Bort in Japan

I've been meaning to put these pictures up for awhile... my buddy Bort visited Japan in the fall and we travelled around for a bit. Up until that point, I hadn't noticed the effect that seeing a foreigner had on Japanese people (surprise, shock, panic attack, comedy, fear), being that I blend right in with my natural camoflague. It was pretty funny!


For instance, we went sneaker shopping and the chick that was working sees Bort, starts laughing, and goes "Harro, we have foreigner sizes too!"

I just finished a job application to be a workshop presenter at the Tokyo Orientation Conference for JETs over the summer. My topic - looking like you're Japanese when you're really not. It mostly consists of how to milk it (like playing the race card to get a free trip to Tokyo).

I was reading my buddy Ty's blog, and he had an entry about sticking out (see previous entry - he's the white dude doing The Worm in Osaka). Some people don't really care for the attention ("If you stare hard enough, we might turn Japanese" - as my buddy Jon says), some just roll with it and have a great time (my girl Zainabu is like a local celebrity, even signs autographs... and her game is off the hook).

Japan is a pretty insular place, people all look and act pretty much the same, and it's interesting to see their reaction when there is something different happening.