I've started conducting an experiment here. Thanks to all this talk of
unkindness every single time I confront anyone Japanese anymore I'm
always thinking about whether they're kind or not. So now I look
people square in the eyes that I pass and although it's still very
early in the trials something VERY strange is occurring. I take my 13
month old daughter for a nice 30 minute stroll in her baby carriage
every day and so far in the past 2 days I've passed 7 people of
varying ages, all adults. Every single person that I made eye contact
with so far has smiled and issued a greeting.

I realize its WAY too early to draw any conclusions here and also
there's that X factor that I'm a gaigin PLUS the cute little moptop
baby girl in the carriage I'm pushing. Still, it's encouraging. I will
report in with further results as the trials continue.

Maybe it was me all along. The only thing I'm doing differently is
looking right at these folks. The first man who was in his 60s I had
to fight the urge to grab by the shoulders and shake and say "MY GOD
MAN YOU'RE JAPANESE STOP ACTING KIND!!". That quickly passed though
thank goodness.

Raj

*** This post has successfully passed the newly implemented Raj
Feridun "think now, post later" regulation ***

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 10:26:13 -0600, "John W." <worthj1970@yahoo.komm>
wrote:

>Ed wrote:
>
>> Japanese are not kind.
>> 
>Coming to this conversation late, but suprised it took twelve years. 
>When our son was six or so months old my wife went to back to Japan for 
>a few months to be with her family. She said not once did anyone bother 
>to hold open a door for her when she'd go out with our son in the 
>stroller. In fact, one instance stands out clearly for her. She was 
>struggling in a very chilly rain (very light) one morning, holding an 
>umbrella, opening the door to the Sanyo in Himeji, trying to push the 
>stroller with her leg, when a man pushed through in front of her. Bad 
>enough that he didn't help out, didn't hold the door or something, but 
>he actually pushed his way through like she was holding the door for him.
>
>One sign of the more or less pervasive 'lack of kindness' is the lack of 
>escalators going in both directions, if they exist at all. The system 
>was built and designed for young healthy workers; no consideration was 
>given for the elderly or handicapped.
>
>John W.