are japanese persons rude against western people?

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By that logic, the recent Mumbai attacks were interspersed with bouts of dancing and singing and pouting....

I've never been to Japan, but in my experience Japanese people do tend to be xenophobic of outsiders.

To answer your question, UndercoverAlien, as a jaded soon-to-be-completely-ex-Nipponophile: I think we would both do well to consider switching both our Aspergian obsessions, if for any Asian country, to China instead. Their government may be Communist, but at least some of the people are somewhat friendly. (My family are long-time friends with a family of Taoists from China and Taiwan, couldn't meet nicer people).

Failing that, why not take up an interest in the Netherlands or somewhere like that?

I dunno if this is a racist steryotype I'm about to make or not, but mabe you could master the katana and if anyone gives you beef challenge them to an old school duel. Although that would be olden style Japan, mabe if you were awesome at DDR they'd respect you. Mabe?

You just made think of that South Park episode with russel Crow fighting around the world, except that was China.

double post

It's difficult to say. Japan is rather well known for having trends that change constantly. I don't know if it's like something would be in one day, and out the next day. I read about a club that H.R. Geiger had there, and they said it was closed in a month cause that's how fast trends change in Japan.

I just thought coz japanese are justt SOOOOO good at DDR

That or you could beat them at a childs card game or through friedship speeches. Thats just something off an abridged series.

Being a clueless tourist I think would be easier than living there for months. People seemed generally polite (reminded me of visiting Britain that way). They might not want you marrying their daughters, but they'll give you directions and maybe want a conversation with the exotic/weird foreigner. Of course in every country there are bigots and jerks, and for whatever reasons or just bad luck some people are going to have a miserable experience.

If someone were visiting the USA I'd want to tell them it's basically ok, and fill them in on important things to know -- but also cross my fingers that they wouldn't run into some random jerk who would screw it all up.

I.e. I was mobbed once by some teenagers who thought I was a celebrity or something, which was weird but ok. Other times a few older people made some assinine racial comments, but no worse than I've gotten where I live in the USA.

I don't know...I've been around many Japanese tourists and found them to be polite people. But I wasn't in their country, they were in mine so who knows how rude I came across.

I always thought it was the Chinese who were rude...at least that's been my experience in Chinese resteraunts.

i have not been to japan but my brother married a japanese woman (our family is australian)
from what i can see they are pretty nice peoples.

i have been told that if you go to japan and say that you like anime they look at you funny. (read that in an article).

I lived in japan for almost 4 months and there is a certain degree of rudeness yes, but not in the sense you are used to when you hear the word 'rude'.


I'd call it a form of xenophobia that is found mostly at the older generations (35+ yrs). I could not think of a single instance when someone 25 or under showed this xenophobia towards me.. on the contrary they seemed eager to meet me and happy I was there.

It's a cultural / language barrier that the Japanese put up against the outside world or anything that is foreign (non-japanese). It is not new, this has been in place for more than a thousand years so it has become part of their way of life even at an subconscious level.

To begin, they use 3 alphabets. Their own 'Japanese' alphabet called Hiragana.

Then they have a second alphabet which is a 'clone' of the first alphabet but the letters are written differently. Katakana. This alphabet is used for non-japanese words. This includes foreign names, terms and adopted words (words which the Japanese language had no word for).

(Hiragana looks elegantly drawn with curves, Katakana is more straight lines and right angle design).

Third is a simplified version of the Chinese alphabet, Kanji. Very complex to draw, it is pictographic (the drawing is a concept not a phonetic representation).

In any everyday newspaper you will see all 3 used. At a glance you can 'tell' when 'non-japanese' things are in the news. To give you an idea, this is what they 'see' :

'Today stock prices of Merryll Lynch (INSERT PICTURE OF A BANK SIGN HERE) went up by 10 points, reported our Washington correspondent Mark Laymill'

Their written language alone does a good layer of apartheid.

Next, you have the cultural aspect that I call 'face' . Simply put, a Japanese person will be rude as hell to you if he thinks no one else is watching him BE rude. If that person is surrounded by others, especially people he works with or his friends or family members.. that person would be the most helpful person you will ever meet.

Note: Women do not do this to men, they will always be very helpful (another cultural thing but not part of this subject). But when it is another woman.. chances are they will.

By 'rude' I mean they will refuse to acknowledge you exist. You can be standing right in front of them with a map in hand, asking them for directions and they will just ignore you or pretend they dont understand a word you're saying.

... even when you're asking them in perfect Japanese.


Note: This is on a person to person type encounter, if you are there on business or as a customer to a shop this will not happen to you.


Their term for foreigners is 'Gaijin'. Literally means 'outsider'. When read in context though, its a term that says 'outsider who should not be here'.


However, you should not be worried about people being mean to you in Japan. If there is anything I learned there is that the xenophobia is not a personal thing. Its more like a learned behavior that they are EXPECTED to perform in a social situation.

Just learn to avoid talking to people of the older generation who are by themselves and you'll do fine. The younger generations see you as some sort of exotic creature that can tell them or show them neat things from the outside world... for a guy that's awesome (girls seek you yay!) and for a girl that means instant-friends with either gender (and some unfortunate too obvious and very cheesy attempts by Japanese guys at asking you out for a date.. my sister could tell you stories about it lol!)


edit: Forgot to mention .. if you go to Kyoto .. be prepared to be treated rather rudely (even in the western sense). Its like a stamp of Kyoto to act stuck up and be rude ... almost like New York in a way lol.

It depends on where you're from, as to how rude things are. Japanese have a very detailed sense of politeness; different levels of bowing depending on the 'rank' of each bowee, etc.

Most of the Japanese I've dealt with (precious few, I'll admit) are not rude, but then it's mainly been in business situations. But there's rude people anywhere you go (rudest I ever met were Roman women; drop-dead gorgeous, dressed to the 9s, but if you stood in their way, they'd walk right over you)

yes, the 'rank' thing is very present in their society.

However, as a foreigner you are not bound by those rules. That is, if you do not bow the proper 'degree' that an elderly CEO requires amongst other Japanese and it will not be held against you. After all, you're a 'gaijin' .

But as I mentioned, its on the common every-day thing .. of walking down the street, getting lost in the anthill of the train network,etc .. this is how things are.

When it comes down to business or attending your customer I admit nothing, absolutely nothing beats the Japanese. Having worked in travel wholesale I can tell you we dreaded Japanese clients because if *anything* went wrong that was not our doing ... like say a pipe burst in the luxury 4 star hotel in Spain and they moved everyone to a 5 star hotel by the beach at no cost to the client ... a Japanese client had to be given not only the whole thing for free but an apology letter, compensation gift and a discount towards future travel. That's how their laws are set up.

On the other hand, we never had problems with a Japanese hotel. They gave us a room and holy cow that room WOULD be there every single.. every single time. that does not happen in any other country in the world.

I live in Okinawa. best place in the world. particularly for an Aspie. their social norms are not as ever changing as America's so it is easier to adapt to. their society favors quirkiness and uniqueness. you do not necessarily need to be outgoing, like to be touched, or make constant eye contact since these things are unusual and often avoided in Japanese society.

I can walk down the street and nod/head bow at people as a greeting and that is it. there is no expectation for more.

Japanese people are often eager to initiate contact and are awkward in their own way so this takes off of emphasizing your own social awkwardness.

mainland Japan might be harder to adapt to. Okinawa might also be harder to adapt to since there is an island feel so people are more relaxed, more welcoming, and do not adhere to time as much. I might try living in mainland so if I do I will be sure to post how it compares to Okinawa.

But I really like it here. and I am working to stay here.

well i woul say that they are they had a bad time in the west