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samurai007 (Offline)
JF Old Timer
 
Posts: 890
Join Date: Oct 2007
04-10-2011, 10:11 AM

First, like everyone else has said, the OP really should do something about this if it's as serious as he claims. Avoid Japan websites, seek professional help, something.

Second, if you go to Japan and don't want to see foreigners, get the heck out of Tokyo, or any other large cities! Akihabara is going to have lots of foreigners, if you look for them, it's a tourist magnet in Tokyo! Go into the mountains, go to some seaside fishing village, don't go to any city with more than 150,000 people or any very popular tourist destination (like Miyajima Island), and you're very unlikely to run into foreigners. Stay well off the beaten path!

Next, try to realize that these are simply fellow foreigners with an interest and love of Japan, same as you. Maybe they haven't broken beyond the stage of appreciating anime and j-pop yet, but everyone starts somewhere. And if they cared enough to go and visit Japan, then they are likely having a fun vacation and enjoying the sights in a place they've longed to visit... shouldn't you do the same, rather than worry about them?

Finally, when I was living in Japan, I lived in a small town. I got the stares from Japanese people, the amazed "what is a foreigner doing here? He must be lost..." But I didn't mind meeting other foreigners at all! In fact, I felt an instant kindred relationship with them, even if they weren't from America like me. I went out of my way to talk to them, help them if they needed it (because I probably had more experience there than they did), etc. Believe it or not, it can get lonely being a minority of 1 in a country where you hardly speak the language and stick out like a sore thumb. It was always nice to see another gaijin, because they probably had at least some of the same feelings and experiences I had, and that gave us a bond.


JET Program, 1996-98, Wakayama-ken, Hashimoto-shi

Link to pictures from my time in Japan
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