necoandjeff wrote:
 > People in Nagoya have a bad tendency
> to stare down foreigners (and otherwise treat them like complete freaks) in
> a way that people in Tokyo do not. And half the time they don't even have
> the decency to look away when you look back at them. They just continue
> staring like they're at the zoo looking into the gorilla cage. When I go to
> someplace like Itoigawa, I exect that kind of behavior, and it doesn't
> bother me. 


I lived in Aichi for about 3 years and downtown Nagoya for 1 1/2 years 
or so and I have experienced far more racism and xenophobic responses in 
Tokyo. I don't recall even once being refused entry to any business, 
even the guys on the street outside the pink salons would try to get our 
business. Yes, I do remember one now, I couldn't go into the Hilton 
Hotel because I had shorts on.