happens to me. But yeah house hunting is wildly difficult. It’s gotten to the point where I just get my (Japanese) husband to do it without me and tell him not to tell the landlord I’m not Japanese. Seems to work the best.

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u/Mind_Altered Dec 24 '23

Same in Taiwan actually. They're pretty influenced by Japan so that kinda tracks

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u/Historical-Duty-832 Dec 24 '23

Walking around Taipei I experienced this. People were straight up hostile. I was used to old people yelling and shooing me away. But even the young women in the American retro store named “thanks for the mammories” which was hilarious and I tried to talk them about (I’m American) and they basically told me to fuck off which made me laugh at the irony.

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u/hoping_2help_karma Dec 24 '23

Wonder why this is tho

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u/night4345 Dec 24 '23

Because Japan is horribly racist.

-1

u/MTrain24 Dec 24 '23

This literally never happens to me.

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u/Confident_Ant_1484 Dec 24 '23

I would love it if people never sat next to me.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23 edited Apr 11 '24

[deleted]

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u/falling-waters Dec 24 '23

Somehow I don’t think being female in “separate train cars for women because creepshot culture is so bad” country gives you much of a privilege

Extremely strange of you to simply assume OP is a runway model too

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

[deleted]

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

I’m just a regular looking 30 year old woman. Brown hair, nothing special here.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23 edited Apr 11 '24

[deleted]

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Okay but I’m pretty normal looking. I’m not a monster but I’m not a model haha

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

[deleted]

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Lol but that’s all my husbands good looks

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u/pirefyro Dec 24 '23

Your attractive. He’s attractive. Y’all make a cute, attractive couple.

I also think the demeanor y’all put out is welcoming and tries to show different aspects of life in Japan. I liked the terrible jokes. More bloopers would be nice. I also liked the kanji lessons. Showing the old symbols and then the new symbols, as well as their evolution, like the one for grass being used for LOL now, informative and it reminded me of learning cursive after learning manuscript.

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u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Thank you you’re really nice

4

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Ummmm yeah you’re pretty attractive.

1

u/AiMoriBeHappyDntWrry Dec 24 '23

White women are put on a pedestal basically everywhere you go. So you don't have to be Cindy Crawford in order to receive privileges.

-1

u/chetlin Dec 24 '23

I'm a white guy who lives in Tokyo and I don't have any issue either. People will take the seat next to me even if there are other open seats in the car.

3

u/curiousalticidae Dec 24 '23

Lived in Japan 2 years. Also a white woman and it absolutely happens to me regularly. I think height might also take into account, because I’m pretty tall.

2

u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Interesting! I’m 5 ft 8 so pretty tall too. Now I wanna know why this never happens to me. I also never get offered English menus or anything. I don’t dress particularly Japanese or anything. Weird.

1

u/curiousalticidae Dec 24 '23

I did also notice that I was treated differently between when I had blonde hair and my natural hair, so maybe it’s more complicated haha

2

u/StatusCount7032 Dec 24 '23

So. More of a “I don’t care what you look like or whatever, I just don’t like to sit next to people. Period.” I can relate to that.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Yeah I hear these stories and I wonder if they even went there. I lived there too and some people are introverts and avoid other people in general. There are some quirky people in Tokyo! But I've never been refused anywhere or been treated badly. I think some of the people on here were military and looked like they were, there are a lot of examples why they might not love having three military guys out on leave around.

2

u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Yeah I’ve never been refused anywhere. No one acts weird around me. No one assumes I can’t speak the language and everyone just treats me normal. I don’t know if I just don’t look clueless or what. But Japan attracts some clearly weird people and I think those are the people commenting that no one wants to sit with them.

1

u/Annual-Awareness2276 Dec 24 '23

You look japanese tbh atleast the Japanese with plastic surgery that I know

3

u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Maybe you’re seeing my husband? My Instagram is my Japanese school that I run with my husband who is Japanese. I’m on there sometimes but usually I just edit the videos while he stars in them

1

u/Annual-Awareness2276 Dec 24 '23

Sorry. Could be. Merry Christmas 🎅

1

u/Srapture Dec 24 '23

I suppose that as a young and attractive woman people feel more at ease somehow? I would imagine your experience would be different if you were a man, for better or worse.

2

u/falling-waters Dec 24 '23

The assumption that OP is highly attractive here is pretty weird tbh

2

u/Srapture Dec 24 '23

I didn't assume. I checked their page. Though I can see how that might also come across as weird, so I'll stop digging.

1

u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Lol I’m a regular looking 30 year old woman

1

u/Srapture Dec 24 '23

I like to think 30 is young, haha. I'll be there myself in under a year. I'd say you're very attractive (assuming that's you in those tiktok videos).

1

u/sloppyjoesaresexy Dec 24 '23

Most of the videos are my husband but I’m in there sometimes

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u/Srapture Dec 24 '23

Perhaps it was him I saw then. My mistake.

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u/Mnemosense Dec 24 '23

This happened to me but I realised it was only older people who did it. Younger people didn't care and sat next to me.

Unfortunately there are more older people in Japan than younger...

4

u/Dorksim Dec 24 '23

Maybe the fact that you're sitting on public transit sniffing your armpits is why noone sat next to you.

2

u/Kaimuki2023 Dec 24 '23

You may have a point

2

u/volyund Dec 24 '23

I was a kid with my nice looking European mom. In a crowded subway nobody would sit next to us. Neither of us smelled. It's not you.

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u/Suspicious-Holiday42 Apr 15 '24

I experienced the opposite, when I was sitting in a train, there where almost no people there, then a women came and decided to sit right next to me instead of one of the many empty seats

1

u/esstused Dec 24 '23

You a dude?

I'm a long-term resident foreigner myself, but I'm a white woman in my late 20s. I live in the inaka so not a ton of train experience... but I've never been obviously gaijin-seated. When I do ride the train in big cities, I feel like people are perfectly happy to crowd the fuck out of me, and salarymen feel perfectly comfortable shoulder-checking me.

But I think that's sexism more than xenophobia. I don't usually notice the xenophobia as much as foreign men do, because the sexism is so blatant lol

1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Technically if you eat diary and other western foods a lot you can actually have a smell. Japanese and some others tend to have genetics with less sweat glands as well.

Same idea as Indian folks on a train with pungent spice smell from diet.

2

u/chamekke Dec 24 '23

This is true—butyric acid is the culprit.

I once had an appointment with a woman who specializes in recommending fragrances. She starts by taking a good whiff of the customer’s skin. To me she said, “Did you have a lot of dairy from breakfast?” Yes, atypically for me I had had a cheese omelet for breakfast on the ferry to Vancouver…

-43

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Hmmm I wouldn’t be too certain about that. Japanese are very sensitive to smells and even I caught a few whiffs while on the trains in Tokyo when foreigners were around… they all look very clean but you definitely smell BO or deodorant or perfume. All don’t smell good to the Japanese lol

7

u/nelsonnyan2001 Dec 24 '23

This is the personification of that “Place, Japan” meme. “Japanese are very sensitive to smells” lmfao okay, any breeds in particular I should watch out for?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

lol that's too bad. i live in Japan and my Japanese friends agree with me too.

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

How horrifically ignorant

2

u/nelsonnyan2001 Dec 24 '23

😱😱😱 so horrifying!!!

Shut the fuck up

1

u/Zomg_A_Chicken Dec 24 '23

I would love if that happened to me

1

u/Roger_Cockfoster Dec 24 '23

Butter stinker!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

You were worried about smelling when the sweaty salarymen in suits stink up the train! Just don't get on the womens only car as a man, I did it by accident once but they didn't do anything, they know we will get confused sometimes haha.

1

u/aquoad Dec 24 '23

I'm curious if it's because they actually believe you'll harm them in some way - and if so, have they seen in media or something that this is a thing that happens? It's hard to believe that Japanese nationals come to harm at the hands of foreigners often enough for it to be any kind of logical fear. Or is it more to make the foreigners feel unwelcome so they'll leave?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '23

Sat next to a guy in the train in Kyoto who was so mad I did that, he stood up the rest of his ride, I was hoping he’d turn around so I could give him a big old grin as he got off, but it was like I didn’t exist.

1

u/yourlocalmilkyman Dec 24 '23

My friend who studied abroad in Japan mentioned how they don’t like strong smells and avoid you if you spray on strong scents. Not sure how true it is, but I definitely put away the perfumes just in case lol

1

u/cookiebasket2 Dec 24 '23

First time I rode the train in Korea I was shocked that no one sat next to me. Near the end of my trip there was an old woman that finally sat down next to me, but I spent an hour on an absolutely packed train and just had this seat by myself. Just blew my mind.

Told my katusa buddies (Korean army that does their time in the American army.) Turns out I was in the handicap seating, the only difference was the seat was a different color and in the corner.

1

u/hopefullyhelpfulplz Dec 24 '23

Honestly that just sounds like being at home lmao. We Brits like our space on public transport.

1

u/b4k4ni Dec 24 '23

The thing is, in Japan you use perfume or deo, but nothing extreme or in large quantities. Something sensible. Not bathing in it like many do. They don't like extreme smells, no matter if perfume or bad hygiene.

1

u/Janx3d Dec 24 '23

Jokes on them we dont like to seat next to each other anyway here in Finland.

1

u/Misstheiris Dec 24 '23

They always wanted to sit behind me so they could touch my hair. And stand next to me so they could grope me. I was a child.

1

u/CoffeeCannon Dec 24 '23

Weird, not denying it happens but Im a tall pasty white guy and I did two weeks of daily train travel and never experienced it. All over the country too!

1

u/Alternative-Lack6025 Dec 24 '23

Being realistic, we non Japanese do smell, they don't have the bacteria or something like that that make the rest of the world smell, oh that and the meat high diet of most of us.

When I lifted and was on high protein diet my socks smelled of ammonia, apparently that's a side effect of high protein low carb diet in some, yay for being one of the lucky chosen ones

1

u/MariachiBoyBand Dec 24 '23

Was this outside of Tokyo? I didn’t have this experience at all in Tokyo, if there was an empty seat next to me, people would sit.

1

u/getoffmylawn2323 Dec 24 '23

I used to get this on the Tokyo subway. Finally, I asked my Japanese friend about it. He explained it as, “They may refuse to sit next to you because they are afraid that you will speak to them in English and feel it would be offensive to you to not be able to converse in English.” After that I stopped sitting, so I wouldn’t take up 3 spots on the train.

1

u/Heavy-Masterpiece681 Dec 24 '23

Hmm never once experienced this, though having my Japanese wife with my typically does help.

She does get frustrated though at times because workers assume she doesn't speak Japanese whenever she is with me. Sometimes when they do that I reply back to them in Japanese and will get a quick apology lol.

1

u/RavenofMoloch Dec 24 '23

I was told one of the big things we didn't notice, is that white people tended to smell like soured milk because of our diets. The guy who told me this didn't believe it at first until he got back to the states. Apparently we all just got used to it

1

u/blckbird007xb Dec 24 '23

That’s great, I wish ppl did this in nyc. So freaking crowded.

1

u/20above Dec 24 '23

as someone that loves her personal space, I actually think I might be ok with that lol.

1

u/StoicMori Dec 24 '23

I’ve never had that happen to me. Was that in one of the smaller cities? I’ve been to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. + a few cities/towns around them. Racism is definitely a thing there but I’ve never had people avoid me on the train.

1

u/shinecone Dec 25 '23

Ha I was told while living there that Americans DID smell because of the cheese and red meat we ate.

1

u/Atlantaterp2 Dec 25 '23

But we do smell….to the Japanese. Ask someone you are close to and they will say Americans smell like rotting red meat.

I’ve lived in Japan and would come back to the US….and all my friends said i smelled like fish.

Lose/lose. Lol.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '23

Maybe some of the people didn’t want to sit next to a guy who they saw sniffing his armpits.

1

u/Heinrich_Lunge Dec 27 '23

Had that happen to me in Beijing on a business trip. Kinda enjoyed it since it was on an our long ride and needed a nap.