Having spent so many years in a predominantly caucasian (redneck) town, I found it nice to see the rare gaijin while in Japan.

I found myself giving the "gaijin nod" but was disappointed not to get one in return.

I eventually came to realize that both of my parents are Japanese and that I look like a typical Japanese citizen. Hahaha!

LOL! I get the gaijin nod sometimes from Japanese people and wonder if they think all gaijin nod at each other all the time abroad because they see us do it now and then in Japan, and so they do it too haha ><

Honestly, I just thought that "Nod" thing was a "Universal" guy thing, not strickly limited to caucasians. For instance,Two guys walk by each other on the street and nod knowingly, cause everything is communicated in just that nod.

lol now I feel like I'm missing out on some telepathic skills!

unless it's the "yeah, my gf is hot, I know, so is yours by the way" kind of nod

Nah I allways thought it was the "Hi, how you doing" nod. Where you acknowledge each other and move on. That hot GF nod, that's a different nod there. :cool:

haha yeah that's the normal one.
Yeah Japanese guys don't do either of those.
If you nod you get the "what the hell, why am I getting nodded at?" look from them

So when I get a nod from a Japanese guy I feel like ... hmm ... am I missing something?

Ryzorian, it's one thing if it's someone I know and am friends with... it's another thing if it's just like some random guy in a crowded street I Tokyo or some other big city.

I'm kinda straying off topic, but I find it funny that it's like something that is almost strictly a white thing. My white nod ratio is much higher than my non-white non ratio by a lot. I do find it slightly funny, which I know isn't right.

When I happen upon foreigners in a kind of foreigner only situation-- like when I got my license, there's like no rules though. I've met people from all over the world who end up talking their heads off to me. I personally never considered it myself, but some of my Japanese friends tell me 'you've got a face that's easy to talk to'. Which is hilarious to me. Apparently having タレ目 is the cause of my symptoms. At least in these situations a conversation-- an exchange happens. 'Something that can't really be said about 'the nod', which I see as terribly hollow- especially in the context of a big city.

Their's like a reverse 'nod' in Japan though-- I'm sure you know what I mean if you have any colleagues here. It's like the informal bow. Instead of scooping up, you kind of put more emphasis on the downstroke.

Which brings up something entirely unrelated to this thread-- things like that are interesting to me. The American 'come here' gesture vs. the Japanese 'come here' gesture. The Japanese nod (if you can call it that) vs the American nod. I'm sure there are tons of others-- so pardon this last one- the Japanese use of a scrub plane, and the American use of a scrub plane. I've heard American/European luthiers will scrape/carve (don't know the word) away from themselves while Japanese luthiers will do it towards themselves. Interesting!

lol I just asked my buddy to tell me to come over using his head, you're dead on! it's the total opposite! I wonder how many other things like that there are o.O

Looks like something else in Japan I'll have to get used to. You try to communicate with random people on the street here, usually, they'll look at you like you've pulled your 'gentleman's sausage' out. (Bit of a Jeremy Clarkson term there)

I think it's more of an acknowledgement. Much like Corvette, Harley and convertible drivers/riders give each other the wave on the street.