the amount of gaijin

[Hakuma]

When I traveled to Tokyo, I met a decent amount gaijin at the major tourist attractions and bars/clubs in places like Roppongi, but didn't see many outside of Tokyo/Kyoto. NOWHERE did they even come close to outnumbering Japanese people -- even at an American jazz bar and a British soccer bar...

And I must point out a major observation. People who are only into Japan for the anime, manga, JPop, cosplay, etc... in my experience, they will RARELY ever make it to Japan, and if so, only for a short visit to Tokyo. Those (like myself) who are genuinely interested in the culture OUTSIDE of video games and playing dress up are far more likely to visit, and especially to LIVE in Japan... Just thought I would point that out...

[Tsuwabuki]

I know every English speaker in my town, but I don't know every non-Japanese. There are many Brazilians and Filipinos. The biggest group is definitely Chinese, here on exchange with the city university.

It's actually quite a large town at 80,000 people. For the most part I don't even notice non-Japanese unless they're my friends. I don't know why I should care, so I've stopped even the natural inclination to stare or to wonder why they might be around.

I also find that my rural city is so much less patronising than Tokyo or Osaka. I realise that individuals are trying to "help out the foriegner" by speaking broken English, gesticulating wildly, or offering English menus, but I live here. I speak Japanese. I'm not going anywhere else any time soon. The people of my town know this, and rarely if ever do I need to ask someone here to "tone it down" the way I need to in bigger cities.

Luckily it is much better than when I lived in Korea, when non-Koreans expected me to acknowledge them in a way separate and apart from the way I acknowledged Koreans. Just because we're both non-Korean doesn't mean I know you or want to talk to you, especially when I am busy.

[Thuglife]

There are no so many near where I live. I never see any except when I have parties, so I know there are some but not a lot.