are you black? are you black and you went to japan to escape racism? really?
Oh, please... it's never about escaping...
It's about just getting the volume turned down.
For example:
Nobody follows me around in the 7-11s here.
Or the supermarket.
Or the [FILL IN THE BLANK].
And when you go to the register, they treat you the same as the 2 people before you and the 2 people after you. If your Japanese sucks (mine did when I first got there), they might have to repeat things or dumb it down, but that's it.
I can
always get a taxi. Yes... a
TAXI...
A REAL TAXI!!!]
I get regular good seats in a restaurant.
People sit next to me in coffee shops even when there are 3 seats free next to me.
(Yeah... go read the above sentence again.)
Now, of course there are things that are the same.
Sometimes the scared looks and such.
The clutching the handbag tighter.
But then, if I am sitting in a park people come up to me with their kids to say "Hi".
Or if their kids run my way, the the parents follow and stand with their kid talking to me and asking questions and stuff.
Old folks come up to me just wanting to talk.. some in English (some are good) and some in Japanese.
(One old lady has kind of adopted me... introduced me to people in her apartment building and everything).
Or if I am in a coffee shop or McDs or in a park or wherever... people just sometimes want to come up and talk.
Some in English.
Others, when they realize that I can speak Japanese, they want to talk in Japanese.
Made some friends this way.
Girlfriends this way.
Normal dating.
Normal break ups.
Riding the trains, I am invisible. Just another guy on the train.
People sit next to me because there is an open seat.
Some areas, I am different and new and people want to talk.
And the best thing is... it's ordinary regular.
Racism is still here.
Apartments can be heard to get... and people "hear things" about us "from
other sources" (you know what I mean) and that can cause trouble.
But it is nowhere as bad as America.
In the US, the racism knob is turned to to 11.
In Japan, they only have it at like 5-7.
(When they do racism, they are kind of sloppy at it... Whites aren't used to it (I've had some moan to me)... we've had lots of practice, so we see it coming miles a way).
For us.
For black folks.
That's a vacation.
Or paradise.
But, let's be real. If all they did in America was give you what I have here all of a sudden -- you'd **** your pants and be happy doing it.
It's never about escaping racism.
We never can.
It's just about getting the volume turned down.