Back home now, but I can't seem to get this off my mind. Recently, I traveled to Japan for a little more than a week (10 days) with my cousin and went to multiple areas of Japan including Tokyo, Kyoto, Yokohama, ect. No matter where I went, I received constant staring from native Japanese of all ages and genders. I constantly make eye contact with strangers looking at me for no apparent reason, and I can feel people's gazes on me even when I don't return the eye contact. I know it can't be because I'm obviously foreign–I am east asian and of Chinese descent, and there have been multiple instances of Japanese assuming I am Japanese as well–When me and my cousin (also East Asian, Chinese) went shopping, we were once stopped by an employee speaking in Japanese to us. When we apologized in English for not understanding and he realized we were foreign, he was visibly surprised and rushed away without saying much more. Similiar incidents happened no matter the city, always with visible surprise and sometimes apologies once they realized we were not Japanese. So I know it can't be because I/my cousin look foreign. Once, after falling into a light sleep on the train, I woke up to see a small Japanese girl blatantly staring at me. She wasn't even trying to hide it. Another time, I was getting on a crowded train with my cousin when I made eye contact with a Japanese boy. He stared at me for a couple seconds, then turned and started laughing and whispering with his friend. The whispers and laughter intensified when he was accidentally thrown into me when the train started. Even when just walking on the street, I constantly make eye contact with strangers looking at me for no apparent reason, and I can feel people's gazes on me even when I don't return the eye contact. I don't have any visible tattoos and my hair is mid-length and naturally black–no dye or bleach. My style is extremely full coverage and baggy, so I never show any excess skin. Usually I wear little to no jewelry. My cousin is similarly modest and doesn't stand out beside me. The only thing I think it may be is because I am a woman and was fully bareface the entire trip. Is there a cultural standard for women to wear makeup all the time in Japan? The only thing stops me from fully thinking that this may be the issue is because when I was trying on clothes at a store, a female Japanese employee handed me a face cover as I was trying on a couple of new tops. I thought that the face coverings were for not getting makeup on the clothes, so why would she hand me one if I were bareface? Was it muscle memory? Do they just give them to everyone?? Please help!! Thank you in advance for any who may be able to help my little dilemma! 🙂
by sodacola7