Meet the neighbours.

If you're ever bored in Japan and need a laugh, probably the best thing you can do as a foreigner is go for a walk and see what reactions you get.

Japan's still a massively undiscovered country, in terms of cultural exposure. I've not been to the cities yet where I'd guess people are a bit more used to seeing the odd white face walking about, but out in the countryside you will get a reaction. To be honest even on the shuttle through Tokyo I felt a bit like a goldfish in a bowl.

You don't have to travel far from the main cities to find 'real Japan', and Iwanai is a great example. It's off the beaten track by a long, long way. Flip the situation around - if a group of Japanese people came to live in my little, Essex, seaside hometown, speaking almost zero English, they'd stand out from a mile off and word would travel. Now times that reaction by a factor of at least ten. Our house on the hill is apparently very well known across the bay, six of the ten or twelve foreigners in maybe a twenty mile radius. The fact that we usually all cram into a bright yellow clown car to go shopping maybe doesn't help us blend in.

But it's so much fun, just going to the supermarket and seeing what happens. Stares, audible gasps. One day I was queuing with another Workawayer and at least two checkout ladies did full-on double takes. "Holy shit, TWO FOREIGNERS IN ONE DAY!". It'll be a story to tell the grandkids. But there's some genuinely great moments too. After an especially heavy beer and karaoke session a few of us ended up in little ramen shop, and apparently we were only the second gaijin customers the owner had served in nearly forty years. It's moments like that which make the trip all worthwhile. A bowl of ramen is my favourite new hangover-preventer by the way, beats a London kebab or pizza hands down.

I'm going to keep using the term gaijin rather than 'foreigner' if I can. I'm not trying to be fancy and cool, I just get the feeling that the word means a lot more than simply 'foreigner'. There's a definite sense of other/outsider with the term, in positive and negative ways, and it carries a lot of meaning about how Japanese people react around us.

It's worth mentioning tattoos, which is a concern a lot of western tourists could have before visiting. I've got my fair share of ink (sorry mum), and living in the UK you get pretty desensitised to "alternative culture", whatever that means. Everyone from Beckham to bar staff are tatted from knuckles to gills, but in Japan it's still an incredibly weird sight. Really, really weird. There's a huge cultural history with the Yakuza obviously, and some older locals will actively shy away from you. Small children might think you're a monster (true story), but at the very least people might just think you're a bit of a flashy, dickish, stupid Westerner and give you a funny look. My only tip is to be respectful. You don't need to cover up all the time, half the fun's in getting strange looks, but if you've got sleeve tattoos and are going to a restaurant or temple maybe wear a jacket, at least until you get through the reception and inside.

I'll get to onsens another day but yeah, that can also be an experience. Be prepared for the state of your junk to get a good side-eye inspection.

One slightly strange thing is that you can experience a sort of... friendly white privilege. In some small town restaurants or bars the owners and other diners may well send you drinks or food, want to present a business card or get a photo with you. It feels really strange being the centre of attention for no reason, but with the rules and regulations of Japanese formality it can take a LOT of nerve for a local to try out their little bit of English knowledge before running away again. Don't underestimate that, as weird as it is for you, it's probably taking balls of steel for them. It's the equivalent of you as a teenager going up to the hot girl/guy at school and asking them to prom, then coming back to your mates all full of swagger. Just go with it.

Oh, important lesson: take an offered business card with both hands, do a small bow, and make a show of reading it. For fuck's sake don't just jam it into your back pocket.

So get out, be seen, and don't get weirded out if someone does an extra lap of a supermarket aisle just to check that you're really there. Japanese people are almost universally polite and curious as to why you've come to their little corner of the world, and it all helps pave the way for future visitors.

#travel #japan #Workaway #iwanai #hokkaido #japanese