July 3rd, 2011

In spite of what I've heard about Tokyo, seeing the people surprised me a bit. I expected it to have a fine mix of foreigners, but there was relatively few. Of course, touristy temples and main attractions were crawling with people of all sorts, and naturally, Tokyo was a lot more diverse than any city in Hokkaido, but by and large the foreigners were all tourists. I saw some multi-colored working types, but a lot less than I thought. I didn't get stared at, which was REALLY nice for a change, but everyone was still super impressed that I could speak Japanese. I guess assumed there would be more bilingual foreigners down south!

One thing that was fascinating, however, was that the Japanese people themselves were more diverse. Their clothing was more casual and like something we'd wear back home, though each with a different flair. The people were all different sizes, doing all different things, and behaving in all different ways. Their faces told different stories. I felt like everyone was telegraphing their individuality much clearer and they didn't seem very afraid of standing out. People were different kinds of Japanese, people were different kinds of people, and people were forward about it.

I liked it.

Seems I'm gonna need some time to adjust when I get back to America though. Few though the foreigners were, they were still there, and walking around in Tokyo seeing attractive foreign men again had me a little flustered. I guess it's been a while since I've encountered handsome strangers. Still, there are worse things to have to get accostumed to lol

July 3rd, 2011 - Part 2

In my first 10 minutes on the train in Tokyo, I got a breath of fresh air from a little rudeness. A pushy man on the Yamagata Line carelessly elbowed a young woman as he got off the train, and in response she shot him a dirty, dirty look.

Much-deserved facial honesty. These are my kind of people!