Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
From my experience, the problem of many Japanese is asking too simple questions, which sound both naive and stupid, and may be offending
People do this everywhere. An (East) Indian American friend of mine who was born in Chicago and moved to Idaho (not known for being racially diverse) would get stupid questions like, "Do you worship cows?" OR "What tribe are you from?"

When I was in Japan, I found the silly questions I heard to be kind of cute, funny, and charming, but that's because I wasn't in Japan long enough to be annoyed by it. @Maciamo... You've been in Japan long enough that these things bother you. I'd say just answer, "Yes, we do have four seasons where I come from," and move on. It's all part of being a foreigner in any foreign land. And as a diplomat to your home country(ies), it's best to take such questions in stride rather than to get upset about them, because it's not going to change no matter how long you live in Japan (or anywhere else).