The things I hear.

I have decided to start writing down the strange, out there, interesting comments I receive on a daily basis from people around me. Some of them really are worth the effort.

First, you have to be aware of the context I am in here. I am not in Tokyo. I am not in Kyoto or Osaka or Kobe that have a larger international population. I live 2 hours north of Tokyo, which is classified as rural here but is more like the outskirts of a big city. Sure, there are lots of rice fields and vegetable crops, but the city has everything a city can offer (except good coffee, which is my own battle).

My students do not really see many "foreigners" in this part of the country. So, I have to be forgiving of their naive, weird comments. Perhaps it will give you, the reader, a taste of a different perspective.

Here we go:

"You have beautiful legs."

This was mentioned by a 3rd grade HS girl (18 years old) to me at the recent Marathon Competition. I was dumbfounded for a few seconds before looking down at my hairy, scarred legs and then shrieking with a "What?!".

"Why do you have blue eyes? Can you see the same as black eyes?"

A 3rd year HS boy and girl at the front of the classroom (at the start of the school year) were brave enough to ask me this. They obviously were not paying attention in Junior High School to their genetics lesson in Science. I know they cover this because I did a follow up lesson on Gregor Johann Mendel (in English) recently.

"Do you use shampoo (on your bald head), or do you just use body soap all over your face and head?"

Loved it. Absolutely loved this question. This was asked by a 1st grade JHS girl as a semi-joke. I could see she was really hanging for the answer though.

"You smell so good."

I have actually heard this a few times from boys and girls of all ages. It is not so much that my deodorant or eau de toilette is a nice smell, rather that no one else wears anything. So, I stand out in that respect. I'll take it.

"I want your nose."

By far the weirdest one lately. I only just got this yesterday from a 3rd grade HS boy. He must be going through a self-image phase at the moment. It is quite common for non-Japanese to get comments about their noses here, with the most common remark being "hana ga takai 鼻が高い", which translates to "you have a high nose (particularly the bridge of the nose)". I still don't quite know how to react to this one. Is it an insult, or judging by this comment from the student, is it a compliment? If you are non-Japanese and coming to Japan, expect this phrase to come your way.

I'll definitely be revisiting this topic. I joked with my fellow teachers that I might turn this into a book in the future, to which they said "I'll buy it!!" fervently.