Sorry to jump in. I lived in Fukuoka for six months, and did feel the
effects of xenophobia in many ways. School children would laugh at me for
being a gaijin (gaijin stand out in the city, which is almost all
Japanese and some Korean).
I bought a shakuhachi at a flea market, and showed it to people at one of
the main classical music stores in the city. They were excited by the
instrument, because it was rare, but I was warned by them first, not to
bring it to America, because it needed to remain in Japain to remain
whole, and second, that no foreigner could ever play the instrument in any
case. This sort of attitude seemed fairly widespread in Fukuoka and
manifested itself in any number of ways.
On the other hand, I loved the culture in Fukuoka; Kyushu was one of the
earliest points of contact for Silla and China. It was fantastic! I just
had to get used to being labelled as 'other' wherever I was.
- Alan
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