Departments
MISHIRANU HITO
見知らぬ人
strangers
Japanese people are usually exceedingly polite to guests; but many Japanese have an aversion to strangers. In fact, foreign visitors in Japan sometimes report being ignored when asking for directions. This experience is especially common among foreign males.
I had an experience like this myself on one occasion some years ago in Kyoto. It was late at night, and I had no idea how to get back to my hotel. I approached a handful of people on the street: a middle-aged man in a business suit, a thirty-something female office worker, and several others. They all ignored me and kept walking. Granted, I was an obvious foreigner—but I was dressed in business attire, and few people back in America seem to consider my appearance to be intimidating.
When I told this story to a Japanese friend, he informed me that many Japanese will avoid answering questions from foreigners they don’t know, for fears that their English skills are inadequate. (The fact that I addressed these passers-by in Japanese didn’t seem to get me off the hook on that count.) They may also have been unaccustomed to interacting with foreigners, and were afraid that they would be unable to determine if I was a threat.
At the same time, many Japanese will go out of their way to talk to a foreigner. In my book Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One, I cite an article from a Japanese publication that demonstrates just how outgoing the Japanese can be with foreigners in their midst:
In a recent edition of the online version of Japan Today, a journalist went out into the streets and asked random young people, “What is the best way to make foreign friends?” American youth would likely be puzzled at the premise of the question itself, but the Japanese responses were very practical, indicating that many young people had actually given the issue considerable thought: "One of my friends has foreign friends, but I do not. I don't know the best way to go about it…”said one young man. One respondent was a particularly gregarious young woman who claimed to “have many foreign friends” She revealed that, “when I was on the train, I saw a foreign lady who was reading an English town magazine, which included event info from my college. So I invited her to the event.”
Here again, I can corroborate the above with my own experience. I was walking through Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood one day when a fortyish man approached me and asked if he could practice his English with me for a few minutes. I told him to fire away, and I spent the next quarter hour answering detailed questions about the United States. It seemed that this stranger was making his first business trip to the U.S.A. the following week, and he wanted to be prepared. He was genuinely appreciative, and even offered to pay me for my troubles—an offer which I declined.
So depending on the individuals and circumstances involved, a foreigner in Japan may be alternately shunned—or treated like a celebrity. But caution is the default mode of behavior when a Japanese person encounters a stranger who is also Japanese. The Japanese prefer to be introduced before interacting beyond a superficial level. This is especially true in business settings. Without an introduction, it is impossible to know the person’s status, and therefore impossible to judge what level of courtesy the situation will require.