Walking in crowded Japanese cities!
 

Walking in crowded Japanese cities!
For those who visited or live in Japan, how was/is your experience when dozens of local Japanese people walked/walk in your direction and of course some of them looked/look at you because you look different and because they're questioning themselves form which country you'd come from!

Was/is it for you easy to keep on walking "normally" as nothing is special about it and could you easily focus on your business or on what you were/are intending to do?

Thanks! (this video below is only an example! It says nothing about how crowded other part of cities are):)

‪Saturday afternoon at Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo‬‏ - YouTube

Last week I was walking to the bus station to go back to Hita from Fukuoka. I had just left a Softbank Hawks baseball game. (We won.) and EVERYONE was going home or to dinner.

As I reached the final crosswalk, over a hundred of people around. One drunk guy was with his friends, calling me cute while pointing at me, I gave him an odd look and he screamed, "YES YES YES!"

Thank god in this small town that has not happened. I loved Fukuoka though xD

In reality, the level of crowdedness that the western media loves to show for Japan rarely happens. I recall watching a program following some group trying to make a show about Japan and they literally had to camp out for a few days to get the type of shot they wanted of the famous crossing in Shibuya. As surprising as it may be to some people, most of the time it isn't like that - and in most of Japan it is never like that.

Otherwise... Being in a crowd in Japan is no different than being in a crowd anywhere else. In another revelation that may stun many people, very very few people in Japan will even give you a second glance... Let alone stare at you. This is particularly true in the only place you would ever encounter a huge crowd like that - big cities. Foreigners in Japan are not nearly as rare and fascinating as many people would like to think. Unless you are doing something that will draw attention to yourself (say speaking loudly to someone in a foreign language, dressed inappropriately, acting strange, etc), chances are no one will even notice you.

You're definitely never going to find yourself walking about with hundreds of Japanese people coming toward you staring... Unless, of course, you're so incredibly unique and fascinating that the same thing happens back at home.

Looking at ist different than staring at! I haven't used the verb "to stare at"
In Europe we look at Japanese tourists because they look different and because of curiosity. It would be good to know how they feel about it:)

Not to forget to mention the pedestrian zones and streets in European cities are much larger than in Japanese Cities (there are exceptions like some Ginza main streets and so on). Additionally there are bicycles driving near to you on Japanese streets! So, I think you get closer to local people than the case in Europe.

Shibuya movie was only an example and it says nothing about how crowded other part of Japanese cities are.

I certainly noticed being stared at in country towns in Hokkaido. A friend of mine lived down on the coast in a little town called Iwanai. If we were outside his house having a chat cars on the road out front would often almost crash as the drivers damn near broke their necks staring at us as they went past. A couple of foreigners in a little coastal town wasn't too common! In the town I lived there were quite a few foreigners and our novelty wore off a bit over the years so being stared at wasn't too bad.
I didn't notice being stared at all that much in larger cities and in Tokyo I actually noticed how very little I was stared at.

I did not know that. Now if only there were more informative posts like that here like it used to be.

I agree that you may get some stares out in the middle of nowhere, where there are rarely - if ever - any foreigners. But this guy gave the example of Tokyo. :D You`d have to be doing something seriously strange to get stares there. If the place is big enough that you`re walking in crowds, chances are you`re not going to get many looks.

In my thread I mentioned Japan and Japanese cities! I can't of course post videos from all crowded cities and areas in Japan:)

Either way, what I said still stands. Even the most crowded parts of Japan are not like that most of the time, and most of Japan isn`t all that crowded to begin with. If you are in a situation where you are walking in crowds, they are unlikely to be giving you much attention.

The only issue I can see with walking in a crowd in Japan would be if YOU had some sort of complex (positive or negative) about being around Japanese people. Being unable to behave normally not because you are unaccustomed to crowds, but because that crowd consists of *gasp* Japanese people... That would be your only personal issue.

I can't really see any objectivity in your answers! It makes no sense and I'm glad there are other JF member's opinions! Sorry!

What you are saying is, you don't like hearing the scenario you have created doesn't exist.

Here is the problem, the few places there are massive crowds contain peop,e that don't stare, gawk, look, or do anything that should cause a reaction in a foreigner.

The places that do have people that might stare, gawk, or look so hard it is noticeable don't have crowds.

Do you see the problem?

It is like asking what do the fresh clams taste like in St. Louis? There is no answer to that, as there are no fresh clams in St. Louis.

You probably get more stares in a very small town than in a big city, one could say? (Asking. Not assuming.)

That is pretty much the case. Unless it is a small town that has some sort of tourist attraction that gets frequent foreign visitors, you are far more likely to be noticed in a small town than a large city.

But not necessarily out of shock and awe at your foreigness. It is more likely because they are wondering why you, most likely a tourist, are there.

I guess the phrase, "lost in a crowd" gains some meaning here. Yes, I've been in that crossing about a dozen times and not once has anyone really looked at me. There are too many of me to make a difference. And there are too many people that even if you did look a bit different, it's hard to zero in on you before you've passed them.

When I was in small towns, I felt I was being looked at, but not totally uncomfortable stares either. The people of Nagahama looked at me a bit, but I looked at them right back, smiled, and greeted them. It was entertaining to see how they reacted. Some would smile back and nod, or respond, but some would freak a little and not know what to do!

As far as other crowded places I've been to? How about Asakusa close to Senso-Ji? Same thing. People aren't into people watching in Japan, as far as I know, as people in Paris for example. I believe they're into their own thing.

I just saw a program on NHK that shows creative videos and there was one of two girls dressed in black sheets covering everything except their faces. On their faces, they painted an extra eye. They were walking in different pars of Tokyo. One clip showed one on the other's shoulders crossing that famous Shibuya intersection. I only saw one couple look back at them as they passed them. Everyone else seemed to ignore them.

edit: This is the crossing the first time I ever saw it live. It was a Saturday in March and the stores were already open.... Pretty different from your OP video.

‪Shibuya crossing on a Saturday morning‬‏ - YouTube

mhh.. I had to pick up on that one Nyo.

What do you mean by that and how do yu think these "people" would act while walking across the street?? Or the most busiest crossing in the World which is Shibuya?

I meant pretty much exactly what I said. The only significant difference between being in a crowd in Japan and being in a crowd elsewhere is going to be your personal feelings about it. As Japan is not as crowded in most places and at most times as people tend to think, the crowds themselves are going to be pretty average sized in most cases. If you are completely unaccustomed to crowds and find that being in one is a stressful or exhilarating event - that is one thing. But if you aren't particularly effected by the crowd, but rather by what type of people the crowd consists of... That is going to be entirely down to your own complexes.

I haven't the slightest idea what a person who thinks like that would behave like in a crowd situation... If they would do anything outwardly noticeable at all. But I am sure there are plenty of people out there for whom the key point would not be the fact that they are in a crowd of people, but rather that those people are Japanese. I am sure some people would be scared by this, some freaked out by it, some made uncomfortable, some weirdly happy about, some aroused by it, etc etc. My point is just that a Japanese crowd is no different than any other crowd unless you have some thing about Japanese people.

I agree. I want to say the Thread should not be understood as something negative or as a criticism. The Thread subject went so far in other direction! But there is no problem. I was more interested to hear about multitasking!

Comments like there is no problem if there is a crowd or there are some people looking: I can find my way or the address which I'm looking for and so on! It means I can do my business and crowd does not affect my activities! Or maybe the opposite!

Anyway, I'm glad we can talk to each others and that everybody has the right to have his own opinion.:vsign:

Oh Arigato^^ I understand now what you meant and completely agree with you of course.

I find this response confusing. How would the crowd affect your activities? Are you saying THE CROWD would stop you, or block you? If that is the fear, don't worry, it is never going to happen. Even famous movie stars can walk around Tokyo without being accosted. (Tokyoites feel screaming and harassing famous people makes you look like a country bumpkin.)

However if you feel YOU cannot handle a crowd, then that is a different issues. However, Nyororin summed it up well. Yes, there are crowded situations in Tokyo at certain times in certain places, but even those places are very easily navigable during most hours and most days.

Looking at that Shibuya video is a little looking at a tornado and titling it "Life in Kansas."

This is what I noticed too. Being crammed into a train car in the morning was no big deal, I didn't get any strange looks and people seemed not to care. It was when there was a seat for everyone that I got people staring at me, some of them all the way to their stop, or mine, whichever came first.


It's funny you should mention that, it's what my host sister did when we were in Kyoto. :p

Kansai people have less... inhibitions.

Apparently the Americans too, I joined in. :D

I can handle being in crowd and it's not affecting my activities. I'm used to it because I'm used to spend each year some weeks in Japan (mostly in Tokyo or Osaka). But each time some European friends who newly come to Japan to same period have difficutlties to be on time where we should meet for work. They always said it's because of the crowd!

So the Taxi driver bring them to the right place but they still have to walk maybe 20 meters or more to find the address (It depends till where the taxi driver can drive in a city center)! We used to meet in downtown and of course It's challenging for a newcomer to search the address while being in the way of quick walking people. It's during the day. They say they can't concentrate a lot because the crowd make them nervous! Don't worry they are healthy, just they aren't used to crowded areas in big cities.

But I think they should just focus on searching the building address and ignore the quick walking people in their direction!

My friend from Tokyo went to study in the USA and after 3 months she got panic attacks while being in the crowd there. She became sick and she broke up the study! That's really a true story and that's very sad. She dosen't have this problem in Tokyo and she has as usual some North American and European friends.