Japanese People

A crowd at Shinsaibashi.

The Japanese people that I've met are multifaceted in character to say the least. Out in public they behave in a quiet, reserved manner, while in private they've surprised me at every turn. For instance, I know a Japanese Gaidai student who, on the surface, appears to be a person of very solid morals. As a dedicated member of a certain sports team he awakens early every morning in order to fulfill his duties as both a team member and as a student. Come Friday night, however, he emerges as a raucous karaoke king. This student, like many Americans I know, has the capacity to project two very distinct images, one of compliance and one of recklessness.

Newspaper people?

On the other hand, some Japanese are capable of projecting a public-self that isn't a suit and briefcase affair. Take this group for example. On Foundation Day I took a trip to Shinsaibashi, where upon crossing a bridge I ran into a group of women dressed entirely in newspaper. I was taken aback, just as I would be to see this sort of thing in the U.S., and was beyond thrilled when they invited me to take pictures of them. Better yet, they even handed my friend his very own newspaper dress. That's when things got interesting; seemingly out of nowhere a man with a television camera emerged and began filming the whole affair, while several Japanese pedestrians obviously snapped pictures of us taking pictures. To this moment I still have nothing but conjecture on the matter of what was actually happening. My best guess is that the women were baiting people to join them in hopes of catching some silly footage to be broadcast on any one of Japan's colorful television shows. Regardless of their true intentions however, the event showed that Japanese people are capable of staring and of being tourists in their own country, and maybe that they have a fantastic sense of humor that involves embarrassing foreigners. Either way, I feel like we all won.

And now, some walking music. Upbeat yet dark, and chock-full of contradictory lyrics, here is Talk About by Dear and the Headlights.