Ways to eliminate gaijin stares?

I went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima and never noticed anyone staring at all. The only time anyone seemed to pay any attention was in the Harry Potter world at Universal Studios, when a couple of girls wanted a photo with me because "you look like a real Hogwarts student!"!

... It seems as if people barely get stared at in this thread... Ok tell me this. When they stare, are they saying "What is this gaijin doing here?" ,"I am scared of him", "I don't like him" or are they just curious about me? like "I wonder were he is from?", "I should go and talk to him", because of they are just curious that is fine. But I here from almost every gaijin that Japanese are sometimes scared of gaijin and will never sit next to one on a bus, train or subway. I have a black co-worker who went to japan and he said "I think they all were scared of me, maybe not because I am black but maybe they thought I was an African? and not African America? because you must know that the Africans in Japan have a bad reputation, I don't think they can tell unless I speak..... I think" although I am not black, they were fearful of a gaijin...

Have travelled through Japan on several occasions, taken trains, metros, busses. Never really experienced people staring at me and in the underground they would sit next to me, no problem. During our last trip to Japan earlier this year we had several Japanese people walk up to us and ask if we like Japan and which places we were going to visit. It was genuine interest on their part. One also wanted her picture taken with me. People are definitely not scared of the gaijin I would say. Have something to read or listen to on your phone (use earphones) in the train so you can focus on that instead. Like someone else also said, Japanese people are extremely concerned about others and if they think you aren't quite sure where to go they have no problem asking and helping you. Accept their help graciously with a big smile. Japan is a fascinating country, don't worry about the staring, relax and enjoy your trip!

visited Japan many times , in fact just got back from a months trip all over , i have multiple ear piercings and 2 rings through my nose and tattoos and i was barely looked at,
just go and enjoy your trip , people have their own lives to deal with , their not going to be looking at you ,

talk about paranoia!! Jesus be calm man, you will get that anyway, the stares are generally out curiosity. I am sure if you visited some remote country you would get exactly the same stares cause you are different to the locals. Enjoy your time there and stop worrying about petty issues. Some people would love the chance to visit that country but never get the opportunity to.

You're just one of thousand gaijin that live or visiting Japan.

Nothing special about it, they don't give a 'toot', so don't pride of yourself too much.

You may get disappointed that they won't even look at you.

Unless you're visiting some small village in the stick where no gaijin have been before.

Give it a rest, just come and visit, if people stare then deal with it, smile back to them and bow slightly.

You do sometimes get the "people not sitting next to you" on buses/trains, etc.

Although, IME, this only happens if the bus/train isn't full. I've only ever thought of it as politeness/natural reticence/a slight nervousness on the part of the Japanese (and I know I'm generalising hugely here, so please forgive me and I hope you can see what I mean) that you might either:

- do something inconvenient (start to blast music out of your headphones; start eating that really smelly food, or some other thing that Japanese people generally don't do on public transport);

- start to engage them in (English) conversation, which they may feel uncomfortable with as their language skills don't extend to being conversationally fluent.

Our experience has been that the overwhelming majority of Japanese people we've met on holidays have really wanted to be helpful but also have a natural reticence to either impose on you or to get involved in a situation where they may not be able to provide as much help as they would wish (e.g. the language barrier).

There's also this awesome book cover:
http://zoomingjapan.com/life-in-japan/staring/

Zoomingjapan....

You wouldn't by any chance have one in Chinese that states the same in Chinese???

Staring in Japan does happen as in all cultures - but not as much as when I lived in Taiwan. I honestly had this little old lady stare at me and a couple of friends like she was carefully choosing the right apples she was going to take home.

I lived in Japan for 3 years and rarely got stared at. The only time it happened (or the only time I remember) and it highly annoyed me was when I was with a female friend and we are both quite big. This is the only time it's happened though and this could have happened in our own home country. Ironically - I had visited that town almost countless times and it had not happened before that day.

I feel better about going to Japan now, Thank you to all that has open my eyes to this. I just thought if they stared that mean't they hated me or they don't like me. I discovered that they are just curious, which is normal. If i do get stared at it will not be the majority of people, am I right? I think I can stand against the few who do, the best point here is that they don't dislike, hate, or scared of me when they stare; which means they are friendly, I can just smile or wave and they will be not react in a negative way. This is really good news to me, thank God... and thank you all (I'm not completely not worried but I'll be fine)

@mfedley: Nah, sorry. ;)
But I noticed that Chinese tourists in Japan stare a lot more than Japanese people do. I have never been to China, I wonder how bad staring there is.

I've lived in Japan for a year now and get "the stares" because I'm in a small city. I think it will help you a lot if you research a bit about Japanese culture and history. If you do this you will get an understanding for why Japan, which is an inward-looking country with over 98.5% of the population being Japanese, is so curious about foreigners. Most Japanese people have limited, if any, chances to interact with foreigners so when they see you they may respond with a mix of fear, curiousity and awe. There's no need to feel uncomfortable about it because if anything, they're more uncomfortable than you because they don't know how to act around you. This manifests not just in staring but sometimes giggling too, if you hear them giggling remember they're not laughing at you but are probably embarrassed by their poor English and worried you'll ask for directions and they won't be able to help.

In places like Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto this hardly ever happens because there are foreigners everywhere and everyone is used to seeing gaijin. It's in the smaller cities and countryside that people will stare at and sometimes, if they're brave enough, talk to you. I can understand the anxiety you have about this, it's terrible to have social anxiety, but unfortunately in Japan it's unavoidable . So if you try to understand what makes them stare in the first place, and realize it's not about you at all, that might make it easier to handle. Good luck!

I have just returned from 2 marvellous weeks in Japan.
I am a large Canadian senior. NO ONE stared at me.
Relax and have a super time in a fascinating country!!!

The only time I was stared at---I just remembered now--was in Ueno, outside the zoo..
There are always hordes of tiny kids coming to the zoo..they usually come with their kindergarten staff and likely a few moms, and each group wear TS of the same colour..

I was on a bench outside the zoo reading when a bunch of them walked by me...one of them waved at me and shouted "hello American-jin" and quite a few of the other kids did the same... ....while the young women were giggling..
I was laughing myself.

They were staring of course! the very first live American they saw! it was so cute!
I am not American but it did not matter..

A Red Frog...outside the zoo...of course they stared! Probably thought you'd escaped ;0)

I'm a foreigner, currently living in Japan, I'm socially awkward and tend to get nervous easily. But I can assure you, Japanese people don't really interested in other people's businesses. So you'll be okay as long as you act normally. Or maybe you can cover your face with a surgical mask or something like that. There are a lot of japanese people who use that thing when they go outside.

I've noticed if there is more empty spaces they will not sit next to you on the train. But it's not because you're a foreigner, it's something that people do in the West too - if there's a spot where you don't have to sit next to somebody, most people will choose that one. When a train has more people on it I've had people come and sit next to me often.