I was about to mention my experience as a foreigner in Japan as well. When I was first living in Japan I usually acknowledged other obvious (non-Asian) foreigners with a friendly nod, wave, or smile, because this seemed like the natural thing to do. I thought of it as sort of like being in a small town. There was an American military base near where I lived, so I did see other foreigners pretty often. However, I found that a lot of other white people in Japan carefully avoid even making eye contact with other foreigners who they don’t know. This didn’t always happen, but I’d say that it was more often than not. I’ve since seen this mentioned elsewhere online, so I’m pretty sure this wasn’t because I looked weird or anything like that.
When I came across African-Americans in Japan they always acknowledged me with a nod, and on at least one occasion stopped to talk. (I specify African-Americans because I think they were all Americans; I wouldn’t assume that black Africans, etc., would act the same way.) I wasn’t familiar with the “black nod” at the time, but when I later heard about it I figured it must have seemed normal for many African-Americans in Japan to expand this to a “gaijin nod”. I have joked that after a while in Japan I started to think of myself as black, because I came to expect African-Americans to give me “the nod” but for white people to quickly look away if I glanced in their direction.
I think we can throw in “of recognition or solidarity” in addition to “acknowledgement” Only members of a minority group present (Black, women), motorcycle riders, someone you know from another circumstance but can’t speak to now, strangers in a strange land, etc.
White female here. I do the nod frequently. Often, it is to tell a person in a group who has spoken up, that I acknowledge their point of view. Sometimes, I do the nod to let the person know that they are not alone in being/feeling different if I feel the same.
This is interesting because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it over the years.
I lived in Japan for over 25 years, the first time was as a Mormon missionary was in 1981 to '83, then visited several times and then moved there again in 1990 and stayed (with visits home) until I moved here (Taiwan) last year.
In the early years, there weren’t as many foreigners, and several times I lived in small cities where there were no other foreigners. If there was another gaijin Westerner, you would stop and chat, unless you were carrying someone to the hospital for a heart attack. For that, you would stop and apologize before rushing off.
After visiting several other times during the 80s, I moved again to Japan in '90, but this time to a suburb of Tokyo. The acknowledgment between gaijins was vastly different because there were now – relatively – so many of us, although more than 90% white males. There was a clear division between English teachers, usually kids in their 20s wearing ill fitting suits and tennis shoes and expat community of the American Club-going business executives and families in their IBM- (or whichever firm) supplied homes in the gaijin ghettos of Roppongi and Nishi Azabu.
The expats would acknowledge the expats and the English teachers would nod to the English teachers and everyone would ignore the navy boys. I was in the nether lands of being a local hire for Japanese companies so while I wore black leather shoes and fitted suits, I didn’t have Armoni ties. Older than most of the kids and younger than the captains of industry, I was shunned by both. Until I was hired to set up the branch office of a US company and suddenly was good enough for the lawyers and securities folks to chat with.
I’m going to disagree with DSeid’s son. It is not necessarily being in a marginalized minority. There is very much a question of group identity and the size of the group. I’m borrowing here from the work of a Japanese sociologist who studied this. He found that Japanese joggers would acknowledge joggers and golfers would do so with fellow golfers. Size comes into a factor because while fellow golfers would give the slight head bow to other golfers outside the courses and club houses, they wouldn’t there, as now suddenly everyone were golfers.
Living in various apartment buildings and neighborhoods, my experience was that the smaller and more clearly defined setting the more likely it was that there would be some sort of sign of acknowledgment between residents.
The last neighborhood we lived in Japan was in a residential area of Tokyo with mixed single dwellings and apartments. We lived on a dead end street with one apartment building with maybe 12 single occupancy apartments and then 10 houses. All the homeowners (except for one husband) would say hello, nod or chat, but none of the people from the apartment would.
Other time I noticed a big difference in mutual acknowledgment was that of fellow parents, which happened the most frequently with newborns and small infants. As our kids get older then it’s not so special anymore. I never nod to a fellow father of a six-year-old girl, for example, where five years ago other parents would smile or nod.
I set up the branch office of a US company and would only go back once a year. HQ when from a hundred or so to more than 500 during the decade I was employed. When there were less people, then there would be more nods or smiles when you passed others in the hall. By the time there were 500 then they became strangers.
When I’d visit Japanese customers, I would sometimes go through areas where the general public doesn’t go but outsiders with a purpose were allowed. People would look at you, and there was the right head bob which said “I’m OK, I belong here.” and then they wouldn’t challenge you.
Here in Taiwan, it’s sort of similar that in Taipei there are enough foreigners that we all pretend no one else exists. Out here in the sticks, although now I’m an English teacher, I’m easily a couple of decades older than most of the others, so they walk right by as if I’m outdoor furniture. The exceptions are the brown foreigners. They will nod or smile and I nod or smile back.
Lamia’s point about African-Americans in Japan is right on. Because they are a small minority within the minority group, then they fall within a small, single identity, despite the fact that some are English teachers and others are lawyers. I’m basically friendly so I nod to anyone who makes eye contact.
