a reason why gaijins are so popular

[Exidez]

i dont know if anyone has herd this butwhen i was at small school camp (many differant high school students came) my home room teacher noticed that i was very very popular with the girls. This is in Japan by the way.

anyway when i was riding home with my home room teacher he share with me an image of why i am so popular.. i coulnt quite understand it all but it went something like this..

He said something about a prince who had a white horse and if a woman rode this horse she will be made into a snow prinsess.... ???

i have probably made some mistakes in the understanding of this image he was taching me. But he said that was the reason why everyone loves you.

Has anyone else herd a story which involes this kind thing??
I want to hear the correct translation with it.

[Ewok85]

Variety is the spice of life (were different, thats simply it, your a walking novelty)

[Maciamo]

Gaijin may be popular because of a misunderstanding on the kanji, if you write it like this 外神 that does not mean "outsider" anymore, but "god(s) from beyond". :D

[DragonChan]

I figure I have people coming up to talk to me for two reasons:

1) They like to touch my hair

2) They like to say the line 'nihongo jouzu' and there is nobody else nearby that it can 'apply' to.

I really wish they would come up to talk to me for something more substantial than to tell my hair is pretty or that my face is small. I even had one girl pull out a ruler and measure it. (It isn't my fault she has a big head XD)

[Maciamo]

I really wish they would come up to talk to me for something more substantial than to tell my hair is pretty or that my face is small. I even had one girl pull out a ruler and measure it. (It isn't my fault she has a big head XD)

That's a typical Japanese mania about having a small face. First, I didn't know how to feel when I was told the same (was that an insult ?), but I realised that Japanese see it as a compliment. The problem is that they say "atama ga chichai", which translates as having having a small "head" and not face. They were also referring to the look of the back of my head, which looked smaller compared to Asian heads. The reason is that the shape is considerably different (longer and more rounded for Caucasians, and flat and wide for Asians).

I took the initiative to measure and compare my Japanese friends' head circumference, distance from hairline to chin and head width, with mine. It appeared that all dimensions were bigger for me. The reason they think it is smaller is that Caucasian heads are 1) longer (from hairline to chin), and 2) Caucasian features (eyebrows, eye depth, nose, etc.) are more prominent, giving their face more relief and making it look smaller (less wide). I was surprised however to find that my head circumference was also a few centimeters more than theirs. Anybody has had similar experiences (and what is your head circumference, length and width) ?

[Ewok85]

Just the usual novelty stuff... "wow! brown hair!" "oooo, long eyelashes" "your so tall!" (wtf, im 170cm, i am faaaaaar from tall)

The one that ticks me the most is "your japanese is so good!", even if you only know 1 work of japanese you'll get this reaction

[kirei_na_me]

Just like Maciamo, I got the weirdest 'compliments' from Japanese people. High nose, long eyelashes, small lips, 'sharp' face, white skin, big hips and breasts(which they're not by manyAmerican standards and I never would've thought a compliment before :eek: ), back of my head round instead of flat, small/skinny ANKLES(hahaha!), etc. I felt like a specimen under a microscope at times.

When we first started dating, my husband took a picture of my profile and sent it to his family. Talking about weird... :p

[TwistedMac]

"wow! brown hair!"

I have absolutely no idea why i read that as "wow! brainhair!" at first.. was like "must be some sort of joke for those that know more than i do.."

[PopCulturePooka]

The one that ticks me the most is "your japanese is so good!", even if you only know 1 work of japanese you'll get this reaction
GAWD that ticks me off.
Say sumimasen or something once and you're suddenly fluent in Japanese and apparantly able to have a conversation, even when you state many times you can't. At all.

[Nezumi]

maybe if they ride you -snicker- they'll be a queen and a mother. or else they'll be along for the ride in your popularity and sharing in it.

[okaeri_man]

Gaijin may be popular because of a misunderstanding on the kanji, if you write it like this 外神 that does not mean "outsider" anymore, but "god(s) from beyond". :D

wishful thinking!!! :cool:

[Maciamo]

I also got the compliment of the long eyelash (which I had never realised before, but it may be true, even by Caucasian standard), and the dubious compliment of my hair feeling "the same as a dog". :eek: (but Japanese love dogs, so I guess it was a compliment).

[chiquiliquis]

I get a lot of girls telling me my nose is big: Hana dekai desu yo ne... I always understood "dekai" as being more "huge" than big, so I'm never quite sure how to take it... most of them are 13 years old, though... not the biggest of blows to my ego :0)

[Mr. Just-A-Guy]

Just the usual novelty stuff... "wow! brown hair!" "oooo, long eyelashes" "your so tall!" (wtf, im 170cm, i am faaaaaar from tall)

The one that ticks me the most is "your japanese is so good!", even if you only know 1 work of japanese you'll get this reaction

Thatｴs perfect! At least one people on Earth who donｴt want to kill you only by seeing you for the first time!

Man, I should have been born in Japan :(

But surely I wouldnｴt get this reaction like you American, Canandian, European or Australian people do there.

[Elizabeth]

I figure I have people coming up to talk to me for two reasons:

1) They like to touch my hair

2) They like to say the line 'nihongo jouzu' and there is nobody else nearby that it can 'apply' to.

I really wish they would come up to talk to me for something more substantial than to tell my hair is pretty or that my face is small.
He he he....that's my life's dream (and work to make it happen) as well. Not likely, but let us know if anyone does. :sorry:
On the size issue, I've also had women standing around joking that they feel like apes or monkeys in comparison. All you can do is smile and laugh and try not pulling out a ruler yourself. :D

[Exidez]

i still dont understand what my home room teacher ment by that white horse stuff.

by the way, they dont say my nose is dekai, they use takai for me...
they also think that my eyelashes are long too. The girls seam to be jealous about that.
When i am at the onsen they they laugh and say "onaka ga deteiru". I am pretty sure this isnt a compliment. They allready know i have gained 10kg since i have been in japan.

[mad pierrot]

Heh, yeah. I have a face that looks like a mule's @ss crack, and yet I've been told by Japanese people that I look like

1. Charlie Sheen
2. Tom Cruise
3. Toby Mcguire

:D

Strange, but good for the ego!

[Elizabeth]

i still dont understand what my home room teacher ment by that white horse stuff.
I suppose it was meant the girls in your class look at (white) foreigners as having powers that by association will make them into princesses. :bravo:
Snow Princess may be an infamous character out of Japanese folklore as well....that may be a reference worth checking out before taking this too much to heart. :relief:

[blade_bltz]

"Orlando Bloom 似てる" - i cant tell if i should take this as a compliment or not....

[Ewok85]

When i am at the onsen they they laugh and say "onaka ga deteiru". I am pretty sure this isnt a compliment. They allready know i have gained 10kg since i have been in japan.

"Your guts hanging out!"

Dunno how you'd gain weight with a typical japanese diet... i lost 10kgs and 8% bodyfat in a year :cool:

[sky888]

it's like the westerners old man are crazy over asian young gals...

[jieshi]

I can't stand to think what they will say about my eyelashes geez I already get commented on having lovely long eyelashes here in Australia by the women, what going to happen in Japan? lol

[PopCulturePooka]

I can't stand to think what they will say about my eyelashes geez I already get commented on having lovely long eyelashes here in Australia by the women, what going to happen in Japan? lol
Welcome to hell or heaven, depends how you take it.

I got the long eyelashes stuff back home too.

Here i get girls trying to touch them

[Mike Cash]

Look on the bright side. If they're in touching range of you, you're in touching range of them.

Touch folks back right where they touch you, immediately, and without asking. Some folks won't mind. Some will see it as a sort of "skinship" bonding sort of thing. And a small minority will clue in that if they don't like it, then maybe they ought to give you a little human consideration too.

[Mr. Just-A-Guy]

i still dont understand what my home room teacher ment by that white horse stuff.


Umm... they like white?

[RinniGal]

Lucky me, I appeared out of no where and started school for a short period... even before I attended and was only visiting, I had girls running up to me, screaming about how cute i was. the also said i have long eyelashes...
my friend's mom said i was skinnier than my friend because i had smaller thighs.
my friend's dad didnt believe my hair was curly
my friend's aunt said she liked my nose...
(my friend got mad at me eventually)
and i was called a barbie and a princess
i have brown hair and brown eyes and freckles...i dunno how i'm a barbie

[BlaqJap]

Ah, There should be a show that says ' When Japanese Get Too Polite' . I guess they are like that because it's new and different. When anyone sees something different from them they get alittle... excited? >< From the posts it's like everybody is a celebrity. All I can say is that it's great for the ego. Not that everyone needs it.

[Hero]

@Exidez: I also read that a reason they may like gaijins is because the "knight in shining armor" or the "Prince" in young kids books is always portrayed as a white guy. Kinda strange if you ask me.

@Ewok85: I also hate it when they tell me my Japanese is good just by using a few words. Maybe they are remarking on my pronunciation/accent I've picked up?

@mad_perrot: In america I'm always told I look like Kevin Bacon but when I went to Japan people always mentioned "matrix" and one kid even yelled out Neo from across the street.
I don't look like Keanu Reeves or Neo, lol.
Everywhere I went I was stared at and always heard "kakkoi" and "Sugoi"...
At first I was excited about all the positive attention.
Everyone thought I looked cool and awsome.

Then I hated it after about 4-5 days... It became hell and I got home-sick.
After about 1 week I just got over it and started allowing people to have chances to stare at me, hoping it'd get out of there system.
That was a failure >.<

In fact this morning my Fiancee was staring at my pic over webcam and I asked if she was staring at me. She said "You look so cool!"... rofl.

@The girls: I'm not sure this applies to all J-Girls but reading what you say... it seems it applies to a few...

One time my fiancee kept going on and on how she wanted smaller lips, deeper set eye sockets like Americans, non-slanted eyes, smaller nose that's set higher up, and different hair color.
It was kinda strange to me that she was so infatuated with looking like an American. And even though her breast are envied by fellow J-girls she still wants them slightly bigger to be "American size", lol.

@BlaqJap: I agree quite a bit with this statement. I think it's because they always see other Japanese. And if you look around in Japan, a hell-of-a lot of the girls look the same. Same facial features, same hair, same hieght...
So they want to change to be different then your everyday Japanese.

While in America there's a wide variety of people; so not everyone is trying to look different because they already do look different.

[Mike Cash]

Ah, There should be a show that says ' When Japanese Get Too Polite' . I guess they are like that because it's new and different. When anyone sees something different from them they get alittle... excited? >< From the posts it's like everybody is a celebrity. All I can say is that it's great for the ego. Not that everyone needs it.

Most people really like that celebrity stuff for a while. Similarly, after a short while most people come to find it annoying.

[Ewok85]

I dyed my hair black to try and avoid the comments about everything and try to blend in, worked for a while.... :D

[King of Tokyo]

I dyed my hair black to try and avoid the comments about everything and try to blend in, worked for a while.... :D

Haha.. I swear I was thinking of doing that before I go to Japan.. But..

1. I think I'll test out being a gaijin for a while and then if it gets annoying then out comes the dye.. Heh.
2. Mostly gothic types dye their hair black, and I just think I would look strange (Still very handsome, but stranger than with brown hair.. Heh)
3. I simply don't want black hair.. Heh.

Yeh.. So that's funny you said that.. I thought I was the only one (Well, that I'd ever meet or talk to) who thought of doing that.. Heh.

[Keiichi]

When I go into a Japanese chat room and start using Japanese (with also knowing I'm not Japanese), I get the "my Japanese is skillful thing too." But when I talk to Japanese people face-to-face with some Japanese (I'm Chinese), I get the "are you Japanese?" and "are your parents born in Japan?" stuff. Certain appearances (or lack of) certainly does give certain responses. ^^'

Keiichi

:blush:

[DragonChan]

Ewok - Haha...you're only a cm taller than me. And what did you eat when you were here? I have started to gain weight...my hostfamily eats so unhealthy. I just feel gross after some of the more fatty meals. I had to actually go to the grocery store and buy a carrot. They don't eat very many veggies, and it makes me somewhat ill.

At home I never really bothered to think about my weight, since I play a few sports and stuff, but here I just feel...icky. I had to go buy a soccer ball so I can play on weekends, and I started to do sets of stuff in my room a few days a week. Lack of excercise really makes you feel different.

King of Tokyo - I might dye my hair black for halloween. I want to find some temoporary spray in stuff so I can dress up as the girl from The Ring. (A bunch of us might dress up and then go to Nagoya...we miss our holidays.) However I don't know if I will be able to get any temporary dye since I somewhat doubt most Japanese people need to dye their hair black for a day, so I might need to go semi-permenant. I am already into the punk stuff so it isn't too much of a stretch..though they comment on my nails since I paint em black some weekends. And my concert t-shirts, since they don't know who any of the people are.

In the end they stare at me anyway, fat/thin, blond/black, uniform/normal clothes, so it doesn't really matter.

[mad pierrot]

In the end they stare at me anyway, fat/thin, blond/black, uniform/normal clothes, so it doesn't really matter.

Japanese people stare at people who aren't Japanese. Heh. That being said, not everyone in Japan does. In urban areas you won't get a second glance, but you will turn more heads in the countryside. I've been living in rural Wakayama for a year now, and I still get those glances. (Especially when I go running in my sleeveless MegaDeath T-shirt.) Imagine if a rancher in rural Montanta saw a guy running down the road in a kimono...

:blush:

[Ewok85]

Mornings would be bread and fruit. Lunch would be a bento (rice, spagetti, hamburger, salad, fruit, etc) or sandwiches, normally have a small dinner of sandwiches and then a proper meal later (about 10-11) of something typically japanese, so rice and miso just about everytime with things like meat, yakisoba, etc.

Tried to avoid softdrinks, chocolate (hah, not very well), fast food, all of that, stuck to water and tea for the year. Played sport (well a martial art - Shorinji Kempo) every day but sundays which was also really good for socialising.

As for hair dye, just go down to the chemist and get any hair dye, they aren't permanant. :)

[RinniGal]

That being said, not everyone in Japan does. In urban areas you won't get a second glance, but you will turn more heads in the countryside.

:blush:

in shibuya, guys stared at me and followed me with their heads, and my friends kept laughing cause all the guys were checking me out.

[mad pierrot]

in shibuya, guys stared at me and followed me with their heads, and my friends kept laughing cause all the guys were checking me out.

The you must be one fine lookin' lady.

:blush:

[RinniGal]

hahaha...
i'll take that as a compliment

[Will Wirru]

Will having blonde hair be a big problem there?

Other questions:
I do a lot of working out, will that make me stand out (more)?
I love basketball, are there plenty of places to play in most cities?
Would improving a tan help you blend in, or make you look less appealing as you might be less white-a-nized.

[Live91]

Welcome to hell or heaven, depends how you take it.
I got the long eyelashes stuff back home too.
Here i get girls trying to touch them
>.>! I want those too!

[mika_r]

humms... i just wonder... are hips atractive there?

XD

wooow, i wanna live in japannn!! so people look at me like that *-*

[zeroyon]

I've been kinda experiencing the same thing here. Back in the USA im kinda an average guy, no girl really ever looked my way twice, but in Japan, the girls keep saying "so cute", and stare at me, try to get my phone #, etc. I guess its because im really tall and kinda look like a football player or something. It can be good and disheartening at the same time though.

As commented on the "white prince" thing, it seems to me like there are many japanese girls that just want to find a gaijin and use them to gain access to America or Europe, as in, they have western akogare. Many japanese girls have said to me that they want to have blond hair, blue eyes, be tall, have bigger boobs (rofl), want to live in the united states, especially california (so they can always go shopping) etc etc.... it just seems odd to me that some j-gals (at least the ones around here) have a longing for western things and wan to become caucasian.

The disheartening thing that I mentioned above though, is that you can't help but feel like you are being used. It feels like the japanese girls want to be around me because i'll be some sort of status symbol to them, like a new handbag or something, and in reality they don't give a crap about me (which is understandable though).

Anyways, enough with the ranting :bluush:

[doinkies]

As commented on the "white prince" thing, it seems to me like there are many japanese girls that just want to find a gaijin and use them to gain access to America or Europe, as in, they have western akogare. Many japanese girls have said to me that they want to have blond hair, blue eyes, be tall, have bigger boobs (rofl), want to live in the united states, especially california (so they can always go shopping) etc etc.... it just seems odd to me that some j-gals (at least the ones around here) have a longing for western things and wan to become caucasian.

Reminds me of some of the 'Japanophiles' doinkies has seen...they see Japan as some awesome land of milk and honey where they can buy all the anime and manga they want and not get teased for it, all the people are hot, and everything is perfect. Many of them want to be Japanese themselves, or envy them.

[ricecake]

Back in the USA im kinda an average guy,no girl really ever looked my way twice, but in Japan,the girls keep saying "so cute",and stare at me,try to get my phone #, etc.





Is this someone's self fullfiling prophecy ? :souka:

[Faustianideals]

I'm afraid of going to Japan now. ;_:

[Alegi]

I was once told that I look a little bit like Elijah Wood, maybe not the best photo of myself cause I look a bit insane.
For many japanese people, they would see me as an american right? Though the truth is that I am swedish.
It would be fun though, If I could dress as Sam in lord of the rings, with the same hair and all, maybe they would see me as Elijah Wood.


h**p://f.helgon.net/g/%7B13A/%7B13AD43F2-635F-4387-9DBF-717F1BCD0BA5%7D.jpg

[shadow_lady]

外国人 are very popular in japan. ever hear of the comic strip Charisma man? google it and you'll know:lol: its a laugh riot!