Saturday, August 09, 2008

The Gaijin Effect

Now that I've been here for about 6 months, I've confirmed several "Gaijin Effects" - behaviors that I notice that occur around me just because I look like a foriegner. There are many that I've known before:
  • When I sit on a train in Japan, the seat next to me will almost always stay empty. I hope it's not my B.O.
  • When I try to speak Japanese, most people will assume I'm talking English. I wrote about that a while back.
  • Little kids (less than 3) will stare a lot - sort of "wow, he looks different..."

But I noticed a new one recently. When people line up for a train in Japan, it always a two lines side by side because the doors can let two people enter at the same time without bumping. However, when I am the first person to stand in the line, no one actually stands next to me. The double line starts right behind me. I still don:t understand that one...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's funny..