People

During my stay in Japan, I have met a variety of different people. This is only natural; human beings are unique and given the brand new culture presented to me here, I’m going to encounter an even more diverse set of people than what I’m used to experiencing.

My first impression of Japanese people was a neutral. I know I should not judge a whole group of people on stereotypes and that one person doesn’t represent the whole; but when that is your basis without any experience to disprove or support it, it’s hard not to go on that information.

At one point, I thought I saw the racist and intolerant side of Japan that is often stereo-typed. When I told Japanese in Touhoku I was going to Yokohama (housing Japan’s largest China Town), I was told that the Japanese were fine and dandy. BUT I had to be careful with my goods because the Chinese might try to steal them. This honestly made me laugh. It seemed so petty. I had encountered other resentment with Asia in past conversations with Touhoku residents. When asked about the island between Japan and Korea (Dokdo to the Koreans and Takeshima to the Japanese) they claimed Koreans might live there now, but since Japanese originally lived on it, it was theirs. I was unable to get an answer beyond that. And I still don’t know which is true in that matter. Not to mention while we were in Hiroshima, one Japanese called America cowards and destroyers b/c we fought with technology. 

But I’ve also encountered a lot of people in Japan that have proved stereotype s wrong as well as the idea that you can’t base people off of assumptions. Twice while traveling, a stranger came up, asked us our destination, and proceeded to take us directly to where we needed to go; sometimes even when it was out of their way. I overheard conversations after Hiroshima about understanding a country’s crimes, looking past the hate, and understanding the humans behind the country’s face. When we needed to get to the bus station, our Japanese friends went out of their way late at night, to run off and try to find where we needed to go to board our bus home.