A story from my travels
A while back, when I was living in Hawaii, I worked in touristy-area of Waikiki. And one morning when I was headed to work, I stepped into an elevator. The elevator was crowded, and I could tell that there were some Japanese tourists also in there.
We were all standing very close to each other, and I remember there was a short Japanese lady standing to my right. Suddenly she turned her body away from me, so that she stood facing the wall. And I heard her whisper something to another Japanese person:
この黒人怖いね
(This black person is scary, huh?)
😳 Now..... I don't know why she would think that I'm "scary", but I assumed that perhaps she is from the countryside in Japan, where they aren't really used to being around foreigners. In Hawaii there are MANY Japanese people, and they are used to living side-by-side with a wide variety of cultures, including black people. But this is not always the case in rural Japan.
Anyway, I didn't respond, or say anything. I just quietly got out of the elevator. I could have said something to her in Japanese, but I decided to let it go for two reasons.
- She was already scared just standing next to me, if she knew that I heard and understood her, she would've been terrified.
- If I suddenly burst out speaking in Japanese, even if it was just a few words, all eyes in that elevator would've been on me, and I wasn't in the mood to make a scene right before work.
So that was that. Sometimes to avoid drama in Japanese culture, you just have to let awkward situations slide. Play dumb, and act like you didn't see or hear anything.
But I have heard stories from some foreigners (on youtube) who live in Japan, and they say that they have also been called "scary" on a few occasions. Japanese people generally aren't prejudiced towards blacks per se, but its sad that western steretypes have stretched all the way to the east thanks to Hollywood movies.
But I was really surprised to hear what she said. I couldn't believe my ears.
Mike | 