Hi everyone, please note that I’ve only been in Japan for a week so I am very new here. I’m already very shaken due to the encounter so please be gentle with your comments!
I live in a suburban area in Tokyo and this evening I was on my way home from my home station. There were very few people around and the streets were quite deserted so I thought I’d video call my mom so that I can show her my neighborhood briefly. My mom’s camera wasn’t on and I wasn’t talking much apart from the occasional “can you see?” to my mom.
At that time, I was around the intersection of the railroad and the street and the train was about to cross and since this is very new to me and my mom, I held my phone up so she could see it. During this time, I noticed a middle aged lady filming me, I didn’t know why so I moved out of the way and she followed. Confused about the situation and wondering if she was taking a video of me or of the general area, I kept looking at her direction and that was when she showed me her middle finger and walked through the gantry.
I would like to avoid such encounters in the future so I’d like to have some insights from the people here:
– was this because the lady thought I was filming people publicly? Is this considered extremely impolite here?
– is it because I was on a call in public? I know calls on trains and busy areas are frowned upon but I thought it’d be okay as there were very few people around and I was keeping my volume down / not talking much.
I’m gonna be in Japan for a while whether I like it or not so any advice is appreciated!
Edit: I had my earphones in so my mom wasn’t on loudspeaker either
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/xmqg48/i_was_filmedtaken_a_picture_of_in_public_and_was/
18 comments
Random crazy person. Think nothing of it
Chances are they’re racists/xenophobes who got too comfortable with fewer foreigners in Japan due to COVID and are pissed off because “them damn tourists are back”.
That’s a pretty bizarre incident, it’s not typical.
Random crazy person for sure… that said though I can see how walking around talking on a video call, especially in a foreign language, may rub some people the wrong way (in any country). I would recommend keeping your calls to when you are in private – no one wants to have to listen to other people’s conversations.
Seems like your standard issue nutcase lol.
Just your average weird cunt. Just ignore them and get on with your own life, because they’re but a speck of dust in the wind.
Most likely there was a bee or something perched on your middle finger, and the lady was trying to draw your attention to it in the only way she knew how.
Not a big deal. The finger does not hold the significance it does in the US. Kids may flip you off because they think it’s funny without knowing fully what they are doing. The Japanese equivalent-ish sign is the Akan-be, but it is not a fight starting gesture.
However, avoid the kancho. 🙂
Filming people publicly without their consent is extremely impolite in Japan, and the act of doing so with the intent of posting it publicly is illegal. So yeah that was really weird of her.
Very very unusual. The woman is probably crazy and probably known by local police. You might consider going to the koban and filing a report. You will see her again and, if it gets worse, you’ll be glad you spoke first and got on the record. Filming you is illegal in Japan and they can take it pretty seriously.
Once again, this is extremely rare and very un-Japanese. The normal thing for an old Japanese woman to do would be to silently get pissed off at whatever you’re doing until they eventually try to call your work and complain about you anonymously to whoever answers the phone.
Ummmmmmmmmmmm No. You have nothing to worry about.
That’s just a rando crazy bitch.
I’ve lived here 15 years.
There are a lot of weirdos just like any major city.
Don’t let it get to you.
I know whole “Am I being impolite cause I’m from the west but am in Asia now and need to be sensitive about everything” vibe.
We all go through it.
But the fact is that Japanese are just as impolite and crazy weird as we are.
Extremely rare. However since you’re new here please don’t film or photograph on trains it’s interpreted as an invasion of privacy filming people who can’t easily move away.
I have never seen the middle finger used in Japan. I’m sure most people kind of know what it means from movies and art and stuff, but it’s not going to have the same intent here.
You just bumped into a random loon, don’t make the age-old mistake if thinking that extrapolates to all of Japan and Japanese. You’ll encounter warmth and kindness more than you will nutters.
Why do you care about a person you will never see again?
Most likely a crazy person. If you’re from “the west” and in particular the US, we tend to be quite loud without realizing it at first. You may have just been accidentally loud. However most likely, racist/xenophobic person.
If speaking Chinese or Korean (or something that sounded like it to that idiot), you may find the odd “other Asians are inferior” variety of racist shithead. If you’re non-white, there are other more judge-y assholes. Then, there are the “all foreigners are bad” types as well.
You got unlucky. I’ve never had that happen and I regularly do the same thing.
Were you wearing mask then? If not, maybe that’s the reason. Probably she thought a tourist was walking without mask. Some people are crazy about covid since it’s started.
I remember my boyfriend and I were standing by a konbini in Osaka once and a man took out his flip phone and just videoed us having a conversation for 2-3 minutes. He was not even that subtle about it, just standing there with his phone aimed at us.
We wanted to tell him something but earlier that week a friend got into an altercation with a Japanese man that was taking photos of her and the police made it sound like it was het fault and even took her to the station so we just stood there and bore with it
It left me really shaken and a bit violated. I wonder if he cared because we are a mixed couple?
Anyway, some people are just weird. I hope he enjoys watching the footage of me and my bf arguing about whether he should eat the pastry I bought and didnt like.