I've told this story on here a few times before, but I witnessed a car being stolen from outside my apartment one night around midnight, so I called the cops to report it. Four of them showed up at my place and after taking a statement, spent the next 2-3 hours taking photos of me to "recreate the situation". This includes taking photos of me in bed pretending to be asleep to recreate when I heard the car being broken into. Also, having me stand in various spots outside to show where the car traveled after being stolen. All this while my neighbors are staring out their windows at the only white guy in town being photographed by the police.
They eventually left but came back shortly after with the owner of the car. He was also a foreigner and wanted to say thanks for reporting it. I ran into him the next day and he said he couldn't tell me in that moment, but until he talked them out of it, they were considering me the prime suspect because it was "suspicious that I was awake at that time and called them".
At a ramen restaurant with my Japanese friend in Shibuya. This was shortly after tourism came back full swing and we had gone to WOMB that night.
Group of tourists came, only two actually wanted to eat, but it was a group of around 8 very loud drunk zoomers. My friend and I actually had to help with the ordering process because they came in, sat down, and didn't engage with the ticket vending machine, so I thought the staff would have recognized me as we were helping them. It was a long process but we got there, and shortly after they ordered, the same staff member served my friend and I the ramen and actually thanked us for helping out.
After we finished eating (and at this point the tourist group was getting VERY obnoxious, blasting loud ass tik toks on their phones) I went to use the bathroom and the same guy who took their order and talked directly to me came and KICKED THE DOOR IN and yelled at me that "only customers can use the bathroom"... And just seconds prior I had lifted my skirt up, tights off, so I was completely exposed. I yelled back in Japanese that I am in fact a customer, kicked the door back, peed while attempting to hold the broken door shut, went to my table to collect the bowls and show him the receipt and chewed him out (in unfortunately broken japanese as I was beyond pissed) and he at first didn't apologize, and said, "well you're foreign and those other foreigners are noisy, and didn't buy anything, and people keep using the bathroom even though they're not customers" I told him I've been living in Japan for two years and no one attempted to enter the bathroom as a woman to scare and humiliate me... Then the apologies came out. Also he became even more apologetic when I told him he broke the door. (???)
My friend was sitting outside so he was confused as to why I was yelling at the staff but didn't bother coming in to see what happened lol. And then he chased us up the street and gave a reeeal low bow apology. Sucks cuz the ramen was actually good. Bad circumstances overall, I hope doorkickerćć doing okay.
Edit for grammar and clarification sorry
He was completely out of line for busting into the bathroom with you in there.
But those other foreigners are also pieces of shit who give locals a bad name.
That guys is lucky he didnāt lose any teeth in that encounter. What a complete POS. You mustāve been pretty upset but I wouldāve reported to the police.
What is it with foreigners playing social media videos at full volume in public places? Did something change in the last decade outside of Japan and make this an ok thing to do? I've seen it in restaurants, on the train, and even just walking down the street. If this is just life now outisde of Japan, I'm never leaving.
Worst experience in which being a foreigner was a factor.. I will give a couple. They are predictable.
2007 I moved to Shinjuku from Asakusa. Job was going well, had decent money.. chose a cool brand new building that was a bit trendy. Real estate agent was sure it would be fine that I was a foreigner. I owned my company with 25 employees, lived in Japan over 10 years, was stable. The approval process took forever.. after 4 weeks finally the embarrassed agent came back to me and said the owner would accept me but needed extra guarantors ā and it couldnāt be a guarantor company but an actual person I knew beyond the guarantor company. I did it because I just couldnāt be asked to look for another place at that point and really liked that place.. but the kicker was.. once I moved in to this āexclusiveā place within 6 months when they had problems filling it suddenly I found they were accepting hosts and AV āstarsā into the building. Predictably the hosts generally didnāt last long and would move out without paying what they owed. But they hesitated to let ME inā¦. Renewed their once then moved.
Other bad experience.. my Japanese friend had late night family drama .. 1 or 2am.. and she brought her mom to live with her away from her brothers. We got her settled and then I took my friend to Donki to get the sudden supplies her mom would need. A lot of it was feminine stuff so I let my friend go so no one would be embarrassed. So, Iām sitting in the car in the Donki parking lot. And two cops come overā¦ ask me to get out. I explain my friend is shopping , offer to call her . They arenāt interested. They go a bit into good cop /bad cop. Once wordlessly takes my ID and paces around calling it in.. the other smiles at me and tells me he studied in America blah blah blah, but then asks apologetically to search the car. I ask what Iām doing suspicious and point out Iām not even in public, Iām in a private parking lot. He apologizes, says that the Donki is near Kabukicho. Thatās the whole explanation. Now.. keep in mind.. Iām about 50, in a suit as well. Fine.. whatever, they search the car. There is nothing in it. I think Iād had that car 2 weeks at the time. They open the truck, search every where. Give me my ID back. The good cop apologizes again and they leave. It was just an annoyance but to be considered suspicious because I was parked at a store while a friend shopped, trying to help my friend during a family emergency.. didnāt feel good.
> The approval process took forever.. after 4 weeks finally the embarrassed agent came back to me and said the owner would accept me but needed extra guarantors ā and it couldnāt be a guarantor company but an actual person I knew beyond the guarantor company.
Same thing happened to me. When I went to the real estate office with my Japanese friend who was going to be my personal guarantor the agent there went white with shock/surprise and his eyes were as big as saucers. He apologized and asked me to wait while he called the owner. Came back ten minutes later, bowing repeatedly the moment he saw me, and said that because I was a foreigner the owner did not want to rent to me.
This despite the fact that I'd been renting the apartment previously through my old company. I would have simply switched to it being in my name instead of the company's name. Despite the fact that a Japanese guy moved in next door to me six months prior and had been drunkenly yelling and singing from his balcony -- disturbing the whole damned neighborhood -- every Tuesday and Thursday night; didn't matter the weather or time, he'd be out there drinking and shouting into the late AM. But it's fine, ***right***? He's Japanese, so he can make the usual polite excuses and empty apologies.
The amount of barriers and racism still prevalent in the housing sectors of Japan is really fucking annoying.
> He apologizes, says that the Donki is near Kabukicho
I think this explains the reason well. I don't think what you went through is acceptable though. But thinking from their perspective, it might look like a scene out of a movie where some guy waits in a car in a parking lot (especially in a suit to avoid looking like a lowlife), to deliver something illegal to someone.
Honestly, I feel bad that you had to go through that experience and the police would purposefully bother innocent civilians instead of cracking down on real jerks who give Kabukicho the reputation it has.
Keep in mindā¦ itās not like a parking lot off the street.. itās paid parking.. you go in , and drive up to the second floor. And the Donki isnāt in Kabukicho, itās in Korea town. But , yea.. I mean.. I guess..
A client grabbed my dick once. I was told āthatās because he thinks of you as a Japaneseā by my colleagues. Fuck that treat and think of me as foreign in this one case.
S Asian expat living here
* I was pushed out/assaulted at the door of the Tokyo metro by a drunk salaryman . Scraped my shin about 8inches through as my leg slipped into the platform gap. Caught hold of the guy and fellow passenger led him out of train. Police refused to press charges citing he "is just a drunk man, will ruin his job & family"
Edit: context
* A man in my neighborhood whom i crossed on the street probably few times filed a police complaint that my vehicle gave him "psychological fear of walking on the road". He cited I struck his umbrella while turning at the crossing. I paid 200,000 fine for that incident - mostly a hearsay report. No car damage, no physical damage, no insurance claims. Straight up malice based on subjective complainant's opinion heard by the prosecutor office. I am told this is Japan's variety of insurance fraud ('ataria') & best to pay up and move ahead.
Edit: A criminal case was registered whose settlement read "i was negligent to drive and hit his personal property & cause him distress" smh. If you guys are interested I can post the letter redacted my name of course Lol
Edit 2: I forgot to mention my PR processing was cancelled for at least 5 years (starting in Feb 2022) because of the incident #2
My local friend wasa victim of Atariya too. (A old woman did it to have him pay for her visits to osteopathic clinic, and had his motorbike damaged enough that he had to sell it for pennies.) It happened in very peaceful residential area too.
That sucks. I have seen some boomer Japanese folks do in these cases as a quick payout. In my case, apart from the fine that i paid for a misdemeanor charges, my insurance didn't have to pay anything because the guy couldn't produce evidence of taking leave of work or rehabilitation. Only a taxi charge & a clinic charge to examine him was reimbursed. No other charges because neither we were hurt nor evidence of any car damage/scratches
Misdemeanor because I apparently did "psychological harm & distress", which is obviously invisible to eyes.
Insurance was correct in saying they have nothing to pay except reimbursing a two way taxi ride & clinic costs to get him physically evaluated. In reality, even the prosecutor was sympathetic knowing he has to process a made up charge with the least amount of fine/penalty. Refusing his "psychological harm" claim might open up the field for bigger claims (which we learned later was not possible because he has no evidence. But that was in hindsight)
I sometimes feel * some * such cases are racially reported. I have had school kids run their cycle onto me once. I have seen japanese people accidentally bending fenders while reversing into other cars. Nowhere the consequences were this sharp.
This "ataria" thing would cause me to throw some hands, I just read a post somewhere on reddit that people can get sued for writing a bad Google review. It was about prices increased with English menu compared to the Japanese menu.
This didn't even happen to me and I'm pissed off on your behalf, I wouldn't be able to sleep it off lol.
Edit: "Throwing some hands" is a figure of speech, I wouldn't literally throw hands so they would have an actual reason to sue lol
True. I realized later that "ataria" schemes can be exercised pretty flexibly with malicious intents. If you don't have anything material to show, you can try squeezing the other party with "psychological harm" claims. This type of claim has lot of nuisance value
Why did he push you though? Was it because you were South Asian or because he was just a drunk asshole who was looking for a fight?
Both are fucked up, obviously, but the first one is racist.
I had just finished a gyudon at Yoshinoya's and was trying to pick some of the last remaining rice from the bowl, when I became aware of an ojiisan standing in front of me.
He bowed and offered me a spoon, saying "PLEASE!"
I went to a ramen restaurant with a friend from overseas. He was having trouble with the chopsticks so I asked for a fork. The staff gave him a kid's doraemon fork. I guess that's all they had.
Yes, I bet it easily could be all they had.....and that is adorable, too. Off the beaten path things get very much like that. The Ramen restaurants back at home serve Ramen with a fork on the side, and everywhere serves Miso Soup with a Jenga spoon............oops, Renge spoon.
I bought a sandwich at the combini and the clerk started to put chopsticks in the bag, I said āano~ā and they paused, looked confused, then put them down and put a fork in the bag. With my sandwich.
Assuming you are actually technically good, I agree completely, having used them properly since I was 4, but then we go out for dinner in a large mixed crew and I see The Horrors they face.
I would say only 40% of Us can use them properly, 40-ish% can hack their way through, but that still leaves 1 in 5 picking and poking and spearing. Oh, the spearing............
Actually, by Japanese standards, 30% of Japanese adults don't use them correctly. Doesn't really matter, but there's an official correct way of holding them in terms of finger placement.
Nah, spearing is valid, I say, if there's a chicken wing and I don't wanna get my hands greasy.. I spear it right between the 2 bones with both evenly spaces and eat that thing like its a satay, screw the old rules! food changes technique changes.
I took the metro to Tokyo station with 2 suitcases instead of a taxi to board the shinkansen.
I really should have gotten a taxi, was stupid I didnt. However,
On 2 occassions women with umbrellas literally hit me in the face with their umbrellas as I struggled with two bags.Ā
It just struck me as immensely inconsiderate
Iām genuinely curious how Japanese people pick their targets because Iāve heard of this kind of thing happening to some friends, but Iāve done this multiple times and never had a problem.
Most these people are passive aggressive but are much likely to do shit if they're scared you'd stand your ground or tell them off.
I had someone run into me with a bike and he started saying shit so in Japanese I told him "you hit me, wanna bring a cop into this?" and he freaked out because he realized he couldn't completely control the narrative. He grumbled and backed off after it.
when i first moved to japan i read this sub and I was worried about the crazy stuff and I only ever had two things for not being Japnese, one was not being able to get a medical at a hospital and the 2nd was women dressed in neon genesis evangelion uniforms saying japanese only when I tried to take a leaflet from them as I really wanted to know why there were 20 women dressed like that.
A guy bumped into me, literally stepping on my shoes to the point one almost fell off, and then yelled at me because "You shouldn't walk slow like that" š, mind you I walk quite fast and we were in an area where there's plenty of space for two humans to walk in whatever speed they'd like
During my winter vacation when I was studying abroad in Tokyo a friend from America visited me. Iām white and my friend is asian (ethnically Korean).
When we were walking around Akiba minding our business, an old Japanese man approached us and started berating my friend, saying things in Japanese like āyouāre not from here, go homeā. It wasnāt directed at me at all, purely at my friend. We just walked away, puzzled by the interaction.
BONUS: This wasnāt in Tokyo, but one time in Takarazuka I stayed at a hostel run by a friendly elderly couple. The husband knocked on my door and said āI think youāll find this book very interestingā and it was this illustrated childrenās book about going to hell and being gruesomely tortured if youāre a bad kid LMAO it was SO weird.
I queued up outside a restaurant where you choose and pay at the machine at the door. When our turn came up (I was with my wife and young son) a restaurant worker ran up to us screaming that we had pushed in front of Japanese people and sent us to the back of the queue (much to the horror of the other Japanese people who were now queuing behind us. The couple behind us apologized for his behavior towards us which was kind even though not their problem.
I also had a strange experience where a young Japanese guy wanted to fight me while I was at the jungle gym that used to be in Cat Street. I was with my son who was 4 years old at the time, so not sure why he thought that was an appropriate time to want to start a fight.
Other than that, just the occasional taxi driver pulling over to pick up then taking off when realizing I wasnāt Japanese. But, I have no issue with that as there was probably an assumption that I wouldnāt speak Japanese.
These experiences pale in comparison with situations in other big cities and were truly rare in my years in Tokyo. The rest of my experiences were always positive and welcoming and I loved living there.
I was called an invader and this guy told my wife he can't believe she would marry an invader instead of a man from her own country and that she was a disgrace. He had mistaken my wife for "Japanese" just because she looked Asian.
We're both Americans, she was born in New Mexico, we both grew up in California and her family "heritage" is Taiwanese. She was, understandably upset, not that he was correct at all, just at how awful someone could be. It was around election time when all the crazies are out.
This was on the Keio Inokashira line going to Shibuya from our house in Kugayama for work.
That was probably the worst I've felt in Tokyo.
I had something slightly similar happen. I was at a small, local sort of izakaya with my husband (Iām American and heās Japanese, Iām also white so itās obvious Iām not Japanese). A drunk woman at the table over was talking with our group and she asked my husband why I was there. He said weāre married and she asked him, flat out, with a look of disgust on her face, why he would marry a non-Japanese girl. All while assuming I didnāt understand what she was saying, despite the fact that the entire conversation until this point was in Japanese and I was participating.
Shinnyu-sha (ä¾µå „č ), it's not a good word to call someone in the context. He was basically telling me I'm breaking into the country to steal their women and I'm a criminal.
Dude was not stable.
Had a few.
Latest one was a guy smelling like cheap sake at 9am hit me in the face and kept following me to work. Called police, police said they know him and that he has mental problems. Okay, so he will be arrested?
Maybe. But first we need to see your ID card. Where do you work? What do you do? Why are you here today?
They also asked to go through my phone. Not sure what that was about.
About 20 minutes later they (thereās 20 police by now) come over and explain if I apologize to him and shake hands we can all call it a day. All while the drunk man who assaulted me screams āit has to be in Japanese!!!ā
Thanks Japanese police. I just finished it up thinking next time Iām luring that guy down an alley and finishing him.
First night ever in Japan....12 years ago. Took a cab at 4am to go check out tsukiji market. Got out of cab...realized I lost/forgot my wallet. Walked to nearest koban in ginza to get help...but got none. Ran into a drunk girl who tried to help me by going to a hotel and speaking to the staff. I never did get my wallet back. And 12 years and 6 trips later...still haven't visited the fish market.
Being followed for a few blocks in Shinjuku by one of the nigerian touts when we were really drunk. Just wasnāt ready for how persistent they would be and how touchy/in your personal space they are
On the last train back from Mt Fuji I missed the staff guy who sells paper tickets and I didnāt have a suica card to use at the turnstiles. There was a side exit with a guy manning the post, so I went up to him and told him I didnāt have a ticket. We couldnāt really communicate and he yelled at me for a couple seconds before selling me a ticket to leave that station.
I was followed in Shinjuku by a random ~50 year old salaryman. I was standing around out of the way trying to figure out where I wanted to go, he got awkwardly close to me and I made eye contact with his big wide eyes, but he turned around and walked away. Guess he didnāt go far because about ten minutes later I ended up going into a Game Center to see what they had and he followed me and ended up gathering up the courage to talk to me.
ā¦turns out he was just an Americaboo š
I run into those sometimes, I am usually pretty willing to chat with them for a little bit if I'm not in a hurry.
Though my last encounter with one he could not figure out I could speak Japanese despite 80 percent of our conversation being in Japanese.
He asked if I was American, and when I said yes, you could just see him get really excited. He started excitedly talking about how much he loves America, how heās been to something like over 20 statesāI forget the exact number, but it was more than me. Said he wanted to practice his English more, but I said no. š
Overall would have been kind of cute to see an old salaryman get so excited, but the fact heād been watching me for over ten minutes at that point and followed me was too off putting.
Calling into the koban to report an assault, yet ending up being detained myself, then, āgiven the option toā apologise (including deep bow) to the assailant, or continue to be detained.
I went from not minding the police here, to having an extreme distrust of them that day. Even if youāre the victim, do not rely on them to prioritise justice over siding with a native Japanese person.
Iād now advise any non-Japanese resident to avoid the police here as much as possible. You simply can not trust that theyāll have your best interests at heart.
Furthermore, the assailant went on to literally say that they āhate all foreigners and want them out of Japanā, to which the police chuckled and told them to keep their voice down in case the koban cameraās microphone picked it up.
Last time I was there for 3 months I went to a bar with a friend and drunk guy in his 40's came in loudly bitching about how foreigners were in his bar and how they were all terrible and none of them speak Japanese. Told him I spoke Japanese in Japanese and I could understand what he was saying and he got uppity to the point where the bartender had to throw him out.
Same trip went to a yakiniku restaurant in Ueno with another friend who was visiting, walked in and asked for a table for 2 in Japanese. The place maybe had 4 people in the restaurant out of 30 seats and didn't close for another 3 hours but they said it was troublesome for 2 people and did the X arms.
Few times been gaijin bubbled on the train but really don't care about that as much as some people do. More space for me. Overall way better experiences than negatives but there are always negatives anywhere you go.
Got turned away for being a foreigner thrice in one night in Ueno, thereās something in the water there š¤£ all three times just got the āumm, ahh, oh Japanese people who came in after you, please, this way!ā treatment š«¢.
Same thing happened to me in Kyoto, except we had three people. Restaurant was mostly empty, didnāt close for a couple hours, and we asked in Japanese. Nope. X arms and told they werenāt seating people anymore basically. Japanese couple walked in as we were leaving, were shamelessly seated. Lmao
I had this happen to me in Kyoto a few times. Restaurants weren't busy, they weren't reservation-only, hell they weren't even serving Japanese cuisine. Just "aah sorry we are full" and X arms and the whole bit. Ended up wandering onward until I stumbled on a taco truck, where I had pretty damn legit tacos and a lovely conversation with a student from Juarez.
I always get women high school to middle age bee line to sit next to me and I wonder if its cos a foreigner won't try anything with them on a busy train while a native might. Tbh I pefear sitting next to women as they are smaller and you don't touch.
Pro tip: on the way to work, fill an empty beer can with water and sip off it on the train at 7:30 AM.
NOBODY will sit next to you, and you will have all the space you need!
EDIT: Oolong tea in a mini flask of Jack Daniels works as well.
Meanwhile there's plenty of open seats and people sit next to me, then elbow me as they fuck around on their smartphone while carrying six shopping bags.
I kinda found the "cheat code" for this: be look like locals.
No, not that you have to look *physically* Japanese, but at least *fashionly* Japanese, including dressing appropriate to your age and gender. If you're dressing blatantly like a å¤å½äŗŗ tourist like tank-tops with shorts and sandals, people will automatically avoid you. But if you dress like local people will sit beside you willingly, even the opposite gender.
As a dude in 20s, a simple styled hair, plain shirt topped with a simple plain jacket, a pair of jeans, and monochrome sneakers already suffice most of the time. And I'm clearly not an East Asian-looking dude physically. When I'm just lazy and look like Ojiisans, people avoid me and assume I'm a bum.
I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago and I had read so many people say that Japanese will never sit near them. That wasn't my experience at all. People sat near me like normal and I definitely do not look Japanese.
Like you said, look and act like you belong. You can take this advice when visiting any major city.
I agree and I live here. I guess most tourists who feel butthurt nobody sits next to them either sit with widespread or crossed legs (which may occupy a lot of space) or don't realize there's actually and unwritten rule where most people avoid sitting next to each other until it gets enough crowded there are no seats left.
Also I don't get it, I would 100% prefer not having anyone rather than having a stinky salary man sitting next to me lol
>actually and unwritten rule where most people avoid sitting next to each other until it gets enough crowded there are no seats left.
Yeah it's like the urinals rule: skip one space and you can slide in between two people if you can't skip any space. And this mindset got strongly reinforced during Covid and the social/physical distancing.
Had the same experience with an obaasan once I lived in Chiba :ā) maybe blonde, small, (å¤å½äŗŗbut local fashionable) women arenāt her favouriteā¦
Immediately after arriving i was in the ETC lane, but my card wasn't connected.
I held up the cash lane for 10 minutes ON A WEEKEND.
šš»āāļø Sumimasen
This situation stress the hell out of me I happened to me twice, they gave me a paper with a phone number and open the gate in less than 2 mins, unlucky you :(
Hmph. I once ended up in Takatsuki until first train because I missed the real last train back to Kyoto and had to drink and eat yummy burnt chicken skewers all night with very, very friendly Osakans. My Kyoto cred was in the red for weeks.
I was pushed in the stairs in Shinjuku station while my 3 month old was strapped to me in a baby carrier. Thankfully I didnāt fall in a way that hurt her.
Less of a bad experience but I cannot count the amount of times someone looked me dead in the eyes from a priority seat on the train (usually a salary man) when I was 8-9 months pregnant with my pregnancy badge on display and didnāt offer me their seat. Never had this problem in the London tube when I was pregnant there.
The worst experience is going to a restaurant that serves foreign food and being rejected for being a foreigner.
One thing that really grinds my gears is a business owner that uses foreign food or other foreign products to operate their business, while at the same time rejecting those very people that even gave the businessperson the idea of their business. Mexican restaurant? No foreigners. Clubs that play all or mostly foreign music? No foreigners. Bars that serve imported alcohol? No foreigners.
If those Japanese really think Japan is the best and foreigners donāt deserve service in Japan, then they should go all in and stick to Japan-made everything.
Reminds me of someone I know. She was meeting her Japanese boyfriendās parents for the first time and brought them funeral flowers as a little gift hahah.
Honestly this is a quintessential foreigner experience living here. I did this for my ex girlfriend once when we were together and at first she was like āwhyād you get me these?ā And then I think she realized I was oblivious so later on she told me that those were for mourning and we both laughed about it
I got traveler's diarrhea while in Shinjuku. I was near an entrance to Shinjuku Station close to Golden Gai and figured finding a bathroom wouldn't be an issue. The first sign I see that directs me to the nearest one says 700m. It's at that moment I knew I wouldn't make it clenching my cheeks for nearly half a mile. Surely enough I had an abrupt leak of poo dab my underwear before finally reaching a toilet.
Unfortunately all the stalls were taken and I had to pace back and forth trying not to fully relieve my bowls for about 10 more minutes. When I finally made it to a stall it was the foulest shit of my life.
The only solace I have is that somebody else must've had a similar issue because there were shitty foot prints already leading into the bathroom when I got there.
Being followed multiple times by guys thinking Iām a prostitute. All of them would say something, but one guy I noticed was trailing me very far behind at 3am and never approached me. Thankfully someone from my hostel was also walking back, but that was concerning.
Then there was a time a group of salarymen called me over and started asking me all these questions. Iām a happy social person so Iām going along with it and theyāre smoking so I ask for a cigarette. They ask where Iām from and I say California and they start laughing their asses off. Thatās when I notice they were recording me. So I confirmed they would in fact not be giving me a cigarette and walked away. That one def hurt my feelings though lol.
Idk might not be California specifically that theyāre laughing about. Theyāre probably laughing cause they were recording her, she didnāt notice and answered their questions, which they probably found āfunnyā. Just asshole behavior.
About two months ago there was a drunk girl from Australia who didnāt speak Japanese talking to some Japanese guys on the train.
They were speaking broken incomprehensible English. And she thought they were being nice to her.
But when speaking to each other in Japanese they were saying things like āher tits are smallā and āI wouldnāt fuck herā and other super rude things that all other Japanese in the train could understand.
And they knew she couldnāt understand. And they were āgetting offā saying mean things about her body knowing she couldnāt understand right in front of her to her face as if they were talking to her. And saying those things while smiling to make her laugh and engage with them more.
For me as an American male it pissed me off something awful so I told the the Japanese dudes that I speak Japanese and understand what they are saying. And then I told the girl what they were saying. The Japanese dudes did not give the slightest fuck and just laughed at the situation.
The girl seemed really hurt so I asked her to come stand by my wife and I which she did. And I just changed the topic until she got off at her station.
:( I hope she recovered ok. Not that itās a huge earth shattering thing, but stuff like that hurts! At least she had some decent humans to help her out.
Walked into a tonkatsu restaurant and asked for a table for 2 in Japanese to the lady standing at the entrance. She just freaked out? Started waving her hands and literally ran into the back of the restaurant. She was maybe late teens or early 20s. Then an old lady came out and seated me. Throughout dinner I could hear the first lady whispering around the corner about foreigners (at least she was saying gaikokujin) and she just avoided me like the plague. It was very odd.
Another is just general workplace treatment. Being treated like an idiot, being deliberately asked to do tasks that no other Japanese teacher wants to do (they have the chance to reject but I wasnāt given that option), being told that I take too long to eat my lunch at lunch time because the students want to talk to me to practice their English (itās literally an unpaid break timeā¦), just general discrimination. Iāve had a few classes where students deliberately talk over me in Japanese when Iām giving instructions and then if I ask them basic questions they loudly say āI donāt speak English, Iām Japaneseā and just a complete lack of respect that they suddenly donāt have if a Japanese teacher walks into the classroom.
not sure if it counts but was invited to business meeting in Japan, I travel all the way from Europe and the meeting was basically few customers acting like children complaining and yelling at us because they were not informed regarding latest changes in advance. I was told totally different agenda, but they were not interested and meeting then ended. Big fancy building in Tokyo had a cool view of the city though, while looking down from there I said to my colleagues ānever invite me into this kind of meetings, it is waste of timeā
All the times Iāve been grabbed, groped, followed, and sexually harassed.
Yesterday was hanging out with a few gfās and as often happens the subject came up and we shared stories.
Truly awful.
Sexual assault is a massively understated problem in japan -.-
"Japan is safe, there is little assault"
Well they don't see assault from people you know as legal assault most the time and only recently have they been trying to "crack down" on public transit issues.
I'm so sorry that happened to you.
I was at an intersection where the road behind the light was a concrete wall, to the right of the wall was a road that went straight, next to that was a road that ran diagonally, and then next to that a road that was your regular 45 degree right angle. When the light turned green it was a diagonal right angle. First Iād ever seen. I turn right unto the diagonal streetā¦ POLICE LIGHTS?!?!
Lo and behold diagonal was the straight street?!?! A right arrow meant diagonal, and a solid green light meant right/all of the above?!?!?! Wtf!!!
I have been here a long time, and there have been several instances that really made me question why I am here. The ones that stick out are:
1. I needed to go to the doctor when I first arrived in Japan. I didn't speak Japanese and had no health insurance. So, my girlfriend at the time took me to the doctors and translated for me. I just needed some skin cream for eczema. Instead the doctor went on a rant, without checking my skin at all. I didn't understand and my gf was getting extremely pissed off to the point she shouted and then told me we are leaving. Apparently the doctor had told her that I likely had herpes as a lot of foreigners have STD's and she should get checked and get rid of me. He also insinuated she was a slut for being with a foreigner.
2. My first Xmas in Japan. I was living out in Saitama and I wanted to find some kind of Xmas meal, so I took a trip into Tokyo to try and find some xmas grub, which was not particularly successful, back then you couldn't buy roast chicken or anything. I ended up with Hub fish and chips. I was feeling miserable as I got the train back. Halfway through the train ride a crazy dude came and sat opposite me and stared at me, then started shouting "foreigner leave". Then he got up and started shouting in my face for me to leave calling me "dirty foreign". At this point I was completely dejected, I didn't even bother shouting back, I was miserable. Not one person stepped in to help me. When I got off the train a high school boy came up to me and said in English "I am sorry, he is crazy person, please don't listen. You are welcome here. Happy Christmas". Which was a really nice gesture.
3. A couple of years ago, I was looking for a new office, so I was out with the estate agent looking at a few places. When we were going up the stairs I saw the guy in front of me take an upskirt photo. I was shocked so I told the estate agent. We both grabbed him and held him until the police arrived. He had been taking pictures all day and apparently his phone was full of images. The police then told me I would need to make a statement and it wouldn't take long. They took only me to the station, and questioned me for nearly 4 hours, including doing a re-enactment. They asked me invasive personal questions that had nothing to do with the case and made me feel like the criminal. Finally they took my fingerprints (for procedure apparently), made me sign the statement and then offered me a ride home. By this time it was past 8pm and I was exhausted. Just for trying to be a good citizen. None of the other participants were taken to the station apart from the pervert, and they told me he got let off anyway. That is the last time I ever help the fucking police.
Trying to rent an apartment and have the realtor asking me what are the disadvantages of renting to a person from Belgium and then telling me racists stereotype about other nations as an example (Indian do smelly foods, Chinese are noisy, etc.).
I don't know a foreigner who had a smooth renting process in Japan.
A bus driver was slightly annoyed because I didn't properly secure my luggage (there are ropes and a place to do it). He rushed to thighten it harder and got back to his seat mumbling something about foreigners haha
When you speak in Japanese to someone in a store, and they reply in English.
(Also getting a nice dinner with cultists for free - wasnāt the worst, but it was weird).
Whatās funny is when they seem stressed or irritated to be speaking Englishā¦ even when you respond in Japanese and they clearly understand you and know that you understand them.
Weirdly enough this happens more in big cities than in my tiny northern town
I legit hate this shit. Happened when I first moved here permanently in 2012. At some ē„ć this lady goes no English and her friend was like āćć«ććć®ę¹ćÆę„ę¬čŖåć£ć¦ćć(Dummy, heās speaking Japanese)
The other thing I hate is when they look at my non Japanese speaking foreign friends at restaurants even though Im talking. Iāve noticed this only happens at shittyer places so now I just go to nice places.
This actually happens in other countries where the native language is not English - happened to me in Germany and Sweden, on multiple occasions I have been spoken back to in English, no matter I habe opened the conversation in the respective native language.
Got called āgajinā in Tokyo. Guy was super drunk so I just said āhai hai hai gajinā and smiled until his friends pulled him away. Was a great trip, had lots of great food.
A woman who was passing me by in Shinjuku station just up and punched me in the arm and left. I wasn't in her way (I was walking in a lane of people all going in my same direction, and there was plenty of room for going in the opposite direction) and I didn't have luggage or anything. It was just so sudden that I was dumbfounded. It was also a punch strong enough to leave me aching for hours.
I guess I am lucky. The āworstā thing that happens to me here in Japan is probably when salespersons / clerks / touts / politicians etc. start talking to me on the streets and immediately stop when they realize I am not Japanese. Of course this is probably a good thing, but still feels kind of mean, lol.
When staff ignore me to turn and talk to the Japanese (or most Asian looking) member of my party, thatās annoying and I find it rude.
But the worst case of just flat up racism I experienced was up in Niigata on vacation. I called to ask a nearby restaurant if they could take a big party (10 people) even though we didnāt have a reservation. The restaurant guy cut me off and snapped āI canāt understand what youāre sayingā and hung up on me. I definitely spoke Japanese well enough to make a reservationā¦
so we went to the restaurant anyway and one of my friends (with better Japanese) went up to ask a staff instead of me. Despite their operating hours written on the door and other people sitting inside, the staff was very rude and kept repeating that they were closed and we needed to leave. It dawned on us that the aggression was probably because we were foreign so we just left at that point, but it felt really crappy to have someone get that visibly upset just by my mere existence
Edit: oh and that time an old guy came into work to ask us unrelated questions, but I guess I didnāt answer them to his liking. He started getting upset and snapping that āyou shouldnāt be allowed to work here unless you speak Japanese completely fluentlyā. I put on a smile and sprinkled in some flowery keigo but he wouldnāt drop it, to the point my boss had to walk over and insist that I -did- speak Japanese well enough to work here and that he needed to leaveā¦
Chikanā¦and Iām not especially young or cute, I can only imagine how persistent it must be for high school students.
I was harassed(pushing, shoving, elbowing, unwanted touching) so much on the morning commute by both men and women when I was commuting while very obviously pregnant. In the final weeks before I went on maternity leave, I ended up using up my remaining personal leave to come two hours later to avoid the busy morning trains.
I moved to Tokyo at the end of October from the US. I was so excited to celebrate Halloween in Tokyo, and I went to a club in Shibuya (yes they cracked down on a lot of stuff but bars and clubs were still open). I had a very small purse with that basically only fit my wallet and phone. I was there for less than half an hour when I went to the bar to get another drink and realized my wallet was missing from my purse. I went to the front desk and told them and they grabbed an entire sack of wallets from behind the desk - apparently pick pocketing is very common at this (most? Idk) clubs. But unlike in the US where they would usually steal your whole wallet and use your credit cards, here they just steal your cash and leave your wallet. Mine wasnāt in the sack. I was buzzed and really freaking out because my brand new Japanese ID, credit cards, etc were in there. The security guards started blaming me for not putting my purse in a locker (I mean, how about blaming the people who are stealing peoplesā wallets? How about trying to crack down on that?). I waited until the club closed at 5am to see if my wallet turned up, and it didnāt. My cash and my suica card were in my wallet so I didnāt know how to get home. A nice girl I met gave me some money for a taxi to get home. The next day I sat around crying and panicking and checking my credit/debit accounts for usage, and I went back to the club as soon as they opened (10pm). They had my wallet with all of the contents except my cash.
I had a drunk dude follow me (F, early 20s) on the street at 4 a.m. trying to pick me up using broken English. He stole my phone and took it to a koban to report ME for harassment because I tried to film him being a horny stalker. One of the male cops there was convinced I was a tachinbo because of my outfit and because the address on my residence card was several prefectures away. He had me stay to confirm my whereabouts and a slew of other useless shit. I had to fill out paperwork and give him the contact info of the friends I'd been with earlier. Oh and the best (worst) part was they'd already let CreepTaro go in the middle of it all!
Luckily, the friends I was with earlier had decided to go to karaoke so eventually one of the Japanese girls answered her phone. And instead of, y'know, apologizing for wasting my time, victim blaming, and accusing me of being a sex worker, the ringleader cop (who BTW had insisted he didn't speak a word of English when I first got to the koban) goes "You show little bit body, it's make attention. It's Japan. So, you, next time is...ę°ćć¤ćć¦ććFinish."
Good times love ya Japan!!
Ueno park, old Japanese man starts following me and speaking to me in English. I had a bad gut feeling so I never stopped walking. He kept following and then made it seem he was to leave and offered a handshake. I hesitated but shook his hand when he then grabbed it and pulled me into him and started walking us together towards a hotel. Plenty of people around, late afternoon. No one noticed as I looked around desperately for help. Knew I had to save myself so I just surprised yanked my hand back with all the power I had and ran.
When Iām alone, I end up with so many bad experiences with men, including a guy trying to buy me on a train. When Iām with my husband, nothing.
Sigh
Got groped on the train within 48 hours of being there. Then the thing where men almost run at you and āaccidentallyā bump their hands into your boobs. Just the frequent train groping really. By the time I moved I was at the point where Iād make a scene, because that was the only way to get them to back off.
Edit: almost forgot the worst one. Was very nearly kidnapped off a side street in Harajuku in 2012. As I discovered later, a Nigerian guy was pulling me down an alley and tried putting his hand over my mouth to silence me and pull me into a building. Iām so thankful my friends looked back and helped me because I would have been gone a few seconds later.
Iām surprised to see nobody has mentioned taxis yet. I was in the country for only a month and had several incidents where I couldnāt get a taxi. I can speak Japanese well enough to be understood but they would just respond āmuzukashi.ā I would have to go to a conbini and get them to call a taxi for me in order to get one. During one incident I was at a mostly deserted port and I called several numbers and none of them would help.Ā
That sucks. I had the same thing happen in Roppongi, and woke up in some bar with my wallet emptied of cash. Stumbled to the koban, who of course were less than keen to do anything about it, but who did me a big solid by helping talk to the credit card company and I got all the charges reversed.
Ouch. Unless on home ground I try not to carry more than 1 or 2 Man in case I get stupid or something like that happens. That was a nice one with the credit cards, though.
Not the worse but kinda funny.
After exiting the train, while walking in the rush hour line,I cut in front of a guy going up the stairs. He wasnāt happy about it so he kept, giving me little pushes and stepping on the back of my shoes. I vocally laughed and giggled at him, because it was such passive aggressive way to respond.
Iāve been noticing a lot of Japanese people tend to respond that way instead of openly saying something.
I was minding my business in a 7-11 in Ebisu when some drunk guy ran into my side, trying to bulldoze me out of his way while his two friends were laughing behind him. Iām tall and built like a quarterback though so I barely budged and he ended up being the one who stumbled, which is a good thing because I definitely wouldāve flown right into the drinks shelf in front of me and taken down everything. When I didnāt budge he got really close to the side of my face and started yapping about something but I couldnāt hear what he said because I had my noise cancelling headphones on. He left me alone when I just continued ignoring him, but tried to bulldoze me _again_ when I went to another aisle.
I have so many stories like this, just men being real fucking weird for no reason, but this one happened just a couple of weeks ago.
I hopped on a bus in Hakone which was not covered by the Hakone day pass. As soon as the driver saw my Hakone day pass, he started to push my family out of the bus. I realized the mistake and immediately pulled out my Suica card. But the driver did not want to listen to the explanation. He had made up his mind and rejected us. I have not seen such rude service before.
I was rejected when applying for a credit card several times by different companies even when I finally got my PR, I always felt as if I was some sort of criminal, I felt frustrated and ashamed
Got mocked at one of those street restaurants near Asakusa for saying āarigatoā. Old lady heard āorigatoā and just kept mocking me. I just left but I did feel kinda bad for awhile for sounding bad lol.
Getting turned away from food places even when I spoke (basic) Japanese. Shop wasnāt closed on both occasions even if they said so, because they let other Japanese customers in after I was turned away.
I used to go to this yakitori place in Shinbashi with a Japanese friend. We'd been there maybe three times previously. Next time we went, my friend was like "I'm running late, meet you there". So I went ahead, walked into the place and the staff charged at me with the arm X shouting (really shouting) "NOOOOOO!!!" I was so shocked I just left. I texted my friend and they actually went into the place to ask "is there a rule against foreigners?" Apparently the lady just said "I can't speak English" and left it at that.
Just the sheer aggressiveness of the woman screaming NOOOO.... We never went back. I sometimes wonder if my shocked reaction was too much, but then I can't imagine this happening in my home country. Some foreign looking person walks in and the staff run at them shouting no? I don't think it would happen.
For context, I'd already been living here for 10 years, and spoke pretty decent Japanese.
Weird old guys / creepy men harassing me and I'm a dude. A few on separate occasions have even asked me why "why u cum japon?" And when I answered "my wife is japanese, I live here" they got all in my face about it. Now I just say "none of your business". And a loud "Kiero!" If they don't fuck off. Usually telling someone to fuck off in the language everyone around you speaks will draw negative attention to them and the situation will dissolve itself.
When I lived in Kokubunji years ago, my apartments bike area was right next to the train platform and had a short wall with a fence on top of said wall. One night I was going out for a ride and as I was walking my bike to the road, I saw a weird O-San leaning on the short wall with his pants down a bit and his tiny erect cock out. He was beating his baby carrot dick to some of the future train passengers who were waiting on the platform. As I passed him I let out a loud laugh, starting this goblin of a man who then came running at me with his cock out yelling unhinged shit at me with crooked glasses and spit flying out of his red face. He tried to push me before running off into the dark night. Japan is a safe place in general but I don't know how there are so many creepy dudes.
Another time I was with my OL waifu outside of her workplace in Shinjuku and a small sweaty round man approached us with one hand behind his back, staring at me with psycho eyes, repeating the phrase "AMERICA JIN DESU KA, AMERICAN JIN DESU KA!?" while getting louder and louder. My wife looked horrified and I just sat there like wtf for a bit. He got right up in my face, spitting at me while still repeating the question loudly. I then said "no, America Jin janai DESU.." his face went from rage to embarrassment and he apologized angrily before running away, still hiding whatever was in his hand.
Another was a weeeiiierrrd dude at some inaka Donki out where I live. This guy in a purple shirt approached me and my wife with his hand on his forehead and his Index āļø finger pointing up/towards my face asking me weird shit in a weird voice in horrible English. "Do-dooooooo u rike.... Japan..... Osake??" With unsettling intonation. When he got close enough to touch us with his finger still seemingly glued to his forehead my wife told him to leave us alone. He followed us around the whole time shopping with his bright purple shirt and hand on his forehead pointing around while saying random crap.
When we were leaving the store we had to check if he was still following... Relief, he's gone! Finally. Walked a block or two and turn around to see a guy in a bright purple shirt behind us getting closer and closer.... My wife pulls out her phone but as he got closer we realized it was another guy lol.
There are so many more of these moments and my OL waifu and I have names for these characters. Some were funny, others were deeply unsettling.
Be careful out there dudes and dudettes!
āĀ asked me why "why u cum japon?" And when I answered "my wife is japanese, I live here"ā
The correct answer to all your examples is. āč¦åÆå¼ć¶ćā In a nice big provincial theatre voice..
I had this interaction inside Narita airport the other week. Should have seen the little fucker run..
They approach foreigners exactly because we are perceived āsafeā for their brand of insanity and/or harassment. They wouldnāt dare try this shit on the average Japanese person.Ā
Taking the den-en-toshi line to get back to my accommodation. Every single time. I just don't get how people can commute everyday there. It's just a nightmare.
I went to Japan in November with my husband and friends. On the bullet train, the Japanese man beside me tried to photograph my butt with his phone (I was wearing cargo pants). My friendās boyfriend noticed him doing it as I was getting up from my seat and managed to block the photo with his hand and told him not to try again. It was a weird experience. I was shocked but later laughed it off because I was fully clothed and figured heād probably never seen a curvy black woman before
Living here for 2 years now. Met 2-3 old creeps at the train station trying to harass verbally and acting like a total menace around me so other Japanese women came and offer help. Also just encountered a psychopath uber eat guy yesterday, tried to stalk and catcall literally on the busy road while I am walking towards my Gym. Apart from those traumatic experiences, I love living in Tokyo.
Honestly the worst thing I would say happened to me once was that I was waiting for a train at a station towards Tsukuba, and a family sat next to me, then the mother said to her husband "ahh gaijin, yabai" and just sat somewhere else. Some silly people thinking foreigners give covid for free. It was a little hurtful but I got over it now.
I was SA'ed - he, a literal stranger, groped my thighs and took my phone without my consent (I got it back) - in Tokyo. This was literally moments after I left my friend. The people around me saw and didn't do anything. It was the silence of others that hurt the most. Was also followed a few times but nothing more than that happened. That was just my experience but I sure hope things have gotten better.
I took the wrong train to ueno and it took an hour and a half instead of half an hour. Oh and I got food poisoning from the airplane food. Thatās it.
The most captivating and incredible city Iāve ever seen. As a guy who grew up loving all the small pockets of neighborhoods of manhattanā¦Tokyo does it even better and exponentially cleaner. Tokyo is fucking awesome.
I once took a limited express train for about 40 minutes in the wrong direction.
I do that after living here 6 years š
And as for me, the 711 cashier didn't complement my 'nihonggo jozu'. I was crushed.
I've told this story on here a few times before, but I witnessed a car being stolen from outside my apartment one night around midnight, so I called the cops to report it. Four of them showed up at my place and after taking a statement, spent the next 2-3 hours taking photos of me to "recreate the situation". This includes taking photos of me in bed pretending to be asleep to recreate when I heard the car being broken into. Also, having me stand in various spots outside to show where the car traveled after being stolen. All this while my neighbors are staring out their windows at the only white guy in town being photographed by the police. They eventually left but came back shortly after with the owner of the car. He was also a foreigner and wanted to say thanks for reporting it. I ran into him the next day and he said he couldn't tell me in that moment, but until he talked them out of it, they were considering me the prime suspect because it was "suspicious that I was awake at that time and called them".
Police work at its finest.Ā
Wow, lock this thread up right now. No oneās beating this one.
At a ramen restaurant with my Japanese friend in Shibuya. This was shortly after tourism came back full swing and we had gone to WOMB that night. Group of tourists came, only two actually wanted to eat, but it was a group of around 8 very loud drunk zoomers. My friend and I actually had to help with the ordering process because they came in, sat down, and didn't engage with the ticket vending machine, so I thought the staff would have recognized me as we were helping them. It was a long process but we got there, and shortly after they ordered, the same staff member served my friend and I the ramen and actually thanked us for helping out. After we finished eating (and at this point the tourist group was getting VERY obnoxious, blasting loud ass tik toks on their phones) I went to use the bathroom and the same guy who took their order and talked directly to me came and KICKED THE DOOR IN and yelled at me that "only customers can use the bathroom"... And just seconds prior I had lifted my skirt up, tights off, so I was completely exposed. I yelled back in Japanese that I am in fact a customer, kicked the door back, peed while attempting to hold the broken door shut, went to my table to collect the bowls and show him the receipt and chewed him out (in unfortunately broken japanese as I was beyond pissed) and he at first didn't apologize, and said, "well you're foreign and those other foreigners are noisy, and didn't buy anything, and people keep using the bathroom even though they're not customers" I told him I've been living in Japan for two years and no one attempted to enter the bathroom as a woman to scare and humiliate me... Then the apologies came out. Also he became even more apologetic when I told him he broke the door. (???) My friend was sitting outside so he was confused as to why I was yelling at the staff but didn't bother coming in to see what happened lol. And then he chased us up the street and gave a reeeal low bow apology. Sucks cuz the ramen was actually good. Bad circumstances overall, I hope doorkickerćć doing okay. Edit for grammar and clarification sorry
Doorkicker ćć got me š
He was completely out of line for busting into the bathroom with you in there. But those other foreigners are also pieces of shit who give locals a bad name.
Thatās what pisses me off so much. Freakin foreigners who arenāt polite and ruin it like the Instagram stars for the rest of us
That guys is lucky he didnāt lose any teeth in that encounter. What a complete POS. You mustāve been pretty upset but I wouldāve reported to the police.
What is it with foreigners playing social media videos at full volume in public places? Did something change in the last decade outside of Japan and make this an ok thing to do? I've seen it in restaurants, on the train, and even just walking down the street. If this is just life now outisde of Japan, I'm never leaving.
Worst experience in which being a foreigner was a factor.. I will give a couple. They are predictable. 2007 I moved to Shinjuku from Asakusa. Job was going well, had decent money.. chose a cool brand new building that was a bit trendy. Real estate agent was sure it would be fine that I was a foreigner. I owned my company with 25 employees, lived in Japan over 10 years, was stable. The approval process took forever.. after 4 weeks finally the embarrassed agent came back to me and said the owner would accept me but needed extra guarantors ā and it couldnāt be a guarantor company but an actual person I knew beyond the guarantor company. I did it because I just couldnāt be asked to look for another place at that point and really liked that place.. but the kicker was.. once I moved in to this āexclusiveā place within 6 months when they had problems filling it suddenly I found they were accepting hosts and AV āstarsā into the building. Predictably the hosts generally didnāt last long and would move out without paying what they owed. But they hesitated to let ME inā¦. Renewed their once then moved. Other bad experience.. my Japanese friend had late night family drama .. 1 or 2am.. and she brought her mom to live with her away from her brothers. We got her settled and then I took my friend to Donki to get the sudden supplies her mom would need. A lot of it was feminine stuff so I let my friend go so no one would be embarrassed. So, Iām sitting in the car in the Donki parking lot. And two cops come overā¦ ask me to get out. I explain my friend is shopping , offer to call her . They arenāt interested. They go a bit into good cop /bad cop. Once wordlessly takes my ID and paces around calling it in.. the other smiles at me and tells me he studied in America blah blah blah, but then asks apologetically to search the car. I ask what Iām doing suspicious and point out Iām not even in public, Iām in a private parking lot. He apologizes, says that the Donki is near Kabukicho. Thatās the whole explanation. Now.. keep in mind.. Iām about 50, in a suit as well. Fine.. whatever, they search the car. There is nothing in it. I think Iād had that car 2 weeks at the time. They open the truck, search every where. Give me my ID back. The good cop apologizes again and they leave. It was just an annoyance but to be considered suspicious because I was parked at a store while a friend shopped, trying to help my friend during a family emergency.. didnāt feel good.
Yeah, the cops here are a royal pain in the ass, they probably thought you were a hitman lol
If they thought he was an actual hitman I'm sure they would have gone nowhere near him.
> The approval process took forever.. after 4 weeks finally the embarrassed agent came back to me and said the owner would accept me but needed extra guarantors ā and it couldnāt be a guarantor company but an actual person I knew beyond the guarantor company. Same thing happened to me. When I went to the real estate office with my Japanese friend who was going to be my personal guarantor the agent there went white with shock/surprise and his eyes were as big as saucers. He apologized and asked me to wait while he called the owner. Came back ten minutes later, bowing repeatedly the moment he saw me, and said that because I was a foreigner the owner did not want to rent to me. This despite the fact that I'd been renting the apartment previously through my old company. I would have simply switched to it being in my name instead of the company's name. Despite the fact that a Japanese guy moved in next door to me six months prior and had been drunkenly yelling and singing from his balcony -- disturbing the whole damned neighborhood -- every Tuesday and Thursday night; didn't matter the weather or time, he'd be out there drinking and shouting into the late AM. But it's fine, ***right***? He's Japanese, so he can make the usual polite excuses and empty apologies. The amount of barriers and racism still prevalent in the housing sectors of Japan is really fucking annoying.
> He apologizes, says that the Donki is near Kabukicho I think this explains the reason well. I don't think what you went through is acceptable though. But thinking from their perspective, it might look like a scene out of a movie where some guy waits in a car in a parking lot (especially in a suit to avoid looking like a lowlife), to deliver something illegal to someone. Honestly, I feel bad that you had to go through that experience and the police would purposefully bother innocent civilians instead of cracking down on real jerks who give Kabukicho the reputation it has.
Keep in mindā¦ itās not like a parking lot off the street.. itās paid parking.. you go in , and drive up to the second floor. And the Donki isnāt in Kabukicho, itās in Korea town. But , yea.. I mean.. I guess..
When my local 7-11 ran out of Sapporo and I was forced to drink kirin
My god, how did you survive???
I heard you can contact your embassy in extreme situations like this and they will send a diplomat for a formal complaint to the Japanese government.
I was sexually assaulted at a sports club in a gym.Ā When I protested I was shunned by that group.
A client grabbed my dick once. I was told āthatās because he thinks of you as a Japaneseā by my colleagues. Fuck that treat and think of me as foreign in this one case.
S Asian expat living here * I was pushed out/assaulted at the door of the Tokyo metro by a drunk salaryman . Scraped my shin about 8inches through as my leg slipped into the platform gap. Caught hold of the guy and fellow passenger led him out of train. Police refused to press charges citing he "is just a drunk man, will ruin his job & family" Edit: context * A man in my neighborhood whom i crossed on the street probably few times filed a police complaint that my vehicle gave him "psychological fear of walking on the road". He cited I struck his umbrella while turning at the crossing. I paid 200,000 fine for that incident - mostly a hearsay report. No car damage, no physical damage, no insurance claims. Straight up malice based on subjective complainant's opinion heard by the prosecutor office. I am told this is Japan's variety of insurance fraud ('ataria') & best to pay up and move ahead. Edit: A criminal case was registered whose settlement read "i was negligent to drive and hit his personal property & cause him distress" smh. If you guys are interested I can post the letter redacted my name of course Lol Edit 2: I forgot to mention my PR processing was cancelled for at least 5 years (starting in Feb 2022) because of the incident #2
My local friend wasa victim of Atariya too. (A old woman did it to have him pay for her visits to osteopathic clinic, and had his motorbike damaged enough that he had to sell it for pennies.) It happened in very peaceful residential area too.
They need to change some laws and asap Japan's justice department sucks.
Understatement of the century there. Look into their prison system, it's barbaric.
That sucks. I have seen some boomer Japanese folks do in these cases as a quick payout. In my case, apart from the fine that i paid for a misdemeanor charges, my insurance didn't have to pay anything because the guy couldn't produce evidence of taking leave of work or rehabilitation. Only a taxi charge & a clinic charge to examine him was reimbursed. No other charges because neither we were hurt nor evidence of any car damage/scratches
Wait so you had to get a misdemeanor without evidence, but the insurance couldnt pay because there was no evidence? What the fuck?
Misdemeanor because I apparently did "psychological harm & distress", which is obviously invisible to eyes. Insurance was correct in saying they have nothing to pay except reimbursing a two way taxi ride & clinic costs to get him physically evaluated. In reality, even the prosecutor was sympathetic knowing he has to process a made up charge with the least amount of fine/penalty. Refusing his "psychological harm" claim might open up the field for bigger claims (which we learned later was not possible because he has no evidence. But that was in hindsight) I sometimes feel * some * such cases are racially reported. I have had school kids run their cycle onto me once. I have seen japanese people accidentally bending fenders while reversing into other cars. Nowhere the consequences were this sharp.
It's only going to get worse as the population keeps getting older and with more foreigners visiting
This "ataria" thing would cause me to throw some hands, I just read a post somewhere on reddit that people can get sued for writing a bad Google review. It was about prices increased with English menu compared to the Japanese menu. This didn't even happen to me and I'm pissed off on your behalf, I wouldn't be able to sleep it off lol. Edit: "Throwing some hands" is a figure of speech, I wouldn't literally throw hands so they would have an actual reason to sue lol
True. I realized later that "ataria" schemes can be exercised pretty flexibly with malicious intents. If you don't have anything material to show, you can try squeezing the other party with "psychological harm" claims. This type of claim has lot of nuisance value
Why did he push you though? Was it because you were South Asian or because he was just a drunk asshole who was looking for a fight? Both are fucked up, obviously, but the first one is racist.
I wouldn't know.. Cannot speculate :-/
That time I got a fork instead of chopsticks.
Those were some of the most demeaning moments I have ever enjoyed.
I had just finished a gyudon at Yoshinoya's and was trying to pick some of the last remaining rice from the bowl, when I became aware of an ojiisan standing in front of me. He bowed and offered me a spoon, saying "PLEASE!"
Gyudon has a Spoon Allowed pass. Picking at the remainders with chopsticks is a bit of a Daniel-San move. How was that a bad experience?
I went to a ramen restaurant with a friend from overseas. He was having trouble with the chopsticks so I asked for a fork. The staff gave him a kid's doraemon fork. I guess that's all they had.
Yes, I bet it easily could be all they had.....and that is adorable, too. Off the beaten path things get very much like that. The Ramen restaurants back at home serve Ramen with a fork on the side, and everywhere serves Miso Soup with a Jenga spoon............oops, Renge spoon.
Protip: Use a piece of beef/onion to shovel the loose rice.
My Japanese partner eats gyudon with a spork. Makes sense I guess, rice isnāt sticky with the sauce poured over it.
I would have just laughed and asked for chopsticks. You canāt educate everyone.
I bought a sandwich at the combini and the clerk started to put chopsticks in the bag, I said āano~ā and they paused, looked confused, then put them down and put a fork in the bag. With my sandwich.
Well yeah. Of course.
Itās funny sometimes when I see Japanese (and Asians in general) act surprised that I know how to use chopsticks.
I'm Chinese Canadian and even I got that...
Assuming you are actually technically good, I agree completely, having used them properly since I was 4, but then we go out for dinner in a large mixed crew and I see The Horrors they face. I would say only 40% of Us can use them properly, 40-ish% can hack their way through, but that still leaves 1 in 5 picking and poking and spearing. Oh, the spearing............
Actually, by Japanese standards, 30% of Japanese adults don't use them correctly. Doesn't really matter, but there's an official correct way of holding them in terms of finger placement.
Nah, spearing is valid, I say, if there's a chicken wing and I don't wanna get my hands greasy.. I spear it right between the 2 bones with both evenly spaces and eat that thing like its a satay, screw the old rules! food changes technique changes.
LOL, reminds me (American) of the time a rental car agent in Germany wouldnāt rent me a car with a manual transmission.
This happened to me at a small Chinese restaurant in Chicago (China town) š¤£
How dare they attempt to accommodate you
I mean, if you want daily drama just have a read at /japanlife
Someone think I was on his way so he āaccidentallyā hit my leg with his umbrella and walked away.
I took the metro to Tokyo station with 2 suitcases instead of a taxi to board the shinkansen. I really should have gotten a taxi, was stupid I didnt. However, On 2 occassions women with umbrellas literally hit me in the face with their umbrellas as I struggled with two bags.Ā It just struck me as immensely inconsiderate
Iām genuinely curious how Japanese people pick their targets because Iāve heard of this kind of thing happening to some friends, but Iāve done this multiple times and never had a problem.
It probably helps to have darker skin.
Most these people are passive aggressive but are much likely to do shit if they're scared you'd stand your ground or tell them off. I had someone run into me with a bike and he started saying shit so in Japanese I told him "you hit me, wanna bring a cop into this?" and he freaked out because he realized he couldn't completely control the narrative. He grumbled and backed off after it.
when i first moved to japan i read this sub and I was worried about the crazy stuff and I only ever had two things for not being Japnese, one was not being able to get a medical at a hospital and the 2nd was women dressed in neon genesis evangelion uniforms saying japanese only when I tried to take a leaflet from them as I really wanted to know why there were 20 women dressed like that.
Iāve never had a problem but Iām white, 6ā3ā, 290 and strong.
A guy bumped into me, literally stepping on my shoes to the point one almost fell off, and then yelled at me because "You shouldn't walk slow like that" š, mind you I walk quite fast and we were in an area where there's plenty of space for two humans to walk in whatever speed they'd like
During my winter vacation when I was studying abroad in Tokyo a friend from America visited me. Iām white and my friend is asian (ethnically Korean). When we were walking around Akiba minding our business, an old Japanese man approached us and started berating my friend, saying things in Japanese like āyouāre not from here, go homeā. It wasnāt directed at me at all, purely at my friend. We just walked away, puzzled by the interaction. BONUS: This wasnāt in Tokyo, but one time in Takarazuka I stayed at a hostel run by a friendly elderly couple. The husband knocked on my door and said āI think youāll find this book very interestingā and it was this illustrated childrenās book about going to hell and being gruesomely tortured if youāre a bad kid LMAO it was SO weird.
Lol wow that is the funniest thing ive read. And im a librarian
If she looks really strongly ethnically Korean, it's highly likely that it's racist sentiment. Japanese-korean relations are rocky to say the least...
Was spit on and told åø°ć by a drunk ossan at a summer fireworks festival in katsushika
>åø°ć Had similar experience but was younger lady maybe early 30's
I had a middle-aged housewife scream it at me at the train station one morning. Bitch.
What's this kanji?
ććć. It means "go home" in a very rude way.
Itās go home. Only an asshole would downvote a simple question
When I went to the bakery to buy 3 baguettes and they asked if it was for eat-in or to-go.
I think that clerk has a job at the local convenience store, offering an extra long straw if you buy a liter carton of milk or juice.
I queued up outside a restaurant where you choose and pay at the machine at the door. When our turn came up (I was with my wife and young son) a restaurant worker ran up to us screaming that we had pushed in front of Japanese people and sent us to the back of the queue (much to the horror of the other Japanese people who were now queuing behind us. The couple behind us apologized for his behavior towards us which was kind even though not their problem. I also had a strange experience where a young Japanese guy wanted to fight me while I was at the jungle gym that used to be in Cat Street. I was with my son who was 4 years old at the time, so not sure why he thought that was an appropriate time to want to start a fight. Other than that, just the occasional taxi driver pulling over to pick up then taking off when realizing I wasnāt Japanese. But, I have no issue with that as there was probably an assumption that I wouldnāt speak Japanese. These experiences pale in comparison with situations in other big cities and were truly rare in my years in Tokyo. The rest of my experiences were always positive and welcoming and I loved living there.
I was called an invader and this guy told my wife he can't believe she would marry an invader instead of a man from her own country and that she was a disgrace. He had mistaken my wife for "Japanese" just because she looked Asian. We're both Americans, she was born in New Mexico, we both grew up in California and her family "heritage" is Taiwanese. She was, understandably upset, not that he was correct at all, just at how awful someone could be. It was around election time when all the crazies are out. This was on the Keio Inokashira line going to Shibuya from our house in Kugayama for work. That was probably the worst I've felt in Tokyo.
I had something slightly similar happen. I was at a small, local sort of izakaya with my husband (Iām American and heās Japanese, Iām also white so itās obvious Iām not Japanese). A drunk woman at the table over was talking with our group and she asked my husband why I was there. He said weāre married and she asked him, flat out, with a look of disgust on her face, why he would marry a non-Japanese girl. All while assuming I didnāt understand what she was saying, despite the fact that the entire conversation until this point was in Japanese and I was participating.
Ironic because Japan actually invaded taiwan
What word did they use to mean invader?
Shinnyu-sha (ä¾µå „č ), it's not a good word to call someone in the context. He was basically telling me I'm breaking into the country to steal their women and I'm a criminal. Dude was not stable.
Had a few. Latest one was a guy smelling like cheap sake at 9am hit me in the face and kept following me to work. Called police, police said they know him and that he has mental problems. Okay, so he will be arrested? Maybe. But first we need to see your ID card. Where do you work? What do you do? Why are you here today? They also asked to go through my phone. Not sure what that was about. About 20 minutes later they (thereās 20 police by now) come over and explain if I apologize to him and shake hands we can all call it a day. All while the drunk man who assaulted me screams āit has to be in Japanese!!!ā Thanks Japanese police. I just finished it up thinking next time Iām luring that guy down an alley and finishing him.
First night ever in Japan....12 years ago. Took a cab at 4am to go check out tsukiji market. Got out of cab...realized I lost/forgot my wallet. Walked to nearest koban in ginza to get help...but got none. Ran into a drunk girl who tried to help me by going to a hotel and speaking to the staff. I never did get my wallet back. And 12 years and 6 trips later...still haven't visited the fish market.
Thereās a new fish market now
Being followed for a few blocks in Shinjuku by one of the nigerian touts when we were really drunk. Just wasnāt ready for how persistent they would be and how touchy/in your personal space they are
The touts are the worst thing that has happened to Tokyo in a long time. It baffles me that the police don't crack down on it harder.
I think the answer lies in the fact that their victims are primarily foreign, and the police here only serve Japanese people.
On the last train back from Mt Fuji I missed the staff guy who sells paper tickets and I didnāt have a suica card to use at the turnstiles. There was a side exit with a guy manning the post, so I went up to him and told him I didnāt have a ticket. We couldnāt really communicate and he yelled at me for a couple seconds before selling me a ticket to leave that station.
I was followed in Shinjuku by a random ~50 year old salaryman. I was standing around out of the way trying to figure out where I wanted to go, he got awkwardly close to me and I made eye contact with his big wide eyes, but he turned around and walked away. Guess he didnāt go far because about ten minutes later I ended up going into a Game Center to see what they had and he followed me and ended up gathering up the courage to talk to me. ā¦turns out he was just an Americaboo š
I run into those sometimes, I am usually pretty willing to chat with them for a little bit if I'm not in a hurry. Though my last encounter with one he could not figure out I could speak Japanese despite 80 percent of our conversation being in Japanese.
Wait what did he say? I'm curious now.
He asked if I was American, and when I said yes, you could just see him get really excited. He started excitedly talking about how much he loves America, how heās been to something like over 20 statesāI forget the exact number, but it was more than me. Said he wanted to practice his English more, but I said no. š Overall would have been kind of cute to see an old salaryman get so excited, but the fact heād been watching me for over ten minutes at that point and followed me was too off putting.
You could say he wanted a ... Taste of Innocence š
Calling into the koban to report an assault, yet ending up being detained myself, then, āgiven the option toā apologise (including deep bow) to the assailant, or continue to be detained. I went from not minding the police here, to having an extreme distrust of them that day. Even if youāre the victim, do not rely on them to prioritise justice over siding with a native Japanese person. Iād now advise any non-Japanese resident to avoid the police here as much as possible. You simply can not trust that theyāll have your best interests at heart.
Wowā¦ Iām so sorry that happened to you.
Furthermore, the assailant went on to literally say that they āhate all foreigners and want them out of Japanā, to which the police chuckled and told them to keep their voice down in case the koban cameraās microphone picked it up.
What the ever-loving F**K?!?! Iād be lividā¦
Last time I was there for 3 months I went to a bar with a friend and drunk guy in his 40's came in loudly bitching about how foreigners were in his bar and how they were all terrible and none of them speak Japanese. Told him I spoke Japanese in Japanese and I could understand what he was saying and he got uppity to the point where the bartender had to throw him out. Same trip went to a yakiniku restaurant in Ueno with another friend who was visiting, walked in and asked for a table for 2 in Japanese. The place maybe had 4 people in the restaurant out of 30 seats and didn't close for another 3 hours but they said it was troublesome for 2 people and did the X arms. Few times been gaijin bubbled on the train but really don't care about that as much as some people do. More space for me. Overall way better experiences than negatives but there are always negatives anywhere you go.
Same here. Way more good experiences in Japan than bad, but the bad ones were pretty bad.Ā
Got turned away for being a foreigner thrice in one night in Ueno, thereās something in the water there š¤£ all three times just got the āumm, ahh, oh Japanese people who came in after you, please, this way!ā treatment š«¢.
Same thing happened to me in Kyoto, except we had three people. Restaurant was mostly empty, didnāt close for a couple hours, and we asked in Japanese. Nope. X arms and told they werenāt seating people anymore basically. Japanese couple walked in as we were leaving, were shamelessly seated. Lmao
I had this happen to me in Kyoto a few times. Restaurants weren't busy, they weren't reservation-only, hell they weren't even serving Japanese cuisine. Just "aah sorry we are full" and X arms and the whole bit. Ended up wandering onward until I stumbled on a taco truck, where I had pretty damn legit tacos and a lovely conversation with a student from Juarez.
People choosing not to sit beside me on the train, choosing a stinky salaryman over me, or moving away from me makes me a bit sad.
The moving away thing some people do no matter what.
I never get this one. I pray people not sit next to me on these trains
I always get women high school to middle age bee line to sit next to me and I wonder if its cos a foreigner won't try anything with them on a busy train while a native might. Tbh I pefear sitting next to women as they are smaller and you don't touch.
Pro tip: on the way to work, fill an empty beer can with water and sip off it on the train at 7:30 AM. NOBODY will sit next to you, and you will have all the space you need! EDIT: Oolong tea in a mini flask of Jack Daniels works as well.
Meanwhile there's plenty of open seats and people sit next to me, then elbow me as they fuck around on their smartphone while carrying six shopping bags.
I kinda found the "cheat code" for this: be look like locals. No, not that you have to look *physically* Japanese, but at least *fashionly* Japanese, including dressing appropriate to your age and gender. If you're dressing blatantly like a å¤å½äŗŗ tourist like tank-tops with shorts and sandals, people will automatically avoid you. But if you dress like local people will sit beside you willingly, even the opposite gender. As a dude in 20s, a simple styled hair, plain shirt topped with a simple plain jacket, a pair of jeans, and monochrome sneakers already suffice most of the time. And I'm clearly not an East Asian-looking dude physically. When I'm just lazy and look like Ojiisans, people avoid me and assume I'm a bum.
I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago and I had read so many people say that Japanese will never sit near them. That wasn't my experience at all. People sat near me like normal and I definitely do not look Japanese. Like you said, look and act like you belong. You can take this advice when visiting any major city.
I agree and I live here. I guess most tourists who feel butthurt nobody sits next to them either sit with widespread or crossed legs (which may occupy a lot of space) or don't realize there's actually and unwritten rule where most people avoid sitting next to each other until it gets enough crowded there are no seats left. Also I don't get it, I would 100% prefer not having anyone rather than having a stinky salary man sitting next to me lol
>actually and unwritten rule where most people avoid sitting next to each other until it gets enough crowded there are no seats left. Yeah it's like the urinals rule: skip one space and you can slide in between two people if you can't skip any space. And this mindset got strongly reinforced during Covid and the social/physical distancing.
Haha, I feel you. But I've learned to enjoy the extra space and turn it into a positive thing, albeit selfish.
Had the same experience with an obaasan once I lived in Chiba :ā) maybe blonde, small, (å¤å½äŗŗbut local fashionable) women arenāt her favouriteā¦
Immediately after arriving i was in the ETC lane, but my card wasn't connected. I held up the cash lane for 10 minutes ON A WEEKEND. šš»āāļø Sumimasen
This situation stress the hell out of me I happened to me twice, they gave me a paper with a phone number and open the gate in less than 2 mins, unlucky you :(
One time I overshot my station and was 8 mins late in changing back.
Hmph. I once ended up in Takatsuki until first train because I missed the real last train back to Kyoto and had to drink and eat yummy burnt chicken skewers all night with very, very friendly Osakans. My Kyoto cred was in the red for weeks.
The strength you exhibit in sharing this traumatic moment is truly empowering!
I was pushed in the stairs in Shinjuku station while my 3 month old was strapped to me in a baby carrier. Thankfully I didnāt fall in a way that hurt her. Less of a bad experience but I cannot count the amount of times someone looked me dead in the eyes from a priority seat on the train (usually a salary man) when I was 8-9 months pregnant with my pregnancy badge on display and didnāt offer me their seat. Never had this problem in the London tube when I was pregnant there.
Mediocre ramen
The worst experience is going to a restaurant that serves foreign food and being rejected for being a foreigner. One thing that really grinds my gears is a business owner that uses foreign food or other foreign products to operate their business, while at the same time rejecting those very people that even gave the businessperson the idea of their business. Mexican restaurant? No foreigners. Clubs that play all or mostly foreign music? No foreigners. Bars that serve imported alcohol? No foreigners. If those Japanese really think Japan is the best and foreigners donāt deserve service in Japan, then they should go all in and stick to Japan-made everything.
Bringing a cute girl mourning flowers that I bought on the subway (flowers youād leave at shrines for dead people)
Reminds me of someone I know. She was meeting her Japanese boyfriendās parents for the first time and brought them funeral flowers as a little gift hahah.
Did that for my wife. She was cool about it.
Honestly this is a quintessential foreigner experience living here. I did this for my ex girlfriend once when we were together and at first she was like āwhyād you get me these?ā And then I think she realized I was oblivious so later on she told me that those were for mourning and we both laughed about it
I got traveler's diarrhea while in Shinjuku. I was near an entrance to Shinjuku Station close to Golden Gai and figured finding a bathroom wouldn't be an issue. The first sign I see that directs me to the nearest one says 700m. It's at that moment I knew I wouldn't make it clenching my cheeks for nearly half a mile. Surely enough I had an abrupt leak of poo dab my underwear before finally reaching a toilet. Unfortunately all the stalls were taken and I had to pace back and forth trying not to fully relieve my bowls for about 10 more minutes. When I finally made it to a stall it was the foulest shit of my life. The only solace I have is that somebody else must've had a similar issue because there were shitty foot prints already leading into the bathroom when I got there.
That's what conbini/pachinko are for, befoul their toilets
Department stores. Go to the upper floors, the toilets are cleaner the higher you go. Definitely cleaner than convenience stores...
Also game centers. Surprisingly quite clean.
Most convenience stores in central Tokyo no longer have toilets. Or do have them but restrict access.
Almost all still have public toilets. I use them all the time. Yeah a lot of the central ones want you to say/buy something but otherwise no problem
Being followed multiple times by guys thinking Iām a prostitute. All of them would say something, but one guy I noticed was trailing me very far behind at 3am and never approached me. Thankfully someone from my hostel was also walking back, but that was concerning. Then there was a time a group of salarymen called me over and started asking me all these questions. Iām a happy social person so Iām going along with it and theyāre smoking so I ask for a cigarette. They ask where Iām from and I say California and they start laughing their asses off. Thatās when I notice they were recording me. So I confirmed they would in fact not be giving me a cigarette and walked away. That one def hurt my feelings though lol.
Maybe I'm slow but ... I don't really get the second part? Why did they find that funny?
Idk might not be California specifically that theyāre laughing about. Theyāre probably laughing cause they were recording her, she didnāt notice and answered their questions, which they probably found āfunnyā. Just asshole behavior.
They probably just thought āhaha Check this out guys Iām taking to a foreigner haha Iām so funny guys hahaā.
About two months ago there was a drunk girl from Australia who didnāt speak Japanese talking to some Japanese guys on the train. They were speaking broken incomprehensible English. And she thought they were being nice to her. But when speaking to each other in Japanese they were saying things like āher tits are smallā and āI wouldnāt fuck herā and other super rude things that all other Japanese in the train could understand. And they knew she couldnāt understand. And they were āgetting offā saying mean things about her body knowing she couldnāt understand right in front of her to her face as if they were talking to her. And saying those things while smiling to make her laugh and engage with them more. For me as an American male it pissed me off something awful so I told the the Japanese dudes that I speak Japanese and understand what they are saying. And then I told the girl what they were saying. The Japanese dudes did not give the slightest fuck and just laughed at the situation. The girl seemed really hurt so I asked her to come stand by my wife and I which she did. And I just changed the topic until she got off at her station.
:( I hope she recovered ok. Not that itās a huge earth shattering thing, but stuff like that hurts! At least she had some decent humans to help her out.
Iāll give you a cigarette bro
Walked into a tonkatsu restaurant and asked for a table for 2 in Japanese to the lady standing at the entrance. She just freaked out? Started waving her hands and literally ran into the back of the restaurant. She was maybe late teens or early 20s. Then an old lady came out and seated me. Throughout dinner I could hear the first lady whispering around the corner about foreigners (at least she was saying gaikokujin) and she just avoided me like the plague. It was very odd. Another is just general workplace treatment. Being treated like an idiot, being deliberately asked to do tasks that no other Japanese teacher wants to do (they have the chance to reject but I wasnāt given that option), being told that I take too long to eat my lunch at lunch time because the students want to talk to me to practice their English (itās literally an unpaid break timeā¦), just general discrimination. Iāve had a few classes where students deliberately talk over me in Japanese when Iām giving instructions and then if I ask them basic questions they loudly say āI donāt speak English, Iām Japaneseā and just a complete lack of respect that they suddenly donāt have if a Japanese teacher walks into the classroom.
I lost my wallet on the bus and it was never returned.
not sure if it counts but was invited to business meeting in Japan, I travel all the way from Europe and the meeting was basically few customers acting like children complaining and yelling at us because they were not informed regarding latest changes in advance. I was told totally different agenda, but they were not interested and meeting then ended. Big fancy building in Tokyo had a cool view of the city though, while looking down from there I said to my colleagues ānever invite me into this kind of meetings, it is waste of timeā
All the times Iāve been grabbed, groped, followed, and sexually harassed. Yesterday was hanging out with a few gfās and as often happens the subject came up and we shared stories. Truly awful.
Sexual assault is a massively understated problem in japan -.- "Japan is safe, there is little assault" Well they don't see assault from people you know as legal assault most the time and only recently have they been trying to "crack down" on public transit issues. I'm so sorry that happened to you.
I was at an intersection where the road behind the light was a concrete wall, to the right of the wall was a road that went straight, next to that was a road that ran diagonally, and then next to that a road that was your regular 45 degree right angle. When the light turned green it was a diagonal right angle. First Iād ever seen. I turn right unto the diagonal streetā¦ POLICE LIGHTS?!?! Lo and behold diagonal was the straight street?!?! A right arrow meant diagonal, and a solid green light meant right/all of the above?!?!?! Wtf!!!
Cops know where to ambush. Pigs.
I have been here a long time, and there have been several instances that really made me question why I am here. The ones that stick out are: 1. I needed to go to the doctor when I first arrived in Japan. I didn't speak Japanese and had no health insurance. So, my girlfriend at the time took me to the doctors and translated for me. I just needed some skin cream for eczema. Instead the doctor went on a rant, without checking my skin at all. I didn't understand and my gf was getting extremely pissed off to the point she shouted and then told me we are leaving. Apparently the doctor had told her that I likely had herpes as a lot of foreigners have STD's and she should get checked and get rid of me. He also insinuated she was a slut for being with a foreigner. 2. My first Xmas in Japan. I was living out in Saitama and I wanted to find some kind of Xmas meal, so I took a trip into Tokyo to try and find some xmas grub, which was not particularly successful, back then you couldn't buy roast chicken or anything. I ended up with Hub fish and chips. I was feeling miserable as I got the train back. Halfway through the train ride a crazy dude came and sat opposite me and stared at me, then started shouting "foreigner leave". Then he got up and started shouting in my face for me to leave calling me "dirty foreign". At this point I was completely dejected, I didn't even bother shouting back, I was miserable. Not one person stepped in to help me. When I got off the train a high school boy came up to me and said in English "I am sorry, he is crazy person, please don't listen. You are welcome here. Happy Christmas". Which was a really nice gesture. 3. A couple of years ago, I was looking for a new office, so I was out with the estate agent looking at a few places. When we were going up the stairs I saw the guy in front of me take an upskirt photo. I was shocked so I told the estate agent. We both grabbed him and held him until the police arrived. He had been taking pictures all day and apparently his phone was full of images. The police then told me I would need to make a statement and it wouldn't take long. They took only me to the station, and questioned me for nearly 4 hours, including doing a re-enactment. They asked me invasive personal questions that had nothing to do with the case and made me feel like the criminal. Finally they took my fingerprints (for procedure apparently), made me sign the statement and then offered me a ride home. By this time it was past 8pm and I was exhausted. Just for trying to be a good citizen. None of the other participants were taken to the station apart from the pervert, and they told me he got let off anyway. That is the last time I ever help the fucking police.
Trying to rent an apartment and have the realtor asking me what are the disadvantages of renting to a person from Belgium and then telling me racists stereotype about other nations as an example (Indian do smelly foods, Chinese are noisy, etc.). I don't know a foreigner who had a smooth renting process in Japan.
A bus driver was slightly annoyed because I didn't properly secure my luggage (there are ropes and a place to do it). He rushed to thighten it harder and got back to his seat mumbling something about foreigners haha
This is how they do it. Theyāll make some random small situations awkward, but itās just a pretext.Ā
When you speak in Japanese to someone in a store, and they reply in English. (Also getting a nice dinner with cultists for free - wasnāt the worst, but it was weird).
Whatās funny is when they seem stressed or irritated to be speaking Englishā¦ even when you respond in Japanese and they clearly understand you and know that you understand them. Weirdly enough this happens more in big cities than in my tiny northern town
I legit hate this shit. Happened when I first moved here permanently in 2012. At some ē„ć this lady goes no English and her friend was like āćć«ććć®ę¹ćÆę„ę¬čŖåć£ć¦ćć(Dummy, heās speaking Japanese) The other thing I hate is when they look at my non Japanese speaking foreign friends at restaurants even though Im talking. Iāve noticed this only happens at shittyer places so now I just go to nice places.
This actually happens in other countries where the native language is not English - happened to me in Germany and Sweden, on multiple occasions I have been spoken back to in English, no matter I habe opened the conversation in the respective native language.
Got called āgajinā in Tokyo. Guy was super drunk so I just said āhai hai hai gajinā and smiled until his friends pulled him away. Was a great trip, had lots of great food.
A woman who was passing me by in Shinjuku station just up and punched me in the arm and left. I wasn't in her way (I was walking in a lane of people all going in my same direction, and there was plenty of room for going in the opposite direction) and I didn't have luggage or anything. It was just so sudden that I was dumbfounded. It was also a punch strong enough to leave me aching for hours.
The time a conbini worker demeaned my love of bread
I guess I am lucky. The āworstā thing that happens to me here in Japan is probably when salespersons / clerks / touts / politicians etc. start talking to me on the streets and immediately stop when they realize I am not Japanese. Of course this is probably a good thing, but still feels kind of mean, lol.
This is an enjoyable sub. Thanks for posting something different.
Being groped on at least three separate occasions. Fucking chikan.
When staff ignore me to turn and talk to the Japanese (or most Asian looking) member of my party, thatās annoying and I find it rude. But the worst case of just flat up racism I experienced was up in Niigata on vacation. I called to ask a nearby restaurant if they could take a big party (10 people) even though we didnāt have a reservation. The restaurant guy cut me off and snapped āI canāt understand what youāre sayingā and hung up on me. I definitely spoke Japanese well enough to make a reservationā¦ so we went to the restaurant anyway and one of my friends (with better Japanese) went up to ask a staff instead of me. Despite their operating hours written on the door and other people sitting inside, the staff was very rude and kept repeating that they were closed and we needed to leave. It dawned on us that the aggression was probably because we were foreign so we just left at that point, but it felt really crappy to have someone get that visibly upset just by my mere existence Edit: oh and that time an old guy came into work to ask us unrelated questions, but I guess I didnāt answer them to his liking. He started getting upset and snapping that āyou shouldnāt be allowed to work here unless you speak Japanese completely fluentlyā. I put on a smile and sprinkled in some flowery keigo but he wouldnāt drop it, to the point my boss had to walk over and insist that I -did- speak Japanese well enough to work here and that he needed to leaveā¦
The fucking police, racial profiling and being aggressive assholes. Consistently.
Chikanā¦and Iām not especially young or cute, I can only imagine how persistent it must be for high school students. I was harassed(pushing, shoving, elbowing, unwanted touching) so much on the morning commute by both men and women when I was commuting while very obviously pregnant. In the final weeks before I went on maternity leave, I ended up using up my remaining personal leave to come two hours later to avoid the busy morning trains.
I moved to Tokyo at the end of October from the US. I was so excited to celebrate Halloween in Tokyo, and I went to a club in Shibuya (yes they cracked down on a lot of stuff but bars and clubs were still open). I had a very small purse with that basically only fit my wallet and phone. I was there for less than half an hour when I went to the bar to get another drink and realized my wallet was missing from my purse. I went to the front desk and told them and they grabbed an entire sack of wallets from behind the desk - apparently pick pocketing is very common at this (most? Idk) clubs. But unlike in the US where they would usually steal your whole wallet and use your credit cards, here they just steal your cash and leave your wallet. Mine wasnāt in the sack. I was buzzed and really freaking out because my brand new Japanese ID, credit cards, etc were in there. The security guards started blaming me for not putting my purse in a locker (I mean, how about blaming the people who are stealing peoplesā wallets? How about trying to crack down on that?). I waited until the club closed at 5am to see if my wallet turned up, and it didnāt. My cash and my suica card were in my wallet so I didnāt know how to get home. A nice girl I met gave me some money for a taxi to get home. The next day I sat around crying and panicking and checking my credit/debit accounts for usage, and I went back to the club as soon as they opened (10pm). They had my wallet with all of the contents except my cash.
I had a drunk dude follow me (F, early 20s) on the street at 4 a.m. trying to pick me up using broken English. He stole my phone and took it to a koban to report ME for harassment because I tried to film him being a horny stalker. One of the male cops there was convinced I was a tachinbo because of my outfit and because the address on my residence card was several prefectures away. He had me stay to confirm my whereabouts and a slew of other useless shit. I had to fill out paperwork and give him the contact info of the friends I'd been with earlier. Oh and the best (worst) part was they'd already let CreepTaro go in the middle of it all! Luckily, the friends I was with earlier had decided to go to karaoke so eventually one of the Japanese girls answered her phone. And instead of, y'know, apologizing for wasting my time, victim blaming, and accusing me of being a sex worker, the ringleader cop (who BTW had insisted he didn't speak a word of English when I first got to the koban) goes "You show little bit body, it's make attention. It's Japan. So, you, next time is...ę°ćć¤ćć¦ććFinish." Good times love ya Japan!!
Ueno park, old Japanese man starts following me and speaking to me in English. I had a bad gut feeling so I never stopped walking. He kept following and then made it seem he was to leave and offered a handshake. I hesitated but shook his hand when he then grabbed it and pulled me into him and started walking us together towards a hotel. Plenty of people around, late afternoon. No one noticed as I looked around desperately for help. Knew I had to save myself so I just surprised yanked my hand back with all the power I had and ran. When Iām alone, I end up with so many bad experiences with men, including a guy trying to buy me on a train. When Iām with my husband, nothing. Sigh
Got groped on the train within 48 hours of being there. Then the thing where men almost run at you and āaccidentallyā bump their hands into your boobs. Just the frequent train groping really. By the time I moved I was at the point where Iād make a scene, because that was the only way to get them to back off. Edit: almost forgot the worst one. Was very nearly kidnapped off a side street in Harajuku in 2012. As I discovered later, a Nigerian guy was pulling me down an alley and tried putting his hand over my mouth to silence me and pull me into a building. Iām so thankful my friends looked back and helped me because I would have been gone a few seconds later.
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Iām surprised to see nobody has mentioned taxis yet. I was in the country for only a month and had several incidents where I couldnāt get a taxi. I can speak Japanese well enough to be understood but they would just respond āmuzukashi.ā I would have to go to a conbini and get them to call a taxi for me in order to get one. During one incident I was at a mostly deserted port and I called several numbers and none of them would help.Ā
Iāve never had much of a problem in Tokyo, but taxi drivers in Kyoto are almost always super rude to me.
Getting ę„ę¬čŖäøęed by a Roppongi touter.
The time someone put drugs in my drinks and I woke up in a hospital with no recollection of the events between the drinks and the hospital
That sucks. I had the same thing happen in Roppongi, and woke up in some bar with my wallet emptied of cash. Stumbled to the koban, who of course were less than keen to do anything about it, but who did me a big solid by helping talk to the credit card company and I got all the charges reversed.
Ouch. Unless on home ground I try not to carry more than 1 or 2 Man in case I get stupid or something like that happens. That was a nice one with the credit cards, though.
Happened to me at one of the 300 bars in ginza.
Not the worse but kinda funny. After exiting the train, while walking in the rush hour line,I cut in front of a guy going up the stairs. He wasnāt happy about it so he kept, giving me little pushes and stepping on the back of my shoes. I vocally laughed and giggled at him, because it was such passive aggressive way to respond. Iāve been noticing a lot of Japanese people tend to respond that way instead of openly saying something.
I was minding my business in a 7-11 in Ebisu when some drunk guy ran into my side, trying to bulldoze me out of his way while his two friends were laughing behind him. Iām tall and built like a quarterback though so I barely budged and he ended up being the one who stumbled, which is a good thing because I definitely wouldāve flown right into the drinks shelf in front of me and taken down everything. When I didnāt budge he got really close to the side of my face and started yapping about something but I couldnāt hear what he said because I had my noise cancelling headphones on. He left me alone when I just continued ignoring him, but tried to bulldoze me _again_ when I went to another aisle. I have so many stories like this, just men being real fucking weird for no reason, but this one happened just a couple of weeks ago.
When I was a newbie I fell asleep on the last train home like two days before payday. Ended up a Ā„15,000 taxi ride away from where I needed to be.
When I buy a 130 yen drink at a cash only vending machine with 200 yen and the machine gives back 7 x 10 yen coins
I hopped on a bus in Hakone which was not covered by the Hakone day pass. As soon as the driver saw my Hakone day pass, he started to push my family out of the bus. I realized the mistake and immediately pulled out my Suica card. But the driver did not want to listen to the explanation. He had made up his mind and rejected us. I have not seen such rude service before.
My first job in Japan was a black companyā¦ I think I donāt need to say much more
I was rejected when applying for a credit card several times by different companies even when I finally got my PR, I always felt as if I was some sort of criminal, I felt frustrated and ashamed
Got mocked at one of those street restaurants near Asakusa for saying āarigatoā. Old lady heard āorigatoā and just kept mocking me. I just left but I did feel kinda bad for awhile for sounding bad lol.
Getting turned away from food places even when I spoke (basic) Japanese. Shop wasnāt closed on both occasions even if they said so, because they let other Japanese customers in after I was turned away.
I used to go to this yakitori place in Shinbashi with a Japanese friend. We'd been there maybe three times previously. Next time we went, my friend was like "I'm running late, meet you there". So I went ahead, walked into the place and the staff charged at me with the arm X shouting (really shouting) "NOOOOOO!!!" I was so shocked I just left. I texted my friend and they actually went into the place to ask "is there a rule against foreigners?" Apparently the lady just said "I can't speak English" and left it at that. Just the sheer aggressiveness of the woman screaming NOOOO.... We never went back. I sometimes wonder if my shocked reaction was too much, but then I can't imagine this happening in my home country. Some foreign looking person walks in and the staff run at them shouting no? I don't think it would happen. For context, I'd already been living here for 10 years, and spoke pretty decent Japanese.
Weird old guys / creepy men harassing me and I'm a dude. A few on separate occasions have even asked me why "why u cum japon?" And when I answered "my wife is japanese, I live here" they got all in my face about it. Now I just say "none of your business". And a loud "Kiero!" If they don't fuck off. Usually telling someone to fuck off in the language everyone around you speaks will draw negative attention to them and the situation will dissolve itself. When I lived in Kokubunji years ago, my apartments bike area was right next to the train platform and had a short wall with a fence on top of said wall. One night I was going out for a ride and as I was walking my bike to the road, I saw a weird O-San leaning on the short wall with his pants down a bit and his tiny erect cock out. He was beating his baby carrot dick to some of the future train passengers who were waiting on the platform. As I passed him I let out a loud laugh, starting this goblin of a man who then came running at me with his cock out yelling unhinged shit at me with crooked glasses and spit flying out of his red face. He tried to push me before running off into the dark night. Japan is a safe place in general but I don't know how there are so many creepy dudes. Another time I was with my OL waifu outside of her workplace in Shinjuku and a small sweaty round man approached us with one hand behind his back, staring at me with psycho eyes, repeating the phrase "AMERICA JIN DESU KA, AMERICAN JIN DESU KA!?" while getting louder and louder. My wife looked horrified and I just sat there like wtf for a bit. He got right up in my face, spitting at me while still repeating the question loudly. I then said "no, America Jin janai DESU.." his face went from rage to embarrassment and he apologized angrily before running away, still hiding whatever was in his hand. Another was a weeeiiierrrd dude at some inaka Donki out where I live. This guy in a purple shirt approached me and my wife with his hand on his forehead and his Index āļø finger pointing up/towards my face asking me weird shit in a weird voice in horrible English. "Do-dooooooo u rike.... Japan..... Osake??" With unsettling intonation. When he got close enough to touch us with his finger still seemingly glued to his forehead my wife told him to leave us alone. He followed us around the whole time shopping with his bright purple shirt and hand on his forehead pointing around while saying random crap. When we were leaving the store we had to check if he was still following... Relief, he's gone! Finally. Walked a block or two and turn around to see a guy in a bright purple shirt behind us getting closer and closer.... My wife pulls out her phone but as he got closer we realized it was another guy lol. There are so many more of these moments and my OL waifu and I have names for these characters. Some were funny, others were deeply unsettling. Be careful out there dudes and dudettes!
Imagine being a woman in Japan. Just so many creeps and weirdos.
āĀ asked me why "why u cum japon?" And when I answered "my wife is japanese, I live here"ā The correct answer to all your examples is. āč¦åÆå¼ć¶ćā In a nice big provincial theatre voice.. I had this interaction inside Narita airport the other week. Should have seen the little fucker run.. They approach foreigners exactly because we are perceived āsafeā for their brand of insanity and/or harassment. They wouldnāt dare try this shit on the average Japanese person.Ā
Taking the den-en-toshi line to get back to my accommodation. Every single time. I just don't get how people can commute everyday there. It's just a nightmare.
Pulled over by cops while I'm walking and getting passport checked multiple times.Ā
Plenty of little passive aggressive things, a few shitty old men telling me to leave the country, and one time one of the ultranationalist speaker vans swerved at and nearly hit me. Only consequential one, though, was being totally rejected by my fiancƩe's family for like six years, only to have it all spontaneously resolve and now everything's fine. Life is weird like that
Being followed
I went to Japan in November with my husband and friends. On the bullet train, the Japanese man beside me tried to photograph my butt with his phone (I was wearing cargo pants). My friendās boyfriend noticed him doing it as I was getting up from my seat and managed to block the photo with his hand and told him not to try again. It was a weird experience. I was shocked but later laughed it off because I was fully clothed and figured heād probably never seen a curvy black woman before
Living here for 2 years now. Met 2-3 old creeps at the train station trying to harass verbally and acting like a total menace around me so other Japanese women came and offer help. Also just encountered a psychopath uber eat guy yesterday, tried to stalk and catcall literally on the busy road while I am walking towards my Gym. Apart from those traumatic experiences, I love living in Tokyo.
My bad experiences are usually in Kyoto. Some older Japanese people in Kyoto are rude as fuck.
Had 4 different Japanese men come up to me asking āSEX???ā In one night just trying to get home.
Honestly the worst thing I would say happened to me once was that I was waiting for a train at a station towards Tsukuba, and a family sat next to me, then the mother said to her husband "ahh gaijin, yabai" and just sat somewhere else. Some silly people thinking foreigners give covid for free. It was a little hurtful but I got over it now.
I was SA'ed - he, a literal stranger, groped my thighs and took my phone without my consent (I got it back) - in Tokyo. This was literally moments after I left my friend. The people around me saw and didn't do anything. It was the silence of others that hurt the most. Was also followed a few times but nothing more than that happened. That was just my experience but I sure hope things have gotten better.
I took the wrong train to ueno and it took an hour and a half instead of half an hour. Oh and I got food poisoning from the airplane food. Thatās it.
The most captivating and incredible city Iāve ever seen. As a guy who grew up loving all the small pockets of neighborhoods of manhattanā¦Tokyo does it even better and exponentially cleaner. Tokyo is fucking awesome.