“You are not like Japanese”. This is word I often hear. No idea what kind of Japanese they have known but I have often been said like this in abroad. Once I was in Vietnam, Japanese elder guys thought I was native among Vietnamese, they said to me “Your Japanese is pretty well.” when I talked to them. Even when I was in Mexico, some of people guessed I had been there for a long time, my appearance was totally Asian though. I was glad to hear that people think I am native. In fact I always want to be close to native people wherever I am. Difficult to explain the whole reason though, I like to see something from different point of view and these things sometime give me great thought which I have never gotten in Japan.
My Korean roommate taught me a big difference between Korean and Japanese when I said we are neighbor and have a lot of similar part each other. According to her opinion, Japanese is more flexible to be in different culture, it means not like tourist but the person who lives in. We both are traveler who can be found anywhere as a tourist. However, Korean finally go back to home, Japanese can stay entire life in different country. In fact, I could find many Japanese who live in abroad which is not exactly popular as tourist place. They just started to love life in somewhere different with our home country and shifted their own life over there. But Korean mostly don’t do like this, she said.
Japanese work hard, be honest, often miss Japanese food even in abroad as a tourist for a few days, shy, short height…these are stereotype which I hear sometimes. If people say I am not like Japanese against this stereotype, probably I could be said…I don’t work hard, mostly like local food, not shy and tall compare with Japanese girls or even with some foreigners. But if they pointed my mind out and say “You are not like Japanese.” I cannot agree with their opinion, half could be, but the other part, I am still exactly Japanese and this original part will be never gone from my heart. What I am trying to do in my mind is mixing and be original person who can keep good parts from each different people. It can be rude or great, but somehow, I would like to be honest and straight person as a Japanese, also be with great imagination and free thought who cannot be categorized in one nationality.
