Hey, recently moved to Tokyo last month. Loving it so far but as someone with a bit of social anxiety it takes a lot of effort to go outside. I’m a pretty tall black guy so I stick out like a sore thumb.
I run into instances every single day where I go outside and someone makes a remark like “What’s that? What’s that?,”/ “Eeeeeeeh”, whispering with each other or just some laughing and giggling when I walk past, with them directly looking at me.
Is this a common occurrence here in Japan as a black guy, or just in my head which I definitely doubt on some occasions.
19 comments
I’m a somewhat-tall (for Japan) white guy from the U.S., but I have had similar experiences and it’s just something I’ve grown to ignore and not care about after 10+ years here. But I remember being weirded out by all the looks and whispers back in the day when I lived in Chiba too.
As a black guy you’re a minority among minorities here, so I bet the experience is even more pronounced for you, but I can only speculate of course.
I guess my point is, it’s likely a common experience and not all in your head.
As a short white guy, I don’t get much attention in Tokyo. But if I’m in small towns or villages, then some people will react in the way that you describe.
The closest thing I get, and you may also experience this, is that people won’t sitting next to me on the bus.
I wear earphones for the most part when I’m out, listening to music and podcasts, so I don’t have to puzzle over the reasons why so many people the next table over always seem to be talking about the difficulties of learning English and all things gaikoku.
Just focus on the cool people you meet and tune out the rest.
I’m a huge white man and have had a similar experience. I think Japan is still pretty much a mono culture. Hope you can still have fun. I’m sure you will.
I am Japanese, but I too am bothered when people I pass suddenly start whispering or giggling. But it probably has nothing to do with me.
At least, I am not bothered by people of any race in front of me. However, there are times when I feel something seems a bit off in a group of people walking in front of me, and my eyes unconsciously glance there for a moment. But there is no intention there.
Same as being an Asian in Central Africa it’s just how life is , just ignore it.
Wtf happened here, I commented on this earlier, I saw about other 5 comments – they are all gone??? Most were understanding and gave their own testomony and answering the OP question – which I suspect is the reason for removal. WTF, dont ask a loaded question if you dont like the answers!
Enjoy being massive and just accept yourself friend 🙂 just get used to ducking alot lol
I feel completely invisible and ignored, for better or worse, in Tokyo. I really don’t believe there is any overt racism or discrimination from the majority of Japanese people. I think it’s more likely the opposition some foreigners think they are experiencing come are from a lack of Japanese skills. Japan is not anti-foreigner, so long as you can communicate fluently in the local language.
As someone with social anxiety and also struggled with this – my only advice is to start not giving a fuck. Seriously! Once you stop caring, things get much easier.
How tall are you?
I’m a 190cm tall black guy. I feel you.
When I first came to Japan there was an African guy on TV who was super popular, Bobby Ologun. His shtick was basically to be the bumbling idiot. I look nothing like this Bobby guy, but merely by virtue of us both being black men every time I went outside – and I mean *every time* – people would look, point at me, exclaim “Hey, it’s Bobby!”, and then break out into laughter and start mimicking his idiot speech. It..bothered me to put it lightly. I’d tell my friends and they’d say I was overreacting, until they spent 10 minutes with me outside and they’d all admit “Wow, it’s actually worse.”
There’s nothing I could do to stop it, and getting pissed off about it only left me feeling butthurt, so my solution was to ignore it the best I could. I bought some headphones and made it a policy to always be listening to music when going outside. Bobby is no longer popular, thank god, so the pointing, laughing, and buffoon imitations have stopped. But I still keep using the headphones – now noise-cancelling earbuds, and honestly I don’t notice the attention anymore. Others point it out to me now.
So my suggestion to you is to invest in some good headphones and learn to tune it out. Keep in mind that, yeah, they are pointing and talking, but it’s coming from a place of ignorance, not hatred. And while you may not be able to do anything about the random people on the streets, you being here is contributing to change. The people you interact with, be it students or co-workers or friends, will be far less likely to point and giggle the next time they see a black person out and about.
Im not really tall, or black guy, so I can’t completely relate, but, did you try to just own it? Take the attention and spin it into something positive? When I was an exchange student here many years ago I would love how much I stuck out. I took it as an opportunity to make a connection, every time, and I met tons of cool people that way. I suppose I could have thought “OMG they’re talking shit about me!” but… instead I thought “OMG they noticed me and I can give them attention back!” Usually ended up working out nicely.
These days, it is not unusual to see foreigners in Tokyo.
If someone does take notice of you, I think it is with surprise and admiration for your stature.
Maybe they thought you might be a model or something.
It would be difficult to tell you not to care, but if you make Japanese friends, I think you will understand what I mean.
True. In my experience, discrimination happens in Japan, even to white folks.
Don’t worry.
It’s not discrimination.
I’m an average-sized white dude and I have had similar experiences, but I’ve also had negative interactions where upon retrospection I realized it was all in my insecure little head. I’m not a tall, handsome, black guy so YMMV.
It’s not in your head or discrimination. I moved away from Tokyo and sometimes when I leave my house and walk to the station maybe 1 in 3 people stare me in my face as they walk by (right next to me). It’s honestly super irritating and it feels disrespectful. I understand being curious but I’m not an piece at an art gallery, I’m a person. That said, don’t mind at all when someone glances quickly in a considerate way.
Now I tend to not look around at people to try not to notice anymore.
It sucks, and it’s something that makes simply living here for me, who’s always aware of what’s going on around me and anxious in public, uncomfortable, but if you can learn from the more oblivious foreigners and learn to not care what other people around you are doing then it becomes easier.
At the end of the day they forget about you and you still have to live your life so it’s best to not let those people get in the way of that.
It’s not in your head; but it’s not anything to worry about either….spin them a peace sign and go back to your headphones or book and they’ll start googling basketball players….🙃