A friend and out were out celebrating a mutual friend's birthday party somewhere in Amemura when I happened to nod and greet another African-American man who happened to pass by us. The following (paraphrased) conversation ensued:
"Do you know him?"
"Nope."
"So why'd you nod?"
"Not entirely sure?"
"Is it a 'black thing'?"
"Possibly, yeah."
"That's such bulls**t."
"When you're here do you nod at another foreigner if you pass by them?"
"Well, yeah."
"Exactly."
Many of us are most likely familiar with the phenomena of the Gaijin Nod, the sometimes obligatory acknowledgement between those in a country where we all tend to be lumped into the ambiguous category of "foreigner". My experience has been much the same as that of the author: a visit to Tokyo yielded nothing exceeding a quick glance in my general direction while my time in Kansai has sparked many a knowing smile or small wave (or a rather loud "Hey!" in Umeda station) if not a long conversation detailing why exactly said person ended up in Japan in the first place.
Whether or not we have anything substantial in common becomes a moot point much of the time, it's the illusion of that shared experience in Japan that can often breed affinity between two perfect strangers. My friend took my acknowledgement of a person on the basis of skin color as a sign of being exclusivist, but being crammed under an umbrella where one's identity as an individual tends to be washed out often leads us to reach out to those who might have an appreciation of our experience. So long as we try not to forge such connections in order to keep others out of our own personal illusion of what it means to be traveling through exotic locales there should be no problem expending a second or two to let someone feel that they're not alone.
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3 comments:
Your post seems to tell us more about the opinions of (some) foreigners in Japan rather than providing cultural description of Japan itself.
Where are your photos?
the amount of profundities peppered into this blog (and worded quite eloquently) is remarkable even for your writing, Aaron
Hi there, I realize this is a pretty old blog post but I was wondering if you could help me with something. You talk about the idea that shared experience can breed affinity between two strangers. I know there's a Japanese word for that but I've been having a lot of trouble finding it. That's how I came across your blog on google, very interesting by the way, too bad you don't write anymore! Anyways, you wouldn't by chance know the word would you or where I could find it?
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