before I came here, I had the idea that as a black person, I was going to be even more of a rarity in "racially homogenous Japan"... y'all know the deal, i'm sure. children would point, men might stare, and I'd probably get some extra breathing room during the morning commute. the reality? today was only the second time a kid has stopped and mentioned to their parent, "look, she's a 外国人!" (foreigner)
now, I'm not exactly the most observant person ever, so no one should use me as the authority on how minorities are perceived. little kids do give me a few more glances than they might others, and I get obvious once-overs every now and again. but in central Tokyo, there are a lot of 外国人, enough that I see at least a few different black people every day. especially Africans, man... most seem to either own hip-hop clothing stores or work the club promotion scene.
but even in Saitama, the "suburban" spot where I live now (using that word loosely... it's funny how neon can find its way out of Shinjuku and Ikebukuro so easily ) the only other two foreigners I see at my station are African! I even met one of them - his name is Babs, and he's from - yep, Ghana. of course. I ended up running into him again today, in Shibuya of all places (kind of the epicenter for youth trendiness), in quite the depressing way: I saw a black guy coming towards me out of the corner of my eye, and immediately put the defensive blinders on before I realized I knew the guy trying to wave to me. oh, awkward turtle. swim, darn you, swim!
何で、そんなに？！I'd like to think that the worst instance of black stereotyping I've seen here wouldn't have been my own...
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