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 | @dashman | 06.20.17
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You don't look the least bit 'scary'---in fact you look like a nice guy who probably has a great sense of humor. It's hurtful to be judged only by our exteriors, whether it's skin color, age, amount of money we appear to have, good looks/lack of good looks, etc, etc but sadly it's something that seems to be a universal experience. The human brain is hardwired to seek safety/security/survival and so the knee-jerk reaction people have is to be afraid of anyone who doesn't have the 'right' look. To those ancient parts of the brain, familiar = safe = good. I think that plays a role in racism in the sense that we all have a tendency to feel more at ease with people who look familiar, like they are from our 'tribe', and to be initially apprehensive around people who don't. Maybe if we could all be more aware of this subconscious tendency and acknowledge it for what it is, without self-recrimination and without rationalizing/justifying it, we could begin to move beyond it.
By the way, I commend you for not taking the woman's remarks too personally and for being mature enough to take into account where she was coming from, despite how you may have been feeling at the time.
Well it wasnt so much about maturity as it was about being a guy whos had a lot of exposure to Japanese culture, and knowing what sort of funny/strange situations you find yourself in when you travel alone to places far away from home.
Sometimes you have that "zoo animal" feel. People staring at you and taking pictures of you, for no other reason than the fact that you look very different. And then, there are others who literally dont know what to do with you. And fear is a very normal, human response. So thankfully, in some miniscule ways, i could relate to her.