do you speak russian?

yesterday, i was standing in one of the bigger train stations in tokyo, waiting for a friend, when a japanese women approached me. she asked, in perfect english, "excuse me, do you speak russian?"

i was a bit taken aback at first, but i smiled politely and said, "no, i'm sorry..." she asked, "only english?" and i said, "yes, sorry!" and she thanked me and went on her way.

this interaction was different than the stereotypical "random japanese person said HELLO! to me on the street" in that she spoke with hardly an accent AND while she assumed i spoke english, she also didn't assume i was american.

and it was so refreshing.

while the majority of "white" foreigners in japan probably ARE english teachers, it drives me crazy that it's assumed i am definitely american. granted i am, but there are SO many other nationalities here that sometimes it feels narrowminded for japanese people to assume that every white foreigner is american. in fact, i'm the only american teacher at my school. i work with 2 brits and a candian.

and my other foreign friends?

2 americans, 2 australians, 2 canadians, and a brit.

and while maybe my group of friends isn't a good example, because all but one of us are english teachers, there are people who are not english teachers or even speak english as their first language. maybe it's anal or oversensitive of me, but we are in japan. how about a little "konnichiwa" if you really want to make friends with a foreigner? it seems to be a common desire among young japanese: "i want to make foreigner friends!!" but just as every japanese person can say "hello," every foreigner in japan can at LEAST say "konnichiwa." after that, assess the situation and if you decide to speak english, fine.

(though, i speak japanese will all of my japanese friends. again, folks, we're IN JAPAN. and for the most part, i speak japanese better than they speak english, so...)

anyway, this japanese woman got up some serious courage to randomly talk to me (keep in mind people don't talk to the person next to them on the train. talking to strangers isn't something japanese people, on the whole at least, are practiced at or encouraged to do, so it takes a certain amount of courage to put themselves out there) and it was a very refreshing experience. she reminded me that not everyone thinks every white person in japan is an american english teacher.

while i am, it was nice to be thought of as something else.