I eat my breakfast at the local ticket restaurant, and I feel these eyes boring into the side of my head. I look up and there's a little old man, staring at me. When I look at him, he doesn't politely divert his eyes, as I would tend to do if someone caught me having a good old stare at them. Nup. He just keeps on staring and slurping curry (I'm not the freak dude! You're the one eating curry for breakfast! I'm eating eggs and sausage! That's normal breakfast food!) and staring and staring and staring. I can barely eat because I'm feeling so self conscious.
After my meal I check my make up in the bathroom just to make sure I haven't grown a second head or accidentally written "stare at me, please" on my forehead in eyeliner, but no, I'm not looking particularly weird. Just average. Showered. Dressed in work clothes. Dirty blonde hair and ruddy celto-gaulic complexion. Definitely don't require staring at.
I get on the train, and there's two people staring straight at me for the entirety of my hour long train journey. I try to keep myself busy in my book, but I can feel their eyes. I glance up occasionally, just to see if they're still putting in the massive amounts of psychic energy required to stare continuously at another human being, but they seem to be feeling no strain at all. Just staring away like crazy.
I get off the train, and a kid stares at me and follows me around the convenience store when I'm buying my lunch. Eyes like saucers. "Gaijin da...!"
And then I go to teach my classes and I can't get one of these ADD afflicted kids to pay attention to me when I'm talking. Not one.
Back to the gaijin's koen: If a gaijin is not there to witness gaijinised behaviour, do Nihonjin behave any differently at all?
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