The gaijin/gaijin complex
Topic: Me
Q: Why approximately 50% of you gaijins out there are inclined to give a head nod when passing a fellow foreigner and the other half make a bold and obvious attempt to NOT make eye contact.

A: Ahhhh, the "gaijin/gaijin complex" has been that way since the days Lafcadio Hearn. Basically, the presence of another gaijin on your turf "ruins" the special-unique power a gaijin gets from surviving and thriving in Japan.

The archetypical of this attitude was the original henna gaijin, Lafcadio Hearn, who went to great efforts to ignore other foriegners, wear kimono and act more Japanese than the Japanese to make up for his own inadequacies.

So when you are passing a fellow foreigner who makes a bold and obvious attempt to NOT make eye contact, be aware that it just because you represent a threat to their ?special? Japanese experience.

Me? After more than 20 years here, I literally say ?HOWDY? to everybody.
And if dat don?t it freak ?em out... I give ?em my laser-like Taro smile that?s known to kill anal-retentive salarymen at 50 yards and force obatarian to give me their seat on the train.