Quote Originally Posted by Silverpoint
How on earth are they supposed to know how long you've been in Japan? You could have been a tourist fresh off the plane.
Alright, let's explain it this way, as indeed you are not supposed to know how and what kind of people I meet. Most of the Japanese that I meet are people who are studying English, in which case the introduction is in English, and they may only know that I speak Japanese after a few weeks or months after we have met. In that case, they know that I have been in Japan for x years, that I am married to a Japanese, etc. So why would it be surprising that I should speak Japanese ? The other kind of people I meet are through my wife (her friends or acquaintances), and these often fit particularily well my description in the previous post. They know that I am married to my wife of course and have lived in Japan for all this time, but they are surprise at all kind of things, not just my language abilities, but trivial things such as the fact that I can use chopsticks (who can't ?). How would you feel if after 4 years in, say, Italy, people who knew you had been there for so long started applauding and exclaiming "wow ! you can roll your pasta with your fork without spoon !" Would be weird, wouldn't it ? You'd think they are making fun of you or are deranged.