The good... and the not-so-good. The frustrating.

I love going to the technical school every Thursday. The atmosphere is really welcoming and a lot of teachers make an effort to talk to me - whether it be in English or Japanese. I really enjoy going there. The English teachers are great. But anyway, on Thursday the p.e. teacher came up and was talking to me for awhile. It was really nice... even though I confused the word for weekend with hobby... and answered with a response to one of her questions that just did not make any sense... and then realized what I'd done, ha. Oh well. Then the librarian/teacher of something was talking to me about this author whose book I'm reading right now. She doesn't like this particular author... she despises him. It's kind of funny. They think it's really strange that I enjoy Japanese literature. I guess it's really hard for them to read since it's kind of old... but when it's translated into English it's really not that hard. But anyway, I hope the gym teacher talks to me again next week. She seems like one of the younger teachers... with the potential to be a lot of fun outside of work!... but I'll just have to wait and see. It'd be nice to have more Japanese friends in Ube.

One more thing that I meant to mention in the previous post: when I went to Sun Park mall last weekend I had to change trains at this really small, local train station. Anyway, since the station is so small you have to give your ticket to/pay the conductor before you get off the train. Well, I just told the conductor that I was switching trains and that this wasn't my final stop so I didn't have to pay twice. That was fine. But then this woman gets off without paying and he had to chase her down. She seemed really ditzy and couldn't grasp that she was supposed to pay the man. She seemed really lost and confused. But anyway. While that was going on I was waiting for my train to come. So while the conductor is trying to get money from the woman, the train that I had just gotten off is just sitting there. This man on the train gets out of his seat, walks over to the window, pulls out this nice camera... and points it directly at me. Come on now. Can you be any more obvious? No. I thought it was really rude... and from the looks of these 2 high school girls sitting on the train - they thought so too. As soon as I saw his camera was aimed at me I got out of my seat and walked down the platform - but I'm pretty sure he got his picture of me. That just really irritated me like no other. Now, had it been at a festival and I was dressed in some weird clothing, or something, then it would be different. Or even if he were discreet about it. But seriously? Living here has definitely given me a new perspective on what it's like to be "different" in a place that is so homogeneous.

A few weeks ago I was riding my bike to the train station in order to catch the train to the technical school. The police were sitting at a corner... watching traffic, I guess. As soon as I passed them they started up their car and started to follow me. How do I know I wasn't just imagining this?... because they followed me all the way to the train station which is a dead end! I pulled my bike into the bike park and they went on their merry way. A lot of foreigners get stopped... I'm just waiting for that... The police seriously pull you over simply because you are a foreigner. Come on now.

This is what my friend Mike had to say about similar experiences, in general:

"I'll admit, the longer I'm here, the more I appreciate America. The rampant racism, the lack of humor (funny humor anyway), the stares, being talked to like I'm a retard, being stopped by the police for being foreign, being overcharged for being foreign, being denied entrance into a shop for being foreign (all of this has happened in about a course of a month). I'm growing increasingly bitter, but it's our job to prove to Japan that they only make up 1.9% of the world's population, so I appease most people with a smile."

*****I don't exactly agree with the "it's our job to prove to Japan that they only make up 1.9% of the world's population" statement... but everything else is pretty accurate for many foreigners in Japan*****

Don't get me wrong, not ALL Japanese people are ignorant jerks - afterall, I do like this country. It's just been really interesting to see things from a different perspective - as the "outcast in society" I guess you could say. It's just really eye opening coming from a place where I "fit in" to a place where I stick out so much. It makes me think twice before looking at somebody who is "different"... a.k.a. staring. Some people go their whole lives being stared at - people missing a limb, these days - Arabs living in the US, or anybody with any kind of physical "disorder". For me, I know that I'll eventually end up living in a place where I no longer stick out. I really feel for those people who have to deal with this kind of discrimination and adversity their entire lives.

I would like to say though, that despite all of this negativity that comes along with being a foreigner in Japan - there are also a lot of perks that come with it. A lot of times you're treated like a celebrity, given special treatment (good treatment), etc etc etc - simply because you are foreign. It's just shocking when the not-so-pleasant situations come up as well.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's all balanced out in the end... and more times than not, we're treated better for being foreign. It's just that the "bad" things come as a shock because I'm (we're) just flat out not used to it.

So yeah, that's all I have to say : )