Teaching Japan: Being Gaijin
This is part of a series of articles about the experience of living abroad and teaching English for AEON. These represent only my viewpoint and are not sponsored in any way. I will present both the positive and negative.
Ask questions! I tend to gloss over some details while going too far into others.
Take a look at the images below. They’re both from Despair.com from their Demotivational Posters. The two words sacrifice & conformity really do typify what most people think of Japan. I would disagree some with that… However, when you’re the guy who is clearly not Asian wandering around the streets, you tend to stand out like the pawn in the first picture and like a fire truck would in the second.
Most people spend their high school years whining about how no one understands them and how they want to be unique. Don’t worry, you can admit it, that’s what I did. Sometimes you get exactly what you ask for.
Japan is a very homogenous culture. They are not a melting pot. Let me repeat: in Japan people are Japanese. Not being Japanese makes you stand out. Not a bad thing, but you have to be prepared for it.
Generally standing out in Japan is a good thing. I got approached by a few people because I looked different and they got bragging rights for being “that guy with the gaijin friend.” You can also get free stuff, like one time I got free coffee by looking wet, cold, and lost. All of those things were true, but if I looked that way in America I would get kicked out like a homeless bum, not given free coffee at Starbucks.
Also, being foreign and not Asian can be beneficial. Some people from the US who are Japanese or half-Japanese get a hard time because the locals tend to assume they are on the same team. When you’re the big white guy, everyone knows you’re not a cultural insider. So, you get a great deal of leeway in just about everything you do.
Other times being the different one is a pain in the ass. Around my apartment mothers would cross the street with their children to avoid me. The first time it was cool to be the big gaijin of terror… After that it just pissed me off. I was walking to get coffee, not to mug every person shorter than me and then eat their children, but sometimes it felt that way.
Also, if people want to look tough, you are going to be on the receiving end. After all, who better to pick a fight with than the child eating monster who stands several stories higher than most other people on the sidewalk? This doesn’t happen often, but it happens often enough that I felt the need to mention it specifically.
Good, bad, or indifferent when you go to Japan you are gaijin.
Did you find many Japanese women were attracted to you because you were an outsider, foreigner, “gaijin” ??? I’ve considered going to teach in Japan, but to be honest I would hope one of the “perks” would be romantic relations with the locals.
Chris Schaffer Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:45 am
Being gaijin does come with a certain amount of allure. It can be easy to be popular with the ladies, however, a word of caution: many people find that Japanese club girls are a bit looser with the safe sex, they are thus higher risk. Especially considering that you will be in a country where the medical world will not be nearly so familiar.