Amerika-jin and other foreigners

I wonder if I'll ever get used to the stares of Japanese for whom foreigners are a novelty.

Being noticed so much is strange for me. In the States, I generally don't stand out much; I don't look much different from any other random person walking around. But here in super-homogenous-looking Japan? I'm taller, curvier, and just look different from everybody else. It's impossible to blend in with the crowd.

It's kind of funny, having people stare at me here, because I know at home the only reason people would stare is if I were having a wardrobe malfunction or acting bizarrely. Here, the only thing you have to do for a little attention is not be Asian.

This afternoon I noticed several bus drivers, pedestrians, taxi drivers, etc., watching me as I walked down the sidewalk. One older Japanese man wearing glasses and geta turned around and said to me, in Japanese, "Are you an American? USA!" When I told him that's right, I'm an American, he repeated, "USA!" and turned back around, glancing back at me over his shoulder. Talk about awkward.

But it's not just the Japanese who gawk at foreigners. Other gaijin can be guilty as well. Later on my walk, I saw three guys approximately my age sitting at a bus stop across the street. As I passed, one shouted, "Amerika-jin?!" I confirmed their suspicions and kept walking, laughing to myself. This time I spared a few glances back over my shoulder. Each time I tried to sneak a peek, they were watching me. Theirs was a different kind of stare from the old man's, though; instead of looking at me because of my differences, they watched me because of our similarities--our shared status as outsiders.

I do the same thing. Every time I see a non-Japanese, I look a little longer than is polite. I wonder where they're from, what they're doing here in Kyoto.