10 Hours of Walking in Tokyo as a Black Woman | Black Japan Vlog | Why Did I Move to Japan?

foreign [Music] and I'm an American living in Japan for over eight years now today I will be elaborating on some of the topics discussed in my last few videos as well as many of your questions and concerns about coming to Japan today's topics are why Japanese people stare how Japanese people really treat me as a black woman why I live in Japan and our Japanese people really nice please write in the comments if there are any other topics you would like for me to address in future videos let's get started why Japanese people stare I find it funny irritating but profitable that so many people who watch these videos continue to assume that I think so many Japanese people stare at me in my first video without context to me it was apparent that the majority of people don't stare I thought everyone else would be able to see that as well it was so obvious to me that I felt the need to focus on the few people that did but for a third time I think I have to point out looking at the majority of the people around me most people don't care that I'm even here aside from people who may think I'm either attractive wonder why I'm not wearing a mask which is not required outside or are just curious about my hair or who I am the vast majority pay no attention to me I expected this boring reaction but since many people asked about stairs in Japan I decided to take my demonstration a step further by wearing a white dress a Yukata and for walking for 10 hours slightly more people looked at me in this dress compared to the Yukata by the way but most people still don't care but Japanese people are not a monolith [Music] [Music] I do I do I still don't know if that was an accident or not but what do you think I wasn't sure so I didn't really do anything with around 37 million people Tokyo is still the most populated city in the world you will see many foreigners not just here but in other cities throughout Japan as well most people don't care about me however when I go to Osaka which is famous for being friendly people more often approach me and ask if I want to get drinks with them or if I need help with something I think it's important when traveling to know the different types of stairs I think in our home countries we're probably most familiar with disapproving stairs that's the reason why staring usually seems negative however at least for me it's usually out of curiosity we all know the racist stairs and I have received those a handful of times from old ojichans here [Music] stairs are most often the start to getting invited to a special Japanese restaurant going to someone's house for dinner or just a very warm and memorable interaction that could Define your entire Japan experience I'm not saying you should acknowledge all of the stairs though because in inaka that could be a lot and yes more people stare in the countryside because it's so secluded from the main areas here's a story six years ago I was at a cafe teaching a private student when this older woman wouldn't stop staring at me I gave her dirty looks and my assumptions about why she was staring at me went wild after my private lesson was finished she came up to me hesitantly and told me she was very nervous to approach me but was looking for someone to speak English to I felt so bad she was extremely shy and I think it's because she traveled so much to Europe that she finally had the courage to approach me regardless of my evil stares so to the many people writing to me in the comments nervous to travel because of the stairs you will realize just like in your home country when a stare is not good in the 12 countries that I visited in my life and the two countries I've lived in outside of the US these curious positive stairs if acted upon are the start to an Adventure if that's what you want my Japanese grandma is literally the sweetest woman I've met in Japan we talk every other week since that day six years ago where she checks up on me asks about my family members I've introduced her to and sometimes we watch TV together but if you don't like the stairs you can just ignore them Japanese style next how do Japanese people really treat me as a black woman when I make these videos I get so many comments by people telling me that I'm lying the majority of my audience is American I am American and it's Americans that want to know the answer to this question how do Japanese people really treat me but that's because race runs everything in America we look at other countries and cultures through the lens of race too but outside of America I haven't experienced American racism Prejudice for sure but not American racism of denying me service calling me racial slurs out of hate or fear for my safety because of my skin color yes some of the little kids may call me names here but it's never out of hatred that makes me fear for my safety or anything so these comments that are denying my experience and telling me to tell the truth about racism I don't understand what do you want why are you so adamant about pushing your reality on me I think for many of us Americans it's hard to believe when I was back in America I used to think that everyone hated black people too however and I'm aware of my American status helps I've more often been given the time and space to show who I am for people to judge me on my character so my short answer to this question how do Japanese people really treat me as a black woman in Japan I'm treated very nicely like our fell Isom said in the black and Japan Jubilee video we often forget the color of our skin and they raise issues back at home because many of us don't experience it here in Japan I'm not saying racism doesn't exist here I'm saying that the American racism of fearing for your safety and being denied service I've never experienced that here in Japan or abroad I've heard of cases of it happening in other countries but I think it's important to compare the number of people that go to a country and the number of people where something bad has happened to them in a country why I live in Japan I'll always remember when my grandmother took me to a Towson University Film Festival where I saw Studio ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service for the first time my grandmother told me it was a film from Japan and after seeing it I thought somehow the character reminded me of that Sailor Moon I watched was that from Japan too yes I became interested in Japan because of anime and video games I studied Japanese in the US for many years but stopped once I got to University it wasn't until I moved to Peru for six months that I realized I had all the resources I needed to go to Japan at that moment so I booked my tickets almost immediately and I found a way I could stay in Japan for four months for free then I landed a Visa I've been here ever since and loving it to me there are so many opportunities and low hanging fruit outside of my home country not just in Japan I think this goes for all people that leave their home country to another country your brain just works differently when you're living abroad moving on are Japanese people really nice all over the Internet many people talk about how nice Japanese people are but are they really nice in the last video I explained about tatemaye and hone where tatemay is how people act around others and hone is one's true thoughts most foreigners who come to Japan will interact with service people at restaurants hotels and other attractions where tatemay is a requirement when dealing with customers this will already give the impression that all Japanese people are nice because the only Japanese people about tourists are interacting with are the ones they have to interact with for their stay try interacting with the locals well the tatumai is still there it's a little different from the service people it's not bad but it's just different the Japanese language has three main politeness levels kuraketa which is plain form tenae which is simple polite and keigo which is Advanced polite polite one thing I have seen before is some Japanese people talking to foreigners and using a lower politeness level if you don't speak Japanese you can't catch this depending on the situation it could have been interpreted as the Japanese person being rude and annoyed with the Foreigner and other times it was because they could have thought casual Japanese is easier for the Foreigner to understand it really depends on the situation but I've seen both cases and in both cases the Japanese person will have a pleasant smile on their face but overall yes in my experience Most Japanese people are nice in Tokyo not friendly but everyone is pretty nice thanks for watching [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Enim's Life in Japan Vlogs

Views: 559,618

Keywords: tokyo vlog, life in japan, black in japan, japan vlog, enlightize, street harassment, womens rights, women, walking, 10 hours, woman, 10 hours of walking in tokyo as a black man, the melanated files, melanated files, the black experience japan, black man, 10 hours of walking in, being black in japan, whats it like being black in japan?, japan, tokyo japan, 10 hours of walking in tokyo as a black woman, walking tour, 5 hours, black woman walking

Id: PPfquDYDbbI

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 19 2023