Gripe time
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2008
1
54
110
Trip End
Aug 06, 2009
Tome,
Tohoku,
Japan
Friday, February 27, 2009
My first major gripe is about the lack of respect for privacy. It's weird since the Japanese are anal about getting people's permission when posting photos and stuff. I think there's something with being a gaijin that makes us the exception. Some male ALTs have talked about getting stared at in the stalls and onsens, and some female ALTs have been stared at by male doctors. Totally unacceptable! With the exception of the Aki Matsuri accidental redo caardo, the glomping by my students' drunken mother, and touchy-feely students, I've been lucky.
However, my personal bubble, which can be quite large when I want it to be, has been violated a couple times recently. The first time happened while I was paying my bills at 7-11. A man comes up behind me, slaps his cigarettes on the counter, and demands that the cashier ring him up. She was busy printing out my receipt, and we were close to being done. Nevertheless, the guy kept scooting closer and closer to me, as if he was ready to shove me away. Not cool, man.
A couple days later, at a party with lots of booze (a given if you're in Japan ), a man was getting uncomfortably close. It's like once Japanese people are drunk, any rules of propriety and respect for personal space goes out of the window. The weird part is that most of the time, it's people who are my parents' age or older. The wild teacher drinking party incidents I hear about have never happened to me. Maybe the age issue is part of my discomfort because when my friends in college get sketchy with me, I don't care. Then again, they're my friends and I don't know these people so well. I've trained myself to go into bitch mode when I am uncomfortable.
While we're on the subject of alcohol, let me bring up major grip #2. What the fuck is wrong with opting to not drinking alcohol?! I got the questions and teasing in America . I'm getting it here in Japan . If this keeps up, the next place I go will be a Muslim or Buddhist country. It's frustrating because it's a personal choice and I really shouldn't have to explain myself. Sometimes I want to get "xXx" or "sXe" tattooed on me to show that I am straight-edge, but people outside the punk community don't know about it (straight-edge means you abstain from tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex).
I'd be lying if I said I am 100% fine with people around me drinking. If they're doing it because they like alcohol, then fine. I have a problem with people drinking to lower their inhibitions (and usually these people are the ones who have an issue with me being sober). Unfortunately, that's the purpose behind most Japanese drinking parties. I think it's stupid to use alcohol as a crutch so yeah, I am probably going to have a fraction less respect for you than the sober idiot who hits on everyone, sings really bad karaoke, and dances on a table top (since I am one of these shameless idiots). There's a falseness to the whole thing that bugs me.
Obviously I can't change either thing because I can't change the people around me. So I'm just going to be a bitch when it pisses me off. I have the right to, do I not?
Glossary
gaijin - slang for "foreigner"
onsen - hot spring
redo caado - "red card"; shouted whenever there's inappropriate touching
