There are so many things I want to share with you, but I should have started writing about them right after I came to Japan. Because after a few years most things seem so normal to you although they felt so strange in the beginning.
I know that a lot of you are worried about how you will be seen or treated as a foreigner in Japan. How intense, how often, how many people will stare.. YES, people stared, but not as much as I expected them to. I was almost disappointed. In Japan I stand out no matter what I do β¦ just because I look different. From behind people have confused me with a Japanese person. I can understand that people are staring when there is a super tall or big person. They literally stand out in a crowd of Japanese people.
Even I stared when there were two blue-eyed, blonde and apparently foreign children speaking Japanese fluently with their foreign mom on a train. If you have to deal with staring in Japan every single day for many years it can get very exhausting.
You can never really relax, because you know some people are watching every single step, every single movement. Most Japanese people will look away the second you look at them whereas Chinese people often keep staring. Children can be very persistent and annoying when it comes to staring.
Kids stare at me every single day. And a glimpse is not enough! They want MOAR! Even when they pass by their head turns in my direction so that they can keep an eye on me. The little girl turned over and had her face only a few centimeters away from mine. Eventually I asked the girl in Japanese if there was anything strange in my face. I tried to turn away from her as much as possible, finished my coffee very quickly and left.
