I lost my phone, not once, but twice during my time in Tokyo. The first time happened on my first day out of the hostel. It fell out of my pocket while I was walking to the train station. The second time happened at the end of a taxi ride from a club I was at. Naturally I was drunk. Of course it was 44am. Obviously it was raining. Both times I freaked out and both times I got the phone back. I'm actually writing this post on that same phone a week after the last incident, which is nice.

Now I'm not one to lose a phone, the first time in Japan was actually my first time ever, so I'm going to chalk it up to me being excited for my trip. But what is new is that by the second time I lost my phone, I'd already grown so accustomed to the Japanese that I fully expected to have my phone returned to me, and I think that's a testament to who the Japanese are as a people.

My experience as a black American that speaks very little Japanese has been absolutely positive. After my experiences in other Asian countries, I expected to be gawked at, but I wasn't. I expected to be casually mistreated but I wasn't. I expected for my treatment by the Japanese to be similar to my treatment by random white people in the States but it was better. While it does hurt to admit that I'm treated better in Japan, a country where I am obviously a foreigner, as opposed to my North America homeland where I am many times seen as an innate threat, I do find solace that I am also treated better than non-white newcomers to the U.S. as well.

I've found the Japanese to be friendly and warm, and that too was a surprise, as I was assured that they'd be a cold and introverted people. Now this is not to say that I had the red carpet rolled out for me, but rather I was ignored in a way that I'm never ignored in the U.S. I was just another foreigner that didn't speak the language, and not the target of someone's institutionalized bigotry.

As evident as this should have been from the start, the Japanese are just people. More overworked and conservative than I care for but people nonetheless and I like that they treat me like I'm people too.

This is not to say that Japan is perfect. In my opinion, due to their conservative values, Japan has set itself up for its own social upheaval. Due to the systematic mistreatment/disenfranchisement of her female population, Japan is facing an aging population as women have very little career safety-nets that encourage motherhood. This is evident on the streets of Japan when you’ll notice that the staggering amount of senior citizens on the street (20% of Japan’s population is over 70).

Likewise people in Japan do seem to be more adverse to making mistakes when compared to Americans - which I believe leads to feelings of personal stagnation that presents itself in society. This isn’t to say that people aren’t courageous, but rather people don’t feel like society will be open to their thoughts or mistakes. As a foreigner, I could kind of see this idea presenting itself on the through varying interactions that I observed (then subsequently inquired about), and I think this could be the source of the introvertedness that other foreigners see. This may also be the source of the sexual repression that tends to show itself in a ways that would make many Americans uncomfortable.

All in all, Japan is a great place, and her people are kind and friendly. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.