Gaijin Seat – Change after Japanese First and Takaichi, a reflection.

I'm a 27-year-old white male living in Tokyo.

I had pretty much never experienced the gaijin seat here — about 90% of the time people would sit next to me. Yes, being white helps.
But over the last 2–3 months, I’ve noticed that the number of people who usually sit next to me has been decreasing. A lot of times, they don’t anymore. I really started noticing this after Japanese First and Takaichi became more prominent.

Has anyone else experienced a similar shift since these events?

I feel bad thinking that people might be actively avoiding us for no reason. Most of us work, study, and pay our bills and taxes.
It’s a shame that the media and the government seem to be trying to blame every problem on us. Unfortunately, what happened in America and Europe is starting to reach Japan. I do agree that the country has the right to be strict and careful about who they let in, since problems caused by mass immigration are real. I understand why Japan wants to do this, but the way they are trying to paint us as dangerous or criminal because a small portion commit crimes or overstay visas doesn’t feel fair.

I believe most Japanese people have never had any issues with foreigners — many don’t even personally know any — so they just repeat the stereotypes and negativity they see in the media.

Anyway, this was more of a reflection, but I also wanted to express some feelings I’ve had recently.
Feel free to share your thoughts!