Join Our Newsletter
  • Visit Our Store
  • Come Write for J-List!
J-List Blog
Visit J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
No Result
View All Result

Perception of Foreigners in Japan

Peter Payne by Peter Payne
16 years ago
in Your Friend in Japan

I’m often asked how Japanese view the gaijin that live in their midst, disrupting the precious harmony the country is so famous for. It’s quite a complex subject, which reaches deep into the Japanese psyche and across Japan’s 466-year history of dealing with these smelly, overly tall barbarians from across the sea. For the most part Westerners in the Japan of today exist in a special place where the rules don’t apply, at least the same way they do for the natives. Western foreigners are mysterious, physically different from Japanese in obvious ways, and every time an American or a Brit enters an electronics store to inquire about a product, the Japanese staff get a little more nervous. While this seems like an unkind reaction on their part, to be fair to them we foreigners are awfully good at doing the unexpected, like talking to them in rapid English or asking if they stock impossible to find products. Often the first (and sometimes only) contact a Japanese person will have with a Westerner over the course of their lives is the happy, outgoing eikaiwa (English conversation) teacher they had in school, and often the image of Westerners is defined by this first cross-cultural exchange. As a result, the Japanese generally expect us foreigners to be happy people to be around, overly active and expressing our emotions freely…which pretty much matches my own personality perfectly.

Foreigners in Japan seem to exist on their own plane of reality, as you can sometimes tell from gaijin in anime series.

Tags: gaijinhistory

More Posts Like This

Is Japan Xenophobic
Your Friend in Japan

No, Japan Is Not Xenophobic. Here’s Why.

by Peter Payne
1 year ago

Last night I was finishing up my evening social media work when I noticed a phrase was trending on X....

Isoroku Yamamoto From Zipang
Your Friend in Japan

Why Did I Watch a Film About Isoroku Yamamoto on Pearl Harbor Day?

by Peter Payne
2 years ago

I have a minor obsession with films released in the year of my birth, 1968. The other day, I was...

Western Tourist Who Paid To Take A Photo With Samurai Armor Blog

Meet the First Weeb in History, Complete With Samurai Armor

2 years ago
Vinland Saga Season 2

Vinland Saga Ends! Why Was This Anime ‘Peak Fiction’?

2 years ago
Vinland Saga Season 2

Seven Reasons to Watch Vinland Saga!

2 years ago
How Oppai Affect Gravity Albert Einstein

What Did Albert Einstein Find When He Visited Japan?

3 years ago
Next Post
Screen Shot 2019 03 21 At 4.29.48 PM

Gaijin in Japan, Continued

Trending Today

Yandere Dark Elf Episode 1 Featured Image
Featured

Yandere Dark Elf, Episode 1 — Love Heavier than Chocolate Melons!

2 months ago
Re Ri Haruka Riri Photo Book
Photobooks

Haruka Riri’s New Photobook Is Here – Let’s See What’s Inside!

4 days ago
Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime Web Cover
News

Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime and Where to Watch Them

3 months ago
Konata Watches Hentai
Your Friend in Japan

Why No Netflix of Hentai? 5 Reasons Why Legal Hentai Streaming Faces an Uphill Battle

2 days ago
Megami Magazine And The History Of Anime Poster Magazines
Your Friend in Japan

Anime Posters and Pantsu: How Megami Magazine Shaped 25 Years of Otaku Culture

6 days ago
Get the Newest Figures from J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
I Am Not An Angel By Moe Amatsuka
Photobooks

Let’s Look Inside The New Moe Amatsuka JAV Photobook!

by Peter Payne
June 21, 2025

Let’s Look Inside The New Moe Amatsuka JAV Photobook!

Makina-San a Love Bot?!, Episode 11 — Makina’s an OnlyFans Girl

Old Demons and New Angels in New Panty and Stocking

Yandere Dark Elf, Episode 7 — Hot, Sweaty Nursing!

The Best of Alina Becker Cosplay

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Discord
  • YouTube

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.