My early sojourn to the Far East was not always pleasant. Situations I first found welcoming quickly turned to annoyance, as it was impossible to escape the never-ending sea of gawkers. Men and woman of all types were not at all bashful about draping their eyes on me, careful to examine everything from my shoe laces, to my belt buckle, plus anything I was carrying.
Sometime, I would return the stare only to find five other people staring right back.
Of course, I understood that the multitude of eye-ballers were not intentionally being rude, but genuinely curious. I also realized I could not pick a fight with a hundred and fifty million Japanese people.
I decided, instead, to focus on the upside of living in the country.
One day, a 14 year-old Japanese kid ask me for directions in his native tongue. He didn’t seem to notice I was foreign—one of the most endearing experiences that I can recall.
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